A weekend on the farm

I knew it. I knew having a queen would come in handy one of these days. Today, June 1, happens to be her birthday (or at least when we observe it), which is a public holiday. 

We decided to take advantage of the three-day weekend on a little farm near Tinui. 

We shared a gorgeous little rental house with two other couples. From left is Maggie and Archie, along with their little four-month-old Cameron, and Kate and Mike.

Our first order of business was to drive 20 minutes out to Castlepoint. Jake and I have been there before, but we were still excited to see it again. It's one of the most beautiful places I've seen. 

It features some amazing rock formations overlooking the ocean. 

But little Cameron didn't really seem that impressed. 

Archie did some surfing (wet suit definitely required) while Jake got in some running. Then we all hiked up to the lighthouse.

The weather forecast for Sunday called for some pretty awful weather, so when we saw the sun shining, we all jumped at the chance for a quick walk up a local trail nearby. 

Packed up Cameron, grabbed the rain gear and we were off.

I found these sheep pretty jumpy. Every time I tried to get close enough for a shot, they'd run away and stare at me from afar.

Not sure how high our climb was, but I was pretty exhausted by the time I reached the top. This is Maggie, Kate and Mike.

The rain held off for the most part until we began our descent. And then the sleet came. And then snow! It didn't seem very cold, but it was pretty exciting to go hiking in this crazy weather. It was difficult not to slip on the muddy trail, but we all came back without falling.

Even though it didn't seem that cold outside, I was pretty happy to snuggle up next to our amazing wood-burning stove. 

Thanks to Kate for making the arrangements, as well as preparing some fantastic meals! Jake told me that was the best part of his trip. Good food, good wine, good friends. 

Killing the dream

They said it couldn't be done, but it's happened again. I got a job! And not just a contract this time, but a for-real, full-time gig. I'll be an online marketing specialist for AXA New Zealand, which is a big financial services and insurance firm.

 

Several of you have offered congratulations, which is so nice. To those of you who have offered condolences, I'm sorry for killing the dream. I know you loved the thought of my "lady of liesure" lifestyle.

This adventure begins on June 8, and you can bet that I'll be updating you regularly on everything I learn.

Singapore Sling

Singapore was definately an enjoyable and interesting place. Yes - I did try a real Singapore Sling. At around US$30 a pop, it was limited to a one-time experience. My favorite part of Singapore was exploring around and our training was just near the center of the city. Not far from my hotel, I started the photo collecting (per Jamie's very strict instructions):

This a shot near the river. We enjoyed a couple of dinners with my co-trainees on the waterfront. The persons working at the restuarants practice some pretty high pressure sales tactics (picture - used car salesman) to get you seated at the tables.

Shot with a two second exposure on 400 speed... (just kidding, it's on "auto-shoot").

They build some pretty massive buildings in this place. In addition, there are extensive mall and even underground shopping opportunities. Shopping is huge in Singapore and definately more comfortable then walking around when it like 90 degrees and humid.

We did take an evening to go check out the night safari at the zoo, which was really cool. About half the pens had deer in them...that part didn't seem so cool! I took about 20 shots for Jamie and made up animal names to fool her. Here is me and the eagle size bat...


This was something for people that like fish to suck on their feet. I really wanted to experiment by dipping my surgically enhanced leg in the pool, but remembered the strict public laws Singapore and thought better of it...

Don't say that I never share! Check out the slideshow:

Weather report

I wish you could see this -- the wind is going absolutely crazy today, and the rain is coming down in regular intervals. This fierce weather has been going on like this for about four days now. I read in the paper that winds were gusting up to 140 km/h (87 mph), and the ocean swells here in Cook Strait (between the north and south island) were supposed to get up to 11 meters! 

But the good news is that temps are ranging between 6 and 12 degrees C (43 and 53 degrees F), which is much warmer compared with our chilly Kansas City winters. 

It snows elsewhere in NZ, but not in Wellington. We'd love to go snowboarding when the time's right. 

It's only May -- not even winter -- so I hope this is just an unusual early season storm. And I think it is. I've heard it's not going to get much colder than this, and that sounds good to us. I'm finally figuring out how to adjust the electric heaters in our house to keep us warm, and they're doing a good job.

Feeling pretty important

I'm feeling pretty important -- we just received our delivery from the New Zealand Wine Society this week. A mixed case of award-winning wine we ordered at the Food Show. Both red and white because we are equal-opportunity consumers.

Yes, Jake still has the camera. I took this shot with my laptop's webcam. 

Interesting airline commercial

Finally some peace and quiet!

Jake left really early this morning for a business trip in Singapore. I've definitely been looking forward to sleeping in, eating unhealthy food and watching chick-flicks. But now it's evening and the house is quiet. I just finished my breakfast-for-dinner, and something's missing. We haven't been apart this long since we've been together. 

No, I'm not talking about my husband. I'm talking about my camera that he took with him. How the heck am I suppose to blog without a camera? Illegally downloading and reusing other people's online images? Well, I guess I do that once in a while...

For example, our friend Lesa told us that a lot of Kiwis eat spaghetti on toast for breakfast. So I gave it a shot (with canned speghetti) tonight, and hey -- it's not half bad. I'd love to show you a pic, but you'll have to use your imagination this time.

But not to worry. I'm sure Jake will come back with some good shots and interesting stories from Singapore. (I've given him specific instructions and threatened him.)

Here's one from the files

So we don't go totally imageless, here's a shot of some sunflowers we bought a couple weeks ago. Here's a shout out to all our Kansas friends! We thought Jake's folks Jim and Adena would especially enjoy seeing them. 

Like any good wife

Hmm... our wine cabinet looks unusually empty. Good thing I bought a case at the food show last weekend. It should be delivered any day now, and like any good wife, I'll make sure to conduct some quality control measures on it before Jake gets home.