It's one of the many things we wanted to do immediately after moving in but haven't gotten to yet due to capacity and priority. But over the weekend we rebuilt our patio fence and gate!
It was built to match the fence in the front yard and is definitely an upgrade on what it was:
We slowly started dismantling it as we needed the trellis for other random things, like a buffer in the fire bath or a couple pieces to fix the perch in place in the chicken coop. Since we knew we were replacing it, we just started using it for other stuff.
But now, this is our back patio fence and gate:
One more project crossed off the list.
We also went to see Rhys Darby perform last night, but each time we see him we're a little less thrilled. We still had a lot of laughs but just not quite as much as the first or second time we saw him. Here's a little bit of what was in the show (but of course, not actually footage of last night's show - we were lucky to have the skinny-jean-pickpocketing scenario played out in much more detail):
He's definitely an entertainer and his storytelling is great, always linking back to earlier jokes in the show too. I am definitely glad that we went!
Now, we head back to work tomorrow after our extended break bridging long weekends together. It's been good to have time off but it was definitely a struggle between relaxing and feeling productive. It's an illness I think, all this intended productivity. Even if you get everything you want done, you are exhausted, but if you don't do any of it you're still exhausted from doing nothing and then you've done nothing. I haven't found the right balance just yet.
I don't think I've mentioned we had a housewarming party back on the 19th. It was a real surreal kind of event because it's certainly something I would have imagined celebrating with family and lifelong friends - next to our wedding, I see the house purchase as kind of the other biggest milestone we'll celebrate in our lives. I know it doesn't have to be but it's just one of those "big" life things so it's feeling weird that none of our family or old friends have even seen our house! And I know I shouldn't expect anything but that considering we're on the other side of the world from most of the people I'm talking about but I think it really hit it home that we've been here much longer now and our lives "back home" are further from us and yet our lives in our new hometown are still kind of new in comparison. It's put me in quite a reflective mood as it's another marker that measures the distance between "old" and "new" phases of our lives. It doesn't make me want to be here any less but it makes me confused about how we reconcile both sides of ourselves and maintain our long-held connections while we forge new connections as well. In some ways I am sure we'd face these crossroads in other ways even if we still lived in Surrey - people are always changing and moving and social circles adapt as required. I guess we just face it in one fell swoop rather than in bits and pieces this way.
On a lighter note though, we did enjoy the party (even though picking a long weekend meant many people were out of town or otherwise occupied but because I've been keen to have one since December, it was just time to go for it!) I"m already considering a costume birthday party, or a proper Halloween party but coming by decorations will be much more difficult since it's not widely celebrated here. The fun part about making all these changes around the house is that people who don't visit often will always find something's new!
So, I think I'm going to do some crafty stuff and then we have friends coming over for dinner and we're going to start watching the last season of Arrested Development - a good autumn activity to get started for the rainy nights to come.
It was built to match the fence in the front yard and is definitely an upgrade on what it was:
We slowly started dismantling it as we needed the trellis for other random things, like a buffer in the fire bath or a couple pieces to fix the perch in place in the chicken coop. Since we knew we were replacing it, we just started using it for other stuff.
But now, this is our back patio fence and gate:
One more project crossed off the list.
We also went to see Rhys Darby perform last night, but each time we see him we're a little less thrilled. We still had a lot of laughs but just not quite as much as the first or second time we saw him. Here's a little bit of what was in the show (but of course, not actually footage of last night's show - we were lucky to have the skinny-jean-pickpocketing scenario played out in much more detail):
He's definitely an entertainer and his storytelling is great, always linking back to earlier jokes in the show too. I am definitely glad that we went!
Now, we head back to work tomorrow after our extended break bridging long weekends together. It's been good to have time off but it was definitely a struggle between relaxing and feeling productive. It's an illness I think, all this intended productivity. Even if you get everything you want done, you are exhausted, but if you don't do any of it you're still exhausted from doing nothing and then you've done nothing. I haven't found the right balance just yet.
I don't think I've mentioned we had a housewarming party back on the 19th. It was a real surreal kind of event because it's certainly something I would have imagined celebrating with family and lifelong friends - next to our wedding, I see the house purchase as kind of the other biggest milestone we'll celebrate in our lives. I know it doesn't have to be but it's just one of those "big" life things so it's feeling weird that none of our family or old friends have even seen our house! And I know I shouldn't expect anything but that considering we're on the other side of the world from most of the people I'm talking about but I think it really hit it home that we've been here much longer now and our lives "back home" are further from us and yet our lives in our new hometown are still kind of new in comparison. It's put me in quite a reflective mood as it's another marker that measures the distance between "old" and "new" phases of our lives. It doesn't make me want to be here any less but it makes me confused about how we reconcile both sides of ourselves and maintain our long-held connections while we forge new connections as well. In some ways I am sure we'd face these crossroads in other ways even if we still lived in Surrey - people are always changing and moving and social circles adapt as required. I guess we just face it in one fell swoop rather than in bits and pieces this way.
On a lighter note though, we did enjoy the party (even though picking a long weekend meant many people were out of town or otherwise occupied but because I've been keen to have one since December, it was just time to go for it!) I"m already considering a costume birthday party, or a proper Halloween party but coming by decorations will be much more difficult since it's not widely celebrated here. The fun part about making all these changes around the house is that people who don't visit often will always find something's new!
So, I think I'm going to do some crafty stuff and then we have friends coming over for dinner and we're going to start watching the last season of Arrested Development - a good autumn activity to get started for the rainy nights to come.
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