Auckland Anniversary Day!

Monday is Auckland Anniversary and the whole city gets a public holiday. This is absolutely perfect timing since we both had rough weeks. I had a positively vile 5 days in the office, followed up by two tiring nights of house meetings (builder, electrician, closet guy, tiler). Our electrician doesn't get along with our builder or Iain, so he's taken to calling me direct at work for all things lighting-related. So, we definitely could use a break.

The weather is stunning today -- I've done 4 loads of laundry and they dry on the line within an hour! (I always feel like I should be in a Jerry Bruckheimer film as I'm hanging stuff on the line -- I keep expecting to see planes flying overhead and an American flag somewhere. Maybe some Aerosmith music....)

I spent the morning cleaning our grody house - Iain is finishing up the job with a good vacuum, and then we're off for sushi and a swim! Oh, and we bought a rangehood for the new kitchen! Yay! Final days... we're almost there!

Movies:
Avatar - incredible
Drag Me To Hell - awful
The Lovely Bones - yawn
Rachel Getting Married - annoying filming but great acting
District 9 - good, original

Four More Weeks!

We are hoping to move in on or around March first and we really can't wait, especially since the rental has started resembling one of those cramped pre-war immigrant apartments with 8 people in a studio.

Taking a Break

The last month we've spent every weekend in stores, looking for tiles, carpet, lights, fixtures, rangehoods, faucets, etc. etc. etc. We're taking a break this coming weekend to host a BBQ. Iain's running out on Saturday morning to pick up a rangehood and I'm cleaning. We'll hopefully have a nice relaxing afternoon, then Sunday we've got about 14 people coming over. I can't wait, although the REAL party is going to be when we move into the new place!!

Dag, that's a lot of blue!

The front door only has one coat, so we're hoping it darkens slightly. That's some serious blue!

Thanks so everyone who helped us figure out which way to go with the subway tiles in the downstairs bathroom. It looks amazing!

Drag Me to Hell

It has always been a goal of mine to get Iain to watch horror movies with me. We're starting small, with a not-scary-at-all film. What we both found fascinating was our cats' reactions to the movie. We couldn't believe it.

Here is Tama, who is technically Iain's kitty. Blue is mine.

It's my BFF's birthday!

Mariska Hargitay celebrates her birthday today!

Two Years!

Two years ago today we landed in New Zealand. We celebrated today with a trip to Immigration to renew my visa before heading off to work. Thrilling!

License Plates

Kiwis like their vanity plates. There’s an absolutely preposterous radio spot that features “real life” people whose business was on the brink of bankruptcy until they turned it around with... a vanity plate.

Here’s a list of plates I saw one morning on the bus. 70% of these make about as much sense as Tracy Jordan’s vanity plate.

Misti
EZ-G
NoBos
DukeH
8th Sin (on a Jaguar of course)
Liquor
Txter (pretty ballsy since it’s illegal!)
Nike01
Go300
SRFER
VW Ate
4Tarsh
Our Joy
Hefner
I SPY
14U2C
A Dove
BMW (why do people who drive BMWs always have a license plate that says the name of the car?!)
Mini (and AGAIN...)

KITCHEN! KITCHEN!

Kitchen!


Kitchen!

Kitchen!


Kitchen!

Kitchen!

Monday

Today was frustrating for two reasons:

1. The Golden Globes are on and I missed them because I have a j-o-b. It was agony all day!!! But I do have sick days and holiday time, so next year I'll plan better! Skype call anyone?

2. The kitchen install is actually a two day process: delivery on day one, installation on day two. So I have to wait until tomorrow to see it all. Damn it!

Not too shabby.

We were up at 6am yesterday to organize ourselves for another day of house chores. On the list:

1. pick up drum and pendants we ordered last month from the light store
2. look at tiles for the splashback (again)
3. return all the tile samples we got last weekend
4. stop by the screen store to look at screen options (it's more complicated than I thought!)
5. buy a tub sink for the laundry and a garbage disposal
6. buy ceiling fan for upstairs bedroom
7. look at outdoor lights (expensive!) and stairwell lights (kinda useless but still cool)

We got a pleasant surprise -- in the lighting store where we bought the ceiling fan, I noticed a really reasonably priced drum light that will look perfect over our stairs. We bought it. We were hoping to make this light a really important feature, and this involved going to all sorts of boutiques and shops in search of The Perfect Light. It was always in the back of our minds that we might not be able to afford The Perfect Light, as these little boutiquey stores can be really expensive. At $90, this is a really good find!

It was another perfect summer day in Auckland so we blew off carpet shopping, grabbed the beach bag, and headed to Iain's office for an afternoon of tabloids, rice crackers, and pool. It was so much fun!

Kountdown to the Kitchen Install

4 days and counting! The kitchen goes in on the 18th!
The white vanity and associated boxes are for the downstairs bathroom.

Tide is out!

We went for a long stroll along Mairangi Bay's clifftop walk, then decided to walk back along the beach. Halfway through we lost the beach, and had to wade the rest of the way. I probably should've worn shorts...

Lights are in!

I realize this is pretty boring but I was totally psyched! Hanging lamps will go in last, to avoid random construction worker guys from accidentally damaging them.

Tiles Tiles Tiles!

We went back out yesterday for tiles. It's been a long road. You find a tile you like, but it's $190. You find a great tile for the floors, but it's only for walls. You find a great tile for the walls, but it's only for floors. You find one for both, but it's out of stock until March. This has been weeks and weeks of shopping and after while they all start to look alike!

Admittedly, it was really fun for the first few trips -- I've always loved the idea of tiling a bathroom - but the reality checks have taken some of the thrill away. Still, it will be worth it once we're in the house.

We took home some samples to see how they look in the bathroom. We've narrowed it down, which is a major relief, but there's going to be some sacrifices. I know they're safer, but I don't like matte floor tiles. But the tiles we like the best only come in matte. We've been to virtually every tile store in Auckland so I'm ready to acquiesce.

Additionally, the tiles I wanted for the backsplash in the kitchen are coming in way WAY over budget, so we might have to go with regulation white tile.

Iain was disappointed that I vetoed tiling the kitchen in this cow pattern.

Costume Party

Our friends Catherine and Steve are occupational therapists. Last week it was Steve's 39th birthday so they had a costume party. The theme was "healthcare related". The party was on a Friday so we didn't have much time to shop for proper costumes like a naughty nurse or traditional doctor, etc. Instead we went for the cheap route: fake chest (Iain), bandages and fake blood.

Iain especially enjoyed wearing a skintight v-neck tshirt, which is disturbing.

The party itself was very impressive. Syringes full of red wine, bags full of "plasma" (white wine)... and most of the costumes were really well thought out, unlike ours.

Scavenger kitties!

Aerial shot, dinner
Tuesday night 7.45pm

New Zealand is #5!

According to International Living Magazine, New Zealand is the fifth most desirable place for Americans to move.

New Zealand's immigration department sums up the attractions perfectly. "In many ways it's not what we have that's important to our quality of life—it's what we don't have. We don't have high crime rates, our police don't carry guns and instances of corruption are virtually unheard of. We don't have abject poverty or hunger and we don't have the pollution, congestion, health issues and cramped city living that we see elsewhere."

Malta can suck it!

Cat's Cat

Here is a picture of our friend Cat's sleeping kitty. She said she found him like this and initially thought he was dead. A few hours later, the scenario repeated itself when he took same position on her bed.

Shag Rock, Oriental Bay, and Wright Hill Half

First coat of paint is up!!!

It's been a rather scary, exciting, "go with our gut" process. I didn't like the living room walls when I first saw them but now I love them. And before I saw the finished walls, I didn't think I'd like our blue bedroom. Iain was unsure of the foyer. But it's really coming along, and I LOVE our electric blue downstairs bathroom!

Here are some pics - please keep in mind these are first coats, and the trim and skirting boards are still unfinished. Actually, everything is unfinished! But we're getting there.

Back to reality

Well, after almost two weeks off, it's back to work tomorrow for us. I guess it's a good thing... we've started sleeping in until 9am!

Today we've got a last hurrah brunch and then it's home for dinner and early bed!

Plum Dandy!

We've got a plum tree in our backyard!

New Year's Day!

Yesterday was gorgeous outside, so after a morning of catching up on emails, Facebook, and bills we headed into the city to meet our friend Toni for brunch at Northern Steamship. There, we enjoyed fries, mussels, and wings and exchanged work horror stories. There's something both depressing yet comforting knowing that everyone suffers the same irritations in their job, regardless of company or title.

After that we headed back to Toni and Max's for further wine and conversation. Iain regaled us with a half hour lecture on why he hates ad agencies while I oggled their gorgeous vegetable garden, full of Swiss chard, basil, arugula, tomatoes, and parsley. Throughout the garden are dozens of little wooden spikes to prevent Stella and Stanley from using it as their litterbox.

We ended the day with a delish ham and mac + cheese dinner while watching episodes of Glee. Actually, the mac was a little dull -- Iain is worried he's losing his touch. I may have to take over cooking duties! If so, it's pasta every night!

Today we're back on house duty and it's off to the stores for tile and carpet shopping.