Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

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. ...