Wednesday List: Fabulous things from an amazing weekend

On Labour weekend Shannon and I ran away to Martinborough for a mini-break and it was quelle amaze. This blog post is late, but also the whole experience was so fabulous so I feel totally justified in bragging about it still.

Here are some of the best things. (Non-listed best thing: Shannon. Because that goes without saying ❤, vom).

Tandem bicycles and boozy vineyard tours

Have you ever ridden a tandem bicycle around a vineyard with your lover? If no, may I recommend it to you?

The bicycle situation was pretty great. While we biked with increasing danger from vineyard to vineyard, casually drinking and buying wine, the people we hired the bike from rode around after us and collect our wine purchases.  So.decadent.

Fascinatingly, I found that my tandem-riding abilities increased with the amount of wine we “tasted".

So much delicious food

Did we eat and eat and eat? Yes we did, and it was pretty great. Highlights include the scallops at Pinocchio, a delicious roast lamb platter at Cool Change, and the inevitable fish and chips at the Lake Ferry pub on the way home. I was very sad not to have a pie at the French bakery cafe in Greytown but I guess we can't eat all the things all the time, because time just doesn’t work like that.

Chinoiserie all up in my hotel room

Shannon was lucky enough to be given a voucher for one night of our stay at the rather swanky Martinborough Hotel - hence our decision to stay there (nay, take a mini-break).

The Martinborough Hotel is a big old pile that's been renovated in a terribly tasteful style and is smack bang in the middle of the town. We stayed in the Bidwill Room and it was decorated in tres pretty Chinoiserie. There was also a small table with a silver jug of white blossoms that were artfully losing their petals.

Stonehenge Aotearoa

Stonehenge Aotearoa is worth a visit for the novelty alone. DID YOU KNOW it is not a mere replica of Stonehenge in spray-on concrete and chicken wire, but rather a perfect astronomical clock, reversed for the Southern Hemisphere and incorporating elements of Māori astronomy? DID YOU KNOW it is run by a group of enthusiastic local astronomers who also run tours and have made a lovely video guide you can watch in their auditorium? DID YOU KNOW it is beloved as a venue by local Wiccans and Druids?

Entry fee was $8, and I have no regrets.

Here is a photo of two different Stonehenges, can you tell the difference?

A week Two weeks in SCP history (June 3-17)

An amazing Andy Warhol polaroid of Liza Minelli

Oh hello there! I have dropped off the face of the planet, blogging wise. I wrote this post a while ago now and during a transfer from blogging clients it some how ended up full of junk html (aside: if you know of a good blogging client for Ubuntu, please let me know!).

At the point where I realised that the formatting was all up the whatever, I felt too exhausted to do anything about it - and then for the next month I fell into a funk/anxiety haze where I felt mostly too exhausted or stressily het up to do anything much of anything, really.

But I am feeling more regular, and so will publish this post in preparation for something more substantial later this week. I have been making lots of things!

It looks as if June has often been a fairly prolific month here. Although I have nothing to report for this week from 2010-2012, I was posting substantively over the rest of the month during those years.

I’m putting this June enthusiasm for blogging down to the longer, colder days of winter, when nothing is more desirable of an evening than to cosy on down. (In fact I am ALSO internally cosy at the moment - full and relaxed on mulled wine. SO.GOOD.)

2009

• Cycle Rant- I am mad about the attitude towards cyclists as expressed in a Dom Post article. (I am often still mad about the attitude towards cyclists).
• You need to see this - I will knit for tattoos.
• Fashion bloggers v Pam Hogg - Fascinated by a now-ancient fashion blogger controversy.
• Saturday morning trauma - More about cycling in Wellington.
• Roller skates and roller skating - I hurt myself again at roller derby.

2008

• Roller Girls - watched Roller Girls for the first time and became deliriously excited about roller derby.
• Wednesday List: Liza Minelli - Liza Minelli is fabulous and awful. Yay Liza!
• A tour of my Kaikohe hotel room - the most retro hotel room I have ever stayed in.

2007

• Tongan Police Brass Band - heh, this is pretty awesome.

2006

• How serendipity on instant film - some thoughts on Polaroid film, which I still deeply love. Where can I buy cheap Polaroid film in NZ, people?
• Existing in real time - a list of things I happened to be well into at the time of writing.
• The World Cup has stolen my boyfriend - hilariously, I recently found a draft for a post about much the same thing that I’d written before the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

2005

• International Woman of Mystery - writing my first blog post in Australia.
• A Series of Observations: things that blow my mind - stuff in Adelaide, including the local passion for flavoured milk, the coins, and the crazy lack of people.

Do June and July fire in you the passion to do nothing but sit around at home and do indoorsy things, like blog?

Arohanui

A rip-off TILT! On a Friday! Like Originality! But without the part where I come up with an original concept!

And now with no further ado - A Bunch of Stuff that I Love.

♥ Having the Boy around. Absence made my heart super fond y’all, and although I miss him horribly when he’s gone, I like him coming back so much (with presents and kisses) that I’m willing to put up with it. Also I get to eat pizza in bed and watch crappy TV on my laptop while he’s away. He would never put up with such a display of slobbishness.

♥ Finishing the epic cardigan of DOOM. You may have heard of this. I’ve been knitting it since March and finally, FINALLY, it’s finished. I’m wearing it right now and it’s super super warm and wonderful. In fact, I am also wearing a scarf and a hat and a pair of handwarmers that I knitted and I look a little bit like I’ve had a horrible accident in a yarn store - albeit, a very stylish yarn store.

♥ Google Chrome. I’ve changed my browser to Chrome at work, and I’m loving it. Call me Ms Geek Von Geekness Who is Late on the Bandwagon (please?). It’s definitely faster and I like the way the tabs disappear so prettily and animatedly (plink! It’s gone!). I’m planning to change my browser at home now - I’d put off doing it for ages because I hated the idea of having to copy all my bookmarks over, but having discovered that Chrome will do it for me I can think of no reason to hold off. FAB.

♥ Spinning wheel. It’s changed my spinning habits for the better/faster/more efficient. I wish I was spinning now.

♥ Having an open fire at work. Hello Heaven! And keeping warm!

♥ Stupid awesome television quotes; and especially these quotes from The New Adventures of Black Beauty and It Is I, Count Homogenized respectively. Man, there are some great lines out there, but I'd rather read them in isolation than watch TV, so call me a philistine and rub my belly. Mmm, philistine belly rub.

♥ Book club and lovely book club girls. For our last book, we read Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins and there is no way I would have otherwise - I'd never heard of it and the blurb is very vague. Also, apparently there is no costumes (!) I LOVED IT. And I strongly recommend. The Wikipedia run down makes it sound like shit, otherwise I'd link through to that. Please take my recommendation and run with it!

♥ My knee recovering enough to allow me to ride my bike around and start skating again. Injuries that affect walking, and exercise, and skating, and heel-wearing are absolutely horrible, and the feeling of recovering is absolute bliss.

♥ Talking and Scheming with Bex. 

And I think that will about do for this week! Love love, lovelies. Have a fab weekend.

Arohanui: "Make do and mend/poorer than I ever imagined" Edition

via

Darlings;

I’m tired and furious. Tired because I was all emotional from the furiousity earlier this morning and furious because my financial situation has lurched suddenly into more debt than I ever could have imagined. Like, insane amounts of debt. Like, will I ever be out of debt again? amounts of debt. But I shan’t give up. I am stronger than this goddamit! I shall enjoy The Frugal Life.

Here are some things that are inexpensive and make me happy:

♥ Making an awesome healthy meal with the food I have at home

♥ Cleaning my bicycle and polishing the chrome with lemon juice and aluminium foil

♥ Washing my hair and enjoying it’s shininess

♥ Borrowing a stack of girly/Jane Austen DVDs from my mother and watching them forever

♥ Finding patterns on Ravelry and knitting them out of my stash

♥ Finishing half finished projects

♥ Crafty plans: sewing underwear out of old t-shirts

♥ Day dreaming

♥ Running on time

♥ Reading books from my “to read” pile

♥ Taking bad photographs of random crap with my camera

♥ Emailing my overseas Boy

Yes yes lots of knitting and spinning for me at the moment for sure. I have masses of sliver at home that’s waiting for me to spin it into useable yarn. Also I have a huge bag full of yarn that I could be using for stuff and a list of stuff that I’m intending to make. Oh, and also I have a blog that I haven’t written on that much lately (mostly pictures).

Make do and mend my friends, make do and mend. That is what I shall be doing. Indeed.

The sad tale of Petunia, the tea-cup pig that wasn’t

During the Christmas break, I had a beautiful dream. A dream involving the ownership of a pet pig called Petunia who was pink and lovely and affectionate. Ah, lovely Petunia. She was fairly large and wiggled her bottom when she walked.

When I woke up I subjected Shannon to a discussion of Petunia. I talked about walking her in the city and having a coffee at Deluxe with her tied up under the table. And then I started thinking about tea-cup pigs! They’re adorable! And little!

I thought: I could have a tea-cup pig called Petunia! And she could ride in the front basket of my bicycle! And instead of being a crazy cat lady I could be a crazy pig lady!

It was a wonder that I managed to get back to sleep with so much excitement, but I did thank goodness. I slept in till midday I think.

That day, I thought about pet pigs. I thought about Petunia. I thought about hanging out with Petunia, and Petunia sleeping on the end of my bed and grunting excitedly when I came home from work. Petunia was so real I could almost touch her. So obsessed was I with conceptual-Petunia that I decided to do some research and make Petunia a reality.

It was then that my dreams of Petunia fell down around my ears.

Firstly, did you know how expensive tea-cup pigs are? They’re ludicrously expensive. Also, breeders recommend that you get more than one because they’re herd animals and they don’t like being alone – which ends my plans of leaving her at home while I’m at work. Also, twice ludicrously expensive is stupid amazing expensive. Also, they grow to be reasonably large – about the size of a small spaniel. Also, I have no idea where one can get a tea-cup pig in New Zealand.

I kind of gave up on tea-cup pigs at this point and decided that I would look at kune kune pigs instead, which are equally adorable, a lot more accessible - in fact, there is a breeder in Pauahatanui, which is about half an hour’s drive away. However, kune kune pigs proved to be a dead end as well! They live for like 20 years and end up weighing about as much as I do and dig up your garden something terrible so probably not that ideal for a rented property. I can’t imagine many land lords being totally cool with me moving in with a pig of any description, for that matter.

No pigs for me until I’m a stay-at-home farmer’s wife.

A few days later I saw this picture on Tumblr:

I thought: SQUEE! A possible Petunia substitute! because pugs are almost as cool as pigs, and dogs are a little easier to deal with (insofar as they aren’t as weird a pet as a pig is and are less likely to freak out a potential land lord). Also, it’s a lot easier to find pugs in New Zealand than it is to find tea-cup pigs! And a pug named called Petunia is would be adorable too! And she’d still fit in the front basket of my bicycle!

And then I started researching pugs and OH MY GOD they are a perfect example of the disastrousness of pedigree breeding. Did you know something like 80% of pugs will have to have an eye operation at least once in their life that New Zealand Pug Rescue bills at about $600? I can’t afford that! They’re wheezy and bad for asthmatics and they need lots of attention.

Thus:
Pugs are not for me.
Pigs are not for me.
And Petunia remains a lovely dream.
RIP Petunia.

First Christmassy Weekend of 2009

bryna, jo, bex, me

Despite some impressive gale force winds, I managed to experience some sunshine this weekend and had my first Christmassy weekend of this December – strawberries and mussels and drinking too many bubbly things in the sunshine! Saturday I woke at the Boy’s and went out craft shopping for the last bits and pieces I needed to finish some presents I’ve been making (glass eyes and florist wire). While I was shopping I put down the tiny key that locks the back wheel of my bicycle and lost the key. I then had to leave my bike on Marion Street and travel home on the bus, pick up my spare set of keys, change my clothes, tidy my room and otherwise ready myself for Bryna’s family Christmas party in the evening, to which I would have to travel via the Marion Street Craft Store, where I would jump on my bicycle and ride it up to Roseneath. Did I mention how much I hate missioning about in the weekends? And also how it always ends up happening. This is a case in point as I was well organised until I lost the tiny key and my organisation went BLAM KAPUT DEAD. “UP to Roseneath” is no kind of throwaway term. Bryna assumed I was walking, gave me the “via Grass Street” directions and as I didn’t correct her I ended up carrying my bicycle (which weighs 20kg+) up an almost vertical zig zag ramp and stair walkway. There were many stairs. I didn’t count them all because I was too busy trying not to die of asphyxiation and burning muscle pain. The party itself was lovely, and although I was a bit intimidated by the glut of small baby-type people at the beginning of the evening, I found that a litre of Boysencider and four glasses of fizzy wine helped me to over come this. Peter made a Belgian feast and fed us deep fry and mayonnaise and I ate too much smoked salmon. Also, the deck was quite sheltered and we were able to enjoy some sunshine! I LOVE SUNSHINE. Summer begins very slowly in Wellington, so any chance to lounge around in beautiful Vitamin D makes me very happy. I rode (rather wobbly it must be said) from Bryna’s to the Boy’s place where his flatmate Dave was having a combined “not-Birthday” and “not-Christmas” party. Thus, it was not especially festive, but I did see Bea and Henry who I haven’t seen for ages and was very, very happy to see (there were more friendly lovely types there, but it was Bea and Henry that made me squee rapturously). Parties filled with people I haven’t seen for weeks always make me think of summer and Christmas and I feel about 50% more festive! I suspect this is due to end-of-University-people-coming-back-to-the-City associations. On Sunday I had another full day, first meeting Mon for market shopping and coffee and gossip, and then attending the Inaugural Spinsters’ Knitting Club Craftinoon Tea. The wind was still gale force but the sunshine was around (at least, I managed to convince myself I was seeing sunshine while I was being blown about. It could have been an optical illusion). After wandering about Chaffers Market, Mon and I went to Sweet Mother’s Kitchen where I ate a pulled pork po boy sandwich. By the way - OH MY GOD I CANNOT GET ENOUGH OF THOSE THINGS. They Taste So Good. The Craftinoon Tea was good fun, I drank many Bellini, finished some Christmas present projects and taught some (very) basic crochet skills to Megan. Bryna invited us to her apartment as the weather was due to be so awful (nixing outdoor crafting plans) and it was so sweet of her – especially as she seemed quite tired and hung over. She still managed to be a gracious host while preventing her small son from dropping buttons into glasses of gin and bashing everything in sight with bamboo knitting needles. That’s some kind of talent and I am infinitely impressed. This week is my last week of work before Christmas and I still have a bunch of Christmas presents to muddle through as well as attending the pre-Christmas festivities to which I’ve committed myself. It’s beginning to look as though it might be a busy one – thought I’d try out busyness for a change and see what it feels like.

Tyre says BLAM! and not in a good way

So, this morning I had a puncture on the way to work. This is my first puncture ever and it makes me very sad that my poor velo is out of action. I was riding along, my head was in a happy place, I was loving the sunshine and thinking about eating well tonight...

And suddenly I was finding that riding was rather noisy, and the bicycle was very hard to pedal. I climbed off the bicycle and looked at the back wheel because I thought it sounded as though there was something trapped in the spokes. Nothing trapped in the spokes. I climbed back on the velo and rode a little further along the road and then I had a light bulb moment and realised that I must have a puncture. And not just a puncture! Further examination indicated that the back tyre was, in fact, COMPLETELY FLAT and the inner tube must have popped spectacularly to have deflated so quickly. A flat tyre is a very very sad thing my lovelies. The saddest. I pushed the bicycle the rest of the way to work and it made sad squeaky noises all the way.

Foot Bruise

I bruised my foot and it hurts. Ouch. It was the WIND that did it. I was riding my bicycle and I was riding along past a low wooden bollard on the waterfront...

And there was a BIG gust of wind...

And I was blown straight into the corner of the bollard...

And my foot was jammed between my pedal and the bollard corner.

OUCH. I screamed and nice people saw me and asked if I was ok. I couldn't hear them tho because I was listening to Whispertown 2000 very loudly on my iPod. And lets face it, that made me look waaay dorkier.

And now I can't skate today because its swollen and painful. Oh! Sad! So sad am I.

The Slow Bicycle Movement

I like to skate fast and cycle slow. And what better recommendation to do so than this quote, via The Slow Bicycle Movement?

“As a means of pleasure, cycling stands in the foremost rank, but in common with all the great pleasures, it may easily stand in the foremost in abuse. The desire to ride at an unreasonably high speed may become morbid…The ever lasting scorcher, bent like a hoop, and with sunken cheeks, ought to be quite sufficient warning against this abuse.”

Slow Bicycle Philosophy from 1892. In the book "How to Bicycle" by L.F. Korns.

Saturday Morning Trauma

OMGeeeeeee. I had the most traumatic ride home from the Boy's house.

Firstly, I was being a one-hand-riding-showoff-dorkazoid and completely embarrassed myself by falling off my bicycle in front of the twenty to thirty other people around me. I totally bruised the HELL out of both knees, the chain came off my bicycle, and my handlebars twisted. The only person who asked if I was ok was super-lycra cyclists. *Le sigh.

So, imagine, I'm back up again after spending ages sorting out my bike, riding a little bit shakily around the waterfront and squinting into the sun. It's an insanely beautiful winter's day, and it seems that everybody in the whole of Wellington are out walking their children. I almost ran into a toddler, I only saw her at the last minute. I was FREAKED OUT. Already shaky. And then further around, I almost ran into a small boy on a scooter who was just staring absentmindedly to his left while he was riding along. I stopped ages before he came near me because of the FEAR I was feeling. I am sitting shaking now.

In other news, this is cool and made me feel a lot happier. You should watch it while I have a nice hot cup of tea and a piece of toast.

Cycle Rant

Check out this article published in the Dom Post yesterday about a proposal to make lower Cuba Street a pedestrian zone. This extract especially had my blood boiling

The Automobile Association's Wellington spokesman, John Christianson, said 5kmh could not be shown by most modern vehicle speedometers. 

"It's difficult to enforce if you can't tell what speed you're going." The mall could be dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists because Kiwis were not used to driving in public malls. 

"We have a very poor culture of compliance of the road rules. We kill a lot of cyclists in quite large numbers. The planners love it but unfortunately the cyclist pays the price."

My interpretation of this argument is that as New Zealanders find it difficult to follow the road rules we should cater to drivers' lack of abilities, as oppose to encouraging them to comply to rules that would require them to take into account the needs of other road users. Damn the consequences to pedestrians and cyclists! Cars need to drive places and people need to drive the cars!

As a city, it sometimes seems as though Wellington is anti-cyclist. Our traditionally narrow streets are hellish, and the hills are a pain in the arse too, to be frank. I’m not advocating a massive bulldozing of the city’s roads and hills; merely that there is an increased effort in the city to acknowledge the needs of other road users, and make an attempt to accommodate them accordingly. There needs to be a paradigm shift away from the idea that cyclists are second class citizens, to respecting cyclists as legitimate road users.

This isn’t just about the attitude change of individuals but of the City Council itself. For example, the development of Adelaide Road in Newtown was curiously cycle-lane-less. The footpaths here are too busy and not wide enough to act as dual cycle/walk ways. The road is multi-laned and extremely busy, with a bunch of car parks along the side of the road. Riding this road is freaky as all hell, and the simple addition of a cycle lane to the road would have made a huge difference to the usability of the thoroughfare to all users: motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.

Such an age-old rant, I know. I've always been pro-pedestrian and pedestrian-based city centres - cities are for people, not cars! - so this isn't a new position for me. However, as a newly-fledged cyclist (and admittedly, not an awesome one) all of this seems even more apparent to me than ever before. The presence of cyclists in the streets of Wellington is only increasing, and it seems that it's never to early to start making some changes to the city that will benefit all users.

Crochet Bicycle Seat Cover - OR Further Adventures of a Crafty-Beserker.

I crocheted a seat for my bicycle. Then I decorated it with crochet flowers. Then, in a fit of madness, I also decorated my basket with crochet flowers. You may remember that this is the whole reason that I taught myself to crochet in the first place - I wrote about it here.

Also, I found a website called "Honey, where you been so long". It's fab. You should explore it some.

Now I need to have a shower and tidy up some before the Boy comes over. I've done nothing all day, I swear. Queenie would be proud.

Now listening: Josie Miles - Complete Recorded Works - Mad Mama's Blues 

UPDATE: I totally fixed that link. Oops!

A list of things that are possibly quite awful but that I have really enjoyed doing lately

• Text messaging while riding my bike along the waterfront and listening to Agatha Christie audiobooks.
• Watching umpteen episodes of Deadwood in a row, until my mind goes funny and I want to call everyone Cocksucker.
• Living in bed: eating Men's Pocky and chocolate chip shortbread and revelling in my own filth while the weather turns to crap outside.
• Spending ages in the library looking at the CDs and only getting the stupidest nostalgia albums out (the Glory of Music Hall anyone? It features the song "The Biggest Aspidistra in the World").
• Cooking too too much food, filling the freezer with insane amounts of dahl and knowing perfectly well it will be there until I come back because both of my flatmates are freaked out by lentils.
• Making the Boy listen to the shittiest CDs of the bunch that I won at work for New Zealand Month while drinking two bottles of cheap white wine and ranting about the Media.
• Cooking an entire pumpkin all at once.
• Crocheting bicycle accessories.

Now listening: The Donnas - Spend The Night - Pass It Around

Wednesday List

It's been a while, but to be fair it's been a while since I've been terribly excited about anything. So. There you go then.

• New favouritest web comic ever:  Girls With Slingshots. You'll click through to the very first comic. And then you can follow the whole story like I did the other night, I went mad and read the whole thing! It took me just over two and a half hours, and I had square eyes.
• I am going to make this for my bicycle, but it shall be cooler.
• And when I learn to crochet, I shall make this. Actually, I think I can adapt the pattern and knit it, so I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
• The Pioneer Woman makes the best oven roasted wedges ever; you'll NEED the butter by the way. (If Jeebers hadn't meant us to eat butter, he wouldn't have given us mouths/cows/buttermaking equipment, I say).
• Tagata Pasifika presented a Mental Health Special at the beginning of March. Seulata Fui-Mau'u's story made me rather weepy. I'm super pro people working towards their own mental health - and having hit rock bottom myself, I always feel so inspired when I see how hard people work to make themselves better. It's a top up of good feelings! So so worth the work.
• Stoked to see that Guyana Girl is also confused about the Russian guy with the fir tree in his lung. Maybe he inhaled the tree while he was drunk. Hm. There was this one time when I thought I'd swallowed a needle, but actually it was just my imagination running away with me.

Enjoy xxx

A Big Easter Weekend of Pottering Around - the Thursday night list

So, I have a Big Weekend sans Boy-type (who I will miss dreadfully, of course). And I have about a million billion things that I both need and want to do. I was going to write a list anyway, but I've decided that I'm going to make it a Blog Project. Weeeeeeeeeee

 

Friday is going to be the least exciting day *le sigh*

• Time to finally do all the bits of washing I've been threatening to do for weeks and weeks and weeks. Not exciting, but certainly necessary.
• Vacuum the bedroom. *yawn yawn yawn*
• Food Shopping: I will ride my bike to Chaffers Park New World, because I like the waterfront
• I would also like to make hot cross buns - the Edmonds scandal has piqued my interest and I'm feeling the Urge.
• I'm having a ridiculous dinner with my mum, I'm in charge of making a ridiculous dessert. I think I need to make a cake with icing. Maybe a red velvet cake but without the random cream cheese icing which I'm just not that keen on.

Saturday I hope the library is open

• I'm going to ride my bicycle down to and along the water front, I shall listen to Edith Piaf while riding in the sun and waving to the happy people.
• Then I shall have a coffee
• Then I shall go to the library and get out the entire BBC series of Pride and Prejudice. Hah! Any other suggestions for ridiculous girly long weekend watching?
• Then I shall come home and bake some chocolate cup cakes. And ice them with lavender coloured icing. I think that rose flavouring would be good too.
• And then I shall knit something ridiculous and watch episodes of Pride and Prejudice until my eyes pop out of my head.
• Dinner would be good too. I should make something elaborate. Some kind of roast perchance?

Sunday

• God I hope I don't have to do last night's dishes.
• So, I shall definitely lie in bed this morning with LOTS of coffee and toast and read and read and read.
• Sewing! I will make a black pinafore dress
• When I get angry and frustrated with the sewing I shall glue all the bits and pieces that I have been procrastinating about gluing.
• Then forcing one of the Flatmates to cook or eating leftovers and reading some more or watching more movies

At the moment I'm undecided on Monday. We shall see what we shall see. I suspect gardening will be involved.

Arohanui

Things I love, for the first time in ages, and in an effort to neutralise some of my angst of the last week.

• Riding my velocipede along the waterfront at a leisurely pace on a sunny day. I like watching the people strolling, everyone seems to be in a good mood. I also like pulling up to a park bench on Oriental Parade and reading in the sun while listening to the sea. Yay!
• Baking cupcakes. I love the anticipation, the smell, and the fact I get to ice them afterwards, with ridiculous pastel coloured butter icing from a piping bag.
• New flatmate anticipation - don't get me wrong, there are many things *wrong* with the process of finding a new flatmate, but it is exciting to get to meet some new people and to think what they could potentially bring to your life as well.
• Living with my brother Tom. He's so quiet, keeps to himself so much, but he has an absolute heart of gold. He's taken to checking that I'll be home for dinner, and he makes good burritos.

• Being excited about Richter City Roller Derby's inaugural bout "The Grudgemaker". I am going to be MCing and I bought a suspender, fishnet stockings and false eyelashes the other day, to go with my new peacock blue and emerald green brocade 60s mini dress. I am going to have SO MUCH FUN. I've never worn false eyelashes. If you're in Wellington, you should totally come BTW.
• Having a great Shannon around.

 

(the photo is by the Polaroid Kidd, who seems to have taken his site down *sad face*)

Newtown Fair

It's still fair season, another big weekend with the Jackson Street Fair in Petone and the Newtown Fair. RCRD was at the Mighty Mighty Markets all afternoon on Saturday which was rather good fun, beer and toasted sandwiches and talking people into a raffle. Went to the Southern Cross afterwards too for cider with Mon. Mm, cider goooooood. Cider for Ginger. Cider Rules.

Today the Boy and I missioned to Newtown on our bicycles, parked up by the school and wandered about. SO MANY PEOPLE. And an insanely beautifully sunny day. I bought a new hat, a sexy straw number... I spent all summer desperately looking for the straw hat of my dreams, and typically I found it RIGHT AT THE END. In fact, I think we may be in Autumn officially.

Did I mention the amazing sun? I am sunburnt. My neck is especially bad, except for a small patch on the top of my neck where the hat worked with its powers of shade-creation. How about that.

A Fair also means many many junk/"antique"/NZ Pottery stalls. I managed to avoid acquiring anymore teacups or Crown Lynn plates or bowls, but I did buy this amazing little picture disc, a 45 single of "The World is Full of Married Men". It has a fabulously Attack-of-the-60ft-Woman-looking puppeteer printed on it.

I did some reading and apparently its a single from the soundtrack of a TV dramatisation of a Jackie Collins novel, and the soundtrack is basically all disco music. I might hijack Tom's turntables and get down with my bad self.

In other exciting news, Mel is back in town for a week. She's been studying at Yale, and has come over for a couple of weeks while she's on spring break. We went to the beach, Merryn and Mel and Merryn's Mysterious Melbournian Man-friend and myself. It was cold. Mel and Merryn went swimming. I thought they were mad.

Mmmmmm, like that song by the Crash Test Dummies.

A picture I liked

Yes, yes, another picture. One day soon I'll get around to writing something halfway decent.

The luverly Curvicious Rock took this photo just before the Cuba Carnival Parade. I'm the one in the stripes with ginger-ish hair. The female one.

I've had no time to blog because I've been riding my bicycle and baking and knitting for derby, and tonight I have been working on another website. Websites take lots of work and I am never going to consider myself a website making-type ever again. It's all experiential, I keep telling myself.

I am now turning off this rant and going to bed.

My own carnival

I've decided, just now, that I need my OWN carnival and parade, with unicorns and donkeys and unicorn donkeys and golden lion tamarinds and toy poodles. I will ride my beautiful new bicycle, decorated with roses and ribbons and bibbins and bits, and wind my hair with sparkly beads and wear a tutu.

It'll be beautiful.

In which Ginger skates (as Ginger) in the Cuba Street Carnival Parade

Writing this at training - my ankle of doom is a bit bruised and tender after spending all last night on skates and after last week's twisted ankle debacle. Thus, I am sitting on my arse and watching the girls go nuts. They look fucking amazing, I just have to say. So easy to be proud of them!

Last night was Cuba Street Carnival night - and we skated a la league in the Parade. My Glorious Public, thank you for the INCREDIBLE response. We opened the parade by speed skating the length of the parade route - I went as hard and as fast as I could and, Darlings, it was all about MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (sound of me yelling as I fly past you)... Then we walked around to the front of the parade route and skated the whole thing as a League, weaving and jumping and giving out fliers and making a shit load of noise. I only fell over once, when trying to jump over Danger Danger the Ref. Slightly embarrassing falling in front of a crowd of thousands of people. But did I mention that I'm a hell show pony? I promptly leapt up smiled and waved, and continued skating("My Glorious Public, I escape unscathed! Huzzah!"). My elbow hurt.

Now watching everyone practicing not hurting themselves when falling on their butts. Fascinating. Jet slides a long way...

In other news; I HAVE A BICYCLE. At least, I won a bicycle of Trade Me this morning. I am now eagerly awaiting its arrival, I love it so so so much already (and I've only seen photos! Like a mail order bride). So excited. I think I shall name it something snazzy. I also ordered a helmet and chain and light so I can ride it at night. I am making this bike count! The last time I owned and rode a bicycle, I rode to the waterfront from Aro Valley, fell off once on the way there and once on the way back, and swum in the sea while I had blood running off my knees (this stung). I will not be repeating this.

I can't believe how pro-exercise I have become in my old age.