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It's the weekend again and we're really, really REALLY loving our house. It gets fabulous light in the day (especially upstairs) and our yard is growing in nicely. I know I keep saying this but I can't WAIT for summer. Even Tama is excited and was racing around the yard and rolling around on the patio.

For no apparent reason, we both fell into uber-traditional male/female roles today: Iain mowed the lawn, pruned some trees, and took the car in for inspection. I did laundry, cleaned (sorta), and made lunch. Iain relaxed in the afternoon with a rugby game while I got a manicure.

Perhaps this evening I'll catch up on my needlepoint while Iain dives into some gin.

Iain got a teensy bit too aggressive with the pruning of the plum tree so we now have to hold it up with an old chair. In his defense, we didn't realize that the tree's center of gravity was so lopsided. We're hoping it doesn't die. He also got rid of all of the vines and weeds choking our palm tree - it looks loads better now!

Gypsy Tea Room

We've had some a-MAZ-ing weather on the weekends. The weeks have been semi-crappy, but once Saturday hits - damn! I'll take a little rain on a Tuesday if it means drinks with friends outside on Saturday.

Last weekend, on a whim, we drove to The Gypsy Tea Room. You may remember The Gypsy Tea Room from such blog entries as Julia's Birthday.

Julia and our friend Tash live in the neighborhood so we met up with them and Julia's bf Ian. It was just such a novelty to be able to sit outside again! Bring on spring and summer!!! The place was really hopping, too -- you can tell that everyone is just DONE with winter and rain.

After drinks, Iain and I picked up an American style pizza from Sal's. Thank god for Sal's.

Saturday

New Zealand was supposed to have been hit with a storm "the size of Australia" yesterday. Apart from some really crazy rain and a bit of wind, everything in Auckland is status quo this morning. I was on the bus home last night when the torrential downpour and wind began. I stepped off the bus with my soon-to -be-turned-inside-out umbrella and braced myself for the walk home, when I spotted Iain waiting for me in our car! We drove home to a delish meal of spaghetti carbonara.

Today we're taking Blue to the vets -- his breathing has gotten labored with even the mildest exertion. He's also losing weight quickly and we think he doesn't have long to go. I am still so thankful that we got these four months with him. We'll just have to see what the vets says. He still seems really happy, though, and even chased a kitty who wandered into our yard.

After we return from the vets it's off to Hallertau with new parents Sarah and Sean.

Spring!!!!

September 1 marked the start of spring here in New Zealand. It was pretty awesome coming back from my trip to the USA and enjoying lighter mornings, less rain, and longer days. And I was only gone for 2 weeks! Daylight savings is approaching and I can't wait. In another month or two this beach will be stunning.

I loved our house this winter - central heating, insulation, and all the normal modern amenities Kiwis still don't have in most homes - but I cannot WAIT for summer. Our backyard and our pergola scream for a Saturday afternoon BBQ with the cats.

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.

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!

I finally remembered my camera!

We went for a walk this morning -- one of my first long walks since my foot surgery. It was only 50 minutes but better than nothing. Last week I went for a few walks at lunchtime, and managed to get down to the Viaduct and all the way around before my foot started hurting. It made for a painful walk back to work, but I'm glad I got out.

It's been raining intermittently all day (welcome to winter in Auckland!) but we managed to have a nice wander through Northcote Point. It's a beautiful neighborhood 15 minutes from our 'hood, on the north shore of Auckland. Full of old villas and fantastic views of the Harbour Bridge, most homes run around $900K+. We actually looked at buying a house here - the price seemed far too good to be true, which it was. The house was right next to the motorway, right as people got off the bridge. We didn't even bother going in. The house pictured here isn't the house, but you get the idea of what the neighborhood is like. And I love the blue roof!

Hotel bars

Yesterday we met friends for brunch then decided to wander around the Viaduct by ourselves. It was sunny and gorgeous so we stopped at the Hilton for a drink. I love hotel bars because it always feels like you're on vacation. They have a stunning bar that overlooks the entire harbor. I reached for my camera and realized that yet AGAIN, I left it at home. Damn it! We had a nice wander over to the Westin which was also picture-perfect but alas, no camera. Instead, here are a bunch of house pictures!

WNED: Canadian Earthquake Felt Across WNY (2010-06-23)

Well this is just weird. So much for that claim about Buffalo "only" getting the snow! Did anyone feel this?

Canadian Earthquake Felt Across WNY (2010-06-23)

In the Closet

It was Waitangi Day on Saturday. This meant that a lot of the stores were closed, forcing us to actually set aside house crap and enjoy the weekend. It's the height of summer -- really hot, really sunny, really awesome.

We went grocery shopping and visited a few tile stores to see if we could find something affordable for our kitchen backsplash.

Answer: no.

Damn!

Looks like more subway tiles... we investigated a glass backsplash, but the price is still the same: $1200+. Since we're already so far over-budget, we'll compromise and get some subways. We'll probably live.

Pictured below is Iain on Saturday while we figured out our upstairs closet configuration. We measured our own closets in the rental and figured out what we think we'll need in the new house.

The closet is going to be a freestanding structure so we're investigating closet companies -- for those of you who immediately leap to your California Closet / Broadcast News / SATC fantasties, you're not alone. This, however, is going to be a basic closet with some shelves.


Boring: the freestanding closet was a big discussion when we first started renovations -- we didn't want to build a closet for fear it would affect resale in case a future owner wanted to use the "dressing room" space for an office or baby room. But you know what? We need to live there, too, so we're revamping a lot of our "resale vs what we actually want" decisions.

(This late-in-the-day decision has left us with a perfect and now useless cable, power, and phone jack right where the closet will go. Brilliant!)

We finally nailed down a good design which I incorporated into Excel and emailed to our closet dude. Done!

Cut to four hours later and we're at Flax in Browns Bay for a late lunch.


We love this place because of its proximity to the beach. It's like being in Miami or LA or... New Zealand!


We ordered some fish cakes instead of something good like the burger and fries. Alas... trying to be healthy. I should've returned mine - it was vile. Iain didn't mind his.

After our 2pm lunch we headed for home for a quiet afternoon of laundry and books.

BBQ at Sunnyhaven Ave

We had a BBQ on Sunday and nature did NOT cooperate. First, it started pouring approximately 5 minutes after I'd texted back a skeptical guest,"Rain? Nope -- it's fine here!"

We bought a big plastic gazebo and it saved the day! The BBQ took a cue from 1964 and the guys hung outside by the barbecue discussing sports I guess. The ladies all remained inside and talked about guys, pregnancy, families, make-up, and wine -- I'm not joking. Everything was fine until we saw a roach crawling across the coffee table towards the Kiwi dip -- in keeping with the times, I yelled for Iain who had to come in and dispose of it. Iain swears it was a beetle but there are 5 women who disagree.

Despite the uninvited visitor, I think everyone had a good time. Lots of steak, chicken, vegie burgers and pasta salad was had. We also had a surprise dessert courtesy of our friend Kevin's mom who shipped him the ingredients for s'mores all the way from Buffalo! Diet? BLOWN! It was awesome.

It felt good to entertain again (a perfect excuse to clean!) and we can't wait to do it in the new house.

Blue stayed under the bed most of the night but Tama ventured out once or twice to check out the guests.





As the day wore on, some guests left while others braved the increasingly scary-looking weather (see the sky behind Steve) and colder temps until around 11pm.

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

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!