Winter Weekends

I think I've said this before but we've had an absolutely stunning winter. With the exception of a few freezing (not literally) days, it's been sunny and mild. And thanks to my massive down coat, I've been able to sit outside and enjoy the sun!

Tama doesn't like the cold, however, and prefers quick outside trips followed by long bouts of lounging in the sun. He's definitely not a winter kitty and would much rather have us all in the house together. Conversely, Blue is like a polar bear.

I've also sort of kind of maybe possibly started to watch rugby, or at least tolerate it. It's entertaining, to say the least. I never got to this point with American football (and never will) and still can't fathom cricket.


This morning, after I finish rewatching the hilarious Old Spice guy spots, we're heading out for a clifftop walk in Mairangi Bay. We'll make the walk to Browns Bay, have brunch, then walk back. It helps justify the hollandaise!

Brunch!

We continued our theme of having friends over for brunch and hosted Julia, Ian (not to be confused with Iain), and Tash (short for Natasha) last weekend. While I'd like to say our riveting conversation kept everyone around until the late hours of the afternoon, in reality I suspect it was the radiators.

Iain broke all the "brunch" rules and made a delicious roast beef, cooked to temperature for each individual. This was possible only through some serious mathematical equations and two pieces of meat.

Kitten Cafés

Ok, so apparently in Japan you can go to a Kitten Café -- this sounds like the absolute BEST job EVER.

Birfday

Our friend Julia turns 33 this weekend so she invited everyone out for drinks. We're chronically early for events. For us, fashionably late for a 7pm event means arriving at 7:04.

To stall ourselves we decided to go out to dinner.
In Devonport (totally out of the way).
We still managed to get over the bridge and across town by 6:50pm. Arrrggg!

We went to this place (Gypsy Tea Room) last year and it was FUH-REEZING, so I made sure to wear wool socks and a big poncho/coat thing that's more blanket than coat. Thankfully, the place has made the leap into modern times and has heat now. The service is still a little chilly, but we were just there for a few drinks.

By 7.45 most of the guests had arrived, including the guest of honor (who thought she'd put "7.30" on the invites). It's an interesting group, half of whom are from our original New Kiwis group, the other half friends we've met along the way. It was fun getting dressed up again -- it's been really cold lately so everyone was complaining of only being able to wear thick sweaters and jeans everywhere.

Click HERE for some more pictures (if you haven't already seen them on FB).

A Good Two Weeks

It's winter here which means a few things:

1. Clothes take like 4 days to dry unless you have a dryer (we don't).

2. Because NZ has this ridiculous idea that it doesn't get cold, 90% of restaurants have little or no heat. Certainly none of them have central heating. We went out to eat last week and you can see me pictured, right next to a fire with about 3 layers on. The food here was really crap, too. You know how places in really incredible locations (right on the beach, anywhere in Niagara Falls, etc.) often have really bad food? This is one of those places.


3. Blue is doing really well -- getting lots of love and attention!

4. But the winters in Auckland aren't horribly cold, really, so you do get some lovely days where you can sit outside. We had friends over for brunch and enjoyed an hour of warm sun before it got chilly again. Thank god we have central heating!


If you're wondering what that red liquid is in our friend Catherine's champagne glass, it's evil sparkling shiraz. It combines the fun of champagne with the hangover of red wine. It's delicious, but you can only have 2 glasses or you'll hate yourself the next day. Last year they had a party with a bunch of this stuff and we're still talking about it.....

Catherine and her husband Steve just returned from a 10 week honeymoon around the world. Incredible!

iPhone

While everyone in the US fights over whether they want a white one or the black to go with their brand new iPad, over here we're expected to be satiated with crap teaser emails like this.