Tis the season

About time I posted something on here wouldn't you say?! Especially if you got our Christmas newsletter and decided to pay a visit.

We are busy getting ready for Christmas. We have family coming to stay and can't wait. It's Lukes first Christmas and while he may not remember it in years to come, we will so we are trying to make it special.

The tree is up and decorated. Most of the presents are bought. We are almost there.

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas and I will try to be back very soon :-)

Muddly

No not muddy, MUDDLY. Which is how I'm feeling at the moment. Got lots of things whizzing around in my head and no focus to get any of them done.

I think it's end of year-itis. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything I want to get finished before 2010. And when Kate feels overwhelmed she does nothing. Not good.

For example, I thought I'd make a start on my 2009 Ta Da list and couldn't get past Number 3. Now I'm positive I've achieved more than 3 things this year (and yes I did remember 'getting married' - that's number 1!). But I can't for the life of me remember how I've completed the previous 3 years lists (which I'll link to when I get the 2009 list completed). I think it will be a pouring over of the calendar and diary and blog posts and see how far I get.

Boxing Day is always a strange day. A bit of a comedown I suppose after the big day. We've kept it fairly low-key really. We did brave the Plaza which I didn't think was possible. It wasn't actually too bad - probably helped by the fact we went at 4.30pm when everyone else was laden with bags and heading back to their cars. I didn't get much but my husband bought an iPhone. I would be jealous but he's promised to let me play with it too. Who knows - maybe my next blog post will be from the iPhone.

So I will head back to my muddly-ness and leave you with a picture of our forever puppy - isn't he gorgeous?!

And yes, I hope to be back in a day or two with a Ta Da list.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a wonderfully festive Christmas wherever you may be.

Love and slabbers,

from

K, G & R

xxxxxx

Feeling a little festive

The christmas box has come out of the cupboard...

the decorations have been unpacked...

the twigs have come out the garage and been de-spidered...

and the christmas candles have been lit...

Things are starting to look a little like Christmas around here.

December already!

Not quite sure how it happened but it's December already. Christmas Day in 3 weeks time. Wow. Where did this year go? Who knows?!

We have the advent calendar up - filled with Thorntons chocs from the UK food shop - and a poinsettia but that's the extent of the festive decorations so far. Oh, and we bought a christmas smelling candle but haven't burned it yet.

I'm working all weekend (yuck!) so not sure how much I will get festive before next week but I will try.

We are both pretty snowed with work at the moment and looking forward to the break over xmas to rest and recuperate ready for a new year and a new decade. (Never mind where did this year go, what about the decade!)

We have the proof book from the photographers and hoping to pick photos for our album and thank you cards soon.

There's lots to do and it doesn't feel like there's enough time but I'm sure we will get through it all.

Oh and somewhere in the middle of work this weekend I have to write my xmas cards cos I'm already a week past the last posting date.

Very random post but thought it was time for an update and I've not got any photos to share but will try to rectify that over the coming weeks.

Birthday Blog

Today is my 28th birthday. I must say it's been quite a strange birthday. Not bad by any means, just strange with everything else we've got going on at the moment!

I finished work yesterday so I could take my birthday off but Graeme was still at work today. He was also out for pre-wedding drinks with the football lot last night so was perhaps a little worse for wear this morning (!) but still managed to wish me a happy birthday and show plenty of enthusiasm for me opening my presents and cards before he went off to work.

I did well with presents and got some books, a CD, some British chocolate, a Kate pen, a gorgeous tiny plate to keep my rings on when I'm not wearing them, some British pounds and some cute heart window stickers. Lucky girl :-)

As it was Graeme's last day at work - they held a morning tea for him and had decorated his desk 'wedding style'. I went in to see everyone and must say Graeme looked very fetching in the veil they made him wear :-) I didn't have the camera with me...and even if I did I'm not sure he'd let me publish the photos!

After leaving Graeme to do some work I took a stroll back to the car via George Street which is a lovely little boutique-y type shopping street. I decided I may as well spoil myself just a little and had a stroll round the shops.

I bought a few 'nick-nacks' including this tiny K & G - sorry for the bad quality photo. I collect K & G's and have them scattered about the house! The little symbols on the G are 'Buzzy Bees' - a true kiwi icon.

I also couldn't resist this sign as soon as I saw it! And I didn't know Rhett could read but he obviously can because he has been in and out of the back door all day long. And it was raining so I had to dry him off everytime he came in! He really does have ants in his pants at the moment. I think he is picking up on my slight anxious/stress/worry-ness that's in the air....it's all getting a bit close now and I am feeling a little restless myself.

And finally - here's the freshly dusted and reorganised mantle piece with my birthday cards. They're not all here yet - apparently there's a couple more on their way over with my Mum.

And that was my 28th birthday :-)

Blogging from a new location

Worry not - I have not moved. I am right where I should be. Just blogging from the laptop tonight rather than the PC. The reasons for this are 2 fold:
1) The PC is so slow lately it's driving me up the wall and 2) Graeme's poorly and watching Lord of the Rings in bed so I am cosied up next to him watching Lord of the Rings with one eye (which is closing firmly at the bits that scare the living bejeezus out of me) while blogging at the same time.
This does mean I don't have my usual access to photos but hope to upload one or two through Flickr so you won't be too bored by my words and will get some visual goodiness.



It's been busy as usual round here but we've been enjoying ourselves. Graeme turned the grand old age of 29 on the 20th so we headed off down to Wellington for the weekend. Primarily to see the lovely All Blacks who were just as awesome as you would expect them to be. They may not have won the trophy but it was still an amazing feeling to be in the same stadium as them. We got absolutely soaked and chilled to the skin but it was so worth it!

We also got some wedding bits done and are pleased to report that we have chosen a celebrant so we have someone to marry us in November. That's a relief, let me tell you. As much fun as it would have been to have Lou ordained to marry us, I would quite like it to be official, thank you very much.

Well the batteries going on the laptop and Frodo's debating whether or not to throw the ring in the fire so I will call it a night for now and hope to be posting another update soon.

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.

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!

And more on Christmas...

I mentioned Christmas briefly in my post yesterday but more in passing and in a I-can't-believe-how-fast-it's coming-round kind of way.



Christmas will be strange for us this year.


It will be the first year that we haven't spent any of the day with our families.



Way back at the start of our relationship (in 2000 can you believe?!) I struggled with the festive season as I was living 500 miles away from my family and friends and felt strange about spending the day with Graeme's family. That year, we decided to stay at home in our wee rented flat in the tenements of Glasgow but had a visit from Graeme's mum.


In the years that followed in Scotland we always spent some time with Graeme's family over Christmas and also flew down to Essex to spend time with my family as well.


Looking back - I wish I had taken as many photos then as I do now as it would be great to have a record of those Christmas'.


In the three years we have been in New Zealand, two of our Christmas' were spent with my Dad and last year we flew back to the UK for Christmas.


So this year feels quite strange. Not bad but strange.


We have had a busy year and I think it will be good for us both to have some time together at home to relax and recharge our batteries. We already have a lot planned for next year (not least getting married...finally!) so it will be good to take some time out and talk about what we want to do and how we want to do it.


And who knows what our future Christmas' will be like. I imagine next years will be low key rather like this year but after that anything could happen....!



So seeing how I am currently obsessed with taking photos and documenting my life I thought taking this class would be an awesome idea! It will be interesting to look back in years to come at exactly what we did with ourselves over the festive season.











I'm really quite excited as I am using this class as the opportunity to introduce festivities into our lives....I have already a few decorations (we haven't had a Christmas tree the whole time we have been in NZ but I had some rather festive looking twigs one year which I will be reusing this year!) but have gradually been buying a few more over the last few weeks.



I have made a head start on my Christmas journal so I am all ready to go and I will hopefully get round to posting some more photos of it on this blog as I go along.

So watch this space...the class starts next Monday and I am hoping that despite a busy couple of weeks I will be able to keep up and come out on the 6th January with 37 journal entries all prettied up with festive paper and photos!

1 month to go

Wow - this time next month it will be Christmas day...crazy huh? How can it almost be that time again when it feels like last Christmas was only yesterday? !

I have a lieu day from work today as I was working on Saturday (and will be the next 2 Saturdays too) so I am trying to get my ducks in a row....as usual I am finding myself hugely distracted by other more interesting things though. So far, I have put the dishwasher on but not unloaded it, put the washing on but not hung it out and washed my hair but not dried it. Could this be the day for getting things only half done? I hope not!

Had some extremely warm weather here - yesterday was actually horrible because it was ridiculously hot and humid and there is no air conditioning at work which makes me very grumpy! Today isn't so bad as there is a strong breeze. This is what our HRV thermometer was telling us on Sunday afternoon....I am so glad I don't have to live in my roof space!

And here are the windmills from my last post taken from a different angle...from a plane on Saturday afternoon...

I have had a request to post my 27 things @ 27 list which I will do...maybe later today but right now I have to get my hair dried as Graeme just called and we have a lunch date.

Ciao!