Day 90

today i went on a playdate with my friend mark to his house to meet his ferrets. i have wanted to meant them forever, but it has proven impossible for us to both have free time at the same time. luckily for me(not so much for mark) he broke his collarbone a few weeks back, so he has plenty of free time at the moment!
unfortunately one of mark's ferrets had passed away the week before i got to meet the remaining two. poor lil arthur had to be put down, leaving bear and noxi to keep each other company
as cute as ferrets are they can be bitey....i found this out relatively quickly after bear bit me on the chin...quite nicely too, drew some blood, and left quite a nice little mark! this also seemed to perk him up!! he was too cute, running madly around the garden. meanwhile noxi was too busy digging up the garden in between the heat pump and the wall of the house to notice too much was going on.....she's a little digger!
so i survived my first visit with the ferret's.....bless em....even if i left with a friendly reminder not to get, too, friendly with the kiddy's!
ps. this is pre-bite

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Day 89

today we accidentally ended up at riccarton mall on the first late night since the new level had opened. to say it was chaos was a little bit of an understatement.
actually it wasn't that busy downstairs in the 'old' mall, but was most definitely busy in the new shops. luckily we were there relatively early, so probably missed the worst of it....and escaped to borders to do some research and drink some coffee. still, i had time(and somehow managed uninterrupted) to grab a shot of the new loos! i love the hand-dryers(ha!) at this westfield. maybe they are the same elsewhere in nz now, but i have no idea.

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Day 88

today was bitterly cold....well i reckon it was. so possibly more for my comfort than charlotte's, we sat in the car while luca had rugby practice today and read stories. I took my snugly rug and we sat under that, which charlotte thought was very cool. I was supposed to be reading to charlotte, but she ended up 'reading' to me - not bad for a not quite three year old! ha! i am thinking this may have to be done more often on a wednesday while luca is at practice, it's much more civilised! especially after feeling guilty and getting out of the car 15 minutes before practice finished so charlotte could have a play on the playground....bad idea....too too cold!

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Day 87

today i got a pseudo massage(we all know who from). Although it may not have been entirely satisfying, it still felt pretty good...need to stop doing nothing so i can afford a 'real' one! hehe

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Day 86

seven straight days of rain.....i feel like i am back in auckland, but with no humidity, just an extreme chill in the air.
my love affair with christchurch has mainly revolved around the fact that winter, albeit cold, is full of clear blue sunny days. so for the past week i have had that dream shattered and trodden all over. ok, so it's not winter yet, but it's damn close, and there are no blue skies in sight.....let alone some sunshine. If i had wanted this enforced bedrest i would have at least done some serious damage to my body to justify it. so i could be productive during this time, but seriously, in the uninsulated houses we have down here, you use all your energy just keeping warm.....and now drying one's clothes!!!

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Day 85

so having all this time cooped up inside i should be able to come up with more creative that this today....but i think all the creatively(that we know was seriously lacking in the first instance) has been sucked out of me and then rained on the ground outside. when will this rain stop, seriously....

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Day 84

the weather is still dismal and wet and i am truly fed up...cabin fever is rife. funny really, coz i bet i will spend the next nice day inside, too lazy to get up and do much...there will be some excuse anyway!

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Day 83

today i spent pretty much the entire day in bed. it hasn't stopped raining since we got back from akl, well since tues lunchtime. when it rains down here it's generally cold! this week it has been wet and cold! ugh...over it.
of course i can still be productive while in bed - the joys of the modern world and technology. laptops, wireless and the like. gotta love it. so i can stay in bed and work(of course that is what i am doing) all day. internet research.....so much stuff out there.
i did have to get up tonite and catch up with a friend that i haven't seen in close to six months, sheesh the time flies. i even managed to pull out my fav silk shirt dress i haven't been able to fit for a while and thrown it on. all this lack of fat must be doing something ....hmmm...not quite convinced about that!

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Day 82

i wear glasses....sometimes. this has been more apparent lately by the increasing soreness in my eyes after long periods of being on the computer, oh and people going 'you wear glasses now?'. whoops. considering i have had glasses for nearly 10 years now, i'm thinking i don't wear them as often as i should. the truth be told i know i should wear my glasses more often.....but along with wearing glasses for 10 years, i've had the same pair for 10 years....which may explain why they don't work so well anymore....especially after all the computer work i have been doing over the past few years. note to self, must book optometrist appointment.

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Day 81

a few months ago i posted something i never thought i would utter in my life time.
well here is the reversal, almost. and again i utter something i never thought i would....he was using his nail polish!

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Day 80

i am seemingly still struggling with inspiration to push me forward with my photography. i am not quite sure what it is still and why i am struggling so much, but it is starting to get rather frustrating.
today i tried a new technique to maybe help with that.... subliminal reading.
will let ya know how it goes.

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Day 79

going away is great....a few days away from reality and the norm. coming back is not so much fun... unpacking, reality and chores.
when my bags goes through security i'm surprised they don't rip it open and rummage through it with the amount of power cords that are always in my bags. laptop, camera battery charger, battery charger, two cellphone chargers, camera cables....oh and more.
although i take all that stuff with me, i still get home and have to charge everything up...in my mess (that i have momentarily forgotten about whilst in another city!). damn trips away.....they just play with ya state of mind!

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Day 78

last year for my final assignment i created period lounges.....60's, 70's, 80's etc. if i was completely honest with myself, they were pretty cool!!! it wasn't necessarily my photographic ability that made them so, but more my 'collaging' ability, that pulled a number of elements together to create the striking images!
of the two series' i completed for my final assignment, this ended up being my favourite, over my death series, which i had always expected to be my favourite as i was working on them.
the lounges seemed to resonate with people more, with a lot more comments received for that series'. i even managed to sell some of the series to a friend who appreciated them so much that she framed them with the most amazing frames. I finally got to see the finished product today. likey :D

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Day 77

this evening i got a lil flashed up... put a dress on, and make up(that took longer than 2 minutes - not much more mind you)....straightened my hair a little and toddled off to my friend dave's end of cricket season dinner.
it was a pleasant little black tie affair at rocco in ponsonby....good company, good food and good wine(so i was told).
it was for dave's corporate twentytwenty cricket...they apparently are in a world-wide competition(of sorts) and ended up ranked pretty bloody highly out of 1500 teams...something like 24th...highest score ever, held a team to the lowest score ever...had one of the top batters, top all-rounders....yeah was pretty impressive(dave you are allowed to correct me).
anyway - it was a great evening surrounded by a great bunch of people....my first 'event' out since the 'no drinking' rule had been enforced....have to say sitting at a table covered with wine bottles was trying at times.....especially as i was the only one not drinking....guess i gotta get used to it!

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Day 76

going up to auckland means fun times - well 'catching up' times that is for sure. it actually is usually a mad panic of flying around spending an hour here and an hour there with various friends. this weekend i was going up for a friend's end of season sports dinner...but more about that tomorrow.
tonite i, finally, got to meet my friend nikki's sisters and have a great nite to boot. my gosh did we all have so much fun.
the evening started at one of the blister's for burritos and the precursor to the events ahead at the comedy club...although personally, i think it was the main event....well on even par at least. i have not laughed so much in such a long time.
the evening started with a presentation by nikki, to adam, of a "man badge"....which was awarded to him for 'treating lilmac like a princess'. noice one nik...i was already in tears after that.
between the eight of us at dinner, we had more than our fair share of hilarious stories to be told!
once we got to the comedy club it just kept going. we decided we'd s at the back, to avoid being 'picked on'...well actually it was just that we were such a big group and late! besides that so did not work.....i affectionately became known as 'kirsty from chriiiiiiiist-church'(you really have to hear it - kinda sounds like a witch)...and nikki became known as 'informative woman', after one semi-monotone & somewhat serious explanation of...something, i forget already...there was so much more after that.
the show we went to was a late night gig on as part of the international comedy festival in auckland. we had no idea who was going to be performing until we got there.....i have to say we had a pretty great bunch of comedians....nice one!
dan nightingale was our compare for the evening....the lovely gentleman who gave nikki and i our alter-egos
joining him for the evening were:
hannah gadsby
brendhan lovegrove
jason cook
oh and another kiwi and an aussie whose names escape me.....obviously not as great as the others.....maybe

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Day 75

i love getting my haircut because it means i get a chance to have a good chinwag with my hairdresser & friend rondah. i met rondah last year when some of my fellow students and i took photos for her for a hairdressing competition. ever since then i have gone to her to have my haircut.
i'm not as adventurous in my old age with my hair, so rondah doesn't have too much of a challenge when she cuts my hair, but i do let her do whatever she wants to change it a bit each time i see her (as long as the length is kept).
this time i got an extra, very defined layer...yipee...looks a bit cool now when i put it up!!!

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Day 74

you are probably getting the idea that i have a fair few odd jobs that help pay the bills (or not). on wed i look after my cousin's children (so they are therefore also my cousins). it's pretty fun. luca is five and he has rugby practice after school, so we all trot off to that once we've had afternoon tea. his sister charlotte (nearly 3) and i just potter around on the playground making up stories about who we are and where we are. today i was just a boring old monster....but hey, it was still fun....i am really just a big kid at heart!

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Day 73

apparently i own too much black according to my friends. apparently they haven't looked in my wardrobe for a while...as seen here.
i do suppose, if i think about it, i do seem to wear a small selection of my 'vast' wardrobe....a small selection which mainly consists of, um, yeah, black.
so anyway....my goal for this winter was to wear more colour as previously mentioned. it's getting colder down here, and for some unexplained reason cold = black in my books. black wool is awesome...it looks good, classy and smart....it just lacks colour(in most people's eyes). as hard as i try, i struggle to get away from the black...but today i went all out....well ok, not quite, if the coat comes off....but it's pretty impressive if it stays on!

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Day 72

this image is dedicated to a friend. boooooo!

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Day 71

second sunday in may is never a big deal for me. besides my strong dislike for hallmark celebrations, mothers day obviously doesn't hold strong appeal for me.
this year i seemed to be unable to escape it as friends, flatmates and boyfriends around me happy mothers day'ed their mums!
albeit that i was surrounded by people talking about mothers day, there still seemed to be a sense of 'do i really need to do anything for my mum'? some people did, others saw their ma's, but let their mum's slave in the kitchen over a hot stove still.
i wonder whether i would have this hatred of 'holidays' if my mum was still alive. she was into all the holiday's in such a huge way. easter would involve family friends coming over to our house for easter egg hunts and we would consume mazipan carrots that decorated the divine carrot cake my mama made. halloween would mean party's at friends and amazing costumes created for such events, pumpikins, trash sacks, bats are a few that come to mind. christmas ran for most of the second half of the year as mum created wondrous decorations to sell in our friend's shop, christmas corner. then as christmas drew nearer the house would be covered in decorations, baking would be done and the actual day, wow what an event.
maybe i oded as a child, or just all these events hold too strong a tie to my mother and what my life was before she died.
either way, i don't have a mum now, so mother's day is really a non-event for me....but i do wonder, for a spilt second (and only that!!!!).....will that always be the case ;)

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Day 70

somedays it's the little things that annoy me.....like today. as much as i love having long hair....and hey, even i have gotta admit, my hair is pretty amazing long.....it's a pain in the arse having to brush it in the morning! so apparently i don't stay particularly still in my sleep (well i guess this was proven last year), because every morning i wake up with the most hideous knots in my hair that then yank out half my hair when i brush it.

solution - braid my hair before going to bed.....so pippi longstocking!

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Day 69

i flippen jinxed myself didn't i!!! a few weeks ago i wrote about how i used to dream religiously every night and wake up absolutely exhausted, and how that has not happened so much for the past few years. silly, silly, silly kirsty....no sooner do i write about it and my dreaming is back full force.
the past few weeks i have awoken to tell tales of normality with a twist. of vividness and details. oh - and total exhaustion.
when one dreams like so, there is no brain rest...so although i have physically rested my brain is a total write off and is extremely lacking in function! one can only hope that some crazy wacky ideas come from all this nocturnal activity.
a friend asked me if i was writing it all down, my response....if i did that it would take me all day! i have no idea how it works, but seriously, the imagery that is occurring most definitely seems like a lot more than the few hours i am sleeping....i wish i could fit so much into my conscious day!

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Day 68

time passes too quickly as you age. events that happened years ago, seemingly only feel like yesterday.

today i caught up with my great mate cat who i met on the first year of my photog course. she left at the end of the first year after being offered a job at a newspaper. and so she was off, to follow her dream of being a photojournalist. cat is a go-getter. she knows what she wants and she goes & gets!!! i wish i could have been like that at 20! 33 and still not quite sure.
i visited cat in her home town at the end of 07, but it wasn't until today that i actually realised it was that long ago....it only seems like six months ago. it was like that when i went to visit my great friend amanda earlier this year and realised it had been over two years since i had seen her.
physically seeing and catching up with people really becomes harder as you all 'grow-up' and move around the world/ country to play house :D

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Day 67

another day or utter nothingness. my blogs seem to be getting shorter and shorter, and full of more and more words about not much. I suppose life can't always be full of interestingness, nor can my brain be full of profound words, or even just words. Bit like the imagery at the moment....nothing....scrambled eggs is what i have for brains right now. the issue is that, the more scrambled they get, the harder it is to produce anything of value for all things of value required. tricky....
i've tried lists to clear the clutter....doesn't work. i've tried to read to inspire......doesn't work. i've watched films.....doesn't work. it's getting too hard, and so so stressful. it's almost halfway though may and i have nothing to show for myself....or do i just feel like that. 66 day's of blog completed... reached the first hurdle. only 298 to go after today - yipee!!! gotta at least try and be positive about that ;)

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Day 66

some days.....

...... it's just about the photo

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Day 65

today i got to do my first commercial shoot. moochi, the shop us kiwi girls all love, has just opened it's first store in christchurch and needed some interior & exterior shots done for promotional purposes and their website.
eeek - why on earth did i say i would do it! what a nutcase! i mean to say, i'm not exactly known for my commercial photography. but in the same breath, i did love creating my lounges last year(ok, slightly dif style of photog....but interiors none the less). i actually sent my lounges to moochi as my portfolio, so was freaking out that they would want that level of photog....50hours of post in some of those - was not going to happen for these!
i actually had fun shooting in the store. it's such a different feel to the way i normally shoot, working in a closed environment. different, but exciting and a great learning opportunity.
i got some great stuff and fingers crossed moochi will be happy! i'm looking forward to some new accessories :)

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Day 64

i am not sure how i managed my life when i used to work on sunday's. ever since i finished working at the redhouse i have been crazy busy on sunday's. today was very.
i was of course looking after caitlyn first thing. she was so funny when she woke up...bribery and corruption were rife...gotta love kids.
then had friends over for lunch, which was very lovely....think that may have to be done every other sunday!
then off to miss saigon this afternoon. megs is playing in it(french horn) and i haven't been to a musical in forever. i have to say, it was quite slow in parts, but the big, big scenes were awesome!

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Day 63

i've mentioned before that i babysit each thursday nite the gorgeous lil caitlyn. today it was her parent's engagement party so i was looking after her and her friend this evening.
they actually went to the engagement party and i picked them up from there. it was out at clearwater, apparently new zealand's 'premier lifestyle resort'. i have to say, you do feel like you are in another world when you drive through the gates. a perfect world, a stepford world, or pleasantville world!
so i got the girls, expecting them to sleep on the way home(it was well after 8 by now), they had got pretty quiet just before i got there, which was a good sign. but not the case....they were obviously conserving energy...chat, chat, chat all the way home....and then little pocket rockets once we were back home!
Figured i needed to wear them out some more, so we turned the stereo up loud and did some dancing, expended some energy! so much fun. i have looked after mainly after boys in my lifetime so having two girls was fun....
they finally crashed.....later.....poor parents tomorrow

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Day 62

today was a friend from school's birthday(leaving the teens - oh that seems like such a lonnnnnnnnng time ago) and us girlies hadn't had a catch up in a while, so thought one was required! cupcakes are always a fav...so we headed down to my local(and my personal fav around town).
i wasn't expecting to be able to have a cupcake coz of the butter icing, but YAY, they do one with rose icing (normal icing and rosewater), so got to enjoy the cupcake goodness!!!
we all had a brilliant time, and were kept well amused by lil d!
gotta love birthdays!

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