So Long....Farewell.....

As we come to the close of another year and as is the usual tradition it's a good time to reflect on 2015 and how it went.  The first half of 2015 was AMAZING! It started off with adventures to the far north for a week in a friends home. A new start to trying to live a healthier better life.  A bus ride to Palmerston North to meet Lisa which I will never do again lol. I suffered from the worst bus sickness ever.  Not good.  The trip was amazing though and soo good to spend a weekend with Lisa. Being able to go to Australia to see my family and celebrate my sisters 21st birthday.  Best trip I've ever had and one I want to do again soon. It was also my birthday in April so was good to get home from my trip away to celebrate with family/friends and have an amazing breakfast.  Kids moved over to the shore into their new home which is beautiful.  I moved into my own place which I loved.  In wasn't until June when everything went down hill.

June started off surgery on my vocal cords with trips back and forth to the hospital and difficulty breathing and from there my whole life pretty much changed.  I moved out of the home that I had only just moved into. The kids got a new nanny.  The new job I started held it for a month for me before letting me go and everything I had was packed up/sold or given away.  I've been living in the far north officially now since August and to be honest when I first got here, it wasn't something I wanted.  All I could think was I wanted to get better and get myself back to Auckland or over to Australia with my family.  I struggled with not being around people, work, the kids, the normality of what my life was like before being sick. It's now been 4 months of being here and I keep telling Nan I don't want to move at all and that I'll be living here forever lol.

I have loved being here with my grandparents and I'm so grateful that I was able to spend Christmas with them as I know had I been in Auckland working I would not have taken time off to be with them so in a way being here sick was a blessing in disguise.  I don't do much in the day but I'm settling in and I take care of Jazz (my pup) and life is pretty much slow and relaxing.   Yes I miss my life that I had before I got sick but it's only been in the last couple of months that I've realised I have everything I need. A home, food and family. What more could I want?  Aside from maybe winning the lotto lol.

I don't know what 2016 is going to look like just yet but that's okay.  There are so many things that I am grateful for and even though I have a trachy in there are worse things that could happen.  Life is a journey and it's all about what we make of it.  You can either choose to see the good or the bad..  The only thing I know right now is that I am looking forward to 2016 and I can only hope that it is a great year!

Dom's Kitchen

I follow a page on FB called Dom's Kitchen (click Here) which is run by Claire and her little son Dom.  They post everyday healthy meals and have even come out with a recipe book which has amazing food ideas.

There are a few things that I've seen on the page that I totally want to make including cheesecake, meatballs and Sauerkraut. Those are all going to be on my list over the next few days.  Everything looks soo good and with the added bonus of them all being good for you why wouldn't I want to make them?!

First on my list though Sauerkraut.. go check out the page and add yourself to their Dom's club to get amazing food ideas and recipes like the ones below.

Cousins... & Youtube

Today Uncle Hone came around with his kids and his moko.  They all decided to use ALL of the data and watch Youtube videos.  One thing I have loved about being here is seeing family I normally wouldn't see.  Even though they used data I LOVED that they would sing a long to all of the songs!
Family really is important.

Lamingtons

Today we thought we would try our luck at lamingtons with the left over sponge we had from Christmas.. not a good idea! haha!  They were messy to make.  There was wayyy too much sweetness for either of us to handle anddd they're still sitting in the fridge waiting for I don't know who to eat them lol.  Even though they may look good they don't taste so good!  Here's hoping that Papa decides to eat them lol. I don't think so though they may just be that tad too sweet for him as well. Oh well, first and last time we will make Lamingtons lol.

Here's To The Past

It's crazy how this time last year we were planning our trip away up north and how quickly things can change between two people.  There are times it makes me sad but I know at the same time that when things got bad for us way back in June that was when we should have ended it.  Unfortunately it ended with us not wanting the same thing anymore.  I thought we did but as time went on and when I got sick I knew then that things wouldn't work and that even though you maybe wanted the same things as me you changed your mind and that's totally okay. 

I realised early on that we were both at different stages of our lives and when I was ready to settle I knew that you weren't at that stage yet sad but there really wasn't any point in either of us wasting time when we both didn't want the same thing.

Life is a journey and end of the day there is always a lesson to learn from everything we go through.  I am looking forward to Christmas next year and hoping I am in a much better place.  It's time to move on and realise that I deserve something and someone better.  Onwards and upwards!  Bring on 2016!

Merry Christmas!!!

Today was a realllly nice day and I'm so glad that I was able to spend it with my grandparents.  Was a busy morning with trying to get the food all prepared and all of that but it was an amazing and it's day's like today where I'm grateful to be 'sick".  If I wasn't sick I know that I wouldn't have come here for Christmas and worked all the way through so I am glad that I am sick and got to be here with my grandparents to celebrate and enjo the day together with good fine, nice wine and a day out in the sun.  Why would I ever want to move away from the far north? 

Merry Christmas Eve

Looking forward to Christmas tomorrow it's only going to be the 3 of us plus Papa's nephew but it should be a good Christmas.

Nan and I will wake tomorrow and get all of the food prepared.  It's going to be different and a little weird having a small Christmas and not being in Auckland for it but I am looking forward to spending it with my grandparents as I know I don't ever spend as much time with them as I should and now I've been here months and they'll never be able to get rid of me lol!  Merry Christmas Eve everyone...! 

Wedding Bells

Today I got to watch one of my bestfriends marry the love of her life.  It was an amazing relationship to watch them grow in love and watch as Gary became an amazing step Dad to the boys.  I loved seeing Mel soo happy and loved being apart of the wedding and soo glad that I was to make it and that it was only a couple hours from my place.    Beautiful views and an awesome place to have a wedding. 

Shopping... in a small town

One of my bestfriends gets married tomorrow and as usual I left looking for something to wear to the last minute silly really but I always tend to find something last minute which is amazing whether it's food, clothes or gift related soo even though I was stressing I knew I would find something.

Nan and I went to 5 different shops today!  Trying on dresses left right and center.  I was over it all by the time we got to the 2nd shop lol.  Nan knew a shop that stocked really nice dresses soo we went there where I tried on 4 things... nothing worked.  Either the top was too small for my boobs or the bottom part of the skirt was too big... it's always a lose lose situation when it comes to buying clothes for myself.  It's why I have a love hate relationship with my boobs lol. 

Finally after I don't know how many hours of looking trying on clothes and being limited on what shops you can go to given that there aren't many to choose from we ended up at Pagani and found the perfect dress to wear.  Well perfect as in there was nothing else that I could have picked lol. 

End of the day I found something to wear and tomorrow I leave to go to Marsden Point for Mel and Gary's wedding... can't wait... and Thank you Pagani for the dress! $40 down from $70 woop!  Gotta love sales and it's a dress I can wear again so win win! 

Baching In Style

Today the paper came along with some real estate mail.  Nan automatically tells me that we we need to buy a home that's listed for sale out in Oakura. 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and only with a price tag of $750k. I told Nan we need to win lotto to buy that house haha!  She said we need to buy a ticket to win lol. 

It's a nice place but there are a few things I would change about it though but good for our family for when we all get together... though we could just build something back up at the farm... but the downside is no beach view... or any sort of view aside from our paddocks lol.

Tangi.

Today was another early start as the service at the Marae was at 10am.  We got there around.... 9am so early but nice to be there early.  It was a good but REALLLY long service.  3 hours including them blessing the house.  Uncle Tamatea (along with my Papa)  all belong to the Ratana religion.  The older minister who was at the cemetry at the end of the service asked where the house was and started to bless the house from the cemetry.  Papa wasn't impressed at all and told Chop chop the other minister who was there that they were all going to the house.  Silly really for the minister to think he can bless the house from the cemetry.  Other than that the service was nice.  Super hot day though and awesome that a lot of people turned up for it.  So glad we all got to say goodbye though.

Oh and I even managed to get a trachy/cemetery selfie haha.

Uncle Tamatea

Uncle Tamatea died last night so we headed over to the Marae this morning.  It was a long day and tomorrow I think will be a lot longer with having the actual service tomorrow.  Tuhirangi is a nice Marae.  Nan and I ended up making bread and we didn't even get to try it before it was eaten haha.  Oh well was nice to help out in the kitchen.  Nan and I would prefer to be in the kitchen than in the Marae all day sometimes.

We also went to another tangi just up the road.  Soo 2 in one day was a bit sad but that burial/service isn't until Monday but I think nan and Papa will go on their own.

Sad that Uncle Tamatea is gone but Nan said he's in a  better place especially with how he looked when they saw him the other day.  So sad really. 

Chickpeas

For some reason i really wanted baked chickpeas and since I didn't want to go 5 hours just for the  supermarket I thought best to make these myself. 

They're pretty easy but make sure you don't put too much spice like I accidently did.  All in all pretty good. 

Secret Santa

Today I received my nzsecretsanta from Twitter.  LOVED my gift and unfortunately the person  who didn't post anything about them or what they like expected me to read their mind when it came to giving them a gift,  they disliked their gift very much.  Lol.  Oh well you can't please everyone.  I loved my gift that was the main thing. 

Jazz & Kujo.

Kujo is always trying to get at Jazz as if she has some milk but my pup is smart and is learning to sit down on herself now... love my puppy and told Nan I'm never moving and if I do I'm taking my pup with me lol.

Jason Derulo - "Want To Want Me" (Official Video)

Even though this is an old song I really do still LOVE it and it's a good song to play super loud while cleaning lol!

Week 3

Today marks 3 weeks with TM!  Slowly but surely I am moving my way up the ladder to my first milestone of 10 adpacks.  I used the $16 I made last week to go towards another ad pack which then only cost me $36 which isn't too bad!  Loving the progress I am making even if it is a slow one.  Things are going to sky rocket and I can't wait for everyone to see what amazing results I get.

I know I've been in MULTIPLE businesses before but what I love about TM is that you don't have to spend money to make money... yes it helps but you can still make money without clicking ads.  You don't have to have an autoship to be paid. You don't have to regret and build a team... The more I learn the more I am loving TM. 

In other news I got a sort of "promotion" in one of the FB groups I am in and am now a right hand man to Cor so will be helping her to mange the page and also helping her with other things soo will be awesome to help her out and learn tricks and tips along the way ... I have a feeling 2016 is going to be an AMAZING year!!! Way better than 2015 that's for sure... oh I just need to get this trachy out first!