Merry Christmas!

Here's a picture of our pohutukawa, also known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree for obvious reasons!

Pre-Holiday Celebrations!

Iain is currently in Dunedin visiting his family for a few days while I stayed home to work on my project. The day before he left, we went into town to do some Christmas shopping and have lunch. We ate at this cool outdoor/indoor market thingy called Elliot Stables (I like the name 'cause it reminds me of Elliot Stabler, on Law & Order: SVU).

Elliot Stables has a bunch of little restaurants in it, allowing you to go from place to place sampling all the food. There's a Spanish tapas place, an Italian place, a German sausage place, and a French place. Plus sushi, some gourmet markets, and a snazzy tea joint. It sounds incredible but we weren't overly impressed. The sausage place was a total let down. The Italian sausage was a complete joke.

Then we wandered over to Ponsonby for some drinks and more shopping before heading home.

It's weird going Christmas shopping in 70 degree weather but I'm getting used to it!

There would've been a billion more pictures but my camera died since I stupidly left it plugged into my laptop the day before, with it in "on" mode for like 3 hours.

Cats in the Yard

Update

We've been busy doing housework (Iain) and homework (me). I'm a few weeks into my Industry Project and have managed to get a lot done while not completely killing myself. I hope this means I've actually learned a few things this year...

We're in the process of getting double-glazing installed on the windows. It's incredible insulation but it's also amazing at soundproofing. This will come in handy when we're trying to block out the screaming, unattended small children who live next door and spend their days and evenings going up and down their driveway on skateboards.

In other news, we had a great brunch at our friends Max & Toni's house last weekend. Max made a leg of lamb, potatoes and vegies, and the best bruschetta I've ever had (possible exception: this cool Italian place in Brooklyn that we stumbled upon with Danielle and Nam).

Attached are some random pictures of our hydrangea bush and Toni & Max's brunch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!!

The Dark Knight

After TWO YEARS of seeing movie trailers and saying, "We should really go see that..." Iain and I came to the sad conclusion that we just don't go to movies. It's a hassle, we never like the times, so let's just admit it: we don't go to movies. There. Now we don't need to continue the incessant, "We should really go see that..." conversations that just leave us feeling guilty because we know deep down that we WON'T go see that. We'll do what we always do: stay home, watch TV.

SO. It's taken us this long to see The Dark Knight. I was prepared to be disappointed because of all the hype, and I was. No hype, no sudden tragic death of a certain star, and it would be a good movie. But not great. And while we both enjoyed Heath Ledger's performance, it is not (in our opinion) Oscar-worthy.

I'm refraining from going off on a rant about how as soon as someone dies everyone decides they're a creative genius. I loved River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain and agree that they were extremely talented, but if they'd lived, would we still consider them "voices of a generation"? All you have to do is look at Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl and there's your answer. One has faded into oblivion awhile the other has surpassed Kurt Cobain in talent and influence but is still not considered as important.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

My Dad turns 71 today!!!!

Summer!!!

My client approved my design ideas for her site! I was fully anticipating a weekend spent re-doing my designs, so I'm thrilled. I took a day off from computer stuff and actually - brace yourself - turned off my laptop and went outside! (well, I hung out on Facebook in the morning....) Iain spent the morning painting some windows and doing other household chores.

Yesterday was spectacular, so we enjoyed the rest of the day by lying out on the deck reading Real Simple and Oprah, and then went for our first swim of the season! It was so great to be in the water again. It's days like yesterday that remind us of why we moved here. There were, admittedly, a few dark rainy weeks in August where I was like, "OK, this blows."

Today we got up early and went for a long walk along the water, and are about to head out for some brunch!

Happy Hour

I went to happy hour on Friday with my classmates. After 8 months of making fun of everyone and whining about code, I've finally accepted that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. (especially since most of them are actually pretty normal)

Here's what I learned:

1. Most of the class thought I was Canadian (not sure how to take this)

2. Most of the class wants to leave NZ at some stage and work in the US, although there was concern over how "loud and competitive" Americans are (I kept quiet on this one)

3. Two of my classmates who drive to school every day actually live minutes from my house and could've carpooled me in all this time (I wanted to CRY when I learned that)

4. One girl turns 21 in a few weeks and is planning to celebrate by drinking an entire bottle of Jaegermeister (vile)

5. At least half the class has no interest in hardcore programming and wants to go into web design (great - more competition)

6. One kid has a biracial American fiancé in Florida who is looking for a fellowship in NYC. He's been to the US a few times and laughed that the bars are only open until 2am or 4am. Then he expressed his shock at how strong the drinks are in the US. I responded, "I know - it's great, right??" but he disagreed. I didn't really have much to say to him after that.

7. I worked from home most of last week, but urged my classmates to make sure to tell EVERYONE we were going out for drinks. Well, they told everyone except the German. He only found out about it by walking past the bar and seeing us all sitting there. Of course, as soon as a seat opened up next to me he moved chairs and confronted me: "Did you know about this beforehand? No one told me? When did you hear about it?" I felt badly for him because it's never fun to be left out of something, but at the same time I was angry that he continues to look to me to keep him in the loop on all class activity. I told him the truth: "I wasn't in class all week so I don't know who knew and who didn't."

8. Everyone had a really good time and we all agreed to do it again soon.

BIG NEWS!

Ok, so last night after dinner, Iain and I were walking around the neighborhood and we passed an upscale kids store (they also have AMAZING dresses for women, but that's for another post).

We were standing in front of the window commenting on this super cool Jungle Hospital kit you can buy. I think it's made from sustainable materials and all of the animals are really fun and exotic.

So here's the conversation we had (this is not verbatim but it's damned close!)

Iain: "Man, that's really neat."
Sas: "If you had a kid, how amazing would it be to buy one of these? It sorta makes having kids cool."
Iain: (pauses, puts his arm around me) "You know what? I think we should make the leap."
Sas: "WHAT?! Huh?"
Iain: "Yeah, I think it's time we invest in some really good cat toys for the boys."

Jon Stewart

My sister met Jon Stewart. This is BEYOND unfair. The last famous person I saw (SAW not MET) was Patrick Duffy when he was in Buffalo shooting Vamping in 1984.

Freebies and Gifts

I received my VERY belated birthday present from my sister last week. It contained what every American gal living in New Zealand needs: a Swiffer, candy, and back issues of Oprah and Real Simple. You can get these mags over here but at the "we flew these stupid things all the way from the US" price of around $17 each. Tabloids are affordable, thank god, so I can get my fix of "Beach Battle! Skinny bikini bods versus curvy bikini bods!" or read the latest in Angelina Jolie's life, but anything more in-depth ("Live your best life now!", "Declutter your home!") is going to cost me.

Thankfully, I did find a domestic magazine that's reasonably priced. "NZ Home & Garden" is like Real Simple meets DIY meets Domino. I'm very excited. I also received a St Ives Gift Pack as thanks. I figured "Whatever... St Ives... yawn." but I got these HUGE bottles in the mail. It's worth probably $50US, or $8,000 NZ.

I'll also give a HUGE belated shoutout to Jamie for sending me a massive box of Swiffer wipes to go with the Swiffer, as well as a year's supply or more of Bobbi Brown lipstick!!! Yay overseas gifts!

BBQ!

Dec 1 is the first day of summer (in NZ) and Nov 27 is Thanksgiving (US), so on Nov 30 we had a barbecue with Glenn and Claudine. The weather was perfect, the burgers and hot dogs were great, my mac & cheese was awesome, and the baked beans (my grandfather's recipe) needed to be cooked a little longer but were still delish. The highlight of the day was Iain's homemade kumara pie --- yum!

Thanks to Claudine for her hi-skool version of champagne!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

To honor the fact that we've known each other for literally 25+ years, here's a flattering shot from Christmas break during our freshman year in college. I especially like your sweater and tights, as well as my pinned jeans with tights (?!). And I don't know what's going on with my hair...!

Reason #9,572 Why I Hate Wal-Mart

A worker died and at least three people were injured after being trampled by a crowd of shoppers at a Wal-Mart in the New York suburbs.

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7755278.stm

The Deck Family Leaps Into the 21st Century!

Thanks to my cousin Hannah, my family has FINALLY witnessed the miracle of webcams and Skype. And even though my parents' and sister's proficiency with computers doesn't extend much beyond 1996, I think this experience has proven to them that it's time to embrace the new technology out there. What's next for them? Digital cameras? Cell phones? I know... I'm getting ahead of myself.

It was incredible, though. I haven't seen my family in a year, so this was so amazing!

Here are a few pictures. I wasn't able to get any of of the whole family, which sucks because it was great. Everyone was standing around Hannah's MacBook with champagne (while we sat here in NZ with coffee since it was like 10am and we had to work...!) Here are a few of my sister and her kids. My nephew Maytham (missing his two front teeth!) took to it like any ham in front of a camera.

Yea Hannah! Webcams for all!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Next year I'll dress the cats up for real!

Thanksgiving!

We're celebrating this awesome holiday by working. Awesome!

Actually, my cousin Hannah is going to set up a Skype webcam call with my family, so we can all see each other. I have been trying for a YEAR to get my parents and sister onto Skype and webcams, and I think they'll be blown away when they realize how cool AND easy it is.

It's perfect timing, too! While on the phone with my sister this morning, she asked my nephew,"Do you wanna say hi to Aunty?" and he replied, "Who's Aunty?"

Iain's Worst Nightmare!

Ah... the joys of PhotoBooth!

Celebration!

Despite Blue's support, Iain decided to take a break from sanding and painting this weekend! Instead, we took advantage of an incredibly low hotel package at the Langham Hotel.

The only thing that sucks about the Langham is it's neighbor:

Gross! My school!

Thankfully, our room faced the opposite side of the street. We had a complete blast! We thought it would be like a glorified Sheraton but it was much nicer. They had awesome toiletries and excellent champagne cocktails. We ate amazing food and slept in a huge king size bed (I know - I sound like I'm 8). Oh yeah, it was nice spending time with Iain, too. It was really cool to "get away" from house renovations and code, even for a night.

Here are some more pictures. I'm not sure why I look so matronly, but whatever.

Downside of the Weekend

When we got home from the hotel, we went out for a quick lunch and Iain got food poisoning. He was up most of the night and only just started to feel better this evening. The cats loved it, though!

End of Classes!

I am officially finished with class and now we move on to our Industry Project. We still have to attend class, however, which infuriates me. 1.5 hours commute to sit in class next to the annoying German for 3 hours, then another 1.5 hours home, to do what I could've done sitting in my living room. Yeah, that makes sense. Luckily my attendance is like 98% so I may just use up all of my absences and work from home as much as possible.

We got out of class early yesterday so me and the geeks went to a café where I got a glass of wine and they got cappuccinos (one of them got a shot of Bailey's in his - oooooh! Drinking under the legal age!) We had a nice time discussing class and the teachers and how much they suck, but then the conversation turned to rollercoasters and I was suddenly reminded of the vast age difference.

Above is a picture of the bus, crossing the Harbour Bridge on my way home.

Christmas is coming...

Check out this TERRIFYING Santa they've installed downtown. The creepiest part is his index finger, which moves back and forth in a beckoning motion.

SkyTower!

Iain's parents treated us to an awesome brunch last Sunday at the revolving restaurant Orbit. I was extremely psyched to get decent scallops -- something I haven't been able to find over here yet. We all enjoyed three courses and a few bottles of bubbly. It was an excellent day, except for a rough experience with the world's most confusing parking ticket machine. Here are a bunch more pictures: