2008 Ta Da List

Okay - here it is. It probably looks pretty random to anyone reading it.

One thing led to other things being listed and then I ended up going through some of my journals to feel the gaps.

You can see the previous lists here and here.

• Visited Italy
• Visited Hong Kong
• Visited Thailand
• Saw a good chunk of South Island
• Become more confident driving long distances (after driving around South Island a couple of times!)
• Journalled Christmas
• Booked the wedding
• Made and sent wedding invites
• Saw friends and family in the UK
• Made my 27 things to do aged 27 list and started ticking things off
• Stood up for what I believed in at work
• Held the fort
• Voted in NZ for the 1st time
• Bought a bike (and accompanying safety equipment)...and even used it occassionally!
• Went back to Brisbane and Queensland
• Walked in the rainforest treetops
• Went on a road trip with my Mum and had the best time
• Tried on wedding dresses and found one I love (not bought it yet though)
• Graeme become Corporate Accountant at PNCC
• Started wearing skirts and dresses again (& enjoying it!)
• Did a lot of scrapbooking
• Got a new camera
• Stopped taking the pill
• Found the most amazing wedding venue
• Got a new water system and HRV for the house
• Read way too many vampire novels and fell in love with most of them
• Got granted returning residents visa’s indefinitely
• Bought a treadmill (I need to use it more though!)
• Attended ANZAC Dawn Parade in Christchurch and listened to the Last Post with goose pimples on my arms
• Started a year long scrapbooking project which is now ¾ done
• Celebrated 3 years in NZ
• Blogged with much more enthusiasm and regularity compared to 2007
• Took part in my first ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap
• Finally upgraded my antiquated cell phone (which I’d had since June 2005 and it wasn’t up-to-date when I bought it!)
• Kept a gratitude journal for approx. 11 months of the year
• Found one of my most favourite places on earth (Queenstown)
• Finally gave in and got prescription sunglasses and wish I’d done it earlier

Christmas in Review

I can't believe a week ago was Christmas Eve. The time has just flown but at the same time Christmas seems like a long time ago now!

It was incredibly quiet but a good time was had by all!

On the day itself we were up reasonably early for us (and given it was a public holiday) - at 8am, opening our stockings. We then went into the lounge to open our other presents.

We did well present wise and love all our gifts! Having the day to ourselves meant we could actually each watch DVDs we'd been given for Christmas.

After present opening we had bacon sandwiches for breakfast and took the dog for a walk. And after watching our DVDs we had amazing Roast Lamb done on the BBQ. Then we played a bit of Singstar and spoke to family on the phone. It was a fun day and very relaxed.

And that's how it's been since the big day really.

As usual when I'm on holiday my sleeping patterns got completely out of whack so I am trying to get myself into a better routine to make it easier to go back to work. The routine may go out of the window tonight though. We don't actually have any plans at this stage - will see how we feel. There's something happening in town if we decide to be social but it may be us at home with some drinks and ringing in the new together. We shall see.

Been to the shops a few times to get bits and bobs. Our biggest Sales purchase has been a new camera which I am totally in love with. And slightly obsessed with the macro setting too but hopefully that will pass as I learn a bit more about the different functions!

My other obsession has been the Twilight books. OMG! How did I not read them before now?! With the movie being released in NZ on Boxing Day and all the mentions I had heard of the series over the last few months I put the first book - Twilight (by Stephenie Meyer) on my Christmas list. Graeme kindly obliged and I started reading it on Boxing Day....and didn't stop until yesterday when I had worked my way through all 4 books! They are fabulous and I wholeheartedly recommend them! And so I also dragged Graeme to the film last night. As is always the way for me - it was nowhere near as good as the book but I loved it and definetly want to see it again.

And I've been working on my 2008 Ta Da's list - hope to get it posted before midnight but if not it will be posted over the next few days.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and wishing you all the very best for 2009 and whatever it may bring!

Have yourselves a merry little Christmas!

Just wanted to post a message wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and all the best for 2009.

Graeme has now finished work and we are on holidays! Yay!

We are meeting some friends for Christmas Eve dessert tonight and then will come back and snuggle up to sleep so Santa can visit!

Hope to be back soon with a photo round-up of Christmas.

Take care everyone.

Makeover!

I decided to give our blog a bit of a makeover - it's way past due!

I changed the template - just to one of the blogger ones at this stage - may try designing one soon and I made my own header using a photo from Lake Tekapo.

Would love to hear what you think and please do let me know if there are any glitches I need to attend to.
The biggest problem I have spotted so far is the width of the blog post column - I had to go back and edit some of the photos so they didn't 'hang off the edge'...may have to see if I can widen the column.

So hope it all looks okay on everyone else's screen!

I'm off to learn how to recycle candle wax which was the other thing on my project list for today!

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a wee Christmas message.

4 more sleeps!

Can you believe how fast the time is going? It's flying by.

We've been fairly busy with end of year and christmas stuff and looking forward to our holidays. I officially finished work on Friday and Graeme finishes on Christmas Eve and then we don't have to go back until the new year so we will be getting a good break.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for some decent weather so the dog can get lots of walks, we can have lots of BBQs and the garden can get a tidy-up!

I've been keeping up with my Christmas journal which is making me feeling rather festive.

The house is decorated but I want to get some housework done this week so we are tidy and clean before the big day.

My presents are all bought apart from one more for Graeme which I hope to get tomorrow.

And then I just need to wrap Graeme's presents and we will be all ready to go!

I've been watching Christmas movies this week. I own Elf on DVD (how could anyone not?!) so watched that last Monday when I had a day off.

TV here has Christmas movies every day up until Christmas now and tonight we have Bad Santa which I seem to recall being pretty amusing so we will watch that or tape it tonight.

Shrek the Halls was on a wee while ago which was great fun!

And even though I've seen it countless times I will be tuning in for Shrek when it's on over Christmas!

Christmas dinner is decided too - a leg of lamb (organic if I can get it - we will see) with some BBQ'd veggies followed with lemon meringue (made with lemons from the garden). Should be super tasty - all I have to do is fight the crowds out at the shops to buy the ingredients!

And I'll leave you with this picture - the gorgeous Christmas bouquet my boss got me to say thank you for all my hard work (which will be hard for some of you to believe I am sure!)...isn't it beautiful?

The twigs have emerged!

We (when I say we I obviously mean Graeme) checked the twigs for spiders and declared them to be beastie free so I brought them in tonight and got them all decorated.

How festive!

We also made Candy Cane Cookies (recipe here) and I couldn't resist making messages with the candy canes like the heart picture in the recipe.

But do you know how hard it is to make a G with candy canes?!

And I am very happy indeed as I am now having a 4 day weekend!

Getting my weekends back!

I've had to work the last 3 Saturdays and it's been strange having one day weekends. I get time off in lieu but it's just not the same as having Saturdays and Sundays off. It was a good part of my job that required me to work though and I got some great shots of the mountains from the planes to Christchurch and Auckland so it wasn't so bad.

It will be nice to get my 2 day weekends back though!

And it's not long until I finish up for the Christmas break. I will be off from Saturday 20th December right through to Saturday 3rd January so will have a nice long break.

I've been decorating a bit for Christmas already - I have 2 stars up in our large front window (see photo above...and how amazing does that sky look?!) and some red felt Christmas trees out in the lounge.

I've also made a button tree and have put that on the dining table with a snowman ornament that Graeme's mum bought us a few years back (and it miraculously got half way across the world without breaking when we emmigrated to NZ!)

The Christmas twigs haven't emerged yet - I am waiting to de-spider them while Graeme is around before I bring them in the house.

I'm also keeping up with my Christmas journal...all this Christmas spirit is making me feel really jolly!