Thursday, February 18, 2010

Hens Aboot Toon

After spending a couple of days in Picton visiting my exclusive man friend Lance, I headed back to Christchurch in time to collect Jenni from the airport on the Saturday. Usually when Jenni comes to NZ (which is every few years) we use Chch as a base and head off to other parts of the country. This time we decided to stay in Chch and see the local sites. We went straight to Roxburgh Street from the airport for a few wines and some yummy tacos made by Chef Claire. Ashley from our netball team joined us as did Claire's work mate Megan. We had lots of laughs and headed into town a bit later on to continue the merriment. It was a great night of town painting!


The following afternoon we went out to Lyttelton, the South Island's largest port, for a look around and an ice cream. Jenni had a wee list of things she had been told by her Antipodean staff members to do while in Christchurch. Visiting Lyttelton was on the list. The Hokey Pokey ice cream was also on the list - added by Jenni herself.

On Monday we decided to head over to Akaroa for a night. For those who don't know, Akaroa is a wee French settlement on the Banks Peninsula. It is very quaint and almost like stepping back in time 20 years. Many of the original cottages still stand where they were built. It was very relaxing.
We took a walk up to The Giants House which was recommended to us by the motelier. The Giants House is a historic house built in 1880 and now owned by an artist- Josie Martin. It is surrounded by a terraced garden and has been brought to life by her imagination with whimsical and playful mosaic sculptures. It really was like being inside a Dr Seuss book!! Very cool and colourful. Apparently it is a work in progress, already taking 10 years.




We headed back to Christchurch on Tuesday and spent time having a look at the local shops and cafes and we went to see The Lovely Bones at the movies. Jenni managed to find Ugg boots to buy which was another item on her list and found herself a beautiful greenstone ring. She will be mistaken for a Kiwi in Edinburgh soon with all her kiwiana bling!!

Wednesday afternoon rolled around all too soon and I was dropping her back at the airport before I knew it for her long flight back to Scotland. It had been a very chilled out few days.


Paula and I managed to sneak in a movie last weekend. After having a lovely lunch at Denny's (yum yum) with Claire and Paula, we went to see It's Complicated which we both enjoyed. I laughed out loud a few times - a sure sign of a good movie!
I do love our Denny's & movie dates! It was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Last Sunday I got a speeding ticket. Boo hiss! I was doing 67 in a 50kmh zone. Oopsie! That's $120 out the window AND 20 demerit points. I have learnt my lesson though and pay a lot more attention to my speed now. So thank you, Mr Policeman, for teaching me such an important lesson - even if you looked only about 12 years old!!

I housesat over the weekend just gone for the Fowlers. There were 4 cats and a dog to look after. The dog, a black labrador cross called Floyd, would have to be the best behaved dog IN THE WORLD. When I arrived on Friday night to let him out of his kennel he was SO happy to see me! Wouldn't it be nice if guys were more like dogs? Apart from the fact of thinking the world is their toilet.
The cats pretty much looked after themselves but I did get to cuddle a couple of them. Floyd and I went for 2 walks and on Saturday afternoon I filled up his paddling pool so he could cool down and blew bubbles for him to chase. It was a fun playtime! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more.
Lance unexpectedly came down to Chch on Saturday afternoon which was a nice surprise so we stayed in and watched the rugby on Saturday night with Indian food and wine. Perfect.

Exciting news: My friends Rachael Hooper and Dean Svenson got engaged during the weekend. Such great news. After 9 years and 2 kids together Dean surprised Rachael with a proposal. She always thought she would know if it was going to happen but she had no idea! Brilliant.
Rachael rang me on Monday and asked if I would be one of her bridesmaids which of course I said (screamed) yes to! Swayze and Kristine are the other two bridesmaids. They are planning the wedding for March 2011. It will be the funnest wedding EVER! I feel the need for a few pre-hens weekends in Whangarei between now and March 2011.

A little aside, I finally used the bread maker I bought off Lynnie and Courtney at their garage sale last year. It worked really well and oooh the bread was crusty and good. Yum yum. I will definately be using it again soon. Dee-lish!