mmmmm chocolate

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Bits and Pieces

Righto to start with here are some quotes...guess who said them and where they come from:

"Water is wet, the sky is blue, women keep secrets....who gives a fuck!"

"Do you ever get the feeling that America is completely fucked up."

"Only two things are infinite - The universe and human stupidity - and Im not sure about the former."

Courtesy of Anthony :)


Here are some things I have learnt or observed from the past week:

1) Appreciate your parents, and make the effort to spend quality time with them while they are here. You'll never know when something may happen.

2) Always check who you are sending an email to - it can go to the wrong address and cause a can of worms to open that you would prefer to have shut.

3) Children are very honest - and sarcasm goes way over their heads.

4) Sleep is fantastic.

5) A beach walk on a fresh Winters evening does you wonders.

6) I love my new duvet.

7) I am going through a winning streak. I have won two movie competitions, and a lotto ticket in the last couple of weeks.

8) You can never have too many friends - I am very lucky to have the friends I do.

9) There are a lot of cops and security people at the train station on Saturday nights.

10) Boys talk filth all the time, it never stops.....goes on and on and on. I went from hanging with one group of male friends to my boyfriend and his best mate, and I swear it was the same conversation.

Other things - professional development sessions suck, dogs are the best pets - they love you unconditionally, red wine comes out of carpet with white wine and salt and there is a cool gallery in Island Bay which has paintings of scenes in Wellington. I like the one of the Hall Street Dairy.
Oh and I am a bit of a geek/dork :)

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

The Family Induction

Now before I start, due to many of my past relationships not lasting long enough to meet parents, or having a fiance who not only is overseas but so is his family, my experience with meeting the "boyfriends family" is limited.

However this was about to change.....

First of all a little history.

Anthony and I met in January through the Internet. I actually started chatting to him when I was down home. Met in person when came back at Espressoholic, and went out for dinner and to Narnia. A pleasant evening, and it went from there. Six months later, its all good, really really good :) The future looks rosey in many different ways.

However I digress.

On Sunday, I was invited to Ant's brothers birthday lunch. Now I have met bits of his family before, and many of them at a wake. I have got to know his Mum most of all, mainly as he lives at home. I like her, she always has me feel welcome, included me in things, and is easy to talk to, and has always seemed interested in what I have to say, even though many a time I rant on (no comments needed there) From that you can see I have got past the shyness part with her :)But this was sort of different as I was partaking in a family event. I felt privileged.

Arrived at bro's house for a few drinks beforehand. Here I re-met his bro, his partner, old family friends, his niece and nephew, and the aunt (the character that every family has).

A few drinks had, didnt say much, my shyness came out a bit. It can be hard when everyone else knows each other. But all very friendly, and once the kids pointed out I didnt say much, I started talking more.

Things to note from this part:

I have the same music taste as an 8 and 10 year old.
The aunt called me "girlfriend"
I am still allergic to the kitten
Wall mounted TVs are cool
I still feel I am up with what is cool with kids
There were more smoking adults than not - had not experienced that for a while, I went outside at points to socialise!

Then on to Tulsi...yum!

Arrived at Tulsi in Petone, booking for 12. A lot of introductions, and was introduced by Anthony as his partner. While I realise this to be true, I hadnt heard it before - kind of cool.

Now I hadnt been around younger children for a while - so forgot how they act in more adult situations. The niece was lovely trying to be like the big adults and joining in conversation. The nephew while pretty cool, didnt like the fact the birthday celebration wasnt all about him. He was quickly bored and wanted to go home. But once he was told about the water fountain outside, his attention was grasped for about 20 minutes and he was off :) Another boy was there, Jordy who was cool (12) and thought that ACDC was the coolest band in the world. He also liked Linkin Park too, so went up on my cool list.

Lunch was fab. Lots of wine to be had, and hiding the bottles to avoid the corkage costs :) Everyone tries to do it, funny part was it was the neice that suggested how to do it.

The funniest part at this point was when the Aunt, who by this time was well enjoying the vino, decided to make her own doggy bag - with serviettes and a poppadom. Now if it was dry that would be fine, but it was used to put her left over curry into her handbag. The table was in fits of laughter. Again good times, and was made very welcome. Anthony was asked, is Cass your girlfriend? They seemed alright with the fact I was.

Back to bro's for drinks

A lot of general chit chat, more drinks, kids getting more restless, however the power of the playstation did help things. Conversation became a little more r-rated amongst adults. There was a family arguement which I quite happily sat back from and observed. Coming from a small family this was something I rarely saw. Things were resolved although some disagreements between the adults over the argument......most people probably have had this happen at their own family functions.

At the end of the night, we returned home and was nicely said to me by Anthony - Welcome to the family...warm fuzzies :) Its nice to be accepted into an already very close family, and know that they are genuine about it. Anthony told me at one point that he was told to hold onto me, and I have approval from his mum too...that means a lot also.

Im very content with things right now.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

The Weekend

The weekend before the school term commences.....I made the most of it!

Friday night - girls night - see not kates and charlie browns blog.

Lots of girly fun - Chilean restaurant, awesome desert consisting of rocky road ice cream, dairy milk choc sauce and crushed maltesers...mmmm mmmm, cosmo quizzes, stupid/funny photos, realising we are dorks, blogging, and of course gossip!

Saturday - Brunch - Petone

Longest drive ever due to a slip, an hour and a quarter to get there, at brunch for 45 minutes. Made the most of the trip out there by shopping and buying stuff from a Briscoes sale - brings back so many shopping memories. A little worrying that we all bought tea towels and were very excited about it. Mine were pastel striped....very cute and what a bargin. I may also add that we talked about towels in depth at lunch. I confess Im nesting, and loving it. Plus..yes we are getting old.

Dinner was made for me by Anthony - good lasagne - the best he has ever made according to him :)

Sunday rolled around.....and there will begin my new blog....Going to my first proper Kitt family function as Anthony's partner :)

La Maison de Frances







Just a few last notes on my trip to Dunners, but really its just more pics. First up is my best mate Frances' house that she has recently bought. Great house, lots of sun, and a cool creek to play in or near :). Have been friends with her since high school, and if you wanted to know anything about me, she would be your best bet to ask. Mum calls her the second daughter.
Other highlights of the trip were catching up with Phil and Bronagh my old flatties from Pitt Street who still flat together after about 7-8 years (Ive lost count) and my intermediate buddy Juanita, who unfortunately will be moving back to Oz at the end of the year. 80's and Rock Singstar with a few wines and Fran. Of course family were great and got to see more of them than I usually do. Then the holiday was over, I drove back to Wellington, shopped in Chch along the way and got the rocky ferry back to the north island (complete with ex students...shudder) and I was home :)

Friday, July 14, 2006

Cassies Top 10 Famous Men to Sleep With - The Exempt List :)

In no particular order.....

1) Colin Farrell - Bad Boy

2) Harrison Ford (Back when he was Indiana Jones)

3) Jake Gyllenhaal (Jarhead) - Gorgeous eyes

4) Jack Johnson - Plays guitar, surfs and is hot

5) Daniel Carter- No talking to me when he is on screen

6) Vin Diesel - Bad boy

7) Joaquin Phoenix - Again the eyes...

8) Hugh Grant (Back in Four Weddings and a Funeral)

9) Mark Wahlberg - After seeing the Big Hit - Yum!

10) Kelly Slater (World Champion Surfer) - Hot since Baywatch


Close in the running were:

Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Jesse Metcalfe, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Jonny Wilkinson, Hugh Jackman, Leonardo di Caprio, and Antonio Banderas.

Laugh-a-lot and So Serious







Here are a few piccies missed off last time. Charlotte (Brunette) and Madeline (Ginger) and their Mum Julie, plus me and Fran :)

Dunners!


Time escaped from me...never got another chance to write about my trip down south, so thought I would give a highlights package.

After leaving Christchurch, I drove down to Dunedin, finally finding a Wild Bean in Rolleston - mmm good coffee but was a little too much effort for them to put the sugar in as well. Im obviously spoilt in Wellington. Drove through Ashburton which still had snow on the ground, Timaru where I got the bird from male older driver who didnt want me to pass him at 130km/h (that was the speed he built up to on the passing lane when he was previously was at 90km/h) He didnt count on the grunt of Merlot and its driver :). Passed through Oamaru where everyone looked the same...no more comment there. Then I came to the Dunedin boundary.....just outside of Palmerston (the orginal) which is still 45minutes away from the city!

Anyway, on to home. There to greet me was Sooty the dog, also the third child. Anyone who has been to my parents house will completely understand.
Ahhhh home was wonderful, its like a peaceful slow paced haven from the hustle and bustle of Wellington. My parents live on the Peninsula at Macandrew Bay, a beautiful place. One which I appreciate so much more now than when I was growing up.

First few days were with parents, and brother Scott. I was also sick (no big surprise) with ear infection and strep throat. Lots of sleep and relaxing and not feeling one once of guilt about it!

Caught up with friends, namely my best mate Frances who also has just bought herself a house. A lot of gas bagging and catching up there. She affectionly calls my Mum her second Mum. Just for clarification, my parents have only two biological children.

As with all visits, had the traditional brunch with Julie who is like my mentor, her two girls Charlotte and Madeline, and of course Fran. We met at Uni and did some anthropology papers together when Madeline was a baby - she is now almost 9. I aspire to be like Julie. She puts her children first, studied when they were younger. Now with the girls at school, she lectures part time at T col, teaches a Year 12 Chemistry class at Columba College. She seems to balance everything wonderfully, and I hope that I can do that eventually.

Brown haired Charlotte - 10 and Red haired Madeline -8 are well brought up girls. Each one has their favourite in Fran and I. Charlotte sticks with me, while Madeline is with Frances. The girls call me Laugh-a-lot (dont know why ;) ) and Frances so serious. Frances once gave them the talk on how to find the ideal man, and who to stay away from. I couldnt stop laughing, while Fran used a dead pan face the whole time. Brunch is always a lot of fun....and after that there were even more people that wanted to meet the young man who has made me very happy :) Good times. Next....onto Frans.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Casa de Julia







Just adding to last entry - Pictures of Julias house remembering it is her first house. I say awesome purchase and really warm (heatpump). Why Julia is holding grapes???? Lunch maybe, but a great random posey photo :)

Christchurch briefly





Driving to Christchurch I was still sleep and had to have a another nap along the way...glad I took my polar fleece blanky with me, its great. More great scenary, but one thing was missing. Not a sign of a Wild Bean Cafe to be seen. I had to settle for coffee from a bakery in Amberley which was really just hot chocolate milk :(
Arrived in Christchurch to stay with my friend Julia for the night and have a big catch up. She has recently bought her own house, very grown up. I would be very happy with her house as a first one, its awesome as can see from the pics (Next blog)
Went for a bit of a drive and ended up in Sumner, one of my favourite places - more in Summer I have to add but was still beautiful. The pictures say more than I can. Christchurch is a very pretty city, lots of green and gardens and apart from the smog layer generally pleasant.

Next stop home....

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Une, deux, trois copines!


Just a short note....I liked this picture of the three of us so am posting it on. I would like to call it the 3 amigos (or 3 stooges.....this could depend on who is looking at it) These are two of my top peeps in Welly, and are just like siblings...in a good way :)

The Journey


Hey Hey Hey its holidays..... (I realise it was meant to say Fat Albert...but its holidays :) )

The first week is not far from over - I have left wild and windy Wellington and have ventured home to good ol' Dunners for a break.

Thought I may use this as a little diary of whats gone down so far...not much really, but here goes.

The Road trip

I left home for the ferry at 12.20 am on Sunday morning. Realising I had to fill up with petrol, I drove to my local BP. Thought a Wild Bean was on the cards but they had run out of milk (what the hell???). Also made a note to self, not to go there sober at that time of night. The petrol station was filled with drunk teenagers, boy racers (one of which I almost backed into..he he) and other beings Im sure only come out at night. Its a bit scary there on a cold winters night!

Anyway, made my way to the ferry and waited in line for an hour after checking in...a beautiful night, and very calm..made me happy. Im not the most sea worthy.

Finally making it onto the ferry I got out of the car armed with book and blanky in the effort that I may sleep. No such luck. I observed many people. People are very interesting in the early hours of the morning, especially children who really should be asleep. One child continually walked past mumbling "I'm tired, I'm tired." If he was a teenager I swear he would have been stoned. Another mother followed her kids around and lay down on the floor trying to sleep while they played. The kids would then move and she groggily followed them. There was also the guy who kept waking up his girlfriend while the soccer was on (I think he was bored),, she was none too impressed. Oh, and there were the three brothers who thought the ferry was a wrestling ring. Reminded me of my brother and I somewhat. To be honest not a lot going on
on the ridiculously early morning ferry but did get to watch the football :)

Docked at about 5am and set off to Christchurch for the first pit stop. I now realised why you should pull over when you are tired. Almost fell asleep a couple of times, so had to have wee naps at random rest areas. Had had about 3 hours sleep in the last 24 hours. It got lighter and found there was a lot of ice and snow once I hit the Kaikoura coast. I only did a rally slide once which I was impressed about. Highlight of the coast - seal colony, the beautiful views, and the snow capped mountains.

Next stop Christchurch........