Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

As is tradition at this time of year, I always take a look back at what went on in our lives - good and bad, happy and sad, fun and... what's the opposite of fun that also rhymes with bad...? Mad? Hmm the theme this year was maybe about being busy, about working more on the lives we want to create, about trying to find balance. And about Porter, it's always about Porter. So let's round it up! We started the year waking up from a night of camping beside the beach. Not too bad. Except that Porter found the electric fence. And he was so tiny. Poor guy. I was winding up the temping role I had taken on and dove into a ukulele class, a meditation class and weekly Zumba. In February we made the trip up to Kawhia with friends for the kai festival to kick off the month. I was doing two days a week temping and starting to approach getting my business going and ended up with a contract to map the processes of the local tertiary institute and to make recommendations for increas

If you haven't been to visit us yet, this video was filmed all around the region we live in - some of it just up the street from us! (The rugby stadium) If you have been to visit, watch for all the fun spots you would have been to - Paritutu, the Te Rewa Rewa bridge, The Wind Wand, The Festival of Lights - all the hot spots! :) They've been filming this for the last 18 months and have gotten so many people involved. We missed the few public filming chances or we definitely would have been in it! (Ok I can't speak for Dustin but he does love the song so he might have been convinced.) Enjoy!

So if you're missing my voice, you can have a listen to my visit to the community radio station here! The show is a weekly chat without a strict format, the host just guides it where she likes :) It was great fun and we even got serenaded by a local musician! https://soundcloud.com/acessradiotaranaki/2016-12-02-girlfriday-chriswelsonkatherineblaneyjoannedusterhofe

We are definitely converted to the warm Christmas day. The only trouble is all the Christmas songs have always been about winter and cold weather - obviously because Santa lives in the North Pole. Air NZ - that clever fun crew - has rewritten a classic Christmas tune to reflect the warm weather. I think you'll enjoy it. (And if you like the kid in the video and haven't seen The Hunt for the Wilderpeople yet, check that movie out as he's one of the stars of it.)

For the first time in a long time, after next weekend I won't actually have anything major on my calendar for the weekends! Sure we'll have some birthdays, Christmas parties, projects and fun stuff but the last of 5 events that I've organised or helped organised takes place next week. The others have taken place over the last 6 weeks or so and this means I can look ahead to some free time! Certainly I enjoy the planning and running of events, I wouldn't have gotten involved if that weren't the case but of course having them all stacked within weeks of each other was more than I expected! So, even yesterday when we were at the clothes swap, I wasn't a bundle of energy the way I usually am. I did have a bad sleep the night before (thanks to drunken angry guy yelling) but it was more than that. I got home around 4pm and was already dozing by 6pm. Of course I couldn't go to sleep that early, so managed to kind of stay awake until 9. I think it's just like

So, I've found some downtime in this ever-hectic life of late. I was clearing out some emails and decided to watch a video in one. That's where the title is from and Marie Forleo is the speaker - it's very good timing for me as I'm midway through a marathon of activities and that simple phrase, "Everything is figureoutable" is going to come in handy. http://www.supersoul.tv/supersoul-sessions/marie-forleo-everything-is-figure-out-able In the last two months things have really been ramping up. I've increased my client base, I've gone to Sydney and launched a new Zumba class with another insructor, I've created and run a successful health and wellbeing event , I'm involved in planning two other events ( Startup Weekend and a Zumba Breast Caner Fundraiser ) and this is on top of the usual life and love we live. Finding downtime feels rare at the moment and even Porter has stopped playing with his ball long enough to just sit and snooze besi

All these years, I've been such a music addict but yet I can only claim fame to hot cross buns on the recorder and a very simple piano song as far as musical instrument talent. Well, not anymore! I've probably mentioned it but Dustin got me a ukulele for my birthday last year and thanks to ultimateguitar.com (yep they have tons of uke tunes!) I have a bundle of songs in my repertoire now. I keep being a bit shy to post any videos of me playing though. The great thing is it fits my hands perfectly (which was what kept me from learning guitar - my fingers just couldn't reach and I guess I didn't have the resolve to force them to!) and it works really well for lots of punk rock tunes. So, I don't have to learn new songs really, I just have to learn them on the uke. It's really handy to play things where I know the rhythms and words, it definitely makes it easier. I need lots of work on my strumming patterns as I seem to keep it at a simple down/up down/up. Ah w

I know that I don't pay enough attention to this blog but I wanted to let you know that I've started to blog on my business website so if you just need a fix, you can find me there too now!  www.assistia.nz My arms can barely hold my hands to type properly because I've just had a full on personal training session tonight. Getting prepared for adding a specialisation to my Zumba training! There's a class that has started at the local girls high school so I'll be part of a team of us leading that class. It just started last week so we've done two now and had about 40 girls attend each one! They seem to have lots of fun. I have done my first song for the usual classes I attend! Only a couple times but I am able to ask to add it to the playlists at any time so I just need to start asking more! I am starting to practice another couple of songs too! I should really be taking my phone with me on my morning Porter walks because Mt Taranaki has been stunning lately

Well it's not summer here that's for sure! At the moment, Porter and I are curled up under a blanket on the couch and the wind is gusting outside in the single digits! But I realize most of you still have about half the summer left to go. So, get in the sun, and crank this song... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbMoEM99Dn8 Sorry, I can't embed it because it doesn't come up when I search within blogger's video tool! :(

These dogs were hanging out at a cafe in Thames when Jodi and I walked by! I thought it was awesome. This little dog was hanging out in our living room... those are all of his toys stacked up, ready for a day of playing! I am working from home a couple days a week these days but the other days he's on his own and he works through his kong and his puzzle ball very quickly! I keep wanting to set up the go pro to watch what he does in the day but Dustin doesn't want to invade Porter's privacy. So, we haven't. I also want to get him one of these automatic ball launchers: http://goifetch.com/ or this remote controlled ball camera: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/playdate-world-s-first-pet-camera-in-a-smart-ball#/ but we haven't gotten him either yet! I think I'll be hunting on the black Friday sales before we take our trip to Canada in December!

We sure miss our Kraft Dinner. Our latest supply ran dry months ago! A woman I work with was up in Vancouver a couple weeks ago and we happened to be talking about fake cheese before she left and I raved about Kraft Dinner so she brought me some back!! So kind :) I am saving it. I'm not sure for when but it has to be just right. Really, (aside from people of course), there are very few things we miss as we live overseas. But nothing compares to some good Kraft Dinner!!

So back on the Queen's birthday long weekend in June, Dustin worked very hard to put down the flooring we've had for a long long time now, waiting for the time when we could install it! Since there was so much painting, we wanted to be through all of that before we installed it. That, and life really, just made for a delay in our motivations... But he spent all three days, getting in into the laundry room, the bathroom, the hallway the kitchen and the dining room! One day when everything is tidy, we'll make a point to take some nice photos for before and after shots! We were definitely happy to cover up the speckled floor from the 60's that we'd been living with for many months after pulling up the linoleum that was there. Then we even got carpet installed in the lounge so things are really coming together!! Yay!

So, of course with Jodi in town last month, we decided to see more than just New Plymouth! She suggested that we go somewhere I haven't been before and within the timeframe we had (we booked a beer fest in Auckland as part of the tour!), we went to a town called Miranda. It's about four hours away and there's a bit shorebird centre as well as hot springs. We were at this cool Air BNB place that had springs on their property so they filled up a hot tub for us each night with the spring water! We toured around the area a bit and mostly just giggled and relished not having kids. It was so nice to catch up - we realized it had been five years since we'd seen each other last! So funny considering that she's in Sydney which is technically closer than Vancouver of course but is still two flights away. Hopefully though, we make a point to not let another five years fly by!!

We both took it pretty easy for our birthdays this year - so out of character for me! haha. I guess because they were both midweek and I was going out of town the following two weekends, I didn't want to have a big event. So, it turns out Jodi had work in Auckland right around my birthday so she came to visit and we went for dinner with a few friends. We finally went to this meatball restaurant that opened late last year. It's still so busy so anytime we've thought to go, it was already fully booked. You mix and match the type of meat, with the sauce and the sides. We'll definitely have to return! For Dustin's birthday, I made him some slow roasted hogget shanks and chocolate cake! I was battling a cold so we just had a quiet night, and had a couple friends over for cake. So here we are, older and wiser.

After a year and a half of attending Zumba classes 1-2 times weekly (ok, most weeks), I decided to become a Zumba instructor! The trainings don't usually happen in New Plymouth and the women who run the classes here were heading down for an advanced instructor training so I joined them and started the first level! It was down near Wellington, but not in the city. I hopped the bus south as the course I was on was earlier than the other ones. So, one full day of learning the four basic rhythms and associated steps and I am officially licensed to teach Zumba! There's lots and lots of practice before I'll have enough of a repertoire to do the whole class but I'm planning to debut my first song in a couple weeks at a Saturday class! So, I'll be running through it a couple times daily until then! Another local woman who did the training, the instructor and I. I've found is that Zumba is such a fun fitness activity. It doesn't feel like exercise and yet

No, even with breaks of months in between, I will keep telling you our stories! It turns out I haven't created a solid routine yet. There are a few anchors in my week but not many and they haven't got me into a blogging rhythm as such. One day though! I'm all done my website and having been out networking and doing projects to build some word of mouth for me locally. Check out the site here: www.assistia.nz I've been busy trying to build a foundation based on my values and really identifying clients that I would like rather than just accepting all things that come my way. I realized that I didn't choose to work for myself to not work with lovely people! I'm quite involved at a local co-working space that's run by friends so I get involved in the events and try to work from there a couple days each week. Dustin's ticking along himself. He got out surfing today which is great because it's been a long time with weather or work or other plans.

(So funny how one word can bring back all these memories - I haven't thought about that restaurant Milestones in years but as I typed that, whoa, life in the Lower Mainland returns.) What I was writing about was the fun ways that we've celebrated some milestone birthdays with friends over the last several months. Now I don't think it has to be a milestone to require extra special celebrating but I guess there is a nice ring to it. Some of the party fun that's gone on... Rachel's "Phat 40" Quentin Tarantino party. There were probably upwards of 60 people all decked out as various Tarantino characters dancing it up until about 3am... ok, not everyone stayed until then. For those of us who haven't seen more than maybe one of his films, well it sure was a challenge to pick something. I chose the easy girl costume of Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. I don't even remember the character name but that doesn't matter! They went all out, hired a h