Day 31

personally, i don't think we ever tell friends how much they mean to us. how much we love them, how much we appreciate them. we don't tell them why we love them, why we appreciate them and why we are their friend. last year i asked a group of my friends why they are my friend. what is it about me that makes them want to spend their precious time with me, what is it that they get from me, what is it that i give them. the responses i got were awesome. i love my friends.
this morning i awoke to an extremely fabulous email from a friend. it was completely unsolicited. this friend decided that they don't tell me often enough how much they love me. how much they appreciate my support. how much they appreciate my friendship.
to receive this was so amazing, and made me proud of who i am. more importantly it made me proud to have such an amazing friend. even, more, importantly, it made me realise how important it is to tell your friends how much you do love them and how much they mean to you.
i love you guys xx
for me, i think it's really important to tell my friends how much they mean to me, and are important to me, particularly as so many are living in different cities to me right now.
this friend falls into this group. just the other day they were telling me how much they missed my hugs.....i was going to photograph a hug, but all it would have been, was a blur (or my breasts, which i'm sure some of you would have appreciated, but really, you wouldn't have been able to tell!!!)
so firstly love, this is for you. i miss you too....lots. and of course, and not in the least, this is for all of you, my wonderful friends. i love you. i miss you (even if i only saw you a few hours ago) xxxx

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Day 30

i feel like i have been in a world of my own lately, a strange little world it is too. it's not as though i am removed from all around me, it's more that i feel like there is something in the way of my interacting with all around me. i still manage to participate in life on a superficial level, but nothing seems to be sinking in. my conversations with people, yup, no, wouldn't have a clue what has been discussed all of an hour later, let alone a day. what i have done, yup, no, often have no flippen idea....so really, my blog for Day 9 was a bloody miracle. my worry with this 'space' i seem to be in, is that i am letting life pass me by. i'm drifting along once again, achieving nothing, seeing nothing, taking nothing in.....just surviving.
i was already contemplating this sense of nothing that i am feeling today and then a few things happened tonite to reiterate this point.
firstly i was talking to my dear friend in germany, whose husband, late last year, was diagnosed with cancer in his jaw. he is currently going thru 18months of treatment, and is only a little older than me. agnes was nearing the end of her phd, and completing her 'thesis', which has quite obviously been put of hold. tonite she said a couple of things that really helped with the way i am feeling..... ".....i sometimes feel like i am standing at a station and none of the trains passing by are stopping to pick me up....." & well, achievement, that word doesn't mean anything, really!. and really she is right, we all achieve in our own ways each and every day. what is achievement for one person is totally different for another. often it is just the expectations one places on oneself...i know this to be especially true for me.
secondly my father called. he has just been away for ten days and so was calling to catch up. in amongst the catch up thou was some bad news. a good family friend was killed a week ago in a car accident. i was shocked to say the least. i have had a lot of people around me die over the years, but no one i know fairly well, die in an accident. it reiterated the point that we are here for such a short period of time and really should make use of as much of that time as we can. treasure it and respect it. do what you can during it and with it.
with any luck, my 'fog' will disappear soon enough and i can once again be a friend, in the moment, at, the moment and ensure i grab all those opportunities i have been given and will be given in the future.

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Day 29

the days are getting shorter, and the nights longer. nest weekend the clocks go back, and daylight savings is over. tonite was the last sunday, until september, that it will still be light at 8pm (just). to 'celebrate' this i figured i'd go and try and do the shoot i was intending to do a few weeks back, before i stupidly shut the front door behind me without my keys.
it was a clear day today, so the sunset would be pretty standard, no amazing, amazing colours with no clouds in the sky to bounce and diffuse the light. i was right, pretty standard and very warm....nothing to spectacular...and can i say, when you have LIMITED time and doing self portraits, it's hard work. definitely a good excuse for some pocket wizards i say

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Day 28

i had the pleasure this morning of spending a little over two hours sitting in a medlab waiting room while i had a glucose tolerance test. I hadn't eaten since last nite, and had to get in there first thing to have a blood test. then i had to drink what tastes like exceptionally sweet lemonade...wait for an hour, have another blood test, then wait another hour for another blood test. my arm seriously looks a mess....lots of holes (including the one from thursday).
this was another test for my pancreas...i guess to see if i have any insulin issues, or something. i was rather a crappy way to spend my only day off, but hey, it has to be done. i have my appointment for the specialist, in 10 days, so have to make sure all the results are with him. i still have one test to go that i have been putting off. the 'poo' test. i'm sorry, i can cope with most things, but having to take a sample of my poo for some reason i just do not find pleasant at all, beside the fact that it may have to be stored in my fridge until i can get to a lab....ugh!!! oh well, i guess i will have to face the music and get it sorted in the next day or two, otherwise the results won't be with my specialist for next monday.

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Day 27

today was another one of those, not much going on day's.....probably more because i slept the afternoon away. it had seemed like a long week and i was shattered. napping was good, but ya know how you always wake up feeling like croc after a day sleep? well i do anyway...and today was no exception - ughness. i had a friend coming over for dinner tonight too, so i had to wake up pretty flippen quickly coz i still hadn't worked out what it was we were having for dinner, let alone have the ingredients.
of course i managed to get everything done, and surprisingly dinner wasn't that bad... woulda been nicer with a glass of vino tho.

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Day 26

tonite i found myself, as i do most thursday nite's, down on my hands and knees. quite the opposite to how i started my day, flat on my back.
ok i should explain, otherwise it really does sound like i am a prostitute.
first thing today i had my mri to sus out my pancreas. ok....so definately not something i'd want to go through every day. i knew you go into a small space, but that small!!! no way. eye's stayed shut the, entire, time otherwise i knew i would totally freak out. to make matter's worse, you get to listen to music, and i asked them to put kiwi fm on...told them the approximate frequency. well they couldn't find it, instead i got nuie fm, beats of the pacific.......so my least favourite kind of music. to top things off, towards the end of the scan, they had to inject a dye into me. they had put the lure in prior to the scan starting, so i had a needle in my arm through the entire scan.....pain. the magnetic rays played havoc with it. again, so glad i don't have to go thru that every day.
so down to my hands and knees. thursday nite's i clean/babysit. i really didn't have the energy to go tonite, but i managed to get myself out the front door and there.....oh the joys. tbh, it isn't that bad. it's only a small house, and i have ben looking after caitlyn for two years now, so it's all good. they have recently acquired a new addition to the family, barkley, a choc lab/german pointer x. he is very cute, and puppylike...currently at the biting stage. but this creates more hands and knees time, cleaning everything at his level that is covered in muddy paw prints.

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Day 25

today i, finally, got to see a film that i have been waiting months and months to see.....the reader. i first saw the trailer for this film months ago on apple trailers, a site i regularly visit to check out what is heading for our big screens. kate winslet stars in the adapted novel by bernhard schlink, set in germany over a period of 40+ years.
it was rumoured that nicole kidman was originally meant to play the role of hanna, that earnt kw an oscar and golden globe earlier this year. god i am glad she didn't. what makes this performance so amazing is the seemingly lack of emotional presence that character has, an apparently very cold character. in my mind nk is like that every day, where as kw is the total opposite. any interview with her, seen or read, evokes emotion, she always appears warm, vivacious and forthcoming. so to become the character that she is, is truly deserved of the accolades she has received.
it's a deeply moving movie, but more so really it is held together by the performances of kate winslet and amazingly talented and young, david kross. sheesh - to have, that, many naked scenes in one of your first film's would be pretty nerve-wracking....so so impressive! oh btw - such a hot bod, even if he was probably only 17 when the movie was shot.

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Day 24

winter is most definitely on it's way and autumn is here! i walked to work in 5 degree temp this morning. but it was oh such a sunny morning. as much as the cold is to bear, the sun makes up for it all, esp walking in it.
walking home, after my ladies hours at work, along the avon was stunning, especially as the leaves are turning yellow. the river was almost still so there were stunning surreal, romantic reflections in the water. wish i'd had my camera, just because. oh well, maybe tomorrow, or thurs.
as mentioned in my Day 1 blog, i have been advised to follow a low fat diet. my gorgeous friend, claudia, sent me some fat-free cooking books. it was so gorgeous today that i figured i'd sit outside and actually properly read thru them and find some yummy food i can cook! and boy there are some great recipes. yummo!

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Day 23

nothing happened today. it was wet and cold. so i snuggled with my kitty cat. should really have snuggled in bed or on the couch - much more comfy.
really, that's about it.

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Day 22

so.....i jump in my car this morning to go to work on a rather cool and wet morning. turn the key over, nothing.....again....nothing....again...a little noise....starting to panic at this point. my first thought was just it hadn't been driven for a while so was a bit drained, but then it wouldn't turn over. turn the key one more time, phew it starts.
it's raining so i turn my wipers on....they go, but my windscreen is still wet....wha??? i have a look and some *&^%#* *&%#%$@$ has ripped my wipers off my car.....not just my blades....the entire wipers. it was too late to sort something so i just had to drive to work(so not my brightest move ever). one of the wipers was still lying on the car, so i grabbed it....lucky that, as i had to stop a coupla times and wipe the windscren down. i was sooooooo annoyed.
at least the day fined up, so i wasn't going to have to do the same thing driving home.....haha....if only i was so lucky. it started raining just before i finished work....arghhhhhh!

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Day 21

naming ceremony. sponsors. 3 per child. backyard. yup folks all a bit different to the traditional christening, but hey, why do you have to have a religious ceremony to celebrate your child's life.(yeah, yeah, i know it's not as simple as that). but i digress.
today my good friends sarah & shaun had their babies(twins) naming ceremony. people i spoke to thought it was all a little weird, esp. as they were having 'godparents', which i found out today are actually 'sponsors', possibly not what you would be wanting to call them when you are older as i am sure 'aa' or 'na' would be the first things running through most people's head's. i personally think it's a great idea and a great informal way to celebrate your children.
i had stipulated when i got the invite that i would only go up for it if i could be the 'official' photographer for the day. so i documented the ceremony. i don't feel like i did it justice, but i have learnt more again.
i did a 'portrait' session with the twins on thursday. it was very casual, but i got some great pics. will post some on my other blog soon.
flew home tonite. what a week. i felt totally like a fish out of water thi week. i have discovered that i can't 'wing' it when i go to auckland, but do need to have a plan, and arrange times to catch up with people in advance. my week just turned to custard really, and i def don't feel like i relaxed at all. meh.....oh well

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Day 20

i'm tired. i have nothing to say. unusual i know.

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Day 19

stoopid being sick. i hate it. it's so frustrating. especially when you have so much to do and so little time....or something like that! ok, so actually, i wasn't that sick when i woke this morning. but i thought that i possibly was going to be and that would, really, throw all my plans out the window! i was supposed to be doing a photo shoot with my friend's babies this afternoon, and i know how precious new mum's are about their bubs. luckily for me sarah is not like that, and was still totally cool with me coming to hang out with the babies and snap away.
so i did a shoot with the babies this afternoon. it was hard. as we all know, three month old babies still don't really do much, and we changed the location of the shoot, so what i had in my head kinda changed. but hey, that is what happens when you are a photographer so you just have to go with it....so i did. these babies are pretty damn cute, so it wasn't that hard, but coming up with different angles etc in a limited space was. am sure i got something that ma will like tho.
got back onto the 'blackboard' series again today too. in fact did two even. with sarah and with my friend alicia who i caught up with this evening. woulda been kicking myself if i hadn't got any done up here after dragging the blackboard all the way up here and having overweight luggage.

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Day 18

father and daughter time doesn't happen too often for me. besides living in different parts of the country, dad and i don't have the best relationship. it wasn't always like that.
when i was younger dad would come into my room most nite's before i went to sleep and ask me a heap of general knowledge questions. i loved it. i'd beg for more and more, even if i was half asleep. when i was at primary school i played netball on saturday afternoons and often i would remember dad coming to watch and support.
i guess as we both got older things changed. i was a fiercely independent teen, and dad became busier with work. throw mum being sick into the mix and there were just too many things to juggle.
last week dad asked me if i would join him on a day trip to whangarei (about 2 1/2 hours north of auckland). i decided it would be a good opportunity to focus on some reading i needed to do and spend some time with papa on the drive up and back. he had about five hours of meetings up there so i was just going to hang out....well it didn't quite go to plan.
i woke with a bit of a sore throat, and had not had the best nite's sleep but figured i'd be ok to still go up. you always feel croc in the morning. well i was wrong. headache developed(and stayed with me, all, day even after copious amounts of panadol) and i was so tired, i walked around whangarei like a zombie. no reading, no photographs(i already had planned my pic of the day too). i did get to see a movie for $6.50 tho!!! thank goodness that is all i paid....it was def the best of a bad bunch of mainstream movies.
poor dad, i was pretty much falling asleep the whole trip back to auckland. that and trying not to vomit(flippen motion sickness). so i wasn't so talkative. i managed to perk up for about the last hour - so that wasn't too bad. and we had chatted most of the drive up, so not all was lost.
i came home and pretty much got straight into bed (530pm)....hadn't got my pic that i had planned....so boring one today...ugh

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Day 17

i had the awesome opportunity this morning to help my best friend out and look after her new born baby for an hour while she had a dentist appointment. it was in newmarket, so i just wandered around with her in her buggy. after a while scarlett got restless and i had to get her out of her buggy. she was getting hungry and of course i couldn't do anything about it!!! she was crying of course and i was getting weird looks, i couldn't work out if it was sympathy, or, 'look after your baby properly'. i've always been mistaken for the mother when looking after infants. i guess i do have a 'motherly' figure, actually, i have bigger boobs than all my friends who are breast-feeding at the moment...it's sad really - such a waste!
anyway....... scarlett got pretty unsettled, but man what a good bub. i just held her for the next 30 mins as opposed to leaving her in her buggy and she just dropped back off to zzz, with the odd little cry. lucky she's still so little, much older and i wouldn't have coped for that long!
tonite i went up to mt eden village to catch up with c for a drink...(non-alcoholic in my case - so bored of this already). the sky was amazing and i love going up mt eden at the best of times. the view of auckland is amazing. so we went up after our catch up and i got to wallow in the hills, lights and water of auckland.
sunset is so much more rewarding to me than sunrise...i guess it's coz i am up more often at sunset than sunrise, but i also think it's my love for the west coast beaches in auckland, and sunset just makes it all the more beautiful. sunset light, in my mind is harsher than sunrise light, so it fits, with the ruggedness of the west coast, perfectly

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Day 16

this is how i feel at the moment....like an empty book. there is nothing much going on inside me....or if there is it makes no sense.
most of the emptiness is creative, there's just nothing, and of course stressing just makes it a lot worse! in terms of my residency and what i 'should' be doing, yeah it's just not happening. i guess if i am brutally honest, i also haven't been doing much to inspire myself. so the stress increases and today it was horrendous. anxiety to boot, which then encroaches on all other parts of my life. it's pretty bloody horrid.
today though i got off my arse and went and saw a movie. i didn't actually go to inspire myself, i had a mate who i'd said i'd take to the movies and so we went. i so glad we did. it was a great movie and gave me some fodder to think about. good ole woody allen!

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Day 15

being in auckland means catching up with peeps. sometimes this can be a chore. today though, it wasn't.
first stop this arvo was out to visit my new pseudo niece, scarlett, and of course her older sisters, my god daughter saffron and the now middle child, isabella. on top of this it was my bestie, cushla's birthday, so there was just excitement all round. the girls were most definitely fizzing and after about an hour of me being there i got their full attention on me and became their jungle gym. man those girls have energy, and i'm getting old!! seriously tho, it was a lot of fun seeing them and hanging out, i don't usually get to do that as cush tries to see me without minx #1 & 2(i guess there is now #3 too), so that we can have a good chinwag and catch-up. i also got to see chris whom i often don't get to see either....so just pleasant all round.
after that i went to see my pseudo brother's, blake and ryan. i hadn't see ryan for a year, and whoa has he grown! i have looked after both of these boys since they were baby's, so now having them both much taller than me is surreal. ryan has shot up in the last year and def is more of a teen than a child. it's crazy, i mean everyone has to grow up, but you kind of don't expect it, if you can understand what i mean. anyway i had an amazing time with them hearing what they had been up to and hanging out.
to end my day i had a lovely dinner with my gorgeous friend claudia. we were both extremely tired but we both managed to get up the energy to enjoy a meal together and have some good conversation, about not too much - ha.

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Day 14

it was a strange day today....i puddled really...i was so exhausted from the day before. since i was in hospital i have been struggling to stay up past 10pm. it's strange after being the complete opposite for so long. i suddenly have a few less hours in the day....the bonus is i am getting up earlier! makes it easier to get to work - hehe.
today we had photos at the school as part of the jubilee celebrations. i hadn't initially intended on going....but i decided to....well honestly what a pathetic turnout! they were decade photos, our's actually ended up being 20 years worth, and there were a total of about 10 people that showed up for it....we ended up being surrounded by current students....totally unimpressed(what a change!).
four of us that were there decided to go out for dinner.....it was a great girls nite out, reminiscing and catching up. two were my very good friend's sarah & em, and then there was sarah's sister mary who i don't see that often.
the reason i am staying in auckland for a week is that sarah is having the naming ceremony for her babies next sunday. she had twins just before xmas. i, finally, gave her her baby pressies yesterday.....talk about late! but hey - aren't i always.




nb. in case you're wondering - my reflection is there ;)

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Day 13

i'm in auckland. it's busy. there's lots of traffic and people who can't drive properly. within the first hour i was here i almost had three accidents. ok admittedly it was friday afternoon rush-hour, but still....it was stressful.
it amazes me how in two years i have got so 'un-used' to auckland traffic. when i come here i struggle with having to allow for travel time into everything i plan. it never used to bother me....it was just part of life and you dealt with it, but now i seemingly have adjusted to christchurch traffic, where i can pretty much leave 5 minutes before i have to be most places(ok maybe 10).
i have always been a city girl, and auckland by world standards is really a small town, and christchurch is really just a town....but i have become used to the way of life in christchurch, and everytime i come back up to auckland i realise that. that's not to say i don't miss auckland. there are parts of it i do, but in reality it's only an hour and a half away. and with air travel so cheap these days it's so easy to come back often. i still don't feel like christchurch is home...but then i don't feel like auckland is anymore either. i'm homeless.
tonite i had the 'mix and mingle' at my high school jubilee. it was an interesting experience....not necessarily one i would like to repeat again in a hurry. but at the same time it was good to be able to say hi to people, have a quick chat and then move to the next person....like my gorgeous brother :D

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Day 12

uh oh - i'm off to auckland tomorrow. that's not the uh oh. as much as i love living away from auckland, i love going back there. my friends of a lifetime live there, my family live there, my goddaughter lives there, most of my belongings live there....i just don't anymore. i have a lifetime of memories which r auckland.
i grew up in the same house my daddy did. he was 5 months old when he moved in, and nearly 50 when he moved out(cept when him and my mummy were first married....they lived in another house for a while). when we were growing up we had a huge backyard with enough room for the most gigantic vege garden and also a decent size 'backyard cricket pitch'. there was a huge oak tree too, my uncle planted that when he was a boy. it's still there today, it's not allowed to be cut down. the vege patch has gone though, as has the cricket pitch. daddy sub-divided.....our place was almost the last section in the street to be sub-divided. i thought it would never happen, but then it did. there is no backyard anymore but still memories. stuffing our faces with feijoa's from our huge tree, me making my wonder woman huts under the lemon tree. making juice from the tangelo's off the tree that was planted when i was born. eating mandarins off the tree that was planted when my brother was born. playing in the tree hut in the huge old oak tree. and those are just the memories from when i was under 10. i lived in that house for 20 years and then i rented it with flatmates a few years later for 18months.
when i was a teenager there were so many more memories, but they mainly revolved around sneaking something, someone, out somewhere.....basically sneaking.
back to the uh oh....the reason i head back to auckland tomorrow is that my high school, onehunga high school, is having it's 50th jubilee and therefore a reunion. until today i still wasn't sure if i was, actually, going to go to the reunion....do i really want to see people i went to high school with that i didn't really like very much? but then, so they really want to see me, having not liked me very much.....i was the loud one at school - bet you are so not suprised! so hey, i have changed (ok, not in the loudness stakes), but in many other ways....i think it's called growing up.

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Day 11

it was another hectic day, racing around getting things done, or not done, but mainly done. managed to tick a lot off my list today - we like that
day ended very pleasantly with a trip to the cinema to, finally, see slumdog millionaire. omg, what a gorgeous film. it was shot beautifully, the saturated colours of the clothing in an otherwise neutral palette, the processing of the film.....oh....i fell in love. oh yeah, the plot wasn't half bad either....a delightful love story. if you haven't seen it yet, you must....to create the film they did, showing living conditions which are polar opposites to the life we know, is truly awesome

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Day 10

every sunday for the past sunday months(well most of them) i have worked in a giftshop out in redcliffs (near sumner). the redhouse is in a very old villa that was moved from town about 12 years ago. it's over 100 years old and rather rickety, but the owner of the shop(my boss) has made it into a very cute shop. there are six different rooms all with a different 'theme'. the front room(jewellery and gifts), back room(vintage and living/dining room stuff), kitchen and then upstairs men's room, boudoir(girly stuf), and babies room. generally once people have come to the shop they tend to come back...which is kinda cool.
anyway i worked there all weekend this weekend, sigh, and then again today after i had done my two hours at strategy. what i enjoy the most about working there are the people who come through the door that you quite often can start a conversation with. i chatted to a customer for close to half an hour today about this that and the next thing. i just can't help myself, i enjoy talking!

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Day 9

there are not enough hours in the day, i swear. that, or the time-stealing monster has been sneakily stealing them from under my nose, coz the minutes seem to disappear at a very fast rate. i had a list again today, more of a mental list of things i wanted to achieve....i managed one of them. one, just one.....now considering i only worked two hours of the day, where the rest of them went....sheesh....ok this was my day
0640 - cat headbutts me awake demanding to be fed
0700 - finally get up to stop the incessant headbutting and feed cat
0705 - get back into bed and do my internet browsing
0745 - get up, make coffee, pour cereal - get back into bed
0800 - have shower, get dressed and all that other boring stuff that comes with it
0830 - leave to walk to(yes walk) to work
0900 - arrive at work and work
1100 - leave work, walk home, via the library
1200 - arrive home, have lunch, internet browsing
1250 - leave to meet a third year BDes student who is interviewing me for her current assignment
1415 - finish interview go have a peak in ricochet
1500 - ok it was a bit more than a peak - but i didn't buy anything (this time)
1505 - walk down to school
1515 - go see andrew(he's the lovely photog technician), discuss some things
1545 - go to see alan (he's the lovely mac technician) and try to sort out my network access
1600 - go to see i.t as i don't have any access apparently
1605 - go see hubert(he's the head of the design school) because apparently, he, needs to sign off to get my back onto the 'system'
1620 - yeah, ok so we got talking, head back to photog dept, run into john(he's my mentor) have a bit of a chat,
1635 - finally get back upstairs to see andrew and get my printing sorted
1650 - stop and talk to inez(she is a photog tutor) and discuss some ideas about what i may possibly do this year, and a general discussion
1710 - head back to my car
1720 - drive home
1730 - get home (10 flippen minutes!!!!! rush hour man) chat to megs(my flatmate)
1740 - watch home and away (yeah yeah)
1800 - cook dinner, watch news, browse internet, watch campbell live
1930 - move into my room to 'read' manual - but get sidetracked with friends online
2000 - friend calls - we chat
2025 - finally get the manual i, really, need to read....and somewhat take in
2100 - take photo for blog
2110 - edit photo for blog, read some more manual
2145 - start wrting this, chat to callum(who has a snotty nose)
2211 - now
soooooooo....the only thing i achieved today, besides work and the iv, was getting the printing to andrew - eeeek.....living just takes time, dang
so yeah - should be reading this manual - so better get back to it

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Day 8

wow - managed to get to day 8 already. i have to say, this having to take a photo every day isn't so easy. of course i did have to stipulate that they would be sp's...oh well....onwards
today was a crap day. it was fueled partly by yesterday's pretty average day....and then by having to spend another gorgeous day inside at work. actually i think i'm just really tired. but whatever it is it's not cool. i was just about in tears driving to work this morning (no reason, just was). was worried sick at work - again no reason, just was. working day finally finished and i could head home to do some chores, but no - i had no energy.
as it was such a goregous day i was going to head up the port hills to do a photo for today's blog at sunset....got all my stuff packed, headed out the door (almost forgot to lock the back door, whoops) shut the front door and was like, i'm forgetting something. yup, my keys! s*$%, f&^@, b*^%#r!!!! so damn annoying. flatmate had just gone out so knew she wouldn't be home for a while....so did my photo for the day. then headed down the road to the park to snap a couple of other shots. the wind changed just before sunset to a southery and so i wasn't that keen to hang around outside waiting for meg's. i never thought i would say this, but, thank god for mcdee's at the end of my road. one hot chocolate later and i suddenly think, did i close meg's bedroom window. could i actually have been inside this whole time. race back down the road and there is some random guy, with his two random puppies sitting on the grass verge outside our place.....eek. window not open, dang....more waiting in the cold. wasn't too bad...only another 20mins..but boy i am so ready for sleep now.

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Day 7

so yeah.....pretty much a nothing day..... seriously, nothing to say.
went to a friend's tonite to watch a dvd on his stupidly large tv, whilst sitting on his stupidly large sofa in his stupidly small lounge.....hehe

k - so photo will have to come at a later date - it's stuck on my cell

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Day 6

nothing particularly of note happened today. second day of work, and more manuals to read. got me some light reading for the weekend too, bout 5cm thick worth. fun times. worked to and from work again, it's about an hour's worth all up - arse WILL go. one can hope right.
i finally hauled arse back into the studio this afternoon. scary studio - hehe - no so much anymore! kiss - keep it simple stupid....works every time. i can't really talk about what was doing in the studio as it's a bit of surprise. but while i was in there i took the time to do a few studio pics of myself.....well i needed something for day 6 ;)

this photo was enhanced using the gorgeous jules bianchi's presets

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Day 5

yesterday was a little bit of a disaster day in terms of getting thinks checked off my list. besides that though it was an awesome day, the sun was shining, it was warm, i caught up with some of my awesome friends...that list goes on!
today was different, the sun isn't shining, i didn't catch up with friends but i DID get things checked of my list. i also had my first day at work. well if you can call it day....talk about ladies hours. i only worked 9-11.
i walked to and from work, so that's gotta make me feel good. paid bills, got my hair cut(tick), bought groceries, got washing sorted(tick), delivered owed bottles of vino to friend (tick). so yeah lots of ticks. still more to go tho. especially before i leave chc next week for a week in akl(diarise my friends, and book me in fast - you know what a nightmare it is usually).
anyway, here is part of my ticked list of today.

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Day 4

so it is becoming apparent that i have a rather long list of things to do right about now. the list in my diary is a page long. today i managed to achieve, um, none of them. i fully intended to, like booking my MRI scans. i called to make the appointment, which needs to be in four weeks time, and in that time i have to get the prior approval letter sorted from my insurance company. anyway, the radiology clinic still hasn't received anything from the hospital, so i called the hospital.....answer phone!
next i tried to sort out the blood tests i need to get done. just wanted to see how much time i needed to allow, thinking it would be half an hour (i have to have a blood glucose tolerance test). ha, what a joke. i have to allow about 2 and a half hours. there goes a saturday morning. i also found out that the other blood test i have to have done can only be done at one clinic in christchurch....sheesh!
my hair is in desperate need of a cut, and what better time to get it cut than the day before starting a new job. last year i did some photos for a hairdresser who is lovely and a great cutter. crazily she works at one of those places where you don't have to make an appointment (i NEVER thought i would walk through the doors of one of those places). so i walk in this evening, only to find that she actually had clients booked in (i have therefore found out i can make appointments). so no haircut. guess i'll be wearing my hair up tomorrow

btw. my photo today is using presets by my amazing, super-talented friend, jules bianchi.

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Day 3

it's been raining here this past week...and some. so not great weather for drying clothes. we don't have a drier, but that suits me fine as i hate drying my clothes in a drier. the only thing driers are good for drying are towels. towels are so much softer when they come out of the drier, as opposed to being line dry. i have no idea why, as every other item of clothing is much better air dried. and towels are just cotton, like so many of my clothes!
so anyway, i haven't bothered doing any washing. then finally at the weekend we had a stunning day - perfect clothe drying weather, BUT. our washing machine decided to break on friday, so no washing i could do. the waching machine fix-it man is coming today, so YAY, hopefully i can do some washing tonite, especially as the next two days are going to be gorgeous. Otherwise i am going to be buried in washing for a little while longer.

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Day 2

today was either going to be a great day, or just another average day. it turned out to be a pretty good day. reason being i had a meeting about a job opportunity. finally - some light at the end of the unemployment tunnel....even if it was just a slither. the company i was meeting with is 'the' advertising agency in the south island...so kinda cool. so anyway, the meeting went pretty well, and i start work later in the week. if only all 'meetings' were like that. now i just have to work out what i am actually doing, hehe. seriously though, if this eventuates to it's potential, then i am in for a lot of fun AND i get to stay in christchurch.
fingers crossed for the future

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Day 1

so.....365 days of me - holy crap - talk about kirsty overload!!!
365 days is a concept that has been floating around for many years now...i have contemplated it previously and decided not to do it. I did a 'similar concept last year, when i did '48 in 24', taking photos's every 30mins(missed a couple - eek) on my birthday. my friend emma decided to do 365 this year, so i thought what the hell. also i thought i could use it alongside my residency and develop it over the year.
it IS going to be about me - i know, i know, more self portraits - but hey - i haven't done any for a while, and it will be interesting to explore and see myself grow as the year develops. watch my moods, follow my journey's....see where i end up (at least we know it won't be in a drunken stupor somewhere!!)
which leads us to my first photo.... for those who aren't aware, i was admitted to hospital last week with pancreatitis. i won't get into the nitty gritty of it, but basically my pancreas gets inflamed and i am in huge amounts of pain as it basically starts digesting itself (the enzymes which help aid digestion are released by the pancreas but are usually not active until they are in the bile duct - or something - in my case they become active in the pancreas every so often). the doctors are sure why i get this, but due to being admitted to hospital in christchurch last week, i now have a great specialist who knows his stuff and i am getting a heap more tests done than ever before, so hopefully we can know a little bit more about why....although there is no treatment as yet......EXCEPT for prevention.....hence my photo! i have been advised NEVER to drink alcohol again! oh and to top that one, have also been advised to abide by a very low fat diet!!! So no chocolate, no cheese, no avocado's, no nuts.....you get the picture.

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