Quick update

Not much to say today, another day at work...more hot weather...lots to do but nothing too thrilling.
Took Stellsy to the beach after work, she enjoyed dancing in the waves while I paddled along beside her.
We start in the social bowls league tomorrow night...the first night is a chance to practice and learn the game. Who knows, on of us might be fantastic at it, I am yet to find a sport I am any good at...throwing and catching are a problem for me so maybe bowling will be easier??
The photo of the t-shirt is just to let PoppyBlack know that the Glassons Breast Cancer t-shirts are out again, I am rather fond of this cat one, and of course the Trelise Cooper one is nice as well. I thought last years ones were tacky and nasty but there are a couple of cool designs this year..take a look on www.glassons.co.nz.

Hot Saturday...

I don't think you will be reading anything deep and meaningful on this page today, it is far too hot for anything that makes sense, instead I will take you on a very mini tour of what is growing in the garden right now.
This rose bush has been amazing...it keeps flowering and flowering. I pick the dead heads off and a week later there area million more buds and gorgeous flowers...the garden seems to be a haven for rose bushes and over the past few weeks we have bought about 8 of them from the Warehouse...on special of course...just got two more today for $5 each.
OK...so these are not ripe yet but we are excited to get our first decent crop of blueberries ...there will be good cupful if the birds don't get them first!
Our corn has been amazing, there must be at least 20 or more cobs that are all a good size. I think we will eat our first ones tomorrow for lunch and see if they are as tasty as I anticipate they will be. These grew from a punnet of corn from the Warehouse..brilliant!!
Who is this wee green fellow...yes, there is one fine looking passion fruit hiding on the vine...in fact it was Mum or Dad who spotted it, we hadn't even seen it. It will get the royal treatment and will be put on a pav when it is ready to eat.
Of course what post would be complete without a photo of Stellar...she is struggling with the heat today despite me having filled up her paddling pool, she has been in there for a splash and is now lazing round inside with her friend.

R has finished stripping all the wallpaper in what will become "the green room". He has done an amazing job and killed a few braincells sniffing the paper removing paste stuff...it stinks!! He has been sanding this afternoon and I might get going on the undercoat tomorrow maybe if the plaster has been sanded etc...very exciting!!
We have a couple of DVDs to watch tonight, Eagle Eye and Taken..two action/thrillers and we will enjoy them while munching on homemade BBQ'd burgers. Yum.

Not much to report...

Has been a quiet week so far. We played netball after work this evening and while we didn't win I think we all really enjoyed it because the teams were reasonably even, it was a wild, fast game and no one took it too seriously. The worst opponents are not the tattooed, pierced 20 something year old boy racers who we played tonight, but are the white trash bogan 50 year old ex-netballers who back into you with their large arses and elbow you in the jugular...there are plenty of them playing what is meant to be fun, social netball.
Once we got home I took Stellar for a lovely walk, the evening temperatures have been marvellous and Stellar loves her walks.

I have decided to add a couple of USA photos as I never got round to adding these when we got back in August...the first is me outside Universal Studios where we had the best day...the rides were amazing, seeing the films sets from some of the big movies was great and it was just a real spectacle. Favourite ride would have to have been the Jurassic Park ride where you plunge over a waterfall and truly think you will die...great fun when you don't!!

The second photo was taken on my birthday in Hawaii...my Pina Colada...it was very nice!! Hawaii was a lovely contrast to the hustle and bustle of LA...lovely weather, not so many people, warm water and gorgeous beaches, we had a great time there and would go again in a heartbeat.

A night in Blenheim..

It may seem a little strange to go away for a night, and end up in Blenheim, but let me tell you, it is a fun place to visit. Lots of things to see, very pretty setting, some quirky shops, not too crowded...and, if you are into wine (which I am not), a squillion vineyards to visit, some with some cool foody/wine shops to visit. We stopped at The Mudhouse Vineyard which has a number of wee shops at it, one of which is The Quilters Barn...this place was amazing...the biggest selection of quilting fabrics I have ever seen, they have an extensive collection of Kaffe Fasset (hope I have spelled this right!!) fabrics as well, which may interest some of my avid readers!! I have never seen this fabric in the flesh before (until PoppyBlack bought some at Christmas time while visiting Wellington), it is amazing fabric, this particular shop had bolts of it in different varieties, plus fat quarters.

We dropped Stellsy off at the doggery on the way, she seemed happy enough to go in which made it a little less heartbreaking to leave her there. We were in Blenheim by about 10:30ish...the joys of not being big sleeper-in-erers...so we cruised the shops...I got a new floral top, white, grey and (shock-horror) yellow...I will post a photo sometime and get your opinions...it is cheap and cheerful...good for Summer. We then went and checked into our cheap hotel room...got a good deal on wotif.com...the room was great, very similar to the photo below...a real choccies on the pillow affair!!
We then went to the supermarket to fill up our chilly-bin and it was off to the races. Now, don't get the idea we are racing freaks...but it is a fun day out. Lovely weather, great people watching, fun picnic and some horses to watch. We gamble $1 each way on each race..so don't stand to lose much...and we actually came home with enough to pay for dinner. Yippee, and even if we hadn't, we would have only lost $20.
These little ponies caught my eye...no, you couldn't bet on them but they did race...some of them were tiny!!
After the races we went back to the hotel to "freshen up" and to watch some reality tv...then out to an Indian restaurant for tea...very yum food.
The morning saw us rising quite early, some breakfast and then back to Nelson in time to pick dear Stellsy up, she was no worse for wear after her night in dog borstal.
On Sunday Mum, Dad and Nanny came for lunch, bringing fabulous Blueberry muffins with them...so tasty. It was lovely to see them and we were even civilised enough to sit round the table for lunch...don't think Stellar could understand why we were eating at the table...not the usual plate on a knee on the couch.
It was a lovely weekend....shame it couldn't have lasted for several weeks!

Mental Health Day...

I took the day off work today...or had a "mental health day". I have had a couple of dark days, plagued at night by dreams of death and babies. I don't think I am losing the plot...just a bit emotional...physically I am fine, emotionally I am still healing I guess.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day, far to nice to stay in bed and catch up on sleep so I feel like I have had a quite productive day. Firstly I tidied up what will become the "green room"...it has been hidden under a layers of stripped wallpaper. R is now on the final layer, the dastardly bunnies and Asian babies...he is confident he is on the home straight...then it will be a bit of polyfiller and then my turn with the paintbrush.

I took Stellar for a nice walk, she got into a big muddy ditch and I kicked her up the bum I was so cross...not a hard kick, just a gentle toe up the backside...I felt so guilty about it I gave her an extra long bath when I got home...she is clean and soft now (and has forgiven me!!).
I gave the garden a water and inspected the progress...check out the cauliflower we will be having with our roast chicken for tea!! Until a couple of weeks ago we were inspecting the plants frequently questioning why I was mad enough to buy cabbage plants...but it seems they were caulis (makes more sense) and they are big and glorious. The worst thing about homegrown veges is the hidden danger of wildlife living on them, adding to the flavour once cooked. At least I guess they aren't covered in pesticides!!
The corn is looking promising for being ready in a few days the the cherry tomatoes are now colouring up nicely!
What domestic day at home would be complete without some muffin baking...they are never as good as Mum and Nanny's ones, but they are not too bad. R came home for lunch and polished off a few so they can't be too bad! They look good perched on their lovely cake stand (thanks PB!!). I even fitted in some sewing...watch out for a new skirt coming to this blog soon!!

We are planning a night away in Blenheim, we have been granted leave on Friday so are heading to Marlborough...we have found a fancy 5 star hotel on www.wotif.com...yay for cheap deals..so we will go and enjoy each others company and go for lunch at a nice vineyard and have a look about...Blenheim surprisingly has some quite good wee shops. We may even go to the races again since we had such a good time last weekend. Still waiting to hear back from the doggery to see if they can take Stellar, once we know that we will book our hotel and look forward to it.

Hope you have all had a good day xx

Off to the Races...

It was another perfect Nelson Summer day...the sun was hot and the sky was blue. We headed out to the Nelson Races with R, R's sister and her partner. We got a a great spot by the track and set ourselves up for an afternoon in the sun.
Sorry fr the crappy photo, the hat was essential today. There was a real mixture of people here...those who had dressed for comfort (like us) and those who had dressed to try and win the "Best dressed Filly"...there were some really leathery old dollybirds dressed to kill...plus some people who would not have been out of place at the Melbourne Cup.
Not being someone who likes to lose money I was pleasantly surprised to win enough to come out a few $$$ up...in fact the 4 of us had a pretty successful day with winning from about $25 to $50...good stuff.

Stellar and I are just back from a brisk walk in the evening sun while R slaves away on the final layer of wallpaper.

Colourful cushions

I couldn't think of what to write about today so decided to add some colour to this blog by showing you my new cushions..the one above is a fabulous velveteen dog that Nanny got me for Christmas...he was the only one in the shop and looked very lonely...I am glad he got to come home with me...Stellar has treated him with great respect and is often found napping on the couch with her head resting on him.
The beautiful ruby red floral cushions were a Birthday pressy from Mum and Dad...they are glorious and look fabulous on the leather couches.
These two cushions were also Christmas cushions...the native birds are a handmade cushion made by my clever sister in law, Chocolate Britches...it even has a very professional zip in it with chocolate coloured corduroy on the back!! I got another green themed cushion from Nanny for Christmas...she is very sneaky, it was a surprise cushion and is the most marvellous colours and texture!
Just added this photo of one of my latest paintings, done a couple of months ago...
Check out the hard work going on in the spare room...R has shown amazing perseverance with this despicable job...stripping many layers of the most stuck on wallpaper...you can see the strange original paper that was hidden beneath other numerous papers...weird Chinese looking infants and blue and pink rabbits....R has been working on it all week...what a mission!!

Finally, happy birthday to my lovely Dad!! I feel very lucky to have such a fabulous, sweet father...love you Dad!! xxxx

It's a sizzler...

It has been another gorgeous summer day with temperatures high all over the country. I am sure Mr and Mrs PoppyBlack are roasting down in Christchurch...with temps in the high 30s!!
Stellar and I went for a swim at the beach after work while R went to Bunnings to try and get a fan, we have been worried about how much panting Stellar has been doing in the evenings so we thought a fan might cool her down. Alas all the other keen hot shoppers in Nelson got to the fans first so R came home empty handed.

We met a wee 4 month old chocolate labrador puppy at the beach, she was a wee sweetie...her owners said "Gosh, I hope she doesn't grow that big" when they saw Stellar...I didn't have the heart to tell them their wee beasty had the same lanky legs, huge paws and giant ears just like Stellar did...so is possibly going to be a huge dog as well...anyway, what's a few kgs and inches???

I caught up with Mum and Nanny at the hospital this morning as Nanny had an appointment...they were off to do some serious retail therapy in Nelson so I hope they shopped up and storm and had a good day!!!

R is busy wrangling the 4 layers of wallpaper in the spareroom...hideous task..anyway, he is making good progress so we will get the paint in the weekend.

Finally, a photo, some very fancy, yummy chocolates we got for our anniversary...they are different dessert flavours and are very special...we have some for supper tonight...naughty but nice!!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Three years today we had a magical wedding day, married by Mr Poppy Blacks mum at a wee church in Ngatimoti attended by our families.
It was a lovely clear day with a gentle breeze...we had the service at the Church with readings by Mum and PoppyBlack and the compulsory singing...a Christmas carol led by Mum on the recorder.
We all went back to Bannockburn, Mum and Dads place and sat in the garden chatting and having drinks.
The "weasel" (bbq) was cranked up and we dined at wooden trestle tables with crisp white table cloths and pretty pitchers of flowers from the garden. It was a perfect day.
I can't believe we have been married for three years...I never dreamed I would be lucky enough to find such a wonderful best friend and husband..I feel very lucky.

My dear R got beautiful flowers delivered to me at work...they had the right address on them but almost made it into the hands of one of the people in the inpatient unit with the same first name as me...luckily they were intercepted and delivered!!
It was a lovely hot day today, I promised Stellar this morning that I would take her swimming if it was hot ...so we went to the beach and she swam and retrieved sticks and a pinecone and had a lovely time frolicking in the waves.

Quick hello...

Back to work today which was a bit of a shock to the system...it seemed like most of the world was still on holiday but it was ok being back...plenty to keep me occupied.

It is very warm this evening, poor old Stellar has take to lying on the wooden floors panting like a marathon runner...I wonder if she would appreciate being wrapped up in a wet towel?

I was lucky enough to be given a Jewelbeetle voucher for Christmas by R...Jewelbeetle is a duo of Nelson jewellers who make very cool jewellery...they made our wedding/my engagement rings...as seen in the photo below...the wee beetle pictured with my hand was a Christmas gift for them...nice touch!!
Anyway, have ordered a ring to go on my other hand which will sort of match my other ones...it is thick silver with three small dark round sapphires in it...the three stones represent three years of marriage and also symbolise me, R and Stellar...the three of us. It will be scuffed silver...I will get my other rings scuffed again when I collect my new ring. It will be about three weeks...yay!!

Finally some greenery...check out the coriander and Basil plants which have been merrily growing on the deck in the sun...I love coriander, adds so much flavour and no one can resist fresh basil!!

New Year...new start...

Yes, back by popular demand, the life and "tails" of Stellar the brown hound and her dedicated owners, me and my darling husband, R.....


2008 ended on a sad note for us but it's too raw to write about still...so maybe in a while when it's not so close to the surface I might write about our experience, but then again, maybe not...we will see...

So, what does 2009 hold for us...not really sure, we had a pretty lame attempt at making resolutions which included the usual, lose some weight, get fitter...but aside from that, we want to get our house and garden sorted...including landscaping the front of the house, planting an "orchard" down in the lawn area, painting the roof, finishing painting the other spareroom...see paint charts below, you guessed it...it is going to be green...I think we have picked the colour...a Trends colour called Gluck...hope it is nice in the flesh!!! We also hope to expand or renovate the bathroom...then think about the kitchen...so not much to do really!!! Plus..curtains for all the bedrooms plus lounge area...curtains in this house are pretty revolting currently!

On a personal front, we have agreed not to let work take over our lives...to enjoy each other and our marriage and have fun...go on regular dates..go out and about, try new things...enjoy being in love...events of the last few weeks have brought us closer than ever and have highlighted what a wonderful, kind, gorgeous man I am married to...so I had better make the most of him!!!

On the creative front...well, PoppyBlack and I have agreed to encourage our crafty pursuits by completing a number of challenges during the year..and posting photos of the results of our craftiness on our blogs. I am also keen to join the Nelson Arts Society so will need to submit some paintings in March (I think) to see if my work is to the liking of the art wankers here in Nelson. R is keen to do some more jewellery making and start his own Blog with PB's husband...I am sure they will compete to post the best photos and cook the most creative yummy food (starting with fish curry for tea tonight!!!).

Mrs Dougray aka Stellar or Poo is keen to get in shape this year and maybe even do some agility if I can pluck up the courage to face the old hags at the dog club. Stells enjoyed a visit to the river today...her favourite place to go around Nelson...
That's about it for now...nothing too thrilling to report. We had a lovely Christmas and New Year with our family out at Ngatimoti...it is paradise out there, so peaceful...and still so much fun. I love my family so much!! On the way back yesterday we stopped at a PYO berryfarm and got a fine selection of lovely berries...raspberries, loganberries, blackberries, boysenberries and my favourite, strawberries...so I leave you with a photo of last nights dessert....what summer is all about!!