welcome to my corner of the blog world! i love step, boxing, zumba, scrapbooking, photography, watching movies, walking the hills of my suburb, my family, and life in wellington.
take some time to have a look around and be sure to say hi!
they start off small enough... (the wheels, that is)
then comes independence and the need for something slightly faster...
then on tuesday, the hubs rode through hail and sleet and snow to bring this back from christchurch (in the south island. we in the north, remember?!)
i'm guessing you may have noticed that whacking great Georgia State Flag on our garage wall. first, let me point out:
we're not rednecks
we lived in georgia y'all
WHEN that flag was STILL the Georgia State Flag (1956 through until 2001)
just so y'know.....
back to the main event...this is miss 17's yamaha scorpio - in black colour is very important!
the hubs had got home late the night before, so the next morning she leapt out of bed and ran straight down to see it
she's doing an all day learn to ride and basic handling skills on saturday from there she can sit her learners', then (after 6 months) restricted, then her full.
after having her full DRIVERS' licence for 6 months, she's pretty 'dark' at having to revert to a learners' again (they're all colour-coded).
well, there's only ONE award, but the plural goes better with the title dontcha think? when i turned my computer on the other day, i was tickled to discover i had won this award from georgia rectors. i'm supposed to pass it on to 7 other worthy blogs and i shall do that in due course! saturday dawned frigid and wet (again) but we went ahead with our planned motor bike event. organised by a friend of DH's, he called it the pongaroa poker run and originally included a couple of dozen riders each stopping at designated petrol stations along the route, collecting a playing card. at the end of the day, the player with the best poker hand would win. the weather put off all but DH, mark (the organiser) and his neighbour matt. that's me perched precariously on the back of matt's new yamaha. his bike is veeeeeery different to DH's bonnie. matt's bike goes fast. VERY FAST. you would never catch me dead on the back of a bike like that. well, except for here, but the engine wasn't going, so i'm ok!
the boys rode all the way to pongaroa and we all met up at the tui brewery. it's an iconic place and there are some great television ads that help make it one of new zealand's most famous beers. to get an idea, you need to watch these two ONE MINUTE ads.
the voice in one (or both) of the videos is tom baker, a previous 'dr who' (the one with the long scraf). i only discovered that today!
pongaroa city limits. that's ALL there is!!! these were on the counter in the tui gift shop. to gno-me is to love me (hehe) parked up outside. mark's temperature guage said it was 3 degrees. feel for me especially when i tell you my boots leaked and i rode home with WET, frozen feet. when i got home i had to have the hot water turned up all the way in the shower just to thaw out! that's DH's head in the blond wig. the dude in the blond wig features in the ads. they're funny. make sure you watch them! boys will be boys
do we look cold? that's coz WE ARE! we can't wait until summer to come back again and sit outside with a wine in the sun!
there are also tui billboards nationwide. they are in two parts. the right side ALWAYS says 'yeah right' (meaning NOT!) and the left side always says something funny and obviously not true. eg:
"Guantanamo Bay is a 5-star hotel". Yeah Right". the billboard inside the bar at the brewery says "there's never a queue for the ladies loo. yeah right." get it? they are always current and reflect what's going on locally, nationally or internationally. here's one i made at home!
anyway - it was a fun day, even though we got cold and wet. DH bought a new seat for his bike, and not only was my touche comfy, it was the warmest part of me all day!
sunday we chilled at home and i took part in creative scrappers' 'sketchfest' - a weekend long online event. the organisers supplied 20 sketches and 5 card sketches and we were invited to complete as many as we wanted. there were also games. here's me playing bingo on sunday afternoon. i didn't win, but it was a lot of fun playing along. my next scrapping space will have a computer desk included (and NOT be on the end of our dining table!) DH set me up with his work laptop so i could scrap and play online at the same time. i finished this layout we have until the 31st to complete as many sketches/cards/challenges as we like. i'm putting the finishes touches on one more and may attempt a couple of cards too. check them out (right side bar). it's a great blog/gallery/forum.
because miss 16 has 169 hours worth of activities in a 168 hour week; because the small car isn't always available when she needs it; because we're environmentally conscious, frustrated at the price of petrol, and because 'bonnie' is a one man bike, we decided to buy a scooter for miss 16 (well, she's offered us $700 towards the purchase price and we're pretty sure we will take her up on it!)
so, it finally arrived from auckland yesterday, and we had one very excited 16 year old around here this morning as she rode it to school for the first time.
the children of scrapbookers and photographers are the most patient children in the world!
heading down the drive
heading off down the street. her first stop will be the petrol station where she will wave an oily rag near it...
my heart was in my mouth when i heard screeching brakes and smashing glass, before i realized it was the rubbish truck. sheesh! that kinda timing is bad for a mother's heart!
J.D.: Hey, uh, you need to move your car - it's my day to have the parking spot
Elliot: J.D., you have a scooter! Why do you even need a parking spot?
DH was re-born (in his own words) a year ago when he bought bonnie home. bonnie is a bouncing baby triumph and weighed in at an even 200kg. both father and baby are doing well.
on saturday we went for an afternoon spin. the weather has been unseasonably GORGEOUS for this time of year (autumn and a week after daylight saving ended). we had a late lunch in a country cafe then went to the lookout at the top of paekakariki hill (pronounced PIE-COCK-A-REE-KEY). go on - say it. you know you want to. now say it again. just because you can. now look over your shoulder to make sure none of your kids were listening and wondering if in fact, this time, mum has actually lost her mind...
that's looking north up state highway 1. i know that means nothing to most of you, but just thought i'd throw it out there
this is bonnie. ain't she sweet? for the purists out there. bonnie is modelled on the 1959 version but was made brand spankin' new last year. it now has a sissy bar on the back so i can hold onto it and look like a real cool biker chick. ok, so that's not me, and i'll tell you why. when we went out i forgot the camera (never forget the camera), but DH took tara for a spin yesterday and they pretty much retraced our steps, with one exception - they took the CAMERA!!!
tara hasn't been on the back of a bike since she was 19. as you can see, she was very happy to have broken that drought!
this is a crocodile bike. in the hands of 4 squealing girls, they are impossible to steer, and the simple instruction "stay left!" is not able to be understood. they are also a huge amount of fun!
due to popular demand!!! the first of what will no doubt be many pictures of my beautiful country new zealand aka aotearoa (meaning 'land of the long white cloud). new zealand was named after the dutch province of 'zeeland'. i guess they had the old one and we were the new one!
this is DH's 'bonnie' parked in front of lake hawea when he went 'wild hoggin' it last november. the south island of new zealand is extremely picturesque. wellington (where i live) is at the bottom of the north island.
now it's melinda's turn. this piccie was taken in august 2005 before a friend's 40th. as her name started with a 'c', it was a fancy dress "C" party, so i went as a can can dancer and DH as a captain (u get the idea).
then comes independence and the need for something slightly faster...
then on tuesday, the hubs rode through hail and sleet and snow to bring this back from christchurch (in the south island. we in the north, remember?!)
i'm guessing you may have noticed that whacking great Georgia State Flag on our garage wall. first, let me point out:
this is miss 17's yamaha scorpio - in black
this is miss 17's yamaha scorpio - in black
she's doing an all day learn to ride and basic handling skills on saturday
ok, so that's not me, and i'll tell you why. when we went out i forgot the camera (never forget the camera), but DH took tara for a spin yesterday and they pretty much retraced our steps, with one exception - they took the CAMERA!!!
enjoy!!!