It was an absolutely beautiful day in Doncaster today, made better still by the fact that I'm feeling a little better today - I've been feeling quite sick for the last 6 days. But I think I'm finally on the road to getting better. In fact I went for a lovely run tonight, it was really good. I think my muscles and everything are back I just need to get a bit fitter then I'll be back to where I was.
Also tonight I decided to learn about Afghanistan and Iraq and Sudan so I read about them on wikipedia and now I know a little more. This was prompted by me watching a bit on the news tonight about a school in Afghanistan. Turns out most of what I read was already in my head - I did know it all - but now I just know it properly. Also recently I read the book the Kite Runner part of which is set in Afghanistan. I would really recommend this book, it was a fantastic read, and pretty quick too - so if you're not used to reading it's not daunting at all.
Other new... well I like my new bebo skin so check it - I spent a long time choosing it!
I watched most of the third season of Weeds now. I really quite like that program, I think when it is on TV in NZ it's on Prime, so keep your eyes open for it.
Oh and I made a chocolate cake today and I'm quite impressed because I sort of made up the recipe - in that I found a recipe didn't have many of the ingredients so just guessed alternatives, and didn't really measure anything properly. But I've made enough chocolate cakes now to be able to tell from the batter if it's going to be a goodun or not. This one was pretty good but way to big for me and Daz... I would take some to work but I've iced it and it'll get all sticky and messy so I don't think I'll bother.
Darren and I are now watching the second season of Rome - probably a year after it was on TV - but anyway I'm quite enjoying it. For anyone who has watched it Titus Pullo is my favourite - I'm going to miss him when the season finishes.
There are some London youths on TV on a program and listening to them talk I'd swear they're not even speaking English - but they are! They really should consider giving them subtitles hehe. In slightly related news yesterday I had to ring our bank in New Zealand - it was so easy! I didn't have to repeat any words the lady on the other end understood everything I said! :) Hehe.
Love,
Mindy
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Wet Weekend
Hi Everyone!
It's really wet here. Not substantial big raindrops but it's been consistently drizzly for several days now! I think it drizzled everyday last week. And of course after the summer floods here people on the news are a bit nervous (other people might be too but I haven't spoken to them about it). We'll be nice and high and dry in our second floor apartment if that happens though! Though we may have to find somewhere drier for our car.
Anyway this was the first weekend in AGES that we didn't have people here or were away. We didn't actually just flop and do nothing like we were planning to. We went out into town both days (yesterday for some reason it was packed!) and looked at the shops. And went for a short run in the rain this morning. I almost got Darren to go for a walk with me yesterday too, we were just putting on our shoes then it occurred to me to go out onto the balcony and check if it was raining. It was, heavily, so we skipped it. I love walking around the lake after dark because there are just so many pretty lights!
I was really bored last night so today when we were out I looked for some art supplies. We're trying to save money now so I opted for a cheap-ish option and spent 5 pounds buying some pastels and a pastel pad. So I'm going to learn how to use pastels. My first surprise was that pastels that are not oil pastels are totally dry, like chalk. So this is going to be quite a learning experience for me. I've been looking up about it all on google and soon I think I'll be sufficiently prepared to actually put pastel to paper - maybe in a fortnight hehe. We'll see. I don't want to neglect my knitting, but knitting is something I like doing while I'm watching something, so if there's nothing I want to watch I don't really feel like knitting.
Speaking of knitting I started my sleeve for my jersey for the third time today. I did lots of it ages ago last year, then when I picked it up a week ago I couldn't figure out where I was up to in the pattern so rather than risk making a mistake I started again. Today I was very confused by the pattern as it looked like the sleeve was going to be twice as long as my arm but realised I'd made a mistake in reading it, so once again I started again. I won't be starting it again though! Well not till I get to the other arm.
And we had a lovely roast chicken for tea tonight. I'm not sufficiently confident in the kitchen that I'm still at the stage where I feel quite a sense of achievement by cooking a roast meal (even though it's dead easy). Though I did put vegemite in the gravy as I saw it on a cooking show last week, and I didn't much like it. I might try marmite next time ;)
I'm listening to REM at the moment, I really really really like REM even though I don't talk about them very much so I thought I would just say that now, so it's on the record.
:)
Mindy
It's really wet here. Not substantial big raindrops but it's been consistently drizzly for several days now! I think it drizzled everyday last week. And of course after the summer floods here people on the news are a bit nervous (other people might be too but I haven't spoken to them about it). We'll be nice and high and dry in our second floor apartment if that happens though! Though we may have to find somewhere drier for our car.
Anyway this was the first weekend in AGES that we didn't have people here or were away. We didn't actually just flop and do nothing like we were planning to. We went out into town both days (yesterday for some reason it was packed!) and looked at the shops. And went for a short run in the rain this morning. I almost got Darren to go for a walk with me yesterday too, we were just putting on our shoes then it occurred to me to go out onto the balcony and check if it was raining. It was, heavily, so we skipped it. I love walking around the lake after dark because there are just so many pretty lights!
I was really bored last night so today when we were out I looked for some art supplies. We're trying to save money now so I opted for a cheap-ish option and spent 5 pounds buying some pastels and a pastel pad. So I'm going to learn how to use pastels. My first surprise was that pastels that are not oil pastels are totally dry, like chalk. So this is going to be quite a learning experience for me. I've been looking up about it all on google and soon I think I'll be sufficiently prepared to actually put pastel to paper - maybe in a fortnight hehe. We'll see. I don't want to neglect my knitting, but knitting is something I like doing while I'm watching something, so if there's nothing I want to watch I don't really feel like knitting.
Speaking of knitting I started my sleeve for my jersey for the third time today. I did lots of it ages ago last year, then when I picked it up a week ago I couldn't figure out where I was up to in the pattern so rather than risk making a mistake I started again. Today I was very confused by the pattern as it looked like the sleeve was going to be twice as long as my arm but realised I'd made a mistake in reading it, so once again I started again. I won't be starting it again though! Well not till I get to the other arm.
And we had a lovely roast chicken for tea tonight. I'm not sufficiently confident in the kitchen that I'm still at the stage where I feel quite a sense of achievement by cooking a roast meal (even though it's dead easy). Though I did put vegemite in the gravy as I saw it on a cooking show last week, and I didn't much like it. I might try marmite next time ;)
I'm listening to REM at the moment, I really really really like REM even though I don't talk about them very much so I thought I would just say that now, so it's on the record.
:)
Mindy
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
More Positive
Well I don't have anything exciting to write about but I didn't want the last thing on my blog being me moaning about being homesick. Thanks for all the nice comments though! So anyway I've decided to just write something! I can also post some photos from Dublin too.
Haha a program just came on TV called Golden Balls. They really love their game shows here that's for sure!
So I haven't done any exercise (apart from lots of walking around Barcelona and Dublin!) so back and work and back into my routine I went for my first run yesterday. It was pretty hard work. The second day though I think is often more important than the first - and today was even harder! But something strange and annoying happened, I somehow hurt my back so now it feels all bruised and sore.
Ok I said I'd post a photo, here's my favourite of all the photos I took in Dublin - it's a bit blurry but very pretty I think:
And here's a photo of a Leprechaun I saw:
Ok well I might go and do some knitting now. I started again last night after neglecting it horribly for sometime.
Lots of love,
Mindy
Haha a program just came on TV called Golden Balls. They really love their game shows here that's for sure!
So I haven't done any exercise (apart from lots of walking around Barcelona and Dublin!) so back and work and back into my routine I went for my first run yesterday. It was pretty hard work. The second day though I think is often more important than the first - and today was even harder! But something strange and annoying happened, I somehow hurt my back so now it feels all bruised and sore.
Ok I said I'd post a photo, here's my favourite of all the photos I took in Dublin - it's a bit blurry but very pretty I think:
And here's a photo of a Leprechaun I saw:
Ok well I might go and do some knitting now. I started again last night after neglecting it horribly for sometime.Lots of love,
Mindy
Monday, January 14, 2008
Homesick
Well I had a really homesick moment today. While we were packing up our hotel room we were watching a program on TV where each episode a British family gets presented with the kind of life they could have in NZ or Australia and at the end they have to decide whether to take it up and move, or whether to stay put. Well this episode was about a Welsh family considering a move to Nelson... and just hearing so many NZ accents, and seeing the schools, and the sea, and the boys playing rugby, and hearing the narrator mis-pronouce Marae made me miss NZ lots! To add insult to injury the stupid family decided to stay in Wales. Why? When you could live in Paradise?
I actually cried as I was walking down the street thinking about home. Though admittedly I may actually be a bit overly emotional today anyway as I cried a couple more times about very little.
Any I hope all the New Zealanders back in New Zealand reading this appreciate what they've got! Darren and I could quite happily go home tomorrow. But we won't :) Tomorrow we probably won't be homesick still anyway. Actually when I got to the supermarket after the flight arrived home to find my favourite diet coke was reduced from 37p to 18p for 2L that was almost enough to tip the scales in Donny's favour again.
:)
Mindy
I actually cried as I was walking down the street thinking about home. Though admittedly I may actually be a bit overly emotional today anyway as I cried a couple more times about very little.
Any I hope all the New Zealanders back in New Zealand reading this appreciate what they've got! Darren and I could quite happily go home tomorrow. But we won't :) Tomorrow we probably won't be homesick still anyway. Actually when I got to the supermarket after the flight arrived home to find my favourite diet coke was reduced from 37p to 18p for 2L that was almost enough to tip the scales in Donny's favour again.
:)
Mindy
Dublin... loved it!
Dublin! Wow what another beautiful city. An incredibly lively and spotlessly clean place with such a strong sense of culture and history.
We arrived on Friday evening, and I must admit it was a relief to be travelling in a country that speaks English again, just being able to rock up and have a really easy conversation with the lady at the tourism office. We bused in no problem and found the hotel... it's strange to be staying in a hotel again rather than a B&B, a pretty budget one albeit but very livable, and with it's own sort of charm.
The first day we'd bought a bus tour which was very useful to get around a lot of sights. I think I'll look out for more bus tours in the future the commentary was very useful, and amusing. The first stop was Trinity College which was a beautiful university that was opened by Queen Elizabeth the 1st (see I wouldn't know that if it hadn't been for the tour). Trinity College was also the home to the book of Kells which was a very interesting to see! This is a book written by monks in the 9th century. Just as impressive almost was the college's "Long Room" a charming library room that houses the colleges oldest books.
A bonus was they had the sculpture "Sphere within sphere" I think it is called. There was one of these at the Vatican City too so it was cool to see another!
We had a short look around the Georgian buildings and parks (and saw a statue of Oscar Wilde - coming to Dublin really makes you realise how many fantastic authors came from Ireland). Then we went to the National Museum. It was a really lovely museum, just had a really airy old but modern atmosphere. The highlight here though was the bog people, which were human remains that were almost perfectly preserved in peat bogs. It was really eerie! They had hair and faces and everything!
Next stop was a quick look at Dublin castle which was closed, then we decided to choose one of Christ Church Cathedral, or St Patrick's Cathedral. Well for no better reason than we're from Christchurch we went to Christ Church Cathedral. It was a lovely Church and very accessible, you were allowed to wander all around it and into the crypt. I haven't had enough of Church's yet, but I think for big Catholic Churches nothing will beat St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, and for Gothic Cathedrals York Minster.
Next stop, The Guinness Storehouse! It was an interesting tour, learning a bit of history and how they make the beer. But of course the highlight is the complimentary pint of Guinness you get. Darren pulled his own pint, and for some reason didn't have to hand in his complimentary tag which meant he had it for when we up to the Gravity Bar so he could get another! And I gave him mine too. The half a glass I had in the tasting room made me realise I didn't want a whole pint to myself. The gravity bar was a pretty high bar which wonderful views of the city. It was a lovely spot, and coincidentally Darren and I were celebrating our 4 year anniversary that day. After his 3 pints (which he shared with me) Darren declared the Guinness Storehouse to be the highlight of the day!
It was dark and raining by the time we got out so we had the rest of the tour without getting off. The taste was then to enjoy another quite drink and pretty reasonable bar meal at a pub. The end to a very nice day!
Sunday was a chance to get back to some of the places we'd seen on the tour but not got off. I got a picture with Molly Malone's statue. I love the song Molly Mallone as Gran taught it to me and we used to sing it while we were skipping along the beach at Port Underwood. We also looked around the shops and spent a relaxing half hour of so wandering around the beautiful park of St Stephen's Green.
Then it was time to catch the train to the Bram Stoker museum. Which actually turned out to be similar to a carnival haunted house experience. It was fun though and I learned a lot about Bram Stoker. The actual wander through "Dracula's Castle" wasn't really that scary but I managed to psych myself up enough that I did get a fright at the couple of dummy's that jumped out at you! The funniest thing that it was in this bar complex, that had a gaming area, TONS of pool tables. It was a like a family friendly bar, but still definitely a bar... it stunk of alcohol! So what else to do but enjoy a quiet drink here!
We caught the train back then wandered through "Temple Bar" the area of Dublin famous for Bars, Restaurants, shops, culture! I insisted Darren had another drink here, as you can't go to Dublin without enjoying a drink at Temple Bar. So despite the pint he had cost the same as a dozen would have in NZ it was a great experience in a real atmosphere filled buzzing pub.
For dinner we tried Ireland's answer to fast food... Supermac! A fast food shop that sold Maccas style burgers, Subway style sandwiches, pizzas, fish n chips! The whole kebang! We both had burgers though and they were nice enough.
Monday was final shopping and a final Guinness in Temple Bar for Darren!
:)
Mindy
We arrived on Friday evening, and I must admit it was a relief to be travelling in a country that speaks English again, just being able to rock up and have a really easy conversation with the lady at the tourism office. We bused in no problem and found the hotel... it's strange to be staying in a hotel again rather than a B&B, a pretty budget one albeit but very livable, and with it's own sort of charm.
The first day we'd bought a bus tour which was very useful to get around a lot of sights. I think I'll look out for more bus tours in the future the commentary was very useful, and amusing. The first stop was Trinity College which was a beautiful university that was opened by Queen Elizabeth the 1st (see I wouldn't know that if it hadn't been for the tour). Trinity College was also the home to the book of Kells which was a very interesting to see! This is a book written by monks in the 9th century. Just as impressive almost was the college's "Long Room" a charming library room that houses the colleges oldest books.
A bonus was they had the sculpture "Sphere within sphere" I think it is called. There was one of these at the Vatican City too so it was cool to see another!
We had a short look around the Georgian buildings and parks (and saw a statue of Oscar Wilde - coming to Dublin really makes you realise how many fantastic authors came from Ireland). Then we went to the National Museum. It was a really lovely museum, just had a really airy old but modern atmosphere. The highlight here though was the bog people, which were human remains that were almost perfectly preserved in peat bogs. It was really eerie! They had hair and faces and everything!
Next stop was a quick look at Dublin castle which was closed, then we decided to choose one of Christ Church Cathedral, or St Patrick's Cathedral. Well for no better reason than we're from Christchurch we went to Christ Church Cathedral. It was a lovely Church and very accessible, you were allowed to wander all around it and into the crypt. I haven't had enough of Church's yet, but I think for big Catholic Churches nothing will beat St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, and for Gothic Cathedrals York Minster.
Next stop, The Guinness Storehouse! It was an interesting tour, learning a bit of history and how they make the beer. But of course the highlight is the complimentary pint of Guinness you get. Darren pulled his own pint, and for some reason didn't have to hand in his complimentary tag which meant he had it for when we up to the Gravity Bar so he could get another! And I gave him mine too. The half a glass I had in the tasting room made me realise I didn't want a whole pint to myself. The gravity bar was a pretty high bar which wonderful views of the city. It was a lovely spot, and coincidentally Darren and I were celebrating our 4 year anniversary that day. After his 3 pints (which he shared with me) Darren declared the Guinness Storehouse to be the highlight of the day!
It was dark and raining by the time we got out so we had the rest of the tour without getting off. The taste was then to enjoy another quite drink and pretty reasonable bar meal at a pub. The end to a very nice day!
Sunday was a chance to get back to some of the places we'd seen on the tour but not got off. I got a picture with Molly Malone's statue. I love the song Molly Mallone as Gran taught it to me and we used to sing it while we were skipping along the beach at Port Underwood. We also looked around the shops and spent a relaxing half hour of so wandering around the beautiful park of St Stephen's Green.
Then it was time to catch the train to the Bram Stoker museum. Which actually turned out to be similar to a carnival haunted house experience. It was fun though and I learned a lot about Bram Stoker. The actual wander through "Dracula's Castle" wasn't really that scary but I managed to psych myself up enough that I did get a fright at the couple of dummy's that jumped out at you! The funniest thing that it was in this bar complex, that had a gaming area, TONS of pool tables. It was a like a family friendly bar, but still definitely a bar... it stunk of alcohol! So what else to do but enjoy a quiet drink here!
We caught the train back then wandered through "Temple Bar" the area of Dublin famous for Bars, Restaurants, shops, culture! I insisted Darren had another drink here, as you can't go to Dublin without enjoying a drink at Temple Bar. So despite the pint he had cost the same as a dozen would have in NZ it was a great experience in a real atmosphere filled buzzing pub.
For dinner we tried Ireland's answer to fast food... Supermac! A fast food shop that sold Maccas style burgers, Subway style sandwiches, pizzas, fish n chips! The whole kebang! We both had burgers though and they were nice enough.
Monday was final shopping and a final Guinness in Temple Bar for Darren!
:)
Mindy
Friday, January 11, 2008
New Favourite Animals
Following on from my Barcelona post I now have two news favourite animals. My most favourite is the Tapir - they are so cute! We saw Brazilian Tapirs at the zoo... gorgeous! Coincidentally there was a program on tapirs last night, the baby ones are always stripey like that, all the stripes go by the time they are 6 months old.
My second favourite animal is one I'd never even heard of before let alone seen. The Capybara. It is the worlds largest rodent weighing around 60kg and looks like a big hamster - they are seriously big, about the size of a golden retriever. Aint they cute?
My second favourite animal is one I'd never even heard of before let alone seen. The Capybara. It is the worlds largest rodent weighing around 60kg and looks like a big hamster - they are seriously big, about the size of a golden retriever. Aint they cute?
Barcelona!
Ok I should be writing about Christmas but I'm not sure that I will ever get round to that to be honest! So I'm going to see how long it takes me to write about Barcelona! I'm aiming for 10 minutes. It might be ok as really the pictures speak for themselves so check out the full range on my bebo site: Barcelona photos.
Anyway Claire Darren and I caught our flight at the respectable hour of 3.30pm to arrive in Barcelona sometime later, I honestly can't remember when maybe around 7. We then had an hour long bus trip into Barcelona from the Girona airport. Unfortunately it was pretty dark so we couldn't see much.
We found our Bed and Breakfast without too much trouble. It was in the beautiful gothic quarter on the main street called La Ramblas. We were on the fourth floor and the view down to the street was great, especially as they still had some of the Christmas lights up. For 9pm on a Sunday night the place was incredibly busy! Actually there were people out and about all night it seemed! We opted for the easy option and grabbed BK for tea then to bed.
The next morning we braved the subway and headed to Park Guell. A beautiful park designed by the architect Gaudi. We just wandered around looking at the sites for sometime, check out the pics, here's a sample:
We then headed to look at two other buildings designed by Gaudi which again were very impressive. I'd actually seen photos of them before but it was still really special to see them in real life and see the proper scale! I haven't mentioned yet that it was a beautiful day! We ended the afternoon by spending several hours looking around the zoo, this was really a highlight! It's been years since I've been to a zoo and this one was great!
Exhausted we grabbed a quick dinner again and headed back to rest. I think Claire and I went for a quick walk to the waterfront after dinner as well.
The next morning we went to see yet another Gaudi work, the Sagarada Familia. This is a huge Temple that has been in construction since 1882. It's pretty hard to describe it really, you have to see photos... or better still go look yourself! There were such intricate details and huge interior columns, beautiful modern stained glass windows. And being in construction scaffolding everywhere!
We waited for about half an hour in the queue for a lift and it was so worth it! The lift went up to the top of one of the towers and then we walked down! Part way was through a scary spiral staircase where you could see right the way down if you leaned over. We all ended up at the bottom with wobbly knees!
After that amazing morning we headed to the Picasso museum to see an exhibition of his personal collection of paintings which was good. From here we headed to the waterfront which was beautiful and had a meal there. You can see out the window in the photo below the sea and reflections on it.
Anyway that very quickly sums up our wonderful trip to Barcelona. I would highly recommend it. They just seemed to be very concerned with art the beauty of things I loved the city!
:)
Mindy
Anyway Claire Darren and I caught our flight at the respectable hour of 3.30pm to arrive in Barcelona sometime later, I honestly can't remember when maybe around 7. We then had an hour long bus trip into Barcelona from the Girona airport. Unfortunately it was pretty dark so we couldn't see much.
We found our Bed and Breakfast without too much trouble. It was in the beautiful gothic quarter on the main street called La Ramblas. We were on the fourth floor and the view down to the street was great, especially as they still had some of the Christmas lights up. For 9pm on a Sunday night the place was incredibly busy! Actually there were people out and about all night it seemed! We opted for the easy option and grabbed BK for tea then to bed.
The next morning we braved the subway and headed to Park Guell. A beautiful park designed by the architect Gaudi. We just wandered around looking at the sites for sometime, check out the pics, here's a sample:
We then headed to look at two other buildings designed by Gaudi which again were very impressive. I'd actually seen photos of them before but it was still really special to see them in real life and see the proper scale! I haven't mentioned yet that it was a beautiful day! We ended the afternoon by spending several hours looking around the zoo, this was really a highlight! It's been years since I've been to a zoo and this one was great!
Exhausted we grabbed a quick dinner again and headed back to rest. I think Claire and I went for a quick walk to the waterfront after dinner as well.
The next morning we went to see yet another Gaudi work, the Sagarada Familia. This is a huge Temple that has been in construction since 1882. It's pretty hard to describe it really, you have to see photos... or better still go look yourself! There were such intricate details and huge interior columns, beautiful modern stained glass windows. And being in construction scaffolding everywhere!
We waited for about half an hour in the queue for a lift and it was so worth it! The lift went up to the top of one of the towers and then we walked down! Part way was through a scary spiral staircase where you could see right the way down if you leaned over. We all ended up at the bottom with wobbly knees!
After that amazing morning we headed to the Picasso museum to see an exhibition of his personal collection of paintings which was good. From here we headed to the waterfront which was beautiful and had a meal there. You can see out the window in the photo below the sea and reflections on it.
Anyway that very quickly sums up our wonderful trip to Barcelona. I would highly recommend it. They just seemed to be very concerned with art the beauty of things I loved the city!
:)
Mindy
Friday, January 04, 2008
My Poor Baby
Oh I forgot to say two very important things. One is Happy New Years. And the second is my poor Darren has a toothache. It's horrible watching him in pain - he couldn't sleep much at all last night! And it really is one of those times when I wish we were back in New Zealand. It's just ridiculous trying to get a dentist here.
Because his pain was so acute he managed to get an emergency appointment today but the dentist wouldn't remove his tooth for some reason and he needs to get an appointment for a consultation. Fine. Then after the consultation will need to get an appointment for the work. All of this taking several weeks! When he's already in so much pain he can't sleep! It's unbelievably frustrating!! We looked at going private but that still have a wait of weeks anyway so may as well just wait.
Poor Darren!
Because his pain was so acute he managed to get an emergency appointment today but the dentist wouldn't remove his tooth for some reason and he needs to get an appointment for a consultation. Fine. Then after the consultation will need to get an appointment for the work. All of this taking several weeks! When he's already in so much pain he can't sleep! It's unbelievably frustrating!! We looked at going private but that still have a wait of weeks anyway so may as well just wait.
Poor Darren!
Fun times with Claire
Ok I haven't posted in ages, which makes it really hard to because there's just so much to write!
So I'm going to write the second half of what's happening as that's the easiest, then move to the first half.
Ok so Claire came for Christmas Day and we'll get to that in the next blog, I'll start off where everyone else left (we had people come stay for Christmas!) and it was just me and Claire and Darren again. So this is the 27th of December. Well that also happened to be my first day back at work but I did it in a sneaky way and worked from home. That worked out ok that day as Darren was an awesome brother in law and took Claire to the mall.
The next day wasn't much more exciting either though Darren didn't take Claire to the mall and to prevent Claire from driving Darren crazy I finished up work a couple of hours early (I made it up later in the weekend). Then Claire and I hit the outlet mall. So great to have a chick to go clothes shopping with! The outlet mall is really quite awesome. It has lots of shops, and a good mixture of cheap shops and more expensive label or designer stuff - and it's all discounted!
Saturday the 29th of December was the next day in my life. And I guess that was true for most people that the 29th came after the 28th. Anyway hmmm what did I do on Saturday... hm hm hm hm I can't remember, I'll have to ask Claire. Oh yeah! I remember! I asked Claire but remembered before she answered. We went to the market in the centre of town and did some more awesome shopping. Here's a pic of Claire at the market:
It was pretty cold outside at the market so we headed into the mall for... more shopping! Claire bought a cool pink top. And I was stoked because I finally bought a handbag. I'd been looking forever. If I remember correctly the search started in earnest in Melbourne and I've been scouring markets ever since. So the lucky bag was actually found in a shop... and I love it. It even matches my Christmas Dr Martens:
So I love having a handbag, later that day we went to the supermarket to buy things that ladies normally keep in their handbag (like pens and hand cream, and I already had lip stick and lip gloss). It's like I'm a proper lady now! When I go out I grab my handbag and I have everything I need. And when I get out of the car I can put my car keys in it, and well it's just so convenient and handy! Anyway so after the mall we drove home and Claire decided to take some silly photos while we were driving:
Ok so that's all I can handle writing for today. Don't worry I know I've still got Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to go! (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are not that exciting as I was back at work). Then after that I've still got before that to go.
Ok lots of love,
Mindy
So I'm going to write the second half of what's happening as that's the easiest, then move to the first half.
Ok so Claire came for Christmas Day and we'll get to that in the next blog, I'll start off where everyone else left (we had people come stay for Christmas!) and it was just me and Claire and Darren again. So this is the 27th of December. Well that also happened to be my first day back at work but I did it in a sneaky way and worked from home. That worked out ok that day as Darren was an awesome brother in law and took Claire to the mall.
The next day wasn't much more exciting either though Darren didn't take Claire to the mall and to prevent Claire from driving Darren crazy I finished up work a couple of hours early (I made it up later in the weekend). Then Claire and I hit the outlet mall. So great to have a chick to go clothes shopping with! The outlet mall is really quite awesome. It has lots of shops, and a good mixture of cheap shops and more expensive label or designer stuff - and it's all discounted!
Saturday the 29th of December was the next day in my life. And I guess that was true for most people that the 29th came after the 28th. Anyway hmmm what did I do on Saturday... hm hm hm hm I can't remember, I'll have to ask Claire. Oh yeah! I remember! I asked Claire but remembered before she answered. We went to the market in the centre of town and did some more awesome shopping. Here's a pic of Claire at the market:
It was pretty cold outside at the market so we headed into the mall for... more shopping! Claire bought a cool pink top. And I was stoked because I finally bought a handbag. I'd been looking forever. If I remember correctly the search started in earnest in Melbourne and I've been scouring markets ever since. So the lucky bag was actually found in a shop... and I love it. It even matches my Christmas Dr Martens:
So I love having a handbag, later that day we went to the supermarket to buy things that ladies normally keep in their handbag (like pens and hand cream, and I already had lip stick and lip gloss). It's like I'm a proper lady now! When I go out I grab my handbag and I have everything I need. And when I get out of the car I can put my car keys in it, and well it's just so convenient and handy! Anyway so after the mall we drove home and Claire decided to take some silly photos while we were driving:
Ok so that's all I can handle writing for today. Don't worry I know I've still got Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to go! (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are not that exciting as I was back at work). Then after that I've still got before that to go.
Ok lots of love,
Mindy
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