Nanny

I arrived to the house today and the kids had 2 tiny little kittens and the first thing Mr. 6 wanted to do was have me take a photo of him with his kitten.  They're enjoying having them around and it helps them be more responsible.  They called the kittens Lily and Raffy. At first Mr. 6 wanted to call his one Benson after a character from one of his favourite shows.  These kids drive me crazy sometimes but I really do love them and we really do have some awesome fun adventures.

Oh To Be A Hen

In less than a week Raya is marrying the man of her dreams and I can't wait to share their special day with them.  We spent the morning shopping eating snacks and drinking cider.  Such an awesome start to what will be a fantastic night.  Gary was awesome and got us drinks and snacks. It was as if we were all getting married.  He spoiled us. :)

 

As it is tradition the bride to be must always have a hens night.  We had made plans to have dinner at Mexico with a group of around 9 ladies unfortunately the wait time to be seated was 2.5 hours we tried another place and ate at Brew on Quay.  Awesome band.  Great food and the company was fantastic.   We even managed to get in some quick shots at home before we partied the night away.

After we'd all eaten everyone had left but the bride, myself, Mel and Jemma we were going to hit the town and have a crazy night out. We club hopped to a few places before landing ourselves at Danny Doolans for the rest of the night and didn't end up getting home till 5am thanks to an awesome Gary who came and picked us up from town because we'd missed the last bus which was at 230.  It was one of the best nights I'd had in a while and I'm glad I got to spend it with 3 amazing ladies and 3 random guys haha!



















Congratulations RayRay and Mike I love you both so much.  Can't wait to share your special day with you.  February 28th here we come.

Hacienda On Highlight

Finally got around to taking some photos. Love the new place.  We live at the end of a cul-de-sac and it's a great awesome house. Don't have my own bathroom but who needs that when TP and I have opposite work schedules. Great views. Great flatmate. Pretty much an awesome place.

And finally my bedroom.   I got these letters for my name 2 Christmases ago I think it was and I've never hung them on the wall before.  Today I decided I might try it out.  I guess my decorating skills aren't so great since the letters are totally crooked.  None the less I still love that I have my name in my room.

Rainbow Loom

Apparently these are like the newest coolest thing with kids these days?  It's crazy the things people come up with and somehow manage to pack money from it. Mr. 10 loves them and has been going stir crazy making friendship bracelets.  He even made me one.  I love these kids. I don't know what it will be like to not be looking after them 1 day.  These past nearly 2 years have gone by so quickly,

Moving

Today I packed up the little bit of things that I own and moved from the shores of Devonport to the wild wild west. It didn't take too long for me to pack my things but now it's time to relax some enjoy the views and this awesome home cooked meal that TP made me.  Apparently it's something I shouldn't get use to but it tastes just as good as it looks.

Will post more photos later in the week once I've settled in and am able to do a house tour of some sort. Oh and I also need to sleep as I have a 10 hour shift tonight 2000 - 0600.  Eek.  I need sleep.

Happy V Day

Today we came into work and all the ladies in the office were given a rose by the big boss man of Global.  I didn't think anyone was expecting anything at all but it was still an awesome gesture and we all appreciated it.

This was the awesome home made valentines day card that the IT guy tried to give to all of the ladies in the office.  I guess he thought he could get some action with it.  No takers unfortunately. Poor guy.

Fitness, Farewells and Foods

Day 3: Today nearly killed me. I got through it even though I struggled to get in the last 5 sit ups of the 25 today. Going to have sore muscles tomorrow. It'll all be worth it though.  Let hope that I can keep up with it hey?!? 

Someone who has worked with our company for the last little while is leaving and taking up a new job somewhere else.  We all signed the farewell card for her and this was the message the IT guy wrote. If you didn't know or get his sense of humour you'd probably be offended. 

Moving house in a few days I am moving out west. It will be a big change to go from living on the North Shore for the past 9 years to moving out West but the change will do me good and I'm looking forward to settling in with a new flatmate (even if she is my bosses boss lol) I won't hold that against her at all haha. 

I've walked past Sushi Pac on High Street a few times before but this particular day I'd seen a sign saying they now made sushi with brown rice.  Totally one for brown rice I needed to try it out.

I love this place.  They have any kind of sushi you could want and if it's not made up they'll make it for you.  Anything and everything I think... maybe except for some expensive kind of seafood that is hard to find lol.   If you haven't already tried it you totally need too.  I went with brown rice, salmon and avocado. Love it.

Day 1 - 30 Day Fitness Challenge

 Today was day 1 of the 30 day fitness challenge.  I found it a bit rough with not having had done any fitness or exercise in a while and also struggled some with my breathing.  I continued on and pulled out the follow:

Mountain Climbers 15 seconds x 2
Squat Jump Thrust 20 seconds x 2
Jumping Jacks 20 seconds x 2
Prisoner Squat Jump 15 seconds x 2
15 Sit Ups
5 Crunches
5 Leg Raises
10 Sec Plank
6 Tricep Dips
4 Push Ups
8 Mountain Climbers

It took me a lot longer than I thought it would but for me its more about starting small working my way up and trying to focus on the bigger picture.  Looking forward to continuing on with the 30 day fitness challenge.

Onwards and upwards for our Fast 7 crew. 

Netflix

 Tonight I figured out how to get NetFlix working on my ipad!  It was a little bit of a struggle first to get it going but low and behold I got it working and am looking forward to watching some tv shows. Pretty little liars being one of them.  Eek.  Time to get onto this Netflix thing and see what all the fuss is about.  On top of all of that I got a month for free!  Best make the most of it!

30 Day Challenge

As part of Fast 7 (Our work biggest loser) we've all decided to do the 30 day challenge. They all started nearly a week ago so I will get on it starting tomorrow.

Cardio is one of the things I dislike the most about eating healthier.  I'm not sure if its because of my bad breathing or if its because I just hate it in general.  I would much rather do weights twice day then do cardio.  I have some weights as well which I need to get back into using. Tuesday starts my exercise regiment.  30 day challenge.  More walking (to get ready for the Marathon in September) and weights.

Bring on a fitter me.

Family Adventures

Family came over from Australia for Nans birthday which meant I also got to take 2 weeks off of work and enjoy the time away with them all. I've been off the kids since before Christmas but have worked every day since at Global so the time away from both jobs for 2 whole weeks has been fantastic.

We arrived up north and went to the local for a few games of pool and some drinks for the fam bamz. As  much as there is nothing in this town I do love coming back here.

The next few days were spent cleaning the Marae and trying to get it all ready for the food and for all the people who would be staying.

We had Hangi for the birthday so Nan went all out and got some beef, mutton and pork from one of the locals who killed hung it all up and made it into meat. We had a lot of raw meat to pack into bags.

Nana Lesley and Grandpa have veges galore in their garden so gave us a lot of beetroot which Nan taught me how to pickle. Boil up the beetroot stems dirt and all. Once cooked peel the skin and dice it up. Mix together some water white vinegar and sugar taste as you go. Throw in some of the beetroot let it soak up some taste that and change as needed.  Its super yummo.

A few shots of my nieces.  Te Atawhai is a techo-freak. She loves technology and knows how to play just about every game that is on my iPad even if she doesn't know what she's doing.  Te Ataahua loves the iPad too but not as much as Te Atawhai.

The birthday was a few days later and we had lots of family and some of Nans friends turn up. She had a lot of fun and loved that the family from Kaitaia had come down.  Last we heard they weren't able to make it BUT most of them did and I'm glad they all came down.

I'm not sure what my niece wanted to a take a photo of more. Herself or her red vine that she got the weird kid lol. Love and miss the girls though.

We also had to take a few shots of all the cousins for Nan.  It's now my job to arrange it all into an album for Nan which I will do once I've moved and settled into the new place.

After birthday celebrations were over we drove up to Houhora to see my brother. It was a great day up there visiting and getting to see some of my Dads side of the family and stopping in and having some fish and chips. I was tempted to swim with the girls but everyone was in a hurry to get back to Horeke.

This is my niece and my cousins daughter.  A lot of the family think they look like twins apart from Te Atawhai having a more rounder bigger face than Te Ataahua.  The Mane gene is def strong for them to look the same. It also took a million shots to even get a photo with the both of them smiling. In the end we had to play a game of see who had the biggest smile.

After all the celebrations and visiting was over we drove down to Auckland spent a couple of days here just chilling out and winding down from the past week and a bit of celebrations. It was nice to spend time alone with my parents and Aunty.  I was sad to see my family go but I had so much fun with all of them.  Looking forward to spending more time with my family again soon. 

All in all it was a great 2 weeks off and I'm looking forward to getting back into work with both the kids and Global.  I'm relaxed and now ready to get back into everything with work exercise better eating and all together a healthier happier me.

Watch this space.