Brown feet...

These are my darling Stellars feet...sadly tomorrow I have to drop her in to the vet at 8am so she can be sedated and have her dew claw (hmmmm..I wonder if that is how you spell it??) cut off as she injured it a week or so ago and it hasn't come right. It took the vet 30 seconds to take a look and say bring her back tomorrow to get it cut off. It will grow back but is broken at the base and will not come right on it's own. I hate her having to be sedated or go to sleep but I am sure she will be ok...dear wee Stellsy...I love her so much.
On another note, work is mad busy...only 10 sleeps til America and so much to do. Another trip to Blenheim this morning which was ok.
Sorry, not much news...exciting seeing house progress over at Poppies and Daisies...

The weekend goes too fast...

That is right, another weekend is over and I am left wondering what happened to all that time?
Saturday saw us taking the new wheels for a spin out to see Mum, Dad and Nanny...and to return Bob aka The Pope Mobile, Nanny's Honda Shuttle which we have had for the past weeks as a replacement for our car that crapped out. We are so lucky to have Nanny who kindly lent us Bob, he was a great wee car and we are very thankful that Nanny let us borrow him for so long.
We had a nice time out on the farm, saw some of Mum and Dads holiday shots...I love photos...it is lovely to look back on holiday photos and remember what you got up to...the dogs had fun playing together and I wished I had taken the camera as the hills surrounding the valley looked spectacular with the snow very low and so, so white...gorgeous.

Last night we watched The Guardian on Sky, it is a movie about Coast Guard rescue in America...it was a good movie but so bloody sad, I was sobbing by the end...I am not sure why they make such sad movies...I HATE sad movies, there is enough sadness in real life without being subjected to it on the tv or movie screen...anyway...good movie...could have been a great movie with a happy ending (yes, I prefer happy sentimental crap!!).

I took Stellar into town this morning, wanted to get some suitable pj bottoms from the Farmers sale for my USA trip but was too tight to pay half price so I didn't buy anything...then I took Stellar for a walk round the "rich streets"..where all the lovely huge old houses and manicured gardens are, it is nice walking somewhere different.
This afternoon was spend doing domestic things like washing, ironing and stuff...

and there is goes, the weekend is gone...

Off to Blenheim again in the morning with my boss to sort out traumatised staff...only 8 working days left before America...can I make it??

New Wheels...

Yes, that's right, we have bought a new car!! Test driving and car yard negotiations went down today...the photo looks like our one...R wants to call it Corky...horrible name...no way....


Our new (well, second hand new) is a 2006 Mitsubishi Colt which has done about 30,000kms...it is silver...a tad boring in colour. The one we loved (well, I loved) was a lovely dark corn flower blue but the sad thing was, the upholstery was a horrible 80s beige with plastic wooden trim...nice if you are 90, but not nice when you own a big, dirty brown dog...so we got the silver one, dark interior...
We pick it up tomorrow. We have been so lucky that Nanny has lent us her wee shuttle for the past while, it has been a fab wee car, it would have been a nightmare with no car for so long.
Not much else to say...there is a weather warning...for storms and gale force winds...I hope we have a magnificent thunder and lightening storm...I love storms...it will probably come to nothing and I will be disappointed...

My wee Poo...

Thought I had better add a photo because my last post was just pure grumble..so here is Stellar...she is a wee shining star and gets walked at a furious pace after a tough day at work...I would be lost without her.

Busy Saturday

Stellar looks how I feel...she has a sore foot, can't work out what is wrong with it, she is only lame sometimes but has cried out in pain and stood holding it up in a very feeble manner...she is very happy going out walking...I will keep an eye on it and will take her to the vet next week if she is still being a wee gimp....

Sorry, have been missing in action the last few days and haven't kept up too well with this weeks challenge.
It has been a hectically busy week at work, managing a second service on top of what I already do keeps my days busy which I like. I am actually loving work at the moment and will be sad to give up the second service, just when I am getting to know them all.
Got up early this morning to take delivery of some firewood, the damn person dropping it off was almost an hour late which made me so bloody mad as we had got up early especially. I hate it when people say they are going to so something or be somewhere and let you down...no apologies. He was lucky I didn't answer the door when he showed up cause I wasn't in the mood to be polite.
So we, stacked the firewood and have a fearsome heap of it now. The fire is burning hot tonight!!
We then went into town as we are on the hunt for a new car...car sharks at the car yards were circling for fresh bait today...some were good, some pushy and some hopeless.You would think that the weekend would be the most popular time of the week for buying cars so would assume the people selling them would have the knowledge to say what kind of finance they can offer or how to negotiate a deal...if we were in the market to buy today, then one car yard would miss out cause why should we have to wait for some finance guy to ring us on Monday?? Stupid.
Anyway, we think we are choosing between a later model Mazda Demio, Mitsubishi Colt or Honda Fit...all have a back seat big enough for Stellar and room in a small boot for groceries and a couple of suitcases.This is the Demio...the ones were are looking at are either bright dark red or darker blue than this one...This the the Colt..the one we like is a very pretty pale metallic blue...the one we really like is darker cornflowers blue but is a wee bit expensive for us...shame...And the Honda Fit...comes in boring silvers...nice wee car...

We then went to get a few groceries and dropped in on Nana duty to see R's Nana who has had her knee replaced. She wanted some new slippers so it was back to The Warehouse then back to the hospital. I took Stellsy for a walk, did some washing, tidied up a bit and made a big dish of macaroni cheese for tea as Chocolate Britches and her boyfriend are coming for tea and to watch the rugby. On top of this busy day, there has been issues with one the the people in one of the services I manage and they are frontpage news in all the newspapers so not sure what that will mean next week...ahhhh...roll on America trip...not long now (3 weeks??)!!

Travel...

Just wrote a big post and it is gone and I am too cross to write again...sorry!!

Travel....

This will just be a quick post tonight...we are about to watch a DVD...

Favourite travel destinations...it is SO hard to chose. Close to home I love travelling out to Ngatimoti, the top holiday spot in the country. I also love visiting PoppyBlack and Mr PB in Christchurch...if fact anywhere where family are is a great place to have a holiday.
We have been lucky enough to visit many countries...a few stand out for a variety of reasons.

The most favourite would be Prague in the Czech Republic...it was a magical holiday, made even more special by the snow which turned this wonderful city into a fairy tale city..so much to see and so many places to walk...plus the tram system makes it so easy to go a bit further. We got caught out in a snow storm which has us laughing all the way back to our hotel...such a wonderful holiday.
Following our intrepid journey to Egypt, we stopped off in Athens, Greece on the way home. What a great place to visit...after standing out like sore thumbs in Cairo, we were anonymous amongst the crowds...the food was amazing, the shopping was great (as evidenced by this rather mad looking photo) and the people were just as we liked them...not too in your face. Great fun was had in Athens...

Then of course there is London..all the photos of my in London are grotesque...I LOVE London for a holiday...the public transport is great and there is just so much to see. It is amazing to see all those things you have seen on TV and read about in books, come to life...I would visit London again in a heartbeat...See photo below of our visit to Madame Tussards...we usually avoid touristy things that cost us money but this was great fun...

OK...have found the post...no photos, sorry...I am annoyed so can't be bothered with it...

Book Worm...

I have always loved reading. I vividly remember going to the library after school on Fridays and getting a pile of books. I think we inherited our love of reading from our Mum, who had an enormous appetite for books and seems to love all sorts of books...
I feel sorry for people who don't have the joy of reading in their lives.

I have to admit, the more serious my work gets, the more"fluffy" and light weight the books I read are...I love what are classically named "Aga Saga" or Chick-lit...books written for female readers who want something easy to read, enjoyable, with the right mix of love, humour and emotion...your Jane Greens, Cathy Kellys, Marian Keyes, Maeve Binchey, Patricia Scanlans (all favorite authors of mine)...
Of course some of my favorites growing up included many of the Enid Blyton classics...I LOVED the Famous Five...far superior to the Secret Seven. I also loved the "Secret" series (not to be mistaken for the Secret Seven)...the Secret Castle, the Secret Island (my favorite) etc etc...

The book I loved most from my childhood, and one which I have a treasured copy of now, is Goodnight Mr Tom, by Michelle Magorian. I read this many times when I was a child and still love this book dearly now.

Sushi For Beginners is a wonderful book by Marian Keyes. I love all her books but this one really grabbed me. I like the fact her books are not just happy clappy...they address real issues such as depression and illness...they are touching and engrossing but not too heavy(and they always have a happy ending...yay!!).
What book list would be complete without a Jilly Cooper...I am showing my true trash colors here!! I can't get enough of the Jilly Cooper books, I would think that if you had little or no idea about sex, then you could read these books and learn it all. The scandal, the bottles of Moet and Dorissimo...surely this can't be a true reflection of how the rich and famous live??? I love the animals in the books...Riders and Polo taught me so much about show jumping and polo...but I think The Man Who Man Husbands Jealous is my favourite...
Can I sneak in one more book...this super book was such wonderful fun when I was little, I loved the slippers the tigers put on and they way they ran and ran until they turned to butter...what a magical story. Possibly very un-PC now but I think it is lovely...

It's hard to choose....

It is very hard to choose just three favourite pieces of jewellery...I have so much though I don't think people would associate me with a heap of jewellery. I went through a brooch phase and have a lot of gorgeous brooches which I intend wearing again this year, even though they are not the "in" thing at the moment.

I have chosen the 4 pieces of jewellery I wear the most at the moment (minus the earrings, beads, rings etc that I posted during colour week).These are my most favourite earrings, designed and made by the jewellers at Jewel Beettle, who also made my wedding/engagement rings. I wear these almost every day. I say that Stellar got them for me as R bought me a voucher for Jewel Beetle last Mothers Day (Stellar had no pocket money for Mothers Day this year)...so I bought these earrings with my Stellar voucher, I figured she would appreciate them as they are wee rabbits, which she loves to chase. They are silver..little hard to tell in the photo.
This is a horrible photo, but it is off one of my favourite necklaces at the moment...I bought it when up at Whangamata for my brothers wedding...it is silver, pearls and shell...sadly it broke and I got some more stuff to thread it on but it is too think...I am missing wearing it...lots of people comment on it and it was super cheap which makes it even more special!!
Another necklace...this one is quite new...my most recent jewellery acquisition. Nanny got this for me at a wee flower shop in Motueka. It was on the half price table and it great...it goes with a lot of the colours I wear and has beads in it to suit every occasion...
This is one of most favourite things that I own in the world...it is my lovely silver necklace my darling R got me for Christmas two years ago just before we got married. He chose it himself and I LOVE it...I wore it on my wedding day and wear it a lot, it is unique and fabulous and so special to me.
I think I will have to have a brooch day when I take photos of my favourite brooches...

The day has been ok, it seemed very dark this morning and I never seem to sleep well on Sunday night, think it is the misery of having to get up and go to work, even though I do like my job. The weather here was beautiful and I got quite bit done at work. I met up with Mum and Nanny for lunch which was lovely, then we had a wee wander round Fashion Island...sounds tacky, but it is the new area of shops in Nelson. There are some good sales on but came home empty handed as I didn't really have time to look plus I am trying not to buy anything before America (23 sleeps!!)...also, we need to buy a new car, our one is officially dead...we possibly won't even get a cent for it as we will have to get it towed away...it is a real bummer. I think we will put down a deposit and pay one off as we are desperately trying to pay off the rest of the floating part of our mortgage asap...and a car would put a significant dent in it. Wish us luck for the car hunt!!

New week, new challange...

New challenge has been put forward by M over at Chocolate Britches...

Monday: 3 favourite pieces of jewellery
Tuesday: 3 favourite books
Wednesday: 3 favourite travel destinations
Thursday: 3 favourite hot men (just for some shallow fun!)
Friday: 3 favourite household items (could be anything around the house)
Saturday: chosen by Ruby Two Shoes
Sunday: chosen by Poppy Black

Will have to go and take some photos...

Visitor

Look who came to visit this morning...a dear wee wax eye that hit the french doors with such force I was sure he would be dead. But no, when I picked him up he was ok, a bit stunned and panting like a marathon runner, but alive. Stellar wanted to say hello, she was quite concerned about him...after a short photo session I put him out under a hebe in the sun. He sat for a wee while then flew away, I was so pleased. I was worried he would die from the shock of a blow to the head, then being sniffed by giant brown nostrils and picked up by a giant pink hand...he will have a tale to tell his feathered friends.

Mellow Yellow...

Well, thats another Sunday almost over. We had a fun night last nights for M's (Chocolate Britches) birthday, the guest list consisted of my, R, M and her boyfriend and my brother...and of course Stellar and Flynn. M brought a heap of nice food over and we just ate, drunk and were merry. We watched the rugby and played on the X-Box...this would not normally thrill me but R bought home a copy of Scene It which is one of those games that you all have a controller and it is like a quiz but the questions are all related to movies...it is great fun, especially with more than 2 people as it gets quite competitive and I was getting a bit sick of being thrashed every time I played R who knows all there is to know about movies...

The rest of today has been spent going to the supermarket and being horrified at the cost of veges, then taking Stellar for a lovely walk out in the warm winter sun. Plus did a few loads of washing, mainly bedding as we have R's aunt coming back to stay again tomorrow...the spare bed has never seen so much action. Have done some ironing and now time to browse the internet before I go and get started on a painting...


The first photo is of M's birthday pav..it has mandarins on the top but I am using the yellow theme creatively and am including orange...


We used these gorgeous serviettes last night, Poppy Black gave them to me for one of my birthdays and I have been waiting for an occasion to use them...there are lots left so they will come out for another birthday...I love this wee card, it is in a frame with others so thats why the photo is so crappy...we grew up surrounded by daffodils and I always remembr Mum reciting this poem...
This bowl was made by me a while ago now...it has many colours on it, the pottery glazes are lovely. We use it to store our garlic in.
I have a lot of paintbrushes but the yellow ones are my favourites, I even have some that haven't been used yet...maybe this time...
This is what the yellow brushes paint...ok, it is a stretch for the yellow theme...but it does have yellow in it!!
This is a close up of a gorgeous wee bag R bought me for Christmas when we lived in Dublin, it is from a shop called Avoca which was my mots favorite shop in Dublin, every thing in it was Irish made...I love this wee bag with its vibrant colors and delicate work. I use it as my going out bag...I figure with so many colours in it, it goes with anything!!

So...thats the end of the week and the end of the colour challenge. It has been fun...what will we do next week?? Anyone got any ideas??

Black is back...

I LOVE black, it is a great "colour"...I have a lot of black clothes but don't really have much black stuff around the house, I guess it is not a very shabby chic colour...anyway, what did I come up with?This is a close up of my wonderful Voon coat, it is long and has lovely flowers embroidered around the bottom half and also has wee patches of subtle sequins on it...it also has lovely buttons (you can see in a close up)...this coat was purchased at a half price sale and again, is made by Voon (NZ designer).
Go the All Blacks, last night for M's birthday party we hung up balloons so we blew up a few All Blacks balloons and enjoyed watching the All Blacks beat the English in rugby!!
More clothing from Voon...this is a skirt...the skirt itself is not my favorite but I love the material which features my favorite bird, the tui.
Meet my sausage dog cushion...he is very cool...I know Stellar wants to gut him like a fish but she has shown restraint so far, he is velvet and is embroidered with lovely pinks and purples...
My nice black boots...unfortunately I have rather generous shanks which is a shame because I love boots...in fact I have too many boots..these are great because they have a big panel of elastic in them which makes them comfortable. The also sound like arse kicking boots on hard surfaces...they make me walk with authority...
Who do these feet belong to?? Dear Stellar with her "Ratty"...yes, this black plastic thing used to be a rat, it is her 4th one I think...they start off with a face, feet and a tail and get dismembered...she then carries it about like a trophy...

I will be posting photos of the party later and then my yellow photos...

Purple Haze...

Golly, I had better apologize for my tardiness when it comes to the purple post, my brother is staying so access to the computer is limited when he is here as he doesn't get the chance to play on the internet so much at his house because they don't have Broadband. Plus...I was a bit lazy last night, got as far as taking the photos...anyway, here are my purple things...The first is this amazing mosaic platter which sister in law M made (Chocolate Britches) for our wedding present. It is in our cornflower blue spare room and looks fabulous...we love it...has lovely blue/purple tones.
What is this...a Purple G (Purple Goanna), one of those horribly toxic coloured alco-pops...I don't really drink my alcohol, don't like wine much and despise beer but these wee numbers are quite tasty so I had to sample one last night...
Green chair...one of the first animal paintings I did...it is ok I guess...plus it has purple in it...you can see the colour of our bedroom walls behind it, the colour is Resene Cooled Cream...looks cream or yellow depending on the light.
I LOVE this skirt...purchased on Trademe, it is made by NZ designer Sophie Voon (label VOON), it has a kind of fish tail back and is nice to wear with long boots in winter.
These are a couple of bits if fabric in my sewing room, the darker is a skirt waiting to be finished though somehow it has managed to be ginormous...and you would be proud of me, I used a pattern...I don't understand why is is so huge...oh well...will finished it and see how it ends up...just got to finish the waist band and put in the zip...the other is a wee top that I am going to put ribbon ties on so it is a bit pulled in and doesn't look like a preggy top...will be nice and light for America (4 weeks away...ahhhh)....
This gorgeous wee pin cushion thingy was made for me by Poppy Black, it is too nice to use so hangs off the mirror on my dresser...look at the intricate work...PB is very clever!!
This purple book (excuse the bad photo) was a great read. For any Marian Keyes fans, I don't think you will be disappointed despite some of the crappy reviews. I thought it was a bit "deeper" than some of her others and it really kept me interested.
Check out this fabulous shirt belonging to R...not only is is purple it has gorgeous lining in the collar and cuffs...he looks great in it..

So...it has been a long week, with visitors staying and a lot of pressure at work. I am glad it is the weekend...we have my brother staying and then M and her boyfriend are coming over tonight as it is her birthday. We will eat party food and watch the rugby...Happy Birthday M!!!

More later...think the colour for today is Black, as nominated by Poppy Black...

Blue again...

Just wanted to add a couple more blue photos as I love them...the first is the lovely flax which the tui and bellbirds play in out at Ngatimoti.

Check out this amazing blue jellyfish PoppyBlack, Mr B, me and R saw in the aquarium in Melbourne...I guess this photo represents a wonderful holiday, may there be many more!!

And what day would be complete without my dear Stellar...the blue in the background is our spare room...I love the blue, it is the most gorgeous colour...in real life it is a little less "aqua" and a touch more "bluebell" if you get my drift...

So that's it for now....

Feeling Blue...

HI there...I have to apologize for my BLUE photos...the camera went flat just as I was taking my first shot so I have cheated and used photos already saved on the computer which I have taken over the past wee while...just random stuff that has blue in it...
The first photo is of a painting I completed a while ago, I was never too happy with the donkey but I like the colours...has some blue in it too!!

This photo was taken up the Maitai, there is a walk you can do that takes you up the hill to the lookout...there is an olive grove, when I go up there I feel like I am the only person in the world. I have NEVER seen anyone else on this track...it is like a secret olive grove...I love the blue sky behind the wonderful green...this signifies a perfect day for a walk.

I took this photo just trying out the new wee camera on close up mode...you can't really see the dark blue sapphire that is in my engagement ring...it looks black in this photo but is dark blue. I love these rings, made by JewelBeetle...the engagement ring fits inside two silver bands..the wedding band and 1st year anniversary band. I love them...no bling for me....

You can't get better blue sky than this...move to Nelson for this kind of weather!!

That's it for blue...sorry for lack of imagination...it has been a tough day, driving to Blenheim for a pretty stressful work situation, leaving at 6:30am...it is tough being in Management sometimes...I really worked for my money today and am really looking forward to the weekend.