wordful wednesday - smells like teen spirit

this is miss 17's peer support photo. as you can see, not only have they raided the drama studio, they've taken a fun and casual approach to the photo. you'll also note that apparently it's the year 20093 (teenagers!)

i've talked about peer support before. each junior class is allocated 6 seniors - 3 guys and 3 girls. peer supporters start each day with their junior class, they go on camp with them, feature in their class photos and act as mentors to their designated class for the entire year.

it's a role miss 17 is relishing.

...so now a challenge for my regulars - can you spot miss 17???

for more wordful wednesday, visit angie over @ seven clown circus

and on a totally unrelated topic: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THIS BLOGGER, who (whom?) i shall be meeting in 63(ish) sleeps!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASS!!!

PS: (if you're planning a big bash next year - please send my invite early!!!)

happy birthday to my bloggy friend kristi

today is my first ever bloggy friend kristi's birthday. alas, i can't remember how old she is, but i DO know that she's an entire pre-teen younger than me, which makes her 30-something.

kristi and i 'met' when i submitted a layout to the one little word challenge blog, then made a complete dork of myself by commenting that they didn't include my layout in their slide show. if i'd bothered to read properly, i would have seen that the slide was just of their favourites!

kristi, ever the sweetie, left ME a comment saying she'd done exactly the same thing. who knows if that's true or not - it was a sweet thing to say, and we were fast and firm virtual friends from that day on (mid-2007 i'm thinking).

i finally relented to her nagging in feb 08 and started a blog, and in october 08 i was lucky enough to meet her in person. she even put me up for 2 nights before our KC weekend. not many people would welcome a total stranger from the other side of the world into their home, but she did!

kristi has a wicked sense of humour, as can be seen in this birthday post to her friend kendra.

all i can say now, kristi, as it's YOUR birthday (and you had to know this was coming).....

PAYBACK'S A BITCH!!!!!

(just as well you're extremely photogenic, is all i can say!)

kristi is fun and not at all afraid to look a little dorky from time to time

did i say a little???

like me, she loves to play dress-up

and she's not at all creepy
HEY! where's MY pic???

after emailing and blogging for over a year and half, we finally met!
i soon learned that kristi is a 'hands-on' friend
she's in complete control of her superfast car, and has excellent parking skillsand her table manners are second-to-none
she CAN be shy...

well, SOMEtimes...

she also welcomed me into her home like an old friend and i have such great memories of my time with her and ALL my KC gals.

i look forward to seeing you again soon
happy birthday my friend!

this is the album i made kristi for her birthday, which she's received and loves! (glad ya like it!)

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

wordful wednesday - i call it the iPhone coma

you have no idea how tempted i was to rip it out of his hands and throw it into the harbour!!!

BACKSTORY: i've been looking at the top of the hubs' head ever since he lined up with all the other 'sad' people for the launch of the latest version. that was 8 days (before this photo was taken) and it hasn't been out of his hands since!

i'm totally doing this next time i get married...

KIDDING!!!

this is so cool, especially the first two bridesmaids...

and now for a random giveaway

if you've been following my followers, you will have noticed that i'm at 97

which is, like, really close to 100

so why not have a giveaway!

because - i haven't had a giveaway, for what - at LEAST a month, right?

a kiwiana giveaway for my RESIDENT FOLLOWERS (that's followers 1-97) - the faithful. not that i kid myself that you're all reading. i know you started following during the last giveaway and never came back.

i'm fine with that. really. it's ok. we all do it. don't feel bad.
REALLY.

to show there's no hard feelings - i'm having TWO giveaways. the one i just mentioned - you know, followers 1 through 97;

and

another giveaway for NEW FOLLOWERS.

so - come one, come all for the
kiwiana bloggy goodness.

giveaway runs for 10 days; the usual story for extra entries blah blah blah:

follow 1
comment 2
link back/blog about it 3

you get the drill :)

i'm back, i'm tired, the conference was a huge success and i didn't run out of cash

so you wanna know how i accidentally cut up my debit card?

this is how

our CREDIT cards got upgraded. new ones arrived in the post. cut up the old one. threw it away.

husband set up company as he's now self-employed as a consultant/contrator (work coming out his ears btw)

he ordered debit cards - for the COMPANY.

new cards arrived. cut up the old ones.

paid no attention to the fact that they were COMPANY debit cards. assumed they were replacements for our old REGULAR debit cards.

so now have NEW company debit cards (no money in the account, can't use) and NO current debit card.

several days pass. day of leaving town for conference arrives. go to bank to get PIN numbers put on new cards.

go to money machine to get out cash and notice COMPANY NAME on debit cards.

realise i have cut up perfectly good debit card. DOH!

so there you have it!

NOTE TO SELF: check name on new debit card before cutting up next time!!!

rule #1 when leaving on a business trip: do NOT accidentally cut up your debit card

and DEFINITELY don't make this heinous discovery ONE HOUR before you get on the plane!

yep. i did that. thankfully i have this vintage stuff called cash to take along with me.

the working girl update: winning something completely useless

this time tomorrow i'll be in sunny nelson eagerly preparing for the 3 day conference i have single-handedly organised over the past 4 months!

i'm really excited about it all coming together; meeting the delegates, exhibitors and presenters, getting post-conference feedback, and starting all over again to plan an even better 2010 event! (i'm a little ocd like that).

i'm also looking forward to not being so time pressured at work, although i got asked to organise another conference for november today, so i guess that idea's out the window!

a curious thing has started happening now that i'm in a 'workplace'. strangers call me. they want to have meetings with me. they ask me to come and visit their venue, attend their expo, get something printed with them.

how do these people know my name? how did they get my number?

i guess it's just one of life's mysteries.

last week i attended a tech expo aka nirvana for gadget freaks. samsung, hewlett package, canon, fuji, microsoft, belkin - you name it, they were there. there were 3 highlights for me:

1) dropping my business card (i have them now you know) in the 'lucky draw' of all the exhibitors. i'm under no illusion that all i'll gain from that is a lot of junk email.

2) adobe were there and they're going to fix my iTUNES problem. watch this space!

3) i won something while i was at the expo

you know the drill: stand around, listen to the sponsors wax lyrical about their product and hope that your name gets called out so you haven't wasted 40 minutes of your day. there was around a dozen prizes onstage:

mini laptops, digital frames, monitors, xbox, cameras, logitech steering wheels, a beer fridge - y'know, lots of cool stuff.

MY name got called. did i win any of the uber-cool aforementioned stuff i just mentioned?

NO.

what did i win?

a polystyrene cheque.

to the value of $170

for a server configuration

OH YEAH. GO WILD.

...the shame didn't end there. i had to carry the DAMN thing all the way through town back to my office!

where it's sat ever since.

any suggestions as to what i should do with it???

our weekend: a visit to the waterfront and a mini-break

the sun came out yesterday. most of wellington was so stunned so see this bright yellow ball in the sky, they immediately took to the watefront to walk, skate, cycle, and generally leap about with glee.

we joined them.

te papa (our national museum) had a couple of things going on. this display of fancy cars was one of them. i personally don't see what the fuss is...

inside the museum, this was going on

this little guy (who can't be more than 11) completed a 3x3 rubic cube in under 3 minutes - BLINDFOLDED!!!

the audience was in awe. as they should be!

then we stopped at chaffers dock for a bite to eat.
here's the grandma to my cupcake holder!!!

raspberry cupcake - yummmmmmmm

the view from our table to outside. all the outside tables were taken - dammit!

there was no wind. just gorgeous

chaffers dock

after our trip downtown with the girls, the hubs and i took a mini break!
it was our first in over 18 months - that's too long!

we stayed here - pretty cool huh? almost brand new

this is the spa we didn't relax in (no togs) and the pool we didn't swim in (too frikkin' freezing!)

we did however, relax upstairs in our 2-bedroom apartment and enjoy the last of the afternoon sunafter a curry at the local 'indian', we headed back and watched the all blacks beat the aussies at rugby. it wasn't pretty, but we won!

this morning we had breakfast here

then took a walk along the beach

yes, this is a teenage boy surfing in the ocean - IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER!!!

how cute are we?

would you like an AK-47 with that?

for me, this is what's wrong with the world today.

for a minute, let's forget about global warming
let's forget about how the car manufacturing business in the US is in dire straits, and focus on car dealer mark muller, who's giving away an AK-47 with every truck purchase.

he was interviewed on CNN recently. at the start of the 5-minute interview, he spent 9 seconds talking about how many cars he sold during the LAST promotion when they gave away HAND GUNS with every truck purchase, and how they hope to top that with this current promotion.

when asked by the interviewer whether he thought he was being slightly irresponsible for giving away semi-assault weapons, he replied that she was 'grandstanding' - (yeah, because giving away a gun with a truck ISN'T grandstanding. no, not at all).

the rest of the interview was spent justifying the use and ownership of guns (of any type).

topics covered included: the local crime rate (specifically the "P" problem in missouri); how criminals have 'lost their souls', that God wouldn't want him to be a victim; and that with a gun, at least he has a 'sporting chance'.

these are some of the pearls of wisdom that came out of his mouth:

"felons buy cars too" (pointing out that they give a voucher for the gun, so that gun rules and regulations can be adhered to).

"because we sell cars" (when asked why their motto is "God, guns, guts and american pick up trucks")

"You don't think God would want us to defend ourselves" (in response to the interviewer's question as to why God is in their motto. this was closely followed by:

"you don't have a problem with God, do you?" [way to deflect dude]

"they didn't have guns back then" (when the interviewer tried to make sense of his explanation and pondered 'would jesus carry a gun?'

"the only 911 call i wanna make is chambering a round" (when noting the 15 minute police response time in his area).

the often speechless and flabbergasted interviewer barely held her own, and was probably questioning her decision to get out of bed that morning!

happy birthday to my dear friend tara

10 things i love about tara:

1) she's always got my back

2) when i look like a spaz, she's always right there beside me

3) she embraces her bad hair days
4) she flat out has the patience of a saint

5) she's aerodynamic

6) she's very good with condiments

7) she's a great walking buddy

8) she loves to share
9) some say she's a fashion icon

...and like all great friends - she's a good hugger!

...PS - you're 38 this year, not 39!!!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek