squirrelling….

Now that I am trying to save dosh up again, after the extension project,  a ‘good’ weekend is measured by how much money DIDN’T get spent. (With bonus points added for if the car left the property or not)

There was some temptation this weekend, as I had arranged to go help my friend Carrie choose some new threads for a night out she had planned.  We had an awesome lunch on Saturday (after SPCA duties were complete) at our standard meeting place- the Library cafe in Onehunga. I totally rate it, especially if you are going there with kids, as they have indoor and outdoor play areas set up. OH, and the food and coffee is also great!

image from http://www.coffeesecrets.co.nz

We went to Dressmart next up, and my resolution to not spend any money was short lived when I saw a brilliant top with a cat face on…. Who could resist!? Not me! Adding to my collection with clothes with animal prints had to be done…

But- that was it for me for the weekend. I think I did pretty well- all up, including a coffee/snack on the way to work and the impulse shopping, I spent $55 for the whole weekend 🙂 YAY ME.
…and BONUS- didn’t leave home in the car at all yesterday!

batten down the hatches!

I’m not in the spa tonight- its freaky stormy here. Even though its nice to be out there in the rain, not so much when the rain is barreling through, almost horizontal.

I don’t want to rabbit on about how great the spa is (but it is!)…What I have realized about it, is it makes me stop. It makes me sit, and do nothing. Which is really the only time of the day that that ever happens! Its my “contemplating stump”.

Let me explain…! The contemplating stump is a tree stump high up in Woodhill forest. It was christened by one of the guys who worked at as a quad bike tour guide out there, when I did. It was a great place to sit, and well…contemplate things. Some big decisions got made, sitting on that stump.

image via flickr

 

 

I am grateful that I know have my own little meditation area! I have a feeling that some of my best ideas will bubble to the surface out there.

lost in space

Tonight- whilst chilling in the spa, i looked up at the sky and saw the space station.

It’s the 2nd time this week that I have noticed it- the brightest “star” in the sky. Contrasting against the clear purple-blue deeper end of the ombre sky tonight, it was a magical thing.

Today has been a day of reflection and meditation…

I went for my long run, always plenty of time to ponder life. I made sure to say hello to every man, woman and child that I ran past, and without fail got a “hello!” and a smile back 🙂

my running loop as tracked by my Garmin GPS

The rest of the day I spent on the deck reading, and occasionally putting my book down to stare off into the distance. It was a windy day and occasionally unknown voices travelled to me on the breeze.

 

 

 

quote from Gretchen…

Quote of the day from Gretchen Rubin:

“Whatever creates or increases happiness or some part

of happiness, we ought to do; whatever destroys or

hampers happiness, or gives rise to its opposite, we

ought not to do.”

– Aristotle, Rhetoric

Today for me, this means doing:

• treating myself to a bought coffee instead of instant
• watching the America’s cup races, even though they are in work time (and encouraging everyone else to do the same)
• getting some exercise
• participating in my streets get together at my neighbours place tonight, and appreciating the awesome area that I live in, and the cool people who also live there.
• plan what I need to do do in the weekend, so I can accomplish all my jobs and have time left over to relax

It means not doing:

• spending time and energy stressing about people who have treated me disrespectfully- you can only control *your* actions, not other peoples.

storm….

Driving home tonight, a smell wafted in through the air vents in the car, and I couldn’t place it.

It was fresh, vibrant and crisp- yet earthy and metallic almost. I knew I had smelt it before but didn’t know where. It was so incredible, i wanted to bottle it, and keep it forever!

Then it came to me! It was the smell of a storm, and someone had already done just that! I had smelt the smell before, as my friend Emma had sent me a perfume a couple of birthdays ago- the smell of a thunderstorm.

This was that exact smell, and lucky me, I already had the bottled version.

I was trying to figure out where the smell came from…rain on warm leaves and dirt, combined with warmth held under the foliage, heating and evaporating, in some sort of nature-y oven? Who knows…

Since I got the Thunderstorm fragrance, I have been a fan of demeter. Have a look here for other hard to find scents of smells that memories get made from…

http://www.demeterfragrance.com/

 

I <3 "The Block"

This is probably a very sad fact to admit, but I totally and utterly LOVE “The Block”!

It’s like a comedy, a documentry, and (sort of the main goal) a home reno show, all in one! The contestants are real and relatable and FUNNY! (and one pair are from Southland..!..)

Today I:

• went to work (did some work)
• did my weekly shop at the Korean supermarket
• came home from work early
• mowed the lawns
• cleaned out all the chicken water buckets
• tried to figure out how to set my new rat trap (and failed- it will keep)
• had a spa
• saw the International Space Station ….from my deck!
• made hamburgers for dinner for the 2nd night in a row (why mess with a working formula?!)
• watched “the block” and laughed my head off!

…aaaaaaaaaaaand…GO!

Race Day!

It was an early start for a Sunday- I had race 4 of the lead up series to the Auckland Marathon…each race is slightly longer in distance to the previous, and I was getting quite nervous about how far I was going to be running today.

As it happened, the race went great! I did the 14K in 1:19, which isn’t fast by really good peoples standards, but I was pretty happy, as if I can maintain that pace in the half marathon, then I will come in in jusssst under 2hrs- which will be a PB time! So we will see…

And of course, the whole time I was thinking “spa time when I get home…so screw you, tired legs…!”It was spa christening day as well, and although I didn’t break a bottle of bubbly over its shiny new surface (coz that would have just been mental), in fact there was no bubbly at all – aside from the actual spa bubbles ..haha… it did feel like a very special moment to step in for the first time.  I let the jets pummel my tight muscles while I gazed through half shut eyes at the birds flying over, the clouds swirling, and realised that it had been exactly a year since this plan first took hold.

Last year I went to the Auckland home show, and picked up the brochure of the company who created my amazing new space, and the home show is on THIS year, this weekend. Freaky stuff!

more critter dramas!

My little guy got himself in a fight.

He slunk home last night all wide eyed and spooked, his hind-quarters almost on the ground, and tail drooped low. On closer examination, he had tufts of fur pulled out, and a couple of deep (and obviously painful!) bite marks.

He went to sleep early, on the couch, and after he protested when i tried to pick him up when I saw he had been hurt, I decided to leave him there for the night, wrapped up in a little nest. It was hard for me to sleep, without the little furry hot water bottle next to me!

Thankfully I got him to the vet before there was any infection start from the bites- he got his antibiotic jab, and has been mopey for the rest of the day! But he’s eating and resting and he will be fine 🙂

Crazy week for my 4 legged friends- I hope this is the end of the badness.

But positives for today:

• Bailey is going to be fine!
• Pania helped me rearrange an appointment so  could get to the vet early 🙂
• An amazing cyclamen gifty from Steph and Elouise, in memory of Sookie
• I cleaned and filled up the spa! It will be ready for me after my race tomorrow!
• (in a related topic- doing the chemicals was much easier than I expected!)
• Its supposed to be sunny tomorrow so I probably won’t be racing in the rain (unlike the last time- below!) 🙂

 

Its finished!

I have been doing some work on my house…(well, that’s a lie. Not me personally, but the amazing team at http://www.takeitoutside.co.nz)
Tonight, after a little bit of fiddling around with some wiring, it was all finally finished! The result is astounding, and the before/after is a result worthy of winning some sort of extreme makeover award!
here’s the before:

and here is the after (from a slightly different angle, and the other end of the day)

The makeover really has transformed the space from being a sort of nothing area, it wasn’t very usable, it was exposed to the elements, and wasn’t terribly welcoming.

NOW, it has a totally different feeling. Its a total oasis, a haven, and has a beautiful peaceful energy to it.

 

the day after THE day.

Lets face it, sometimes I’m sure we all get home from work and can’t even string a sentence together. In that way I get off lightly, as the other inhabitants of my home life all speak their own special critter languages anyway. We all just chatter away expecting the others to understand. And the cool thing is- we actually do.

… I’m not sure if I’ll have anything much to say today…

I was doing pretty good today, and know that yesterday’s decision was the right one. There was a distinct change in the energy of my place last night. The tension had disappeared and was replaced with a quiet calm. I am sure that there was no co-incidence in that.