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?

I went away on holiday and all you got was this shitty blog post

 

I am so free with the feelings of what few readers I have left. I disappear for months at a time (my most recent post was on the last day of July), and when I resume, four months later, I refuse to even give an excuse.

Yes indeed, no excuse for you all - except - that for six weeks of that four months, I was traipsing around parts of southwest England, Berlin and Paris and was simply unable to post. This was the trip for which I began my abortive Savings Tower.

Suffice to say: I saved the money, I booked the trip, I went. Was the trip fabulous? Yes. Yes it was.

I am also very smug as I came back with less than a thousand dollars worth of credit card debt. This is due in no small part to the generosity of Shannon and Nat, who sent me some money-presents while I was away. I also managed to negotiate (with Shannon) a hiatus on the power and internet bills.

Although no debt would have been ideal, the amount I've come back with is completely manageable, given how long I was away, and that I didn't especially watch what I was spending. I'll pay it back in no time!

Best things about my holiday:

• Seeing and staying with friends and family who made me feel welcome, and wanted, and spent a lot of their time entertaining me and feeding me and driving me around the place.
• Riding the trains in South-West England: I'd love to do a holiday where I spend the whole time just doing this. My train journeys took me to Winchester, Portsmouth, Penzance, St Ives, Salisbury and Bath before returning me safely to London. And that was over just three weeks!
• Berlin: Ich liebe Berlin! Berlin is the best and I want to move there. I loved the slightly deteriorating splendour of the palaces at Sans Souci, and the general awesome vibe of the city. I did not do a lot of clubbing, before you ask. This is mainly because I am not any kind of clubber, nor have I been since I was about 21 but partially because I didn't like the idea of going out, a single female, to bars and clubs in cities which I wasn't familiar with. I don't have any regrets about this.
• Rediscovering how much I enjoy visiting art galleries. I adore museums, and art museums but I must confess I had gone off art galleries a little since with the Melbourne Episode (of over seven years ago now, ye gods). Maybe, since it was an overseas experience that had caused the ambivalence, it took a positive overseas experience to reverse this.

 

 

I have many pictures, but I don't think that anyone enjoys it when someone posts one million pictures of their holiday on their blog - and my photos are as a rule kind of awful. I have created a Picasa Google+ album with some of the better good shots and captions for you to view, if you are so inclined.

Finally, a disclaimer: I have seriously toyed with pulling this entire blog down and having done with it. Since I apparently just can't make the break, we'll just have to live with my erratic and irregular posting for the time being.

Just love me the way I am. x

In which I begin to fill in another novelty-shaped money-thermometer

Hey so, I think I mentioned that I'd written a bunch of draft stuff that I hadn't got around to publishing.
On my 31st birthday I began writing a totes navel-gazing post:
Today is my 31st birthday (I wrote)

A year ago I decided that 30 was going to be the most amazing year ever - which hasn't necessarily been true. It's been deeply challenging and difficult, and I've had to make some decisions that were very hard for me. On the other hand, it's also been a year where I've paid off my debts, set up a gorgeous house with my partner, participated in kapa haka for the first time, and improved my sewing markedly.
This year I have a couple of goals:
✚ Travel to Paris, Berlin, London

 ... and then I stopped writing. Possibly my train arrived.
But it gives me the opportunity to introduce the Savings Tower! Now that I have paid of my debt, I am indeed most excited that I am saving money for myself instead of paying off debts.
The first thing I am saving for is a trip to Europe. Finally, after spending forever reading about Paris and Berlin and the UK and vaguely planning to *one day* (wistful dreaming face) travel there - I am DOING it. I am, of course, disappointed that hanging out at Shakespeare & Co won't be as exciting as it would have been, say, seventy years ago, or that I won't have the opportunity to run into Anais Nin and Henry Miller.* Or indeed visit a Weimar-era cabaret darlink.
In celebration of my new-found saving abilities I have created another novelty-shaped thermometer. Let us watch it grow together! As you can see I'm already trucking along quite nicely towards the cost of my airfare.



It's super nice to be saving for something lovely instead of throwing money at debt. Nobody ever told me how nice it would be to have assets... sometimes I just login to my bank account to look at my positive balance. Does that make me sound like Scrooge McDuck in his money pit?

*That would, of course, be truly ghastly and dreadful. That was 21 year old Sarah speaking, apols.
Currently playing: Howard by Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

This February, I...

 

✙ Took two weeks off work - and spent a week of that lazing about at home and enjoying myself with no pressure to go anywhere or do anything.

✙ Ate a crapload of summer fruit especially peaches, plums, apricots. Golden Queen peaches look terrible but taste amazing.

✙ Spent ten days in Golden Bay, my spiritual home, and became almost obscenely relaxed. I swam in the sea everyday and mostly stopped washing otherwise: it was heavenly.

✙ While in Golden Bay I went on an overnight kayaking trip and had a near death experience.  On the afternoon of the first day, the wind and the swell picked up and the waves became so much bigger than I am confident with - the waves were breaking over the front of the kayak and I FREAKED OUT. When we arrived at our destination I recovered with half a bottle of wine while shaking from shock; but now I can't remember the fear and only how amazing the trip back was on the second day. I Overcame my Fear? Or at least Killed it with Wine?

✙ Drank a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin.

✙ Took my measurements properly, re-sized a couple of patterns and sewed two skirts - one a-line and one pencil - and another Scout Tee. The a-line skirt is not that great, but the pencil one was a spectacular success I feel.

✙ Read a heap of books: Caesar's Women (Colleen McCullouch), The Snowman (Jo Nesbø), The Paris Wife (Paula McLain), Going Out (Scarlett Thomas), The Dante Club (Matthew Pearl), The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho), The Subtle Knite (Philip Pullman), and the truly ghastly and stupid A Discovery of Witches (Deborah Harkness).

✙ Went to my first knit-night at Holland Road Yarn, where I was given permission by a fellow knitter to frog my thrice-cast on sweater and to admit defeat. "The yarn doesn't want to be that top." THE RELIEF IS SO GREAT.

✙ Washed my face with honey in the morning, cleansed using the oil cleansing method at night, and moisturised with a hand blended oil that included the epically stinky neem oil. Pretty happy with the results - have no immediate plans to turn back.

✙ Cast on a pair of merino-possum socks that I am enjoying knitting very much. Not a fancy pattern, but I'm not feeling too fancy at the moment so it's suiting me well.

✙ Had a spectacular meal with a group of friends that I regularly dinner-party with, and brought devils on horseback as my offering.

✙ Was fitted for contact lenses for the first time in the twenty-three years that I've worn glasses. Turns out I can't see that well with the particular contact lens prescription that I have which is disappointing. I'm hoping that we can sort that out at the next appointment I have BUT: it's fun to be able to see so much when applying my make up.

✙ PAID OFF ALL MY DEBTS AND FILLED IN THE DEBT UNICORN ONCE AND FOREVER.

Christmas Holiday and plans for next year

I'm writing this from Shannon's grandparents' house in beautiful, sunny Tauranga - where I have just spent the last three or so hours sitting out in the sun, drinking very large gins and reading a narrative biography of the Curzon sisters (who were all, frankly, appalling). The summer up here is about twenty times better than what Wellington was offering, and while smothered in sunscreen and permanently topped with a large sunhat and sunglasses, I am not trying to keep out of the sun at all *sips gin*.

S and I came to Tauranga via Kawhia Harbour, which is a somewhat circuitous route. We spent two nights in Kawhia and went to Ocean Beach where we dug our own hot pools (a la the Coromandel's Hot Water Beach), boiled ourselves and then ran into the sea. The site we were given at the campground was right on the edge of the harbour - which is really more of a large tidal estuary. Shannon walked from our tent to the other side of the harbour while the tide was out.

Other things That Are Good include my new job, in which I am learning and being challenged and have lots to do, and finishing school. My final assignment is online and operational: you can see it at Lake's web site (urbantramper.com). The thing that I'm most proud of on the site is not visible to the casual user for it is my content management system - I crafted it from scratch and I think I did a fabulous job. Still ironing out some quirks, but a fabulous job nonetheless.

In the New Year I'm undertaking a new blog project - Three Hundred and Sixty Five Days of Peta. The easiest way to describe it is that it will be a Julie and Julia style experiment, where I will be the Julie and the ever-fabulous Peta Mathias will be the Julia. However, there's a little bit more to it as Peta writes about all sorts of things in addition to Food - relationships with mothers and men, travel,  France, and What You Should be Wearing. I'll be doing my best to make a bunch of her recipes, but I'll also be taking cues about, amongst other things: eating in general, drinking, dressing, interior decorating, music, ageing, and hopefully travel. I think that it will be a very fun experiment. At the least it should satiate my Peta love while keeping me out of mischief over the course of the year. I'll probably be a big-lameo and cross-post most of my posts.

So, tell me: did you have good holidays?

I'm in Melbourne, and still examining my navel

I'm writing this perched in the computer/kitchen room at Shannon's mum Sheryll's house in the suburbs of Melbourne. The house is all nestled in the Australian bush and there is something very nice about all the gumtrees and parrots - living in a house nestled in the New Zealand bush would be rather more damp, and there would be infinitely less parrots, light and warmth. Warmth is so hott right now.

So far, my little weekend away has been wonderful - no school work, a surfeit of self-improvement blogging-style light reading (I'm reading Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project), and amazing food. Also, Sheryll and her partner Daryl have a super lovely big dog called Mia and there is nothing quite like having a temporary dog about the place - all the petting and loving with none of the bills. Tonight we're going to get down with our bad selves at Sheryll's fiftieth birthday party which should be quite quite fun, I feel.

Since I've been well away from computers, my urge to blog and to write has become much more pronounced. Back into it, for reals, I think. Thanks for sticking around if you've still dropped in every now and then! The Web Development course has made my whole relationship with the internet change ...  I love seeing what people can do, structure wise, but I don't see being online as a hobby or a fun leisure time activity anymore. I guess that my attitude will evolve in the future. I still like writing and reading the posts that other people are making, even though my input is a lot smaller. I think perhaps I'm going to have to create time for blogging in the evenings and weekends, instead of waiting for the urge to hit me like a thunderbolt. A camera would help me out a lot too! Anybody selling a snap and go camera at a derisive price? Want to barter for a skill that I have? I could knit you something or bake something ... cater a dinner party? Build you a site? Just putting it out there, people. Let me know via the usual channels.

Packing!

I'm packing, I'm packing! Or at least, I'm making plans to pack and to make a giant bacon and egg pie. I have my pack sitting in my room and I can't wait to put my bits in there. I spoke to Bex on The Skype yesterday, and we talked about how packing and planning outfits for certain adventures is part of the fun of going away on holiday. I haven't planned outfits for anything for so long, but I'm bloody determined to enjoy the hell out of this holiday. Planning is definitely the way to go.

So I need to decide:

• What shall I wear to Hot Water Beach? *
• To the Waihi Museum?
• To Whitianga township for a cup of coffee?
• Road tripping around the Coromandel Peninsular?

I shall NOT answer: "jeans and a giant cardigan" to all those questions. Orrrr. Maybe I will and just bring a huge selection of scarves (a la SIOL challenge).

In slightly related news: I'm going to give this whole "no shampoo" thing a whirl. It came from reading this article on the Hairpin, and I suspect starting it while in the country is probably for the best. I wonder if "no shampoo" will stick? Should I take shampoo with me Just In Case? Is it possible to be more of a hippie than I already am with the crystal deodorant and the Mooncup? Do I smell funny?

All questions shall be answered In Time I am sure.

PS: Dropping my year long challenge because it's depressing me and I just don't need any more depressing things in my life while dealing with coding.

*Swim togs would probably be the most sensible option here.

Some things I have been doing lately

I am stating the obvious when I note that have been very quiet here. Truth be told, I am back to feeling completely underwhelmed by the prospect of using the computer after work and school. In my spare time I’ve been pursuing Real Life activities, but my camera has died a terrible death, and my cellphone camera bites arse so although I want to show off and upload images of things that I’ve been making and eating, I have no way of doing so unless I put up a very small, very dark, thumbnail-sized image, which means that I might as well not even bother.

Those are my excuses. I remember reading a NZ Post advertisement years ago that said that you should never apologise for taking a long time to write a letter - that every letter is a gift and no guilt should be attached. Are blog posts the same? I guess not so much if I am serious about readers and their opinions et al, but I’ve never been that good at sticking to one theme at any rate so the blog is more of a sprawling scrapbook of a thing than a curated magazine, or a Deeply Meaningful Expose and Examination of my life. My journal stops and starts in the same way with months between entries and then feverish writing for days and days.

So, lately:

I have been getting my craft on a wee bit more: I made three pairs of pyjama pants, and have started on a patchwork duvet cover which will be my first foray into the world of quilt making.* I made a pattern for the pyjama pants an old pair that I picked apart, and used some old sheets for fabric. I was absolutely stoked with how well they worked out! Having three new pairs of pyjamas has been fantastic: I have been suffering from a great Falling Apart of my bedwear recently.

The patchwork duvet cover is based on this idea - I am overlocking smaller strips together and then cutting them squares and then overlocking those squares together … I have bags and bags of scrap fabric which I am using as the material, and I’ve worked out that I need to make 132 squares out of these scraps and bits in order to make a queen-sized duvet cover. On Saturday last I made forty-odd before losing all my enthusiasm. There is SO.MUCH.WORK in your average quilt, and apparently lots and lots of work even in the totally rough and ready way that I’m making this one. Having a cutting board and a cutting wheel would make a difference, but would also defeat my intention to make do with the materials and tools that I have for the time being.

In terms of knitting: I unpicked a hat I made a few months ago and reknitted it with the right sized needles, which means that it actually fits me instead of swamping my head. The pattern is called Amelia Earhart cap. This is the previous evocation (ie the super large version)

I think it’s adorable. I used possum merino yarn so it’s super fluffy and warm however I feel less like Amelia Earhart when I’m wearing it and more like a Medieval serving wench, which is something to do with the very country-fied something about it.

I found a fabulous book in the library in which vintage patterns are made over for modern knitters. I'm making a wee shrug out of some blue lambswool that will be very pretty I think! Far too cold for the moment though. Brr!

Also, I've been knitting tiny clothes. Not for me, but I'm keeping the disclosure on the down low, so forgive me if I say nothing more on this topic at present.

At school, I am doing a project whereby I intended to redesign this blog and give it some interesting functionality. Suffice to say, my coding skills make this whole process tedious beyond belief. I have so much respect for web developers who can understand and use coding languages, because I know that I will never be fluent.

However, I am getting some things out of my course. Firstly, it's great having a good idea about what is possible in terms of development, and how one might go about doing it. Secondly, I am learning empathy with people who struggle with comprehending things on a daily basis. As in, I've never struggled so much with something in my life, and I figure it must be character building. My character is being built upon daily.

At the moment I'm reading the biography of Ada Lovelace who was one of the first women to write (hypothetical) code... one of the people who helped "invent the computer" in the early 1800s. I think she must be truly amazing with an incredibly tortuous mind, because to come up with this stuff is MIND BOGGLING, I tell you. I can't wait to feel safe and happy in my little history world, once again.

My other exciting news is that the holiday I blogged about two months ago is mere days away! We fly to Auckland on Saturday morning and I will then spend a week in a studio apartment on a beach and drink coffee and sleep and sleep and NOT DO ANY CODING. I also intend to read a great deal. And visit the vintage clothing store in Waihi. And op-shop until my feet fall off. Hoo-bloody-ray.

In which Christchurch is not at all like the Lord of the Flies

Hello people! I am back from my mini break in a disaster zone, a disaster zone in which a State of Emergency is still in operation. I think it is fair to say that it was no tropical resort style holiday, but I am feeling more rested and a little less stressed than I was the day that I left when I had one of my patented At Work freak outs. I haven't had one in ages, but whenever I have one it's as though an old friend or a terribly embarrassing and loud relation has come visiting again.

I've already talked about the trip a lot so I can now break it down into bullet points pretty well.

• Christchurch is not at all like Lord of the Flies, or The Tribe. With the exception of a bread shortage (the main commercial bakery was operating at a limited capacity) there wasn't any noticeable issues, and certainly no children in the streets creating their own hierarchies and communities. Disappointed much?
• The central city was pretty badly hit by the earthquake, but there was no widespread damage. Here are some pictures of some of the worst buildings near the motel where we were staying. You can see the toilet in the first one! There's something about toilets exposed in earthquakes that is very funny.*

• I ate really well (as in, heaps of food) and I may never have to eat again. I am still full of Copenhagen Bakery Almond and Honey tart and German Rye Sourdough and Bodhi Tree tea salad and Ryvita crackers.
• Lyttleton seems pretty cool, and I'm super keen to investigate at a time when things are a little more accessible. The main street was partially blocked off because two of the larger buildings in the street were pretty badly damaged and looked as though they were going to collapse. The Wunderbar wasn't open.
• I didn't go on the tram because it seemed kind of lame when I saw it.
• I didn't go to the Art Centre or the Gallery or the Museum. The Art Centre and Museum were closed because of the earthquake and damage to the buildings and the Gallery is Civil Defense headquarters at the moment. So in addition to the fact that it was closed and completely full of paper and army people, it didn't seem entirely appropriate to go in there.
• All the people I met were very nice and friendly. I think the earthquake has made people friendlier. Everyone wanted to talk about what they were doing during the major earthquake and the really big after shock last Wednesday morning. In all, I think I heard about 20 earthquake stories.
• I had my first ever manicure. Then I experienced ruining my first ever manicure while trying to buy cake and bread from the bakery before my nails were properly set. DUH.
• I appear to have lost the ability to shop. I spent ages looking for things to buy and it was the most unrewarding thing ever; in the end I only bought fabric so I could sew when I got home.
• Oh, and some books. I really, really love second hand book stores. More Anais Nin!
• Journalists really enjoy reporting on disasters. In saying this, I don't wish to imply that all journalists are cynical disaster mongers as It makes perfect sense to me that they would get such a kick out of it, however it is a little surprising when you're first confronted with it en masse.
• I may never drink again. My body decided to rebel against my alcohol consumption to the extent that I stopped enjoying it altogether. I wonder when this peculiarity will end? Will it ever end? How much could I save by not drinking at all?
• I'm experiencing a weird thing budget wise - I had plenty of savings, most of which I'd resigned myself to spending over the mini break. I'm nowhere near blowing my budget (which I am very proud of) but I feel sad about the money from my savings that I have spent. As in: "I miss you savings! I really liked you. I wish I hadn't frittered you away on food and fabric".
• Christchurch then, has revealed to me how pervasive the savings/not spendings/budgeting has been. A new era in spending and saving for Ginger???
• I came home to discover a jar of snails in the kitchen. My flatmate is currently purging them, and intends to eat them later this week.
• Being a disaster tourist sucks. I felt totally self-conscious and self-defensive entire time. In the end I fell back on the fact that I was helping to buoy the economy through expenditure. Some kind of good Samaritan?

Christchurch seems as though it has some pretty nice aspects to it and I'd like to go back for a good explore in about a year's time. At the risk of sounding terribly parochial, Wellington is way cooler, however I am happy to concede that Christchurch is very pretty and has some neat-o bits.

Nice work Chch! And good luck with the rebuilding. You're doing awesome so far.

*People's property being destroyed, however, is not funny at all.

Weekend Projects and Ms "Disaster Tourism" 2010

Agata Nowacka via Supersonic Electronic

y weekend projects were not as plentiful as might have been hoped. I had a good go at decluttering, and I've managed to get rid of some more clothes from my wardrobe. It's really nice to be able to move the clothes smoothly along the rack, and my room is looking less cluttered and more tidy each time I remove something, which is a very satisfying feeling. Other cleaning things slid off my to-do list, but I managed to get at least one load of washing done before the gale force winds set in and tore everything off the line (flatmate was not so lucky - he found his jeans in the garden this morning).

Shannon's birthday scarf is nearing completion. If I really knuckle down I think I can get it well finished before his birthday (on Friday), and the weather is so miserable at the moment that it looks as though he'll get some decent wear out of it before spring starts. Did I mention the gales? There are lots of gales at the moment. Tres windy.

On Saturday night I tweeted for the second Richter City bout "The Rubble Rouser". I felt far less weird going to this one than i did going to the first bout after leaving the league, but it's still pretty strange watching the girls skate and not being a part of it. i drank a few (not very nice) beers, and ran into a fair few people that I hadn't seen for ages - mostly people from high school. All in all I had rather a weird night, and I was rather relieved to run off as soon as the bout was finished.

The bout itself was great though! So many hot talented ladies. Pageant won again… this means that the final bout is just a matter of Malice trying to claw back some pride. I have faith in them though! GET IN THERE GIRLS.

I'm going to be tweeting the next bout as well by the look of it. I over-tweeted on Saturday - apparently Twitter cuts you off if you send 200 tweets in an hour (who could have guessed) so I'm going to have to learn to be a little more self controlled for the next one. I received a lot of good feedback from people watching the tweets. Happy! I love positive feedback, like a big geeky puppy rolling on my back and waving my paws in the air. WEEE.

And my final bit of news: Did you pick up on the recent earthquake in Christchurch? It was a pretty huge earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter scale, and it's pretty much a miracle that nobody was killed. There are heaps of photos out there of buildings that have just slid into the centre of the road. But - guess where I'm still going on Wednesday? I'm going to visit an earthquake hit city that's under a State of Emergency.

I'm not super enthused to visit the carnage (in case you're wondering if I have a twisted Disaster Tourism desire), but Shannon is still going down there for work and I still have tickets to fly there, and the airport is open. I'm not sure how much will be happening, so I guess I'll take a few more books than I'd initially planned. I guess it'll be good to get out of the city though? I hope there are no scary aftershocks and I don't fall into a hole in the floor and am never seen again.* That would be bad.


*I read a story about the 1931 Napier earthquake at primary school and this exact thing happened to a character in the story. I've never been able to get it out of my head.

Investigative Blogging: money and Other People

I know lots of interesting people (so lucky), and most of these people have and spend money in a completely different way to me. In an effort to keep me and other peeps enthused, I've started interviewing people about their attitudes towards money and how it is that they are able to keep doing the awesome things that they do!

This is my second interview, this time with Lake of Urban Tramper. Urban Tramper have just finished their most recent tour around Europe which sounds like the most fun ever (Eli has documented lots of it on their blog).

Image from the Urban Tramper blog - Lake is in the middle.
(L-R) Ben, Lake and Eli

I’ve had savings accounts on and off since I was a kid, but until relatively recently I’ve been pretty crap at keeping on top of it. How about you - do you have a savings account? When did you first start saving?

I have two accounts. One is for band stuff and the other is for general spending. I've never really had a separate account for saving. I've often thought it would be a good idea and have also considered a term deposit kind of thing.

I do save my coins though - ever since I can remember. It began with Easter eggs. My brothers and I would get one big chocolate egg every Easter. It was a huge treat and we would want it to last as long as possible. Sometimes my younger brother would still have some left - days after mine was long gone. Oh the pain of knowing I could still have some left if I hadn't scoffed mine.

I don't really care for chocolate these days (it gives me sore teeth), but Easter taught me that there is joy to be had by saving something for the future, even if it means depriving  oneself in the present.

What about a credit card? If yes, how do you use it (i.e. as oppose to a debit card, hardly at all and pay back immediately, or, like me, max it out and spend three years paying it back?)

I got my first credit card in 2008 prior to going to England to live for a year. Receiving the card was actually quite exciting, then I just worried about losing it. I used it reasonably frequently to buy stuff online. Mainly bus/train/plane tickets. I've never really been in debt* and don't like the idea. I always pay the card back the same day. I don't know if it's well founded, but I always thought I'd be charged large sums of money very quickly for missing payments.

I actually think credit cards fuel excess production by encouraging over consumption. One then has to work long hours at a shitty job to pay back this debt. Working 40 hours/wk at a boring job, or even a sweet as job, leaves little time for reflection, creativity, community participation, relaxation, family etc...  Thus, the discontent that follows is often buried under a pile of new purchases that are bought on a salary which is also paying off old purchases... Hence, a cycle of debt and discontent ensues. I think debit cards are better idea.

Having said that, I often imagine what I could do if I went mad and maxed out my credit card.

At the moment, you’re traveling throughout Europe and wowing people with your music. If it’s not too personal, how are you managing this?

Yes we've just finished a 7 week tour and now I'm de-toxing in the Pyrenees making hay as a wwoofer.** I worked part time for about 9 months to save the coin to be able to afford the mission. We don't get paid enough to cover costs (flights, rental car, petrol, tolls, food, etc) but we managed to do the tour quite cheaply. We only paid for accommodation once over the past 7 weeks (two nights at a camp ground) and I think this is normally a great cost in traveling. We utilised the kindness of friends and www.couchsurfing.org to great effect. People are often happy to have visitors for a couple of nights. We ate a lot of bread, cheese and tomatoes and only ate out once or twice the whole trip (apart from numerous felafel kebabs in Germany and 2.10 euro pizza in Berlin).

You have a pretty cool attitude to the distribution of your music online. Can you describe your philosophy on this?

I'm still in the process of working out the best way to earn a little money from music. Distributing music online is the best way to get more music to more people quickly and cheaply. We would hope that our music can help people in certain situations, or bring them joy in some way. I also think it's important that music, which is an integral part of our culture, is available to everyone. Because of this I'm trying to make all our music available on our website for no set fee. I'm trying to steer people away from our Myspace page and towards our website as we have more control over the advertisements on this page. Myspace, and other intermediate sites, have done a great job of making money off musicians without paying them. I do admit that they can be a great tool, I just think it's a shame that these 'music' sites (iTunes, Myspace, lastfm) are made by entrepreneurs who exploit musicians that “just care about the music”. At the moment on our website we offer free mp3 downloads and give people the opportunity to donate to our cause, a 'pay what you want scheme' if you will. Most people who obtain CDs (including myself) burn them straight to their mp3 collections and forget about them, hence the CDs become disposable and wasteful.

Some people still want something to hold. Therefore I think good quality downloads combined with some sort of artwork/clothing is great option (I think www.alowhum.com was doing this at some stage) and I will try and make less CDs and more art for my next release.

I wrote an extended rant on these themes for a sociology paper I was taking. Here it is: http://urbantramper.blogspot.com/2009/06/goal-is-not-only-better-living.html 

How would you characterise your attitude towards money - would you describe yourself as a saver or a spender? And on the day to day - are you a hard core budgeter, or do you just take the money as it comes?

I basically try and minimise the time I spend working a dull job for someone else. This means I earn less money and, hence, have to be more careful with it. I have an aversion towards spending and 'shopping' in general. I cannot buy new clothes/new shoes at all. I just wait until my stuff is completely worn out and then hope I can inherit something from a friend/relative, or find something at an opshop. Thus, I don't really budget. My first question at any establishment is “what is the cheapest …... you have?”. This approach has changed somewhat as I try and make more ethical purchases. I'm trying to bring myself to part with more money so I can purchase things that last longer, and are ethically produced.  In short, I'm a saver by necessity. I'm scared of debt and hate to work too much, therefore I spend less. Now and then I blow out and spend $100 in a weekend, usually on booze and hangover food, but the shame is enough to prevent those episodes occurring regularly.

Instead of keeping to a budget, and thus feeling restricted and sometimes missing out, I try and exploit life's less expensive pleasures. It pains me to see waste and the vast amounts of useless stuff that is produced, and later becomes waste. I'm all about re-using and borrowing/lending. If my friend has one, do I really need one too? If have a perfectly OK microphone, do I really need another/better one? Making lots of stuff affects the environment and this stuff has got go somewhere when it stops being useful. It's also good to remember that the way we spend/save our money is a political act - whether we like or not. It sucks to think that me buying a certain good/service contributes to the fortunes of the already super-rich. I consider all these issues when I buy goods and services, hence, it's easier to cut down my options and buy second hand/ethically produced, or not at all.

Finally, do you have anything that you want to add in terms of HOTT money tips, maybe in terms of travel?

These sites were key to the success of our mission:
http://www.wwoof.org
http://www.couchsurfing.org/
ride sharing in France: http://www.covoiturage.fr/, Germany: http://mitfahrergelegenheit.de/
and the UK: http://www.mylifts.com/

I also recommend the following to save one's coin:
kebabs
vegetarianism
dumpster diving
hitchhiking (it's possible throughout Europe)


*apart from a student loan. I think mass disobedience is necessary when it comes to these. We all have them, let's all not pay them back.
**working for a few hours a day on organic farms in exhange for food and accomodation.

Thanks Lake! I hope the rest of your travels go super well, and I can't wait to hear more about them. See you next year! x

Twelve days until my Christchurch mini-break!

In Christchurch, I plan to ride on the ticky-tacky trams.
Photo is from this site, run through Tilt Shift Maker

The last time I went on holiday was Camp A Low Hum, back in January and that was less a holiday and more a long, drunken, rowdy, awesomely fun weekend. Thus, I am looking towards my Chch mini-break in twelve days time with GREAT anticipation.

The only other time I've been to Christchurch was on a road trip around the South Island with Andy and Lizzie, and that was something like six or seven years ago now. Also, I think we stayed just long enough to  complain about the coffee so I didn't really have a good look at anything in particular, just whinged and then jumped back in the hippie van we were travelling in. Maybe we looked at the Avon some and said something about it being pretty.

I'm staying with Shan-dawg, who is being sent down there to work. This means I get free accommodation and get to play house; spend all day wandering about by myself and all evening eating and drinking with my Boy. Heaven.

So far, most of my plans involve the Arts Centre. It's got a pretty amazing reputation, and there are craft and food markets held there! Also, apparently some kind of late night GHOST WALK. Shannon has already agreed to do this excessively geeky thing with me, but I will need to buy tickets for us. I'm really excited at the prospect of going on a fun history walk geek-out type thing with my boyfriend.

Food and bar-wise, I am planning on going to Dux de Lux. And that's about where my knowledge runs out.

Also, I want to hit some op-shops and vintage shops, and knitting/fabric shops. I had a quick look around the internets and have made a list of op-shops that look hopeful.

Anyhow, as much fun as it will be roaming aimlessly, I was hoping that someone would be able to help me out with the op shops and bars and stuff? I asked what I should do on Facebook and most people suggested that I either go and murder people or become murdered myself (which is a bad taste reference to Christchurch's reputation as a "crime capital", for those of you not in New Zealand). Lyttleton also looked popular.

Any more suggestions? Or should I get a phone book out and start looking for Bill Hammond?

And, lastly - does anybody want to have coffee with me?

♥ Campus A Low Hum - Day One ♥

It's taken me ages to write all of this and now I'm worried that it just reads like an appalling story written by a small child ("And then I went to the Zoo, and then I had an ice cream, and then I rode on the train"). So. Just saying.

I cadged a ride with the Boy up to Bulls the day before camp started and decided to have an early night, which mean that I woke up full of PEP and VIM on Saturday morning, CALH Day One. It rained all Friday night and on and off for most of Saturday, but in an effort to be mature and responsible I had checked out the weather before I left (indeed, obsessed over it) and had brought a pair of gumboots and some awesome plastic ponchos that made me look like I’d just been picked up from the drycleaners.

I spent the first part of the morning haunting the canteen and looking forlornly towards their espresso machine (i.e. the Teat from which I Prefer to Suckle) because OH MY GOD I NEEDED COFFEE. This need was a combination of the beer I’d drunk the night before that was still hanging out with me, and all that fresh out-doorsy air.

Shannon and the RNZ crew were working the first part of Saturday and the rest of the people in my tent party (Bex, Luke, Bryna, Peter) had bustled of to Marton for gumboots and umrellas, so I was left to my own devices. I lurked ex-workmate Ange and gf for a bit and then wandered off to look for Lippy with whom I was supposed to be doing skating stuff. As soon as I started looking for her she appeared like magic and we managed to get a skate in and try out the floor before attending life drawing classes, which were being run by a friend of Lippy’s.

Lippy and Me getting arty with ourselves

This was great, but apparently it was vitally important that I made a dick of myself during this class, mishearing “gesture drawing” as “jester drawing” and thus making a douchey-smartass comment completely inadvertently. I’m actually blushing just thinking about it. Anyhow, it turns out that I’m not as shit an artist as I thought – with the right patience and guidance, two beers and my Derby Wife by my side, THIS is what I can achieve:

Dude! It kind of looks like a person and not a series of blobs!

It was already well past midday before I got around to seeing any bands – the first I saw was Parking Lot Experience who were a bunch of guys from Melbourne. I can’t remember anything about the music, but I can tell you that they made a very impressive human pyramid on stage and then performed a Chinese dragon dance that became a conga line.

We had a quite a nice relaxing afternoon and evening featuring more alcohol (a theme for weekend), gumboots and a deep and meaningful between Bex and me (kisses darling). At some point after we’d drunk copiously we noticed what the time was and toddled off to see the Dodos play. Shannon and I ended up perched on the edge of the stage which was awesome fun; he gave a boost to a small girl who was trying to climb on top of a stack of speakers. That was one of the most fun things about Camp – even if you were doing something that was basically kind of dumb, there were no grown ups telling you what you could and couldn’t do (with the exception of climbing the water tower. That was Verboten). Oh, and as always the Dodos were fantastic to watch! I enjoyed this gig much more than when I saw them at San Fransisco Bath House at the end of 2007 because the sound was just too loud for me. I ended up having to stand right at the back of the bar and even then my ear drums were quivering with fear.

After the Dodos had played, Bex and I changed into our toga/sheets for the Orientation party which had been billed, essentially, as a non-ironic bogan fest. We danced to some seriously bad 90s music in the gym, including that KORN track about doing it all for the nookie (still stuck in my head). I was disturbed at the amount of nostalgia that the music and the situation made me feel and I felt strangely affectionate towards the situation instead of horrified. Indeed, I was thrust back in time to 1998 when I went to all these trashy parties with Hayley and her Chilton friends, parties that also featured a whole bunch of gross Hutt Boys and a fair amount of RTDs. Dude, I was THERE again. I was feeling it. I requested "Barbie Girl" from the DJ.

 VIA Sean

Later during the Orientation party, having cleared an enormous dancing space for ourselves, Bex and I decided it would be an awesome idea to slide around on the floor on our knees and I promptly bruised myself on top of an earlier bruise I’d got from roller skating.

NEXT WEEK: A crocodile, two holes, and I actually see some bands.

Going to Camp tomorrow

I'm going to Camp A Low Hum tomorrow. I'm very excited, but the weather looks like it's going to be shit.

Nat is lending me her gumboots. I'm definitely going to need them. *sigh*

End of the Christmas break for me.

I’m back at work and am existing in a liminal zone between twiddling my thumbs, procrastinating and doing incredibly irritating nitpicky work. Quelle surprise - tres boring. My first day at work was an epic adventure in comedic misadventures AND REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING. Items:

• Tried toasting left over panettone in the toaster for breakfast, whereupon the panettone promptly jammed and filled the kitchen with smoke and I spent ten minutes digging burnt bits of it out of the toaster with a knife.
• Buses were replacing trains and thus public transport was running late. Also, knitting on the bus made me feel motion sick removing the only enjoyable thing from my trip to work. Also, I forgot my iPod, so no happy audio books for me.
• Upon arriving at Petone station for a transfer, my carton of soy milk exploded in my bag and soaked me and everything I own with soy milk. Everything I owned then smelt of rancid soy milk and I smelled like rancid soy milk for the whole day. Joy.
• Upon arriving at work, I discovered that I had left my swipe card on my dresser. The main entrance gate was locked, and I was forced to crawl under it on the wet ground.
• When I tried to have a cup of Bad-Workplace, Any-Port-in-a-Storm coffee I discovered that the soy milk I'd been able to recover from the Terrible Soy Milk Accident was soured and gross.
• NOELLE MCCARTHY ON THE RADIO. so.annoying. In fact, the National Radio summer programme is pretty ghastly all round, and especially in the morning - I can be somewhat indulgent of the awfulness of Matinee Idle (the awfulness being the point of it), but Summer Noelle is a killer. I repeat: so.annoying.

AND (piece de resistance):

• During the week I was away, my boss created extra work in an already complicated job by telling me to do something different, causing a series of annoying problems that I now need to sort out so that I can go back to doing what I was doing in the first place.

On the plus side, things have been much better since and have included the discovery that Supermarket brioche is almost like real brioche if you heat it for 20 seconds in the microwave. In fact, it's almost good. Also, tonight is New Years Eve! And I have absolutely NO PLANS AT ALL except hanging with the Boy and this is filling me with inestimable joy. I want to knit and watch old movies and eat and drink and then we can kiss at midnight and go to bed.

Auckland Dorkland

I'm typing on a computer at the back of a convenience store on Queen Street, and just quietly this is the most uncomfortable computer set up I've ever had the misfortune to use. There is nothing for me to rest my wrists on and as a result the heels of my hands are getting cut into by the sharp edges of this narrow Formica bench top. Mm, salubrious. Mostly I have been sleeping in and playing house and lying about knitting and walking for ages around Auckland (yesterday I walked to Ponsonby from Queen Street). Shannon is lovely and if I am rather enjoying being his hotel room good time girl. And cooking and stuff. Also I have been buying very silly things. Today I went to my all time favourite dollar shop/nutty Japanese store and bought a phone dangle thing in the shape of a piece of cake. The best thing about it is that it can be used as an LCD display cleaner also, and now I have the cleanest cellphone screen that anybody could hope to have, something that I was clearly cravingly in need of all my life. I narrowly avoided buying a brightly coloured bicycle bell yesterday. Good lord it was the hotttest thing ever and it would have made my hott velo 45% hottter. But it's all very silly and I don't need it. Not like this miniature black board with suction cup! Or these oil blotting bits of paper! Or this chignon clip! So, anyhows, I'm thinking that I shall investigate the Museum today. The gallery is closed and the contemporary gallery is showing the Rita Angus exhibition that I saw last year (on a mobility scooter, you might remember). I should just get enthused and go for it. Feeling kind of sleepy now though. Five minutes left. I'm going to google and see if there's a list of good op shops in this town. The one in Ponsonby was overwhelming in it's flashness. Kind of glad I stole something from their bag out the front last time I was here. Brings them down a peg or two.

Ugh. Holiday Fail.

I spent all day Sunday vomiting copiously. I couldn't walk or sleep. It was all very wrong. It was also Self Inflicted.

This morning I turned up twelve hours early for my flight to Auckland. I've had that flight booked for months - and I was convinced that I'd checked the time quite quite a lot. But apparently not! Apparently I vagued out! Yay me.

So now - now I am waiting. I would rather be knitting but my knitting is already checked in with my luggage and is winging it's way to Auckland. I think I'll just watch these Time Team eps and twiddle my thumbs. And eat potatoes.

It's Saturday and I'm officially On Holiday

On Monday morning I leave for Auckland! I plan to lie in bed a lot of the time and do little else, except maybe craft and carry bananas around in my newly acquired Banana Keeper. Holidays are awesome and Galleries are awesome and being a Lady of Leisure is awesomely awesome.

I'm procrastinating getting ready to go to a big fun time Brutal Pageant picnic in Island Bay. There will be cake and pink bubbles and I shall wear my cake fascinator. And all I have to do is have a shower... but my arm smells like the Boy's man scent and I'm a little loathe to wash it off. Does that sound weird and stalkerish? Possibly. But AS IF you've never done something similar, whatevs.

More derby later: Screampuff's goodbye drinks and partying hard. I think I shall ride the bicycle to hers. Bit too far to ride to Island Bay though, and I think that I would have to set off now and that's so not going to happen. Also there's that ridiculous hill as you come out of Newtown and I feel daunted thinking about it from over here.

Ugh, this permanent tiredness has to end. So fucking tired right now. Going to make another cup of coffee I think.

BTW, I fixed all the links in my side bar. The Boy pointed out that they were dead last night over hot Duke Carvell's cocktails and beer. But they must have been dead for something like six months. Shame.

A Big Easter Weekend of Pottering Around - Good Friday

So, Good Friday began with Fail, as (of course) all the supermarkets are closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. So, food shopping was not achieved.

However, I did ok with getting some baking in: we had no bread and so my first act was to remedy the situation and make my own - a bit denser than I'd like. While I was making it there was a lot of standing around and gas-bagging with the New Flatmate. And drinking lots of coffee.

 

I then made soup for lunch. The soup is tomato and pumpkin and chilli, and I've made the picture very very small because all pictures of soup look like pictures of vomit. Unless one is a particularly gifted food photographer with a great camera, which I am not.

Did my laundry and hung it on the line. I suspect that my laundry is actually breeding in the basket, because I did an insane amount of washing and the basket is still near overflowing. Grrr. Ongoing weekend job, it appears.

While I was in the laundry shed I strung up an undies-line for winter, which was an added achievement for the day! Huzzah.

Rode my bike to the dairy to get ingredients for Red Velvet Cake. However the dairy have didn't buttermilk. I decided to make chocolate cup cakes instead and then realised (when I got home) that I no longer have muffin pans to support the cakes while they are baking.  So my cakes were a little spread about and oddly shaped... rather nice lavender icing though. Mmm. Icing. Oh, and sprinkles of course. And I got to use the icing bag, which is always great fun.

[You can better see the weird shapes in the picture below. Please admire how much the cakes really question the idea of what is "round" and whether it's really compulsory for cupcakes to be "round". I love to shake things up, challenge the status quo, ask the hard questions. I'm hard core like that.]

Then I caught the bus to Newlands for the first time. This was an Adventure! When I arrived, mum had cut her own finger with a pair of scissors while she was collecting rosemary from the garden - as in, she cut very firmly through the woody rosemary stem and straight through her own finger. Michelle was there fixing aforementioned finger which was pissing blood. Then we drank red wine and had roast chickeny bits for dinner and ate cake and watched trashy TV. I stayed the night.

End of first day of pottery weekend - how did I go? My list was

• Clothes washing ACHIEVE! - or at least, I didn't say that I had to do all the washing. So, ongoing achieve.
• Vacuum the bedroom FAIL. I completely forgot about this.
• Food Shopping: I will ride my bike to Chaffers Park New World SEMI-ACHIEVE - I rode my bike to the dairy to get ingredients, and I did a bit of food shopping. On second thoughts, I think it's perhaps more of a SEMI-FAIL.
• Make hot cross buns FAIL. And I can't be arsed now, so this can go in the "Crazy Wacky Ideas" pile.
• Make cake, possibly red velvet cake ACHIEVE. I made cupcakes. And in a more general baking sense, I also made bread. And in a more general cooking sense, I made soup.

Conclusion: MUST TRY HARDER.

A Wednesday List with Links. And also a short rant.

No particular theme or order. Unless the theme is "me me me me me me". But lets face it, the theme of the blog is "me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me"....

• I ♥ Potatoes [via the Old Foodie]. Yes I do. And they're SO good for you! Stodgy-delicious morsels of nutrition-y goodness. Also, any dish that is described as a "surprise" is a-ok with me.
• Bea gave me the gift of unicorns. I am 70-80% more excited about the Internet than I was fifteen minutes ago.
• Did I mention I am a geek for Audiobooks? (a rhetorical question, clearly). I'm downloading Moby Dick as we speak. Now I can get me some Eddication on the train, like.
• My workmate Ashleigh came back from South America with a huge pottle of dulce de leche, and I was determined that I would make some at home. I found this recipe, and I shall be undertaking it very very soon. Like tomorrow maybe. Or Friday.

In other news I'm very excited about my prospective camper-van holiday at the beginning of May. So I have a long time to stay excited, yes?

In other other news I was grumpy for the whole day, horribly-heinous grumpy, and it was only after I arrived home that I started feeling like a normal person again. It wasn't even like a second wind, it was a first and only wind, and it didn't happen until about half seven. Perhaps I am more the woman of the night than I realised?