Take Two

Wow! This year is already flying by. It's been 2 1/2 weeks since little baby girl Bartlett was born. She has been named Hazel Louise Bartlett. Nice. I am very excited about flying to Queenstown on Thursday night to spend the weekend with her, her big sister Annabelle, her Mummy and Daddy, my Mummy and Daddy, and Granny Annie (her Mummy's Mummy). Camera presently charging.

Averil and Eru's wedding is less than a year away now. Averil has asked our very good friend Renee McInnes to be her sole bridesmaid which, I think, is perfect. Renee will make the best bridesmaid. She's good under pressure which means if Bridezilla makes an appearance, Renee will know just what to do to settle the nervous/stressed out bride-to-be. Not that I think Averil has any Bridezilla tendancies but you never know what stress can do.

I have appointed myself as Wedding C0-Coordinator along with Kathryn, who is getting all sorts of pricing deals through Barter Card. With our powers combined we will organise a wedding on par with Wills and Kate at a fraction of the price!

Mum's work colleague Marilyn Newlove has very, VERY kindly offered to make Averil's dress for free. All she has to do is supply the material. Some people are just so lovely! I know Averil will chose something as beautiful as she is, even though she would look gorgeous wearing a paper bag!

Last weekend I had my friend Rachael's hens weekend in Tutukaka. We hired a holiday home which was so posh and fab, and 10 of us stayed there for the weekend. We had planned a day at the beach on Saturday but the weather was not looking as good as we had hoped so we stayed at the lodge and everyone came there instead. It actually worked out much better I think. There was a huge deck, spa pool, and close, clean toilets! We had a few games but generally just had wine and laughter. Rachael was made to wear the most beautiful bright floral Mumu with pink sash and princess tiara. She looked B.U.T ful! Although she said she didn't feel it. Ha ha.

SOMEONE thought it would be funny to buy us bridesmaids bachelorette party crew hats and silly glasses - so we too got laughed at. A lot. Not so funny when the shoe is on the other foot.

Saturday night we went out to dinner - Rachael in her fancy gladrags - to the pizza restaurant and, as there had been a girls fishing competition on that day, there was a band at the Game Fishing Club so we went there too. It was a very good night.

On Sunday I had just enough time for another dress fitting before heading to Warkworth for an hour with Mum and Dad, and then back to Auckland to catch my flight to Christchurch. Another successful whirlwind adventure!

I started a 16 week course last Wednesday in Beauty Skills. It's an introductory into Beauty Therapy done at Aoraki Polytechnic here in Chch and fits in around my work hours. Last week was my first class and I am about 200 years older than all the other students AND the only one without kids. Or so it seems. I have had homework to do this week which seems very unfamiliar to me. I don't even think I did homework when I was at school!! Not much anyway. I was far too busy finding out where all the parties were. I am looking forward to learning some new things and putting them in to practise - even if it is just for my own personal use.

On Sunday I finally went to see The Kings Speech at the movies with my friend Gail. I had joined the social club at work the week previous purely for the $5 movie tickets we can get through it. Bonus! I detest having to pay $16 bloody 50 to see a movie. So for a measley $2 a week I can get $5 tickets PLUS they have shouts, raffles, free entry to City to Surf (fun run/walk) and anything else that may interest the majority of social club members.

Anyway, I digress, it was a lovely movie. I laughed out loud a few times. A really nice story.

Yesterday I recieved a text from Jane Metcalfe from Mainland Dating to see if anyone would be interested in a night of speed dating as she was short of ladies. I rallied up Renee and off we went. I was not nervous at all this time. Mainly because I had it in my head that I was going as Renee's wingman. When I told Renee this, she said she was only going as MY wingman. Ha! Anyway, it was a really enjoyable night. The guys this time were of a slightly higher calibre than the last one I went to. Really nice guys... most of them. There were a couple of Nutbars, but that is to be expected. One guy was really nice so I ticked him and HOPE he might have ticked me too. Waiting to hear from Jane to see if I have any matches (guys that ticked me that I also ticked). Fingers crossed!

BREAKING NEWS: I had to abandon my post while writing this as Christchurch got hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake just before 1pm today. All Carter Holt Harvey employees assembled in the cafe and were told they could go home if they wanted. I don't think anyone stayed.

I came home to what looked like the aftermath of a teenage party. All food was out of the cupboards on the floor. A packet of Dorito corn chips had burst open all over the floor. There were some broken bowls, smashed light bulbs and CD's and DVD's spread around the lounge floor. We also had liquifaction this time out on the street and in the yard. I went over to Roxburgh Street after 4pm and the whole street is covered with silty liquifaction. The chimney had come down but LUCKILY had not fallen through the roof. Eru and Scott got up on the roof and cleaned up the bricks and waterproofed the hole.

The cats are scampering around VERY low to the ground. Poor wee things.

Unfortunately this time there have been fatalities. 65 reported so far. It's a very, very sad day for Christchurch.

As I write this we are still getting massive aftershocks approximately every 5 minutes.