Last night Rob and I were invited to go to the Auckland Cricket Association (ACA) Awards Dinner at Eden Park, in the function rooms. Not out in the rain on the pitch. It was awesome! I love free food and wine. We turned up at 6.45pm and were offered glasses of wine and beer as we entered the main doors. Spotted a few celeb players; Andre Adams being the one I recognised most. Then for an entree we had salmon, was delish! A few speeches and a couple more glasses of wine got us through to the main meal; chicken or lamb. I had chicken, it was so yum! I want the recipe for the mushroom risotto they served with it!
The guest speaker was an Australian, Kerry O’Keeffe. God, was he funny! A very entertaining speaker.
After more wine I was ready for a coffee and thankfully they must’ve heard my call and announced it as dessert and coffee time. Dessert was chocolate profiteroles, not good for the hips, but tasted delicious on the lips. I was good, I only had one and thoroughly enjoyed my coffee. Rob was bad, he had three and washed them down with a few more glasses of beer. It was a lovely night. It was quite formal, so we felt every bit the special invitees, out and about on a would-be normal Tuesday night rubbing elbows with the top cricket players in Auckland, with some even playing for the Black Caps.

In other news, I went to Albany mall today and happened to walk into Borders; because it’s my favourite shop in the world (so far). And what was staring straight at me? It made my heart stop - I couldn’t believe it! Marian Keyes’s latest novel!!

This Charming Man. I can’t wait! If you know me, you will know I absolutely love Marian Keyes’s books. I have read them all and have been checking her blog (- obsession?) for the newest one to come out. I love how her characters are very every day, they make stupid mistakes like all of us. I remember going away with a group of girlfriends on a road trip, we were 17, I was reading my first Marian Keyes book, Watermelon, while at the beach. I remember giggling to myself for ages about a certain part of the book. My friends all looked at me wondering what the hell was going on. But of course trying to explain it is never has funny. But once I have the giggles I never seem to be able to get rid of them fast. Even four or five chapters later, I’d remember the one line Marian had written that triggered me and off I’d go laughing again. She’s amazing.
I bought the latest book of course, it was $24.00, normally $38! Bargain! I had goosebumps from the excitement taking the book to the register. I just want to go home now and curl up with a coffee and dive right in.

But no, sadly I have three more hours of lectures to attend this afternoon and they’re hard classes, so I have to go.

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It is pouring down here!! I’m at work about to have my lunch and then have my Financial Accounting lecture at 3pm this afternoon. I am very tempted to skip it because I’m going to get drenched running to my class!
But I know that is not a legitimate excuse just to skip class. So I’ll end up going and getting drenched and cold.
I have decided now that I’d rather have a trench-coat style coat. There’s no need for a thick woollen coat here where I live in New Zealand as it doesn’t get that cold, (8-10*C in the middle of Winter), it just rains all the time. So now I’m on the hunt for something similar to these:

That way I can wear warm clothing underneath and just throw it on over top to keep me dry. Good plan I feel.

Oh. My. God. It just got better. Just heard the weather report on the radio: we’re in for thunder storms this afternoon and the rain is here for the rest of the week at least! Geez! I need that coat asap.

High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Air Purifiers are a wonderful investment, especially if you have family members with allergies. I haven’t purchased one personally but know of a few families that have and whom rave about them.
If you’re interested in a HEPA air purifier this website has information on a few models. It gives the details of what square-metre area they could purify and their costs.

New recipe posted at flour, garlic & olive oil: Shepherds Pie.

Ok.. now I have been told by several people that it only gets dark like that in Britain in Winter. Isn’t it Winter 70% of the time anyway? But I guess I’ll just have to handle it. Damn good excuse to buy more boots and coats!!

It’s cold, wet, windy and basically very depressing weather outside tonight. It must be the changing on the weather. I think we’re in for a Wintery-week. It’s 6.30pm and look how dark it is! Here in New Zealand we’re used to it not being dark until 7.30-8.00pm. I think that could be my biggest struggle while being in Britain. I think I might go slightly insane when it turns dark at 4 in the afternoon.

One good thing about nights like this is that I can get into my jammies and slippers and curl up and watch my favourite shows for the week; Grey’s Anatomy and Men in Trees. Oh. My. God. Are you jealous? Utter bliss!

This weekend has been one of relaxation. I have had no tests or assignments that needed immediate attention so have been able to relax.
On Friday night Rob and I went to see Semi Pro, very funny. If you’re a Will Ferrell fan you’ll love it. I laughed out loud many times.

Then last night we went to see a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover band. At first I had no idea who they were or what they sang, but umm no. You will know most of their songs if you don’t recognise their name. I still couldn’t tell you who’s in the band (except John Fogerty, because some guy had a t-shirt with his name on it) but I do know a lot of their songs.
Including:
Bad Moon Rising
Proud Mary
Fortunate Son
I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Have You Ever Seen the Rain? - my favourite
Someday Never Comes - had never heard it before, but now my second favourite.

The band played at a RSA in West Auckland so there were a lot of the older generation there. It was a lot of fun! People were dancing constantly, it was great! It’s so much easier to dance to than the new music out. And you can sing along!

So now I have stolen my mum’s CD and uploaded them to my iTunes so I can see my heart out any time I want.

Ooooh yum! I am excited about these; bath and body products for cheap as well as make your own soaps and products kits! From wholesale soap making supplies you can get recipes for making your own flavoured soaps, body lotion, lip balm, bath salts and more.
I love being able to make things that I would use everyday and being able to pick the flavours myself. You can even get the lip tubes, foam bottles, compacts and talcum powder bottles through them. Awesome idea for personalised Christmas or birthday presents. Create gifts using your family and friends favourite flavours.

I have a friend who is expecting her first baby in July, I’m thinking of making her a little kit for the baby and herself with lotions, talcum powder and soothing bath salts. You can buy the lavender buds through the website as well, which is perfect for a newborn baby.