Goal Update - June

• Get in a decent exercise routine - Earlier in the month I wasn't doing too well with this. I didn't want to get changed into my exercise shorts in the cold weather. So I went out and got myself some exercise leggings. I still haven't exercised every day - but I'm definitely getting back into a routine again.

• Contribute financially - I've had a few days of relieving in June so that took the pressure off a bit. Still no luck on the full time job front though. 

• Keep house clean and tidy  - I'm getting behind on this again. I went for a while where I did a whole heap of cleaning. Now the house is back to being a mess.

• Get garden under control  - Hasn't happened. Next time there's a nice day I'm going to rip out some of the old pepper plants that are starting to die back. Need to decide what to plant in the vege boxes next...

• Improve blog - As a few of my previous posts have mentioned, life has been getting in the way a bit. We had no internet twice in the past month, a few power cuts, I've been sick and I've also worked a few times too. So that got in the way of my schedule. I'm striving to do better though by scheduling posts in advance when I can. Still catching up though...

Things You Might Not Know About Me

So today I thought I would do something more different to my normal posts. I thought I'd share some facts that you might not know about me.

1) I am the eldest of three girls. Both of my younger sisters live in Christchurch and I miss them so much. I have a trip planned in October to go and visit them. Can't wait!

2) I have joined together toes. The second and third toes on each of my feet are webbed. Doesn't really affect me at all. I've never known any different.

3) I lived in the USA for a while as a kid. My Dad went to Cornell University to do his PhD so the whole family moved over there for almost 5 years. I started school there and everything. I have some amazing memories and would love to visit again someday. The town I lived in was Geneva, NY.

4) I grew up by a river. My parents have a lifestyle block by the Tukituki River in Hawkes Bay. Whenever we're visiting (and it's warm enough), we love to go kayaking down the river.

5) I love to research my ancestry. I've got so much of my family tree from my Dad's side of the family already. Trying to find more about my Mum's side but there's not as much available.

6) I am very close to my Grandparents - especially my Nana. We lived with them a lot growing up so I see them as my second parents. I now email my Nana weekly (we're both trying to be healthier). I miss not being able to see them regularly.

7) My parents are both plant scientists and I suck at looking after plants.It's true. I just didn't inherit the gardening gene.

8) I love stuffed animals. I still play with them and we keep adding to our collection. AJ loves them too. We're so perfect for each other :D

9) I didn't have a proper proposal. We were talking on the phone (we were long distance at the time) and started talking about weddings. Then we realised we were planning our own wedding. So decided to get engaged. I already had a ring from AJ so I just put it on the appropriate finger.

10) This is rather embarrassing, but I told Facebook that we were engaged before telling my parents. And they found out. It was back in 2007 when Facebook was still reasonably new and I didn't click that the news would travel so fast.


So there you go. Some things that you possibly didn't know about me.

Ireland - Ring of Kerry

One evening on our trip we spent the evening driving around the Ring of Kerry. The fantastic thing about going to Ireland in the summertime is that it's light until about 10pm. We went through several cute villages, saw an old fort, and the most beautiful sunset.

Staigue Fort

The cutest little scene - open up a bigger picture to see more

The beautiful sunset looking over to Dingle Peninsula

We drove past as there was this party going on. Looked like so much fun!

The Ring of Kerry was beautiful. I'd love to go back there and spend a bit more time exploring. We only had an evening.

My Wish List

My birthday's this coming Friday - so I thought I'd do a wishlist of sorts. Things that I'd love to get.

These leggings: just because....

https://shop.bombsheller.com/products/smilesyndrome?variant=19968864135

More Caramel Rooibos Tea: I can't find it anywhere here in NZ

Chocolate - in particular I'm wanting to try the new Whittaker's chocolates (photos courtesy of their website):

Wine - any Rosé will do. My favourites are the following:

Image from Wikipedia

https://www.winebox.co.nz/product/riccadonna-ruby/

A label maker: I want to label all the things...

http://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/product/B215713.html#start=1

A laminator (I have so many things I'd laminate if I could):

http://eenymeeny.co.nz/gbc-splash-a4-laminator-pink.html

Those are the things I've been eyeing up at the moment. There's of course plenty more that I want but I'll leave it at that for now.

McDonalds Create Your Taste

Disclaimer: I was sent a couple of vouchers to try out this service. All views here are my own.

I tried out the McDonald's Create Your Taste recently. It's basic premise is that you get the burger that you want - rather than having to pick out bits you don't like.

AJ and I went in to the local Maccas here in Papakura and selected what we wanted using their touch screen order machines. AJ loved the fact that he didn't have to have mayo or tomatoes. And that he could have BBQ sauce rather than the Mayo that they normally put in their burgers.

I loved that I could leave out pickles and add extras like bacon, egg, pineapple and extra cheese!

After we'd ordered - we were told that they would bring our food to us - a luxury in a fast food restaurant! Everyone else had to wait around and collect theirs themselves.

It was brought out to us shortly afterwards and both our burgers were beautifully presented. The hot chips were even in a little metal basket! Fancy!

We both enjoyed our burgers immensely and would use the service again. In the past AJ has only got chicken nuggets at Maccas due to him not liking a lot of ingredients in the bog standard burgers. He's much more likely to get a burger next time now.

Life happens...

So I had big plans on catching up on things after the internet went out a few weekends ago. Then life happened. Power cuts, work (I relief teach), sickness etc...

So I've decided to post when I can. I know I keep changing my mind and stuff and I apologise for that. I hope to post regularly but I'm not guaranteeing every week.

I'll try to schedule posts in advance when I can. I'll still be sticking to a theme for each day which will be:

Mon: Domestic - anything to do with the home. Could be recipes, DIYs, garden, homemaking etc.

Tues: Travel - posts about places I've been.

Wed: Random - posts that don't fit into other categories.

Thurs: 52 Weeks of Memories photo challenge.

Fri: Geeky - anything geek related. Board games, geeky shows, computer games, geeky books etc

Weekends - rants. If I feel I need a good rant about something it'll be posted on the weekend. Probably not as often as others.


So, a recap. No guarantees of a post every day. Or even every week. Life happens so I'll post when I can. I hope to get ahead at times but I can almost guarantee I'll get behind too. We'll see what happens :)

Goal Update - May

So I thought it was about time I did an update on how my goals for the year are going.

1 - Get into a decent exercise routine.
Each week seems to be different with this. I'm fine for most of the time with going on the exercycle and stuff but then there's some weeks where I just seem to forget.

2 - Contribute financially.
This one hasn't been going too well. I've decided to give up on my teaching for now and will focus on getting a job in admin or something. Tis hard breaking into a new area though.

3 - Keep house clean and tidy.
I have been trying. I really have. I've just found myself in a rut recently where I don't feel motivated to keep the house in order.

4 - Get garden under control.
It's better than it was a year ago. But it is still overgrown. We've been still getting reasonably warm weather and its been really wet recently so weeds are taking off again. Boo...

5 - Improve blog.
This year I've been doing so much better with my blogging. I've been posting regularly (except the past couple of weeks due to circumstances beyond my control). I'd like to join a few linky parties and keep up to date with my social media now (facebook and twitter - see sidebar). I made a new header which I love (roses are awesome!). Doing it in steps and hopefully I'll feel confident enough to grow it more in the near future.


So I've been doing ok on my goals. Recently I've hit a bit of a rut where I don't seem to be motivated and I end up sleeping way too much and watching too much TV. I need to just stick to doing things and hopefully I'll feel better about myself in the process :)