Christchurch Re-cap

Warning, this post is a little picture heavy and may take some time to load... bear with me! I think it's worth it!

Hotel So - a small yet gorgeous hotel right in the Christchurch CBD and where we stayed for our sojourn. Arrived there early in the morning and we were able to check in straight away, thanks to a hotel staff member we soon nicknamed superhappyexcitedgirl :D No one should be that perky before nine in the morning. She may have even used the phrase "lovelyjubbly".

The Christ Church Cathedral - one of the most famous landmarks in Christchurch. In the top left of the photo you can see a tower - we climbed that sucker, baby!

Just one of the beautiful examples of artwork within the cathedral - the interior design could have been a blog post in itself!

Told you we climbed it! However we weren't about to fall prey to the tourist trap of buying 2 $2 pieces of paper :D Those steps were steep and disorientating but it was still fun!

The foyer of the Christchurch Art Gallery as seen from the first floor - definitely worth a visit just for the architecture. The collections themselves were the icing on top of the cupcake!

And now the reason for PianoMan's moniker change to Stunning Buns. It is in honour of this eating establishment (which to be fair, the food was fantastic at) and our holiday that he now wishes to be known as StunningBuns or SB for short. Look at that sign, the curved line even looks like a bottom!

Punting on the Avon River - divine, romantic and historically quite interesting... even though Andrea's LOML told us that he used to make up historical facts when he was a punter!

New Regent Street - on the historical tram route, I just found the colours and the vibe of this street generally quite amazing. Christchurch is such a mixing pot of design styles!

Akaroa - the only French settlement in NZ. Having been there last summer, I was amazed at how deserted it was in winter... it did however give me the opportunity to walk around more slowly and take pictures of tiny old cottages like this one. SB and I couldn't conceive of living in something that small, yet people did (and by the look of it, still do!).

Akaroa Harbour as we were leaving - the foggy weather meant that we couldn't get some of the more spectacular landscape views from the summit but I still think that this looks gorgeous.

We drove through the Lyttleton Harbour tunnel and around the harbour heads to Sumner (the head of the harbour you can see to the left of the pic). The roads were fairly narrow with sheer drops off one side - picturesque but scary in a large Holden rental car!

View of Christchurch from the top of the Port Hills - it isn't until you get this perspective that you realise how vast the city is. As tourists you only explore a small part of the area and tend to forget about outlying suburbs. It isn't as big as Auckland of course, but the laidback feeling you get here is quite appealing!

My intrepid SB continuing to take photos while I seek refuge in the rental car!

The view of Lyttleton Harbour from the top of the gondola station - such a cute little township nestled into the hill like that!

Our last touristy thing before StunningBuns had to catch his earlier flight back (damn jobs, work and general reality!) was the New Brighton pier. I'd wanted to walk the pier back in summer but my cousin had brought her dog with her and there were no dogs allowed. SB cajoled me to walk the length of the pier with him (that is the shoreline and the local library in the distant background) and while I whined and complained, I'm glad he made me do it! Certainly blew the cobwebs out :D

Some of these ladies may be familiar to you - others maybe not so much. I had the absolute pleasure of chatting about life, the universe and everything with these three gorgeous lady bloggers. It was great to make better friends with Andrea, Bridey and Charlie - plus the food at Chinwag Eathai was divine! Definitely worth another visit.

So that's a recap of some highlights of my Christchurch stay - also love Yellow Rocket bagels for breakfast, vintage shopping with Andrea, mood lighting in our hotel shower, laughing at the huge population of emos, Coffee Culture Vanilla Chai, corgi statues, sprinting down a museum hall in a dress and boots (part of a human body exhibition - measuring how fast you run), snuggling and watching movies and having some relaxing time out of AKL. Thanks for reading!

News in brief...

Funny, when I type that I hear little news bulletin blips in my head (does anyone know what I am talking about or do you all just think I'm crazy?)...

• I had a fantastic time in Christchurch - full recap to come! I spent time with Andrea and we had dinner with Bridey and Charlie, fantastic blogger fun! I will be in Christchurch more often with my sister moving down there so it's good to make better friends with these awesome girls.
• The one downside of our Christchurch holiday was the spectacular spill I took down concrete car park stairs on Saturday. I don't even have the excuse of *ahem* impaired judgement - I was just busy talking to PianoMan and pulling the hotel key out of my handbag - which I might add was totally unnecessary at this stage - and there she goes. The bruise on my lower back is still coming through!
• Speaking of PianoMan, he has now decided to go by the moniker StunningBuns or SB for short. The reason for this name change will become apparent in the Christchurch recap. It's not just because he has an extremely handsome rear end, people. He will still play me a mean rendition of the Foo Fighters on the piano though :D
• I've been back since late Tuesday afternoon and haven't yet had the chance to blog - bad blogger I know. I stepped right back into the breach at work and covered a shift on Wednesday (and one this morning) and went on a $500 shopping spree with mum yesterday for some desperately needed teaching clothes.
• I'm feeling a little bit blue post-holiday. Real world is not so awesome sometimes - no long sleep ins with handsome boyfriends, no Yellow Rocket bagel, no awesome hotel. I'm sure I'll snap out of it shortly LOL
• Parties for the next three weekends - milestones abound! Birthdays, engagements, housewarmings; all very different ways of moving forward but proud of all my friends nonetheless.
• About to wrap up this cover shift and have lunch with a very dear friend... ChCh recap tomorrow morning Scribblettes!
  

Literary Inspiration: Abraham Lincoln on Happiness

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.
- Abraham Lincoln

I went out shopping today for a pair of thermals. It appears that I left it too late and all the ones for women of a curvy nature have disappeared off shelves. Hauling on a pair that I knew would be too small to fit, I could almost smell my own discontent. Stupid thermals, stupid shop, stupid-fat-ass-on-me-why-the-hell-don't-I lose-weight grrrrrrrrr.

Then I lifted my head up to the fitting room and mirror and smiled. I don't really have that much to be upset about. I get to go on an awesome holiday tomorrow with my darling PianoMan and we get to stay in a gorgeous hotel and spend some uninterrupted time together. If I'm freezing, it's just a good reason to snuggle.

So often, happiness is just how we choose to frame something - what we focus on as being important. Sometimes we can be less-than-happy, choosing to live in the now than focus on the joy yet to come (I know that this happens with university work and I A LOT) and sometimes it is the reverse, spoiling the happiness of now with what must unfortunately and inevitably come (like end of holidays).

Not finding thermals today meant that I had the cash to buy a pair of three quarter leggings with lace around the ends (had been on my must buy list), means I have more money to spend in Christchurch and meant I was out of the mall earlier - meaning I could come into work earlier and earn more cash. Frame the situation right and the happiness will leap out at you.

Scribblettes, what's something you can reframe today?

My deep dark secret...

... is that sometimes I tell little white lies.

I usually pride myself on being a pretty honest person. I also pride myself on being a pretty nice person. Sometimes those just do not meet. It may be an outfit that my sister is wearing that I think gives her muffin top, it may be an event that I am just too exhausted to attend. The truth is often just a little harsh to escape my mouth (that top makes your perfect figure look chubby round the middle, I considered something more important than staying refreshed for your event) so... I lie sometimes.

The lie can be by omission (the truth but not the whole truth) and sometimes it can be a fabrication but the lie usually contains an essence of truth. "I think it would be better without the belt, with the shoes it's just too matchy" sounds nicer than "that belt really emphasises your roll" and illness can work as a cover for fatigue. I feel bad about those lies, but not too bad. Sometimes it really is better to lie than to hurt feelings.

When I feel really awful is when it is an out-and-out porker, a lie purely to save my own skin. It happens very rarely, and would never happen with someone I loved, but it does happen. Like today for example... ahem. Ten minutes before my shift started, I rang work to say that I had been suffering car troubles but that I would be on my way. Yeah, the trouble would be that I had been woken up from an unplanned nap by a frantic mother about twelve minutes before shift started... ooops.

So tell me Scribblettes, are there any occasions in which you think it's okay to lie? What's the biggest whopper you've ever told?

Loving List

It's been a while since I did one of these, but I have a lot to love this week!

♥ All my assignments are handed in for Semester 1! Classes are finished and I have three weeks of holidays with not a heck of a lot planned but reading for the semester ahead - which includes a whole bunch of Shakespearean plays. Divine!

♥ Blood tests! Bizarre I know, but the last couple of months I've felt quite drained. Like abnormally so. I've been ill more than is usual for me and have often felt a bit more run down than I should have been. I've had problems with Vitamin B12, D and zinc deficiency in the past, so this test should let me know if that's become an issue again and get the right pills and jabs to get me back on track.

♥ Lunch with PianoMan. I haven't had many opportunities to do this with being on practicum, but there's something fantastic about breaking up your day with an hour-long interlude with your beloved.

♥ Christchurch in a week! It's not as far afield as we had planned to go (sorry Corrine!) but it will still be good to get out of the biggest smoke and visit a littler smoke, coming back a little more refreshed. It will also be my first time there not staying with family and I have to say that it feels comfortable - we can see them without imposing on them. Plus we're staying at the gorgeous Hotel SO, right in the centre of ChCh.

♥ On that note, looking forward to meeting up with some Christchurch girly bloggers. Andrea (A cat of impossible colour), Bridey (Life of Bridey) and Charlie (I'm a bit of a geek) and I are meeting for Thai - yum! A, B, C and me!

♥ A more packed social calendar! It seems like everyone went into hibernation (myself included) at the end of May. I'm at the point now of having to turn down some invitations - while that sucks that I won't be able to attend those events, it's good to be touching base with friends once again.

♥ On the flipside of that, one of the wonderful things that I've cultivated with PianoMan is a mid-week stay-in date. We cook a nice and easy dinner (risotto, mexican, pasta) and sit down with either a television programme or a movie. We have big conversations and snuggle time on the couch and it's a great way to catch up. My work schedule means that Monday and Tuesday nights we aren't able to see each other, so a midweek date is fantastic for us.

♥ The song "Butterfly Kisses" - it just played on the radio, can anyone tell me who sings this? It's just so beautiful.

♥ The new bronzer I bought today. My anglo ancestry leaves me looking so pale in winter that I can look ill without even trying. Both PianoMan and D at work commented on how healthy I looked today - definitely worth the spend!

♥ In short: Coffee, heaters, spooning, dark chocolate, Lemon V, parents being overseas, sparkling wine, slow starts in the morning, cooking for the boy, a ski jacket my mum bought me that feels like I am wearing a duvet, satay (I am such a peanut fiend, I swear), touch-screen cellphones, season finale of Scrubs, doing small things I know will make the boy happy, organisation, living in slouchy leather boots and cute pictures of monkeys!

♥ My biggest love this week is... my life. While there could always be little bits and pieces to tweak, I am content. And that is fantastic.

Literary Inspirations - Anais Nin on choosing a man

I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.

- Anais Nin

For those of you who may be under the illusion that PianoMan and I exist frolicking in fields full of butterflies, I must disabuse you of this notion. I don't tend to write about disagreements or harsh words that we may have because

a)my personal opinion is that relationship goings-on should primarily be kept to the two people with whom the relationship is concerned and

b) it doesn't happen that often with us - for the most part we're really compatible.

I'm breaking this rule (only partially, mind) because I think it illustrates a relationship belief I have very well.

Monday night, we had a tiff. I was stewing and I finally got to the point where I had to say something. He accepted it but felt it necessary to share something of his own back that I did not find comfortable to hear. "What? I'm not perfect? What do you mean?". It can be hard to accept that we aren't infallible beings. We're the exception to the rule - everyone else can be annoying to us but we aren't annoying to anyone else. This isn't the truth for ANYONE.

As much as what we had to say to each other was not easy for us to hear, it was important that it was being said. So many relationships bust up because of a lack of communication - how is your partner meant to meet your needs if he has no idea what they are? It was probably the first time in our relationship that we had to do this but I'm grateful to PianoMan for treating me as a woman who is able to take criticism, who is strong enough to handle the idea that she is imperfect and who makes demands on me to be a better person. It makes me have faith that this thing could have a future... and if that isn't something to make you smile on a weary Wednesday, I don't know what is.

Literary Inspirations: LM Montgomery on hair colour

"You'd find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair," said Anne reproachfully. "People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is."
- LM Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Okay, I'm outing us. Both PianoMan and I are closet gingas! Closeted, I hear you question... surely you are or you aren't? To look at us both in dull light, I'm clearly a brunette and PM a rather handsome ash blonde. Photos tend to tell the same story. We keep our red hair under a metaphoric hat (and sometimes real hats too).
Having dyed my hair and had blonde highlights for many years, I finally reverted to my natural hair colour at the beginning of last year as I couldn't afford the upkeep with a student income. What's struck me as the filler dye has grown out is how naturally chestnut I am. My brown has a definite red and coppery tinge to it, to the point where it's actually looked a deep red, similar to Sophia Bush below (unfortunately where the similarity ends)

When the light hits PM's hair right, you can see his copper highlights as well. However his dead giveaway is facial hair! That's right, when my man is sporting Sawyer-like stubble it is bright ginger! Total giveaway - beard, moustache and sideburns all red-orange. We also both have the nice pale skin that natural red heads tend to have. No summer-long sunbaking for us! We need to build up our sun exposure gradually otherwise we do the white-pink-white-pink tango all summer long.
This doesn't bode well for any future children we might have - they are most likely going to be little gingers and we can only cross fingers and hope that they don't get into trouble! Or teach them to become closet gingas like their parents LOL