Isn’t it crazy how life is constantly like a roller coaster? Mine certainly has constant ups and downs and no week is ever the same. I’m sure everyone’s lives are the same. I just feel I’ve had my share of drama this last month.

I’ve had the positives; my camera prize, my weight loss is going really well, moving house, my recent weekend away to Dargaville with friends, and all the plans we have coming up for this summer and New Years.

And then there’s the negatives; exams and my joblessness (yes this is the latest. I thought I had a job lined up for summer and then part time next year - but turns out I haven’t actually been officially hired, they haven’t even looked at CVs yet. So I’m officially unemployed. Shit. I’ve applied for lots of temp jobs, so hopefully something comes through).

I guess I have more positives than negatives, but unfortunately the negatives are BIGGER issues.

Last night I planned that I would bus to University to study, I searched the times and pick up and drop off spots and costs. I found that it was going to take 45 minutes to get to Uni and then a 45 minute trip home. And the cost? $9 for the day!! That’s crap! I decided I was better off putting $10 petrol in my car, which would get me three days worth of trips to and from Uni. So much for my money saving plan.

While writing this post I’ve had an email back from a company offering part time office admin role - perfect! Keep your fingers crossed for me. I’d prefer and office admin job over a retail one any day!

Yes, exams are definitely looming. My first two (yes, two on the same day - bastards!!) are in 8 days. Shite! Luckily I am well planned this semester and have already been studying for two weeks. So hopefully I’m prepared by time they roll round. I will be all finished by November 1st, oh god I can’t wait!!

We’ve moved into our new house. We’re still living among boxes as we want to renovate, so really no point in unpacking everything. We’re just coping with the basics. I would have uploaded some ‘before’ renovation photos of the house but we’re still internet-free at home. I have taken some though, so as soon as our ISP can get their asses into gear I will upload them.

So apart from exam study and living in a partially boxed house, not a lot is happening. Oh I am into my sports now though. Playing netball on a Monday night with a group of friends and now tennis has started up on Wednesday nights. So it’s basically exams and exercise at the moment. Can’t be bad for the body and mind!! Especially before celebration season kicks in over the summer….

Today I had some more fantastic news about my winning photo. At midday I started receiving text messages from family and friends telling me that my name and competition photo had been printed in the NZ Herald (New Zealand’s nationwide newspaper). So of course I had to stop my studying I was doing, I’m such a good girl I know, and run up to the Uni cafe and buy a copy of the paper to see if it was true. It was! Woohoo! Lots of people have seen it, it’s so very exciting!

What’s even more exciting, I am able to cross number 53 off my 100 things list, as I now have had a photo published in a newspaper. I just realised number 56 is to own a Nikon camera - lol. Yay! When it arrives I shall cross it off!

In other news, we visited our new home this afternoon. Oh god. You know how houses always look terrible when they’re empty and don’t have your personal touch and furniture? Yes. Looks terrible. We move in on Thursday. Will be wonderful once we’ve renovated it and got it sorted to how we want it looking.

A quick question; is anyone having issues accessing my site? I’ve had emails from some people saying it never loads. I have no idea why. Works fine for me no matter what computer/internet I use. Please let me know if you’re having issues and I’ll see if I can sort it. But I probably can’t because I don’t know that much. lol. But I’m sure my lovely host will help me.

1 birthday party
4 hours of dancing with friends
55 minutes of driving each way to the airport to pick up my Dad & Laurel
1 bottle of wine, snuck into a bar
2 quick fucks (the drink!)
12 boxes packed for moving day (Thursday)
1,700 the value of my new camera
3 slices of italiano pizza
800 lost in poker chips
360 minutes spent laughing with friends
2 pairs of jeans thrown out, no longer fit
1 car vacuumed, I finally cleaned it!
5 liquors in my Long Island Iced Tea last night
500g lost from all the dancing on Friday night
2am, the time I went to sleep Saturday & Sunday morning
9 times I listened and sang my heart out to The Man Who Can’t Be Moved

Thanks Miss Em, have borrowed again.

We had an absolutely fabulous time in Dargaville! It’s a small town with not much to do. But we had a brilliant time! Our time was spent walking, drinking, eating, relaxing, drinking some more, eating some more and so on… I feel like I need a serious diet and detox week of ; soup, salad and water only.

On departure day, Friday, after our last lecture of the day we all decided to meet up for a celebratory drink at the bar across the road from Uni. It was to celebrate the end of our crazy week of assignments and the excitement of our trip.

We started the journey at 5.30pm, the drive down was fun. We all piled into the 7-seater car and first made a stop at Toni’s gorgeous farm in Warkworth where we’ll be spending New Years, to pick her up.

So while we waited for her to get ready we had our second (or third for some) drink of the day. Once all piled in we were off. Just one stop on the way for dinner (McDs), my first burger in months!

We arrived at the bach at about 10.30pm and decided we deserved another drink. The shisha came out and the first round of drinking games were played. We must have had a hell of a lot to drink because we all got a bit free spirited and excitable and thought we’d go for a nudie run. Yes you read right. I can’t believe I did it. Well all six of us did it. Sorry the camera was banned .

The morning view from the bach.

The next day we went back into Dargaville-town to meet two other friends driving up. While waiting for them we stopped at a local hotel/pub that was opened in 1876 for yet another drink.

After that we did some grocery shopping, cooked a BBQ, napped, drank some more, laughed our asses off, played some more drinking/card games, played on some swings, took lots of photos, took a beach walk, had another nap. It really was a relax weekend. It was wonderful!

A beach walk

Saturday night was filled with more BBQing, drinking games, laughs, and super relaxation. Another night walk on the beach, this time fully clothed. One of the guys decided he’d swim - crazy! It was freezing, we had to huddle to keep warm.
We paused the drinking games to get some group photos before the sun set. Amazingly beautiful!

The drive home was a more quiet event. Myself and another girl, Dale, fell asleep in the back with a pillow between us, while the guys kept each other awake.
I didn’t feel very tired yesterday afternoon. But it hit me today. Uni dragged out so long.

All I can say is bring on the next bach weekend! It was fabulous!

Well I’m feeling a hell of a lot better since my last post. That was a post of pure expression of how I felt at that moment.

Sat my test on Monday, handed in one assignment this morning (was up until 1am finishing it, but it’s done and dusted!) and was working on my last assignment all day today (8am - 6pm). Have a bit more to do on it tomorrow, but am feeling confident it’ll be done on time.

So now that I’m feeling far more positive tonight. Tonight is blob night. God I need one. I’m now going to run myself a bubble bath, paint my nails, veet my legs (veet is awesome! especially now that we’re heading into summer, so silky smooth!), put on my track pants, pour a glass of wine, enjoy my steak and salad for dinner, curl up on the couch and enjoy Coronation Street. Yes don’t mock me, I’m seriously getting into it - very addictive! I dare you to watch it sometime hah.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that a friend of mine told me about a photography competition here in NZ, well online here in NZ, run by Habitat for Humanity. So I entered one of my photos. The prize is a Nikon D60 worth $1,700 - nice! I’m not asking for votes, because they have a panel of judges. So just keep your fingers and toes crossed for me please!

i can’t even explain how i feel right now. but i want to burst into tears and scream at the top of my lungs at the same time.

You know how I said I was far too busy to fit in a family dinner? All I can say is that I’m glad I made the time and effort because it’s so important to see people when you can.

The family we saw was my grandparents on my dad’s side. They live in Wellington so we don’t see them often. They’re both now in their mid 80’s and sadly it’s a true reality that that could be the last time we see them. I know that’s very depressing, but you just don’t know these days! They were absolutely thrilled that we managed to organise time to see them. We had a wonderful dinner with them, just my sisters and I. I don’t think the three of us have ever really spent time with just them, there’s always been parents around. But since my dad is in France, he couldn’t make it to dinner. So we got some great grandparent-grandchildren time. I’m not putting down my dad in any way, but you know how nice it is to spend one-on-one time with your grandparents?

Firstly we had a drink in the bar of their hotel, as you traditionally do, but having not eaten since 1.00pm I was feeling slightly sloshed after the huge glass of wine, not a good look in front of the grandparents.
Then they took us to Cin Cin down at the Auckland waterfront, wow, amazing place! I’d been there once before for my mum’s birthday, but didn’t remember the amazing meals! My meal was like something of the rich and famous:

ENTRÉE: Seared scalops and duck pave, cauliflower, apple, celery, crisp potato

MAIN: Ballottine of chicken, porcini mousseline, wild mushrooms, chestnuts, potato puree, baby onions

DESSERT: Vanilla crème bruleè, orange and lime salad, passionfruit syrup, mandarin sorbet

This is exactly the dessert I had, the photo is from their website. To die for.

Oh my lord. So delicious. One day I hope I earn enough to be able to afford meals out at places like this!

My grandparents have asked that we try and squeeze in a trip to Wellington before we all start jet-setting around the world, sounds like a good plan to me!