york

Hello Everyone!

Finally a chance for me to do some decent writing as there have been computer turn issues between me and Darren, mhere I graciously step back and let him have the computer since he can’t have it while I’m at work this week and he’ll therefore be quite bored and have not much to do.

Right now I’m sitting on a patch of grass outside the Jade office in York waiting for Darren to come pick me up. This could conceivably be a very long wait for two reasons:

1) I rang Darren to get him to come and he didn’t answer so I texted him (on a borrowed phone I no longer have access to)… so it could be some time before he even sees the message.

2) He may be lost as he is off exploring York and has no maps.

3) He may have found a shop that sells Do Who toys and this would therefore put me lower down on his priorities.

All this is ok because for the moment it’s not raining and it means I can write this! I’m just worried about work people from the office I’ve just left driving past and thinking I’m weird for sitting waiting outside and javing not got in touch with Darren proper;y. Oh well I’ll live.

So the flight and trip here was absolutely fine. I watched Shrek the 3rdw The Bridge to Tarabithia and Blades of Glory, as well as the entire season two of Extras. It was a reasonably stressful time through to get the train at Kings Cross with lots of lugging of very heavy luggage and gettting on and off the underground but it all went smoothly and a very tired Mindy and Darren checked into the hotel on Friday night at around 6pm.

The hotel was lovely. We splashed out and had a meal there, probably the most expensive meal I’ve ever had really at 14 pounds. And it was grilled chicken annd chips. But there was a lot of it, and they bought us free apetisers. I didn’;t want to look uncivilised by not eating it, even though it was prawns and they are the one thing I don’t normally eat. So I ate it and it wasn’t bad. It was actually kinda nice. They also bought us free bread and dipping oil with our main.

Saturday the first hiccup of the trip when we got a ride out to the airport to get our rental car but I didn’t have my credit card on me to pick it up. So after a bit of a wait we caught a taxi back to the hotel and got it and went back out again. Then we were back on track.

I think our first stop was Frenchgate mall which was a reasonably big mall. Though probably about the same as Northloands or Riccarton, with some bigger shops though, and all the main UK clothing shops etc, like Next and Topshop. And there was a Marks and Spencer across the road.

We then drove to my work to see where it was and drove around a housing area nearby called Lakeside. It’s a sort of posh area but we think we’ll try and get a place there anyway. The rent’s not too bad even when you do convert it to NZ dollars… which Darren does with everything. He’ll probably stop soon enough though. Ok Darren’s here to pick me up that didn’t take too long! So I’ll try and write again soon.

Love Mindy

Photos

Hi, here are some photos from along the way and also of our cottage, our home for the next two weeks :)

Darren at Auckland airport, already tired and only just started!

Ahh that's better, having some champagne in Air NZ business premier class.

The outside of our cottage, with Darren in the window.

Bedroom

View from bedroom

Gate to the next door paddock

Probably a rabbit hole, but I like pretending it's a fox hole.

Ok there's a bit of a competition for computer time between me and Darren at the moment so I'm keeping this short.

Love to all,
Mindy

Here!

Hi Everyone,

Just a very quick post because we're about to go to breakfast. It's Saturday morning after our first night's sleep in our new home Doncaster. Though we're just in a hotel at the moment.

The trip was long, and not without incident, right from our first plane to Auckland everything was delayed. The most exciting of which being the fact that we couldn't land when we got to Heathrow due to this: engine problems We still managed to get to the train on time. Though it was such a job carrying our bags around train stations etc, they were extremely heavy due to the fact that they contained our entire life!

The flights were brilliant, business class rocks. :)

Um the weather is HOT here. Muggier than Christchurch, I was really hot last night. SO we are getting a little nice weather before winter. It's a beautiful clear blue sky day today so we're not believing anything we were told about England being gray hehe.

We're just about to go pick up the rental car now, after breakfast. Then we'll probably realise the traffic rules aren't quite the same as NZ (flashing orange lights after the red means go I think!).

Ok love to all,

Mindy

Lonely, oh so loney

Hello People

Long time no posts.

I am currently in wellington. I am working as an economist at the Ministry of Social Development. I didn't have the internet in my flat hence the lack of posts.

Last weekend Tom and I moved in together into a wee apartment in town. The internet arrived this morning. Yay! Except Thomas left this morning. Not so yay. He has gone to a conference in Portugal so its really awesome for him but I am going to miss him so much! He will be gone for three whole weeks! At least I have the internet to keep me company now.

Hope everyone is good.

Melbourne 3

Hi Everyone,

Well I had a fantastic weekend with Claire. Melbourne continued to impress me. Many shops were visited, many handbags were considered and many new foods were tried. I showed extreme restraint though, so proud of myself, I only bought for myself one extra thing above the thing I’d planned to buy myself. And I managed to buy myself the thing I’d planned to buy myself. That was a winter coat for keeping me warm in the UK. The extra thing was a pair of those Chinese ball things you use for hand exercises and were only eight dollars. So that wasn’t too much of an extravagence. I was very close to buying a handbag but didn’t let myself make any impulse purchases.

The shopping highlight was definitely Queen Victoria market. It was fantastic the stalls were incredible in the number of them and the crap that they sold hehe. But the food section was absolutely amazing. The smells, and the amazing cheeses and fruits and sausages I won’t forget it quickly. I needed to go back with an empty stomach several times. As it was I tried a spanish donut, which I will admit I had had in America before but not as good as this one, and a borek which was delicious. The next day in St Kilda I also tried Debosh cake it was good, and a Florentine biscuit which was really good. I’m going to try making them myself one day.

Claire was such a great companion thanks, very patient with me, and so much fun to be around and talk to. I think she had a nice time, I hope so anyway. And thanks also to our feet for putting up with the hours and hours of walking over the weekend.

Non shopping related we also went back to the Casino together and revisited the fantastic deserts at the Greek restaurant there, and we went to the Pixar exhibition. That was really cool the story boards and brain storming and development sketches were amazing. Oh and we went to a nice restaurant on Friday night too. And St Kilda was beautiful on Sunday morning, the sun came out just as we were looking around the market and it was just gorgeous.

This week I’m staying home and not spending more money! There’s just too much nice food out there to buy. Although one thing I will say about Melbourne is from my observation they don’t do sushi as well as Christchurch. There’s probably good sushi out there just not as common or easy to find. But I’m not complaining at all in general I’d say the food here is great!

Love
Mindy

Melbourne 2

Hello from Melbourne again,

This is a really nice place! There are so many gorgeous old buildings in the middle of town, so cute! There was even one I saw with a gargoyle on the top. The second thing that is really cool is there are lots of people walking around this area to and from work, just tons… and people are sensible lots of really dressed up women with sneakers on, I took the hint my second day… so much more comfortable! Also cars stop for people if you’re walking across a T-intersection. I always stop anyway but mostly cars will wave me through.

Tonight I’m staying in as I want to get a good sleep to get up early and go for a run down to the esplanade in the morning, but last night I ventured out and went for a walk down Fitzroy St. It’s at the end of St Kilda Road which is where I’m staying. I got a tip from Jenna at work to go down there as it’d be busy still on a weeknight and she was right! It was just amazing. So many restaurants and bars, and all sorts too. A lot of really nice looking cheap places to eat, actually looking at the café blackboards on the street on the way to work the food prices here are quite a bit more reasonable than NZ. There was this gorgeous bookshop open too, I’m going to try and make it back there to buy something because it was just the kind of shop you walk into and want to support.

Oh and one more funny thing about Australia, they’re behind us in Grey’s Anatomy. Haha. We’re winning, they’ve got the final next week, we’ve already had it.

Work is going well. The people are nice (like I said last time) and I feel almost totally settled in. The weather here is also great, 18 degrees today, it was 10 degrees in Christchurch! I’m beginning to wish that we were moving here instead of the UK, well not really as it’ll be great to be close to Europe, but I would definitely consider living here one day.

Tomorrow night I think I’ll head out to the casino maybe shout myself a meal out (I’ve had home made dinners and lunches everyday so far!). Then Friday Claire is coming for the weekend! Yay! I think I might take her shopping on Friday night at Chadstone which apparently is a good place to go. Then Saturday we’ll do the sightseeing. Go up some big tower to see the size of the city etc, hmm and I want to go to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the Guggenheim Collection so I hope Claire does too! Also there’s a Pixar exhibition at the Australian Centre for the moving image which looks really good. Then I might let Claire pick one or two things to do, then go to do the Old Gaol tour, and have dinner. At that will be Saturday. Sunday I’ve reserved for shopping and visiting Queen Victoria Market.

I don’t think I’ve got much else to report on. Hope everyone is happy and well!

Love
Mindy

Melbourne

Hi Everybody!

It's been ages I know. In my defense I've been busy.

So as everybody probably knows Darren and I are moving to the UK soon, thus we've been busy! We're also trying to partially plan the wedding before we leave, but to be fair that has only taken one day. Anyway what some of you may not yet know is I'm in Melbourne for the next two weeks. And if you're thinking wow that's an inconvenient time just when you'll be wanting to pack for the Uk, well you'd be right!

But anyway I am glad I'm here. It's my first time in Melbourne and from what I've seen it looks like a really cool place. I’m here for work though so it’s not like I’ll be sightseeing the whole time, but hopefully I’ll get to see at least a little bit. Had my first day at work today, it’s always a bit risky talking about work on a public forum such as this, but in this case there’s no risk as everyone was really nice, really nice people and very friendly and helpful. So hopefully it’ll be a good two weeks.

I arrived here last night. Spent AGES at the airport waiting for my umbrella to come as it was “oversized” luggage. I wouldn’t have bought it if I’d known it was going to be a hassle. But I will be glad for it if it rains as I do have a wee walk to work. Of course since it was such a hassle to bring it won’t rain at all. It is a cool umbrella though! It’s a Jade one J

My hotel is very nice, very roomy and it’s got a proper kitchen and everything. So my first mission in Melbourne was to go down to the supermarket and buy some food so I wouldn’t have to eat out at breakfast or lunch. So good old google maps told me where the nearest supermarket was and headed out there. It wasn’t too far on the way there, but it was much longer on the way home. I think mostly because I bought more than I could comfortably carry. Damn though 1.5L bottles of coke.

Anyway woke up really early so went and explored the lake just by the hotel. It’s huge and has nice black swans in it. Which brings me to the view the hotel has a pretty good view of the lake and then out to the sea. The view from the work office is absolutely stunning though, similar view but that’s on the 12th floor so you can see everything!

For the record there’s nothing on TV so I’m watching Flight of the Conchords which is my new favourite TV program ever!

Lots of love,
Mindy

Weekend in Welly

Hi All,

Just a really quick post to keep you all updated with what I've been up to. Went up to Wellington for the weekend which was lovely (lovely in a cold and wet way!). Darren an I had booked our tickets AGES ago (so everyone had tons of notice we were coming hehe) and then almost forgot we were going! But didn't. Poor Darren is pretty sick at the moment though, I think it's because he worked some very long days doing Auntie Anne's wall after doing his normal full days at his normal job. Anyway so at the last minute we decided he was probably too sick to come and he stayed home and babysat the fish. So that was a shame but I got to stay with Amy and spend tons of time with her which was absolutely fantastic. Also got to see Earl, Erin, Bridget and Uma which was great too!

Hope you all had nice weekends!

:)
Mindy

Visas

Yay! Darren got his visa this morning for the UK... now just have to wait to see if I get mine! Given I posted mine a day after his it may imply that mine might be coming sometime this week, but maybe that's jumping to too big a conclusion.

I would post a photo of it, but well, I might have been going over the top with photos lately ;)

This visa getting experience has lead me to an interesting chain of thought. Is it reasonable that couriers deliver parcels before 7am in the morning? I guess there is a argument that it's more likely people are guaranteed to be home at that time. But one would have thought it was not a respectable hour to be calling on people. The courier came at 6.50am this morning.

I decided to make this an informed blog post and so I rang the NZ post courier service and they informed me 7am should be the starting time so this courier was obviously just getting a head start on the days work.

Ok so that discussion lead no where. Except I'm a wee bit more sleepy than usual because once the courier came I was excited Darren got his visa and I didn't get back to sleep. Hehe.

Have a nice day all!

Upgrade

My licence now upgraded! Woo!

New Licence Photo

My new driver's licence photo is actually good!

This is my new restricted licence (I needed a new restricted to sit my full as the one I had was the wrong version). And so my full will have the same photo and should come in a couple of days! Yay!



Also I finished my butterfly hat! This is it flat:



And this is it on me:



That's all for today!

:)
Mindy

Jewellry Course

Hi!

Kirsty and I have just completed a three evening jewellry course learning how to make things with PMC, or precious metal clay. It's this cool clay with silver in it, that just looks like normal clay and works the same but when you fire it the clay burns away and you're left with just silver!

Here's some pics of a couple of things I made:





And if you want to do the same course and live in Chch here's the link:

Fusion Glass

:)

Yay for me!

I forgot to say on Tuesday yay for me! I passed my full driving test. Now a lot of people think this isn't a big deal as I have been driving on my restricted licence for quite a few years now (ah hem) but it was because I get nervous about stuff, and I think that the fact that I'd been avoiding doing the test for such a very long time made it a bigger deal to me.

Anyway I passed :) So now I'm one step closer to adulthood. Hopefully I'll never make it the whole way though.

Oh and if I didn't say earlier (which I think I didn't because I haven't been very thorough at the moment) Darren and I got an awesome new digital camera (well it's awesome to us) so maybe I'll have a play with it and post some photos of stuff sometime soon.

I am loving the weather today, all nice and rainy and dark. Just cloudy is a let down, if it's going to be cloudy it may as well rain, and if it rains it may as well be dark and stormy looking. Like today!

Love
Mindy

Knitting Finished!

I finished! The knitting part. Now I just have to sew up the back seam. Which shouldn't take too long at all! :)

Hat for Amy

Just posting a preview of the hat I'm knitting for Amy (mostly just so she can see it because I can't send photos to her email hehe).

It's an eagle pattern if you couldn't tell.



:)
Mindy

Help Please!

Hi everyone,

All have probably heard now Darren and I are departing for the UK August 30th.

To get us in the mood I've decided we should watch a British movie, or movie set there every week till we go. I'm particularly interested in true historical ones. If anyone can comment with any of their favourites that would be great to give us ideas what to watch.

Some I've thought of already:

• Braveheart
• Monty Python goes without saying
• King Arthur
• Robin Hood
• First Knight

Basically I haven't spent much time thinking about it, and recommended ones would be better anyway... so please someone make a suggestion!

Ta!
Mindy

How to have fun in a supermarket

Ok so I hate forwards and I hate spam but I love now with blogs and stuff you can post the actually funny ones without having to clog up people's inboxes. This is thanks to my cousin Alex, I got it from his bebo page. And I don't condone any of this behaviour.

1 :: Ram into other trolleys then ask for insurance details.

2:: Get large amounts of meat from the deli and hide it in various places around the supermarket.

3 :: Flip the conveyor belt into reverse and freak out trainee checkout assistants.

4 :: Two words: ‘Trolley Racing’.

5 :: Do fake drug deals with bags of tea.

6 :: Make a large shopping list with items such as porn, hookers and drugs and read it out loud as you tick them off.

7 :: If people are there doing stocktake, walk down the isle saying random numbers.

8 :: Hide random items in other people’s trolleys.

9 :: Buy lollies individually, i.e. each in its own bag.

10 :: Grab a 2L bottle of milk, surreptitiously glug back as much as you can then place back in the fridge.

11 :: Buying large amounts of meths and bread and act really suspicious.

12 :: Buy 10 doz of beer, 20 packets of smokes and 40 packets of condoms and when the checkout chick asks you if you've having a party, eye her up and say with a leer/smirk "why don't you stop by and see for yourself?".

13 :: Organise a sit-in protesting unfair treatment of the bread rolls.

14 :: Give people nipple gripples when they come out of the beer fridge thing

15 :: Drop bags of flour and eggs right in front of the clean-up guy.

16 :: Buy lots of apple pie and porno mags, of course supermarkets don't have porn, so FHM and Ralph will have to do.

17 :: Play shuffleboard with some frozen chickens and a couple of brooms.

18 :: Swap trolleys with someone when their back is turned.

19 :: Run around yelling that the sliced ham is really your dog Woofy.

20 :: Or your mate Harry.

21 :: Try to insight a riot.

22 :: Dance to the radio.

23 :: And sing.

24 :: Loud and off key.

25 :: Take an open pack of cat food to the checkout, and apologise saying you were 'hungry'

Confessions

Stole this from someone's blog - though I defeated the purpose by deleting all the bits I didn't want to confess, some were a bit morbid like thoughts on death etc.

[ ] I am shorter than 5'4"
[x] I think I'm ugly sometimes
[] I have many scars
[ ] I tan easily
[x ] I wish my natural hair was a different colour
[x] I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color
[x] I have a tattoo
[x] I am self-conscious about my appearance
[ ] I have/I've had braces
[ ] I wear glasses
[x] I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free
[x] I've been told I'm attractive by a complete stranger
[ ] I have more than 2 piercings
[ ] I have piercings in places besides my ears
[ ] I have freckles

Family/Home Life

[x] I've sworn at my parents
[x] I've run away from home
[ ] I've been kicked out of the house
[x] My biological parents are together
[ ] I have a sibling less than one year old
[x] I want to have kids someday
[ ] I've had children
[ ] I've lost a child

School/Work

[ ] I'm in school
[x] I have a job
[ ] I've fallen asleep at work/school
[x] I almost always do my homework (well I used to)
[x] I've missed a week or more of school (probably when I was sick)
[ ] I've been on the Honour Roll (yes if that's the same as being prefect)
[ ] I failed more than 1 class last year
[ ] I've stolen something from my job
[ ] I've been fired
[ ] I've skipped school

Embarrassment

[ ] I've slipped out a "lol" in a spoken conversation
[x] Disney movies still make me cry
[ ] I've peed from laughing
[x] I've snorted while laughing
[x] I've laughed so hard I've cried
[ ] I've glued my hand to something (I did sew something to my skirt)
[x] I've laughed till some kind of beverage came out of my nose
[ ] I've had my pants rip in public

Health

[ ] I was born with a disease/impairment
[ ] I've gotten stitches
[ ] I've fractured a bone
[ ] I've had my tonsils removed
[ ] I've sat in a doctors office with a friend
[ ] I've had my wisdom teeth removed
[ ] I've had surgery
[x] I've had chicken pox

Traveling

[x] I've driven over 200 km in one day
[x] I've been on a plane
[ ] I've been to Canada
[x] I've been to Mexico
[ ] I've been to Niagara Falls
[ ] I've been to Japan
[ ] I've Celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans
[ ] I've been to Europe
[ ] I've been to Africa

Experiences

[x] I've gotten lost in my city
[ ] I've seen a shooting star
[ ] I've wished on a shooting star
[ ] I've seen a meteor shower
[ ] I've gone out in public in my pajamas
[ ] I've pushed all the buttons on an elevator
[ ] I've kicked a guy where it hurts
[x] I've been to a casino
[ ] I've been skydiving
[ ] I've been an abused victim
[x] I've gone skinny dipping
[ ] I've played spin the bottle
[ ] I've drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour
[ ] I've crashed a car
[x] I've been Skiing
[x] I've been in a play
[x] I've met someone in person from the internet
[ ] I've caught a snowflake on my tongue
[ ] I've seen the Northern Lights
[ ] I've sat on a roof top at night
[ ] I've played chicken
[x] I've played a prank on someone
[x] I've ridden in a taxi
[x] I've seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show
[x] I've eaten Sushi
[ ] I've been snowboarding

Relationships

[ ] I'm single
[x] I'm in a relationship
[x] I'm engaged
[ ] I'm married
[ ] I've had someone cheat on me
[ ] I've gone on a blind date
[x] I've been the dumpee more than the dumper
[ ] I miss someone right now
[ ] I have a fear of commitment
[x] I have a fear of abandonment
[x] I'm in love
[ ] I've cheated in a relationship
[ ] I've gotten divorced
[x] I've had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
[ ] I've told someone I loved them when I didn't
[x] I've told someone I didn't love them when I did
[x] I've kept something from a past relationship

Sexuality

[ ] I've had a crush on someone of the same sex
[x] I've had a crush on a teacher
[x] I am a cuddler
[x] I love to flirt
[x] I've been kissed in the rain
[x] I've hugged a stranger
[x] I have kissed a stranger
[ ] I've accidentally flashed someone
[ ] I've purposefully flashed someone
[ ] I am bisexual or homosexual
[x] I've slept all night in a bed with a person of the opposite sex
[x] I've slept all night in a bed with a person of the same sex
[x] I've bitten someone
[x] I've been bitten
[ ] I've had fooled around with a member of the same sex
[ ] I have had sex with someone I was not in a relationship with
[ ] I've slept with a co-worker
[ ] I've made out in an elevator


Honesty/Crime

[x] I am a terrible liar
[x] I've done something I promised someone else I wouldn't
[x] I've done something I promised myself I wouldn't
[x] I've snuck out of my house
[ ] I have lied to my parents about where I am
[x] I am keeping a secret from the world
[x] I've cheated while playing a game
[ ] I've cheated on a test
[ ] I've ran a red light
[ ] I've been suspended from school
[ ] I've witnessed a crime
[ ] I've been in a fist fight
[ ] I've been arrested
[ ] I've shoplifted

Materialism

[ ] I own over 5 rap CDs
[x] I own an iPod or MP3 player
[ ] I have an unhealthy obsession
[ ] I own multiple designer purses, costing over $100 a piece
[ ] I own something from Hot Topic
[ ] I own something from Pac Sun
[ ] I collect comic books
[ ] I own something from The Gap
[x] I own something I got on e-bay
[ ] I own something from Abercrombie

Political/Social Attitudes

[ ] I don't like people
[ ] I'm a feminist
[ ] I'm very outgoing
[ ] I listen to political music
[ ] I'm Democratic
[ ] I'm Republican
[ ] I'm liberal
[x] I don't like Bush because he is useless and stupid and idiotic
[x] I don't like Bush with my own reasons to back it up
[ ] I am for Bush
[ ] I'm religious
[ ] I'm against homosexual marriage
[ ] I dress fairly modestly
[ ] My attitude is: I dont care what other people say about me

Random

[ ] I can sing well
[ ] I've stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant
[x] I open up to others easily
[x] I watch the news (though only once or twice a week)
[ ] I don't kill bugs
[ ] I hate hearing songs that sacrifice meaning for the sake of being able to rhyme
[ ] I curse regularly
[ ] I sing in the shower
[x] I am a morning person
[ ] I paid for my cell phone ring tone
[x] I'm a snob about grammar
[ ] I am a sports fanatic
[ ] I twirl my hair
[ ] I have "x"s in my screen name
[x] I like being neat
[ ] I love Spam
[ ] I've copied more than 30 CD's in a day
[x] I bake well
[x] My favourite color is either white, yellow, pink, red or blue
[ ] I would wear pajamas to school
[ ] I like Martha Stewart
[ ] I know how to shoot a gun
[x] I am in love with love
[ ] I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS
[x] I laugh at my own jokes
[x] I eat fast food weekly
[x] I believe in ghosts
[ ] I've not turned anything in and still got an A in a certain class
[ ] I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room
[ ] I am really ticklish
[ ] I love white chocolate
[ ] I bite my nails
[ ] I play video games
[x] I'm good at remembering names
[ ] I'm good at remembering dates
[ ] I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life

Engagement Party

Hi Everyone!

We had our engagement party on Saturday night! It was SO fun! Thank you so so so so so much to everyone who came it meant so much to Darren and I to see you there. And to those who were out of town we were thinking of you, we didn't invite out of towners as we wanted to keep it very casual and not too big didn't want people to have to travel, but we were thinking of all our out of town friends too :)

But anyway it was such a lovely night, and our families got together for the first time which was great too. Well Darren's mum and sister had met my parents, but I got to meet Darren's Auntie, and see his Dad and Grandma again... fantastic.

Unfortunately we remembered late into the night to start taking pictures, but Claire did a fantastic job and almost got pictures of everyone which was great! Oh thanks so much to Claire for doing a great job talking to people, handing things round, and taking the photos, a huge thanks to Mum for organising the whole thing and making such delicious food, and to Auntie Anne for helping her, and to Amy as well for making a huge effort with the food, and to my Dad for setting everything up and making a little speech.

Anyway here's some photos


Nick with Adam who managed to completely obscure Natalie!





This is me and Darren and our Grandmas. We've both only got one Grandparent left :( Isn't that sad, but I guess it would be more sad if there were none! My Gran is so lovely though so I don't mind too much.




This is people watching Darren's funny speech: My Uncle Peter, Sally, Darren's Mum, my Uncle David, Jeremy, Charlotte and John.




Lara, Fraser, Nick and Kirsty.




Rach, Greg, Mike, Charmain and Michiko.




Me Claire and Lara. This one is here mostly because I thought Claire might throw a stink if there were no pics of her hehe. Just kidding.

That's just a few photos, not everyone there but some of the important people. (Not all though as didn't get pics of Amy, Beth etc). If anyone wants their photo removed I'm quite happy to do that :) But I thought everyone looked lovely anyway.

:)
Mindy

a tribute to andrew and amy

hello everyone. i found this nice picture of my sister and my cousin. and seen though andrew reads this blog i thought i would share it with him. so here u go andrew!!
and here is andrew texting.if u are wondering why amy is wearing funny headphones its coz we were doing a audio tour of stirling castle (it was abit boring)

Something new

Howdy how has everyone been?

I did something new on the weekend. Mum signed me up for a triathlon a while back, but then they went and postponed it for a month and we no longer wanted to do a triathlon in May (being that it's freezing in the mornings!) so we switched to a duathlon. Now this was an excellent plan and you'd think I'd train for it because duathlons are easier to train for, just got to bike and swim. But I still couldn't. I guess it's the rebelling thing, because I have to do it I don't want to!

Anyway so come Sunday - duathlon day I was really dreading it and feeling very guilty for not training. But I did it anyway, and I rocked. It felt like a really good day, I managed to push myself for the whole hour it took me and I'm really pleased I can push myself for that long and not die. So that was really fun. It was nice not to have to deal with the whole wet togs aspect of triathlons!

Other news. Well I'm still engaged, that's a good sign! Loving it too! Wedding plans... hmmm not for some time. I guess now would be the time to publicise my other big news now that it's pretty official. That is that Darren and I are moving to Doncaster for a year and a half. This is through my work, I'm very excited about this! I'll almost be keeping my normal job but might have to do a bit more tricky things, and a bit more analysis stuff. Soooooo this means unless we get married in Doncaster, which we won't, we're not getting married till we get back. At this stage we're planning on picking the date before we leave and maybe booking the venues... and of course I've started looking at dresses, as I found it written more than once, that it's never too early to start looking for the perfect dress.

Also my cousin Kirsty is getting married too! That is so exciting! She's getting married before me which is good otherwise I'd die of impatience. So everyone who's worried about missing me tons I'm coming back for Kirsty's wedding so you can see me then!

Ok yay for me doing the duathlon.

:)
Mindy

Birthday

Just a super quick post to say I had a fantastic birthday in the weekend. Thank you so so much to everyone who came to my party, I had such a great time and it so so lovely to see everyone there!

We had an 80's kid TV pj party. And Amy decorated me a wonderful Scrooge cake, it was awesome. Here's a picture:



And here's me in my Birthday Princess hat:



:)
Mindy

help me please!

CLAIRES HUGE PROBLEM!!



hello everyone i was just cruising on the net because i have a dilemma and i thought, who shud i ask, then i thought why not everyone cool enough to read mindys blog! so here goes:



recently while i was in the UK i discovered a new product out by nivea called Nivea Lip Care SOS.



now im a keen nivea fan so i purchased this not knowing what to expect. turns out this product is FANTASTIC, the best solution for cracked lips ever! now u would have thought i would treasure this little tube of magic, but no i have lost it. and now my lips are beginning to get sore (as im forming a cold) and im in desperate need for some SOS balm to help me throught the winter. HOWEVER this product is not sold in NZ and i am unable to find a site on the internet where it will post it to NZ.



So in conclusion, all u computer geeks, get ur thinking cap on and find me somewhere to buy this! failing that ANDREW, WILL YOU POST ME SOME?pppppppppppllllllzzzzzzz.



that is all



from clairey fairy (yes that is my real name)

Number 14

Was right on time!

Weekend in Auckland

Well had an extremely eventful weekend in Auckland... :)

Ok so I had Friday off work to mentally prepare for the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert (it didn't help in the end). The Friday afternoon we flew up. Booked into the hotel, which was as flash as expected and we had a nice little compact room. Then out for the obligatory Wendy's hamburgers for tea. (Darren used to live in Auckland and we don't have Wendy's down here so each time we go up we eat as much Wendy's as possible). Then we went and checked out the main movie theatre complex which was cool, I'd never really been in there and we bought tickets for the next morning's screening of the 300 on the IMAX screen.

So chicken burgers for breakfast on Saturday (though in a departure from tradition it was Opporto, not Wendy's). Then the 300 was fantastic! Good start to the day. Then met up with Lara which was lovely and we walked the Domain and looked around the gardens a little. And saw some egg plants that actually looked like eggs.



The after a nice lunch we went to the museum and had a quick look around plus some photos to remember the weekend, though they are not very good because our camera is not great. If anyone wants to buy us a new digital camera it would be very welcome hehe! This is me and Lara:



And me and Darren with shady faces:


Then home again (well to the hotel again) to relax and get ready. This involved a lot of Simpsons watching as Sky seems to show the Simpsons an awful lot! Then I finally managed to convince Darren that arriving at the concert 2 and a half hours before I predicted the Red Hot Chili Peppers would play was necessary, so we got there around 6.30. The wait was BORING! Neither of us had watches or cell phones either so I don't know if that made it easier or harder. Anyway the support act started playing and I had heard he'd been booed of the stage at the Australian concerts so I definitely wasn't expecting much. Personally I thought it was ok, but a very bad choice for a crowd of restless people of Red Hot Chili Peppers fandom. Perhaps a NZ band that people felt obliged to being loyal to would have been better. A strange overweight white guy who kept showing his nipples was perhaps not a good call. So then people started chucking stuff... I heard a bottle hit the floor and turned around to see that Darren had been hit in the head by it! A glass beer bottle it was, which should not have been in the concert at all. Darren seemed ok to stay but then felt it head and noticed there was a hole in it and quite a lot of blood. He first used his shirt to mop it but then I remembered that I had a hanky so handed him that. I am noramlly fine with blood, I may have been dehydrated, hot, I don't know but when I saw that hanky I fainted! It was such a weird and unpleasant experience. Fainting in a crowd of people is not so cool.

Anyway I kinda came to but don't remember anything properly until the first aid guys were asking me if I wanted to lie down (I did). So the St John's people took care of us (thanks!) gave me a drink of water and checked Darren's head. He was going to need stitches but they said we could wait till after the concert. So we went back in and found a less crowded place to stand that still had an awesome view! The concert was fantastic. It was great seeing Josh play with them. They played (and yes I memorised this myself):

1. Can't Stop
2. Dani California
3. Scar Tissue
4. Charlie
5. This Velvet Glove
6. Readymade
7. Throw Away Your Television
8. She's only 18
9. John solo
10. Snow
11. Nobody Weird Like Me
12. Strip My Mind
13. Suck My Kiss
14. ?
    
15. Californication
16. Flea solo
17. By the Way
18. Instrumental with trumpet
19. Sir Psycho Sexy
20. Higher Ground

I think that's right, I have a list at home that I know is right and also had song 14 I just can't remember it right now. Plus there were a few jam-y bits in there.

Ok after the concert we tried really hard to get Darren somewhere to get stitches but taxi drivers in Auckland suck and after trying for some time we decided to go in the morning.

Then we had a great time back at the hotel, for once I wasn't tired and we decided to do all the things that people do in hotels, well not quite all the things, but some of them like ordering room service.. And then to top off a fantastic night Darren proposed! So now we're engaged! :) :) :)

The next morning involved a lot of walking to a medical centre to get stitches. This is what Darren's bandage looked like:



And a lot of texting to let people know the news! I am so happy! I hope that it wears off so I can sleep again as I've been excited and happy the last two nights and not sleeping very well. Oh well. Ok that's all from me for today!

Love
Mindy

Knitting Progress

Isn't it great when you get to the age where you don't care about being uncool anymore. It's so liberating. Being a teenager sucks. Ok that has nothing much to do with this post, well it's sort of related, I probably wouldn't have been caught dead knitting when I was younger!

Anyway I feel like I'm making good progress. Here's a pic, it's actually way longer than this but it gives you an idea of the stripes:



I don't really want to finish... well I'm definitely not ready to finish as I don't feel I can finish until I know what I'm going to move onto next. If I don't think of anything I'll just start with another scarf I think.

In other news 4 sleeps till the RHCP... yay!!!

Oh in other other news I was so sad to hear about the shootings in Virginia today.

Love
Mindy

Knitting!

I haven't posted in such a long time, and I wanted to post a picture but I don't have one but I really didn't want to delay in writing. So you get this without a picture. You will survive.

So my Easter was mixed. Kinda boring. Mum and Dad and Amy went away, Darren and Claire and I stayed in Chch. Exciting highlights were making hot cross buns with Claire on Friday. Hers turned out very well, mine were a little on the flat side - though mine were proper with fruit and hers had chocolate chips in them (blasphemy! ;) And spending the day with Beth on easter Sunday, we made bread... and it was very nice. I couldn't find the normal beer bread recipe I use (though right this second I realised I may have actually posted it on the blog way back when) so I just grabbed a random one off the net and it was all sugary, because it was American and Americans put sugar in a lot of things. But as a sweet loaf it was really nice!

Also other exciting news is it was Claire's birthday on Monday. She turned 18! Happy Birthday to Claire! I had a lovely lunch with her and her friend Amelia, then they went to get their nails and hair done but I can't afford those kinds of luxuries! Then we had a family dinner and a roast pork, which is something I hadn't had in a very long time. It was very nice. Oh! And I should say Amy with Mum's help made Claire the most amazing cake. Hehe not to ruffle feathers but it was a huge subway roll. I'll definitely post a picture here if I can get one.

Also I've been continuing my Grey's Anatomy watching and finished the second season. There was an episode where Meredith and Izzy knit, so this inspired me to learn how to knit. My Mum is an amazing knitter so I was sure I had a genetic advantage. So I went round to her house, stole some of her needles and started practicing on the one scrap of wool I could find (it was Easter Friday so the shops were closed and I couldn't buy wool). I taught myself to cast on, and purl from the internet and I'm actually quite proud of my progress. I then went a bought some wool on Saturday, though it is actually yucky cheap acrylic stuff, but good enough for me to practice on. Then I'm going to knit a sweater! Or maybe a hat. Or maybe some baby clothes. I will keep you posted.

Have a nice day y'all.

:)

Strong Backs

For everyone who didn't want to see a picture of a sexy male back on this blog you can thank mr anonymous "strong backs... huh?".

I like strong backs, they are nice to look at, nice to hug, and good for lifting stuff. What is there not to like? There's also something impressive about a guy lifting a full sized fridge on his own...

I will say no more ;)

Mindy

Stuff I Like!

Hello, since I did a complain-y blog I thought I'd do the opposite in this one and talk about the things I like/love:

• Fruit, it's so delicious and amazing that it just grows that way. Aren't we lucky to have such yummy treat that literally grows on trees?
• Snail mail
  
• When strangers smile and say hello when they walk past
• Getting random texts from my friends just to say hi
• Cartoons!!!
• Home made bread (though home made anything is normally better).
• Sunny Days
• Rainy Days
• Going on a plane
• New books
• Clean sheets
• Long baths
• Freesias
• Hedgehogs
• Flying dreams
• Dappled light
• Still sea water
• Brushing my teeth
• Running into people you know in the park
• Puppy love
• Monty Python
• Lego!
• Strong backs
  
• Seedlings
• Baby skin
• The smell of fiberglass
  
• Rock band t-shirts
• Mascara
• Crying
• Sleeping
• Green tea (never thought I'd say that!)
• Back scratches
• And so so so so so many people... :)

Have a wonderful day all!

Mindy

Quick Rant!

Sorry something has just REALLY been annoying me this past month or so. Before I say what it is I want to stress it is NOT personal, I really like the cleaners at work, for my first few weeks it seemed they were the only people who would talk to me... so yes this is not a personal thing, not even their fault probably. BUT I am really sick of being cleaned around. My contract states my working hours are from 8.30 till 5, but if you get here before 9 you have to put up with the cleaners still cleaning your room. They vacuum around me and bang my feet and my chair, and on the days when they are not vacuuming they are dusting my desk underneath me. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react, am I supposed to gracefully get up and spend 5 minutes standing around watching them work achieving nothing myself. I may as well do my own cleaning if that is the case (which I have no problem with at all).

I just think it's so silly that their schedules can't be changed so they finish by 8.30. Don't most buildings get cleaned at like 3am or something anyway? I'm not suggesting that needs to be done, just get the offices done by 8.30, maybe things could be jiggled so they do the offices before 8.30 and the kitchens after 8.30 or something. I don't even know why this bugs me so much but it does. Would it bother anyone else or am I just insane?

Ok I'm done.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Love
Mindy

In other news

Ok, so if you've checked out Beth's page you will have seen that I had a fantastic afternoon on Sunday with her and Kostya at Church Bay. (Church Bay is a bay in Lyttelton Harbour where my Dad's family has a holiday house, boat shed etc). So anyway the weather was absolutely brilliant and we had a lovely afternoon, I went for a swim, despite the low tide. Normally I hate swimming anywhere in the sea where I can touch the bottom, Church Bay is particularly bad as the bottom is very squishy mud, and someone told me when I was little that it was all fish poo. As I've grown up I've become better at just avoiding the bottom :) Also I had to be a wee bit brave as earlier last week I had a terrifying dream that I was being stalked by a sting-ray while I was swimming at Church Bay, I didn't see any sting rays though on Sunday.

Anyway just as we were leaving I noticed there were several ripe banana passionfruit, we have tons over there. So I grabbed a few so we could try later, as I imagined Darren probably had never had any, and Beth and Kostya hadn't either. So it got me thinking I wonder how many people have never had one, or even heard of them. They don't really sell them in shops, well not that I've seen so I'm guessing probably quite a few. Maybe I should go and get some and provide them for refreshments at my 80s TV show party! :) (As an aside both the boys refused to try them on the grounds they looked too slimy!).

Also in the weekend thanks to Beth I watched the first season of Grey's Anatomy. I have never seen the program before (avoided it on the grounds that I didn't need another TV show to tie me down), but I will still have to avoid it until she gets season 2 on dvd. Yes apart from Church Bay I had a boring weekend.

It's really rainy today which I don't mind too much as really I love the rain, and also I dropped my bike off to get serviced yesterday and they've got it till Wednesday so I couldn't have biked this morning anyway. Speaking of rain and weather the clouds were really really cool yesterday afternoon, this picture doesn't at all do them justice, but it's an ok picture anyway.

Have a nice day everyone! And Adam you have to comment as you promised!

:)

SUBWAY (again)

hello there anonymous.i have been told to correct your statements which are untrue.so here it goes:
the mayonnaise is not claiming to be low fat (only sweet chili, honey mustard, bbq, and sweet onion are)it may have once been (a long time ago) but since then we have changed the recipe and therefore also the status of :low fat.
the bread is taken out at 8 pm the previous night, the next morning at 7 am it rolled separately in the oats or seasonings and then again risen for another 30 minutes. we then top the italian herbs with cheese and straight away bake it. SO by the time it is baked it has been rising for at least 12 hours.
and lastly there is a minimum amount of space that each subway franchise must be away from each other (sorry i do not know the exact amount) but in the case of the subways bush inn and riccarton, the riccarton is not a full subway restaurant aka it is attached to the garage therefore that is why they are so close.
and while im here ill answer the other questions:
anonymous jones, no i have never spat in a customers sub as i make it in front of them, and no i wouldn't anyway.

amy, my favourite sauce is ranch even tho it's so fatty! what is your favourite sauce? i bet its italian and also red wine vinag. p.s did u know that subway riccarton charges 90 cents more for the vege patties as we do! so come to us!love u big sister

SUBWAY.....play hard, eat fresh

hello everyone,
i have been off this thing for awhile because my computer got broken and basically i forgot. A lot has happened since you last heard from me. i am now at uni and i have a job at subway (bush inn, come visit me sometime) which is where im supposed to be in 10 minutes time so i should go and get ready.

anyway mindy rocks.

have a good day! :)

Devious!

Ah ha! My devious plan of posting more frequently to increase the traffic on my blog has started working. I've been looking at my visitor stats and the numbers are growing. Go on spread the word! Although not many people are commenting. Andrew apparently is getting the internet soon so I'm sure that is all about the change!

So I had a fantastic weekend. On Saturday Darren and I went for a run, I hardly ever run on Saturdays because I'm not motivated enough. So this was a good achievement. Then we went to watch some of a water-skiing tournament that was on at Lake Crichton. It was so fantastic to watch. We just watched the men's jumping finals, where they have to ski up a ramp and jump for as far as they can. I was astounded by how far they could jump! Over 60m! They also have a water ski school at Lake Crichton, so I'm thinking of looking into that. I'm sure I could jump off a ramp, maybe not as large a ramp as these guys were doing but still. Watch this space, I may become a professional water skier right before your eyes! If only Dad hadn't sold their boat, oh well, I'll just have to buy my own.

Sunday I did the grocery shopping which is always fun. It's like spending money that I don't have to feel guilty about. And then I tidied and cleaned and tidied and cleaned some more. My house is spic and span now I can wait to go home and bask in the cleanliness.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend too!

:)
Mindy

Cartoons

Ok so I'm going to have an 80s kids program night. It was going to be an 80s cartoon night, but I really want to get Fraggle Rock, and that's not a cartoon. I am very welcome to requests (especially if you think you might get invited to what is going to be a fantastic event), I am trying to make it non-gender specific as much as I really really really want to include Moon Dreamers I won't. So the story is I'm going to try and get my hands on as many of our old favourites as possible... probably the pilots, and have a bunch of people round and we can all be kids again! Kapeesh?

Following the underwhelming response to yesterday's snorks vs smurfs post (thanks for commenting Beth!) I'm not expecting much from everyone... but if you do read this just put in a vote! Even anonymously!

Oh and I'm thinking I won't include ones that are currently on TV, so this covers transformers and teenage mutant ninja turtles. I'm not sure if Danger Mouse is included with that because that was on about 2 years ago.

Trying to get (or already have)

• Ducktales
• Smurfs
• Snorks
• Scooby Doo
• Danger Mouse
• Denver the Last Dinosaur
• Flintstones
• Jetsons
• Fraggle Rock
• Jem
• Muppet Babies
• Wuzzles

Programs I loved/watched but won't include unless there is demand for them

• Pound Puppies
• Glo Friends
• He-man and the Masters of the Universe
• Rainbow Brite
• Moon dreamers
• Strawberry Shortcake

Ok let the reminiscing begin!

:)
Mindy

Storm in a Teacup

This is a very quick afternoon post, just because I realised I probably never said here that I now have a theme song. The title especially suits me. The song is Storm in a Teacup by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It also happens to be a very very very cool song and one of my favourites, if not my favourite song off Stadium Arcadium! Here's the lyrics:

Come on come on baby
Let me show you what I'm talking about
You try to be a lady
But your walkin' like a sour kraut
Looka looka lika lika
Like you want to get some
If you never tell a lie
Then you never have to play dumb

Dirty baby time you're gonna take some
Pretty baby love you're make some
Little lady hearts you're gonna break some
Kinda shady tears you're gonna fake some

Dirty baby we've got a situation
Pretty baby open invitaion
Little lady what a reputation
Kinda shady now you're gonna make again

I know you can straddle
The atmosphere
A tiny storm in your teacup girl
I know you can battle the
Masses, dear
A tiny storm in your teacup girl

Every other day you say
You're gonna have to bury 'em
Famous last words
Spoken from the laserium
Descendants had to record
Sayin' somethin' 'bout Milo
You can take the a train
But you're gonna have to lie low

I know you can straddle
The atmosphere
A tiny storm in your teacup girl
I know you can battle the
Masses, dear
A tiny storm in your teacup girl

Dirty baby time you're gonna take some
Pretty baby love you're make some
Little lady hearts you're gonna break some
Kinda shady tears you're gonna fake some

Dirty baby we've got a situation
Pretty baby open invitaion
Little lady what a reputation
Kinda shady now you're gonna make again

I know you can straddle
The atmosphere
A tiny storm in your teacup girl
I know we may never get
out of, here
A tiny storm in your teacup girl

Snorks vs Smurfs and PIZZA!

Firstly I had a discussion with Earl at work yesterday who stated that the Smurfs and the Snorks were the same except the Snorks were underwater. He then clarified to say that by "the same" he thought they were so similar he felt if he'd watched one, he'd watched them all. I vehemently disagreed, because in my opinion they are completely different... sure there are similarities, like they look just the same, they are both little, and they have a cool theme song - but they are so different! I mean the snorks live under the sea! How cool is that. The smurfs are cool too, but the snorks are the definition of coolness. But I just wanted to put the question to the floor, are the Snorks and Smurfs the same? If not which did you like better?

Also last night marked the very first pizza night I've ever been to. Yesterday I was a pizza night virgin, today, happily I am not. Pizza night is a weekly event held at Adam's house where a bunch of people who I guess feel like eating pizza, go and do just that. (See Adam's and Nick's site for more info... not that there is necessarily any info there but there might be!) Now I was a bit nervous, as they are a bunch of whackos so I took my friend Beth along to protect me, though for some strange reason she wanted to go anyway, as she seems to think my friends are nice (craziness!). Haha. No seriously it was a very enjoyable evening and I can say with some certainty I will be returning. If for no other reason because Adam stole Beth's headband and she needs it back!

:)
Mindy

Great Weekend!

Well I hope everyone has had a great weekend. Mine was!

It started off on Friday night watching The Wild at Beth's house. The movie was good but very similar to Madagascar. I still want to see over the hedge though, I've heard that one is very good. Also Beth made nachos. I love nachos, we have them all the time here, hers were extra special though as they had spinach AND mushrooms in. YUM! Thanks Beth.

Saturday I managed to watch two movie, The Medallion with Jackie Chan, which I thoroughly enjoyed, it met my expectations exactly (they weren't high expectations though). Then the Constant Gardener which was also great. Then Dad and I started building the steps outside our door. I'll keep a photo journal here so everyone can see our progress! So here's the first pic:


You'll notice how level and straight the posts are (that was me) and also how fantastically the concrete was shoveled into the hole (which incidentally I dug), that was me too!

Today we went to the QEII with Jessie again which was fun. Spent most of the morning there, then home again to work on the deck (Darren donated his expertise today too!) and I also cleaned out my car which was horribly dirty - mostly because Darren uses it as his work car so it had lots of mud and nails in it. I am so happy now it's tidy, though I realise it won't stay that way long.

Oh and I bought some new fish for my tank. 4 wee neons. Now I have 8. It's like a tiny army of them in my aquarium, they are a schooling fish and all hang out together so look really cool.

Ok that's it from me.

Hope you all have a good start to your week!!!!!

:)
Mindy

ps Did you hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers are coming to NZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I love everything!

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are coming to NZ!!!!

I can't believe I didn't find out till 8.30 last night!!!! I love Darren to bits, but neglecting to text and tell me!?! I don't listen to the radio during the day, and I've been boycotting the RHCP site since I found out they weren't coming - so I had no way of knowing! Anyway we've got all our flights booked and just need to get tickets now.

I couldn't sleep last night at all I was so excited and now my eyes feel a bit fried but hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight. If I can't the concert is in April so that's not too far away to go without sleep.



And thanks to the person who posted a comment asking about how my Valentines Day turned out. It was really lovely thank you. I hid the first clue to the treasure hunt wrapped around a picnic bar in the vegetable garden. Then I sent Darren out to get some carrots. I watched him out the window as he earnestly got some carrots completely oblivious to the picnic bar! So I had to yell out the window "could you get that scrap of rubbish too?" and then he picked it up and broke into a big smile when he saw it was a picnic bar.

Ok well I'd recommend everyone go to the Chili Peppers concert because they are so fantastic live. The last Chili Peppers concert I went to, oh the second to last (hehe that makes it sound like I've been to more than two) was the second best night of my life.

Ok bye!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mindy

$3.70!!

Hi everyone!

I now have $3.70 in my watch fund. This is thanks to Earl, Anonymous jade person, Adam Richards, Be, and Sc. The last two don't get their full names stated as they didn't donate a full dollar. Though I do appreciate their contribution all the same. Remember everyone all it takes is $1 to be added to my list of favourite people in the world!

On Saturday night I went to a very fun party which was Nick's and at Adam's house. Thanks for the great party guys. Though I guess since I hardly ever go to parties I am very easy to please. But I was very pleased all the same.

In other exciting news I remembered about Usborne Puzzle Adventure books today! I used to love them when I was a kid. I am going to start collecting them. When I was a kid I never had any, I had to rely on my cousin's collection and the library. My kids (that don't yet exist) will not have to suffer that. They were so great. I think everyone who reads this should reminisce about which ones were their favourite. I liked Time Train to Ancient Rome. Here's the whole list:

1. Escape from Blood Castle
2. The Curse of the Lost Idol
3. Murder on the Midnight Plane
4. The Incredible Dinosaur Expedition
5. The Intergalactic Bus Trip
6. Time Train to Ancient Rome
7. Danger at Demon's Cove
8. Agent Arthur's Jungle Journey
9. Agent Arthur on the Stormy Seas
10. The Ghost in the Mirror
11. The Haunted Tower
12. Agent Arthur's Arctic Adventure
13. The Vanishing Village
14. Search for the Sunken City
15. Journey to the Lost Temple
16. The Pyramid Plot
17. The Invisible Spy
18. The Emerald Conspiracy
19. Agent Arthur's Desert Challenge
20. Agent Arthur's Mountain Mission / Voyage to the Edge of the World
21. Mutiny at Crossbones Bay
22. Castle of Intrigue
23. The Dark Dark Knight
24. Agent Arthur's Island Adventure
25. The Crimebusters Investigate

And the advanced ones:

1. Codename Quicksilver
2. Cobra Consignment
3. Mystery on Main Street

I got this list from Wiki.

Have a great day everyone!

:)
Mindy

ps Don't forget to give me money!

Great Idea!

Hey I've had a great idea re my watch dilemma... everyone who reads this site could donate a modest amount... say $1. Then I just need to get 950 readers by May 6th and I'll have enough money to buy the watch. It could be like a gift from my loyal fan base. Haha! ;)

Happy Valentines Day!

Hi Everyone!

Well I'm not sure anyone is even reading this anymore. Actually I can find out by reading my stat counter can't I. Ok well I've just checked and three people looked at it yesterday... that's pretty good! Well good enough for me to keep writing anyway!

So today is Valentines Day. Now Darren and I don't really do the whole present thing, but we do like to share a nice meal together and normally cards. So today I am cooking my first roast beef. I'll let you know how it goes. Also mini-picnic bars were on special at the supermarket I bought the beef from so I bought those and this year Darren gets a picnic treasure hunt, where each clue will have a picnic bar, and the final treasure is another 5 bars and my card to him. Doesn't sound like much but given how much he likes picnic bars I'm sure he'll love it.

Now to all those people who don't have someone to share Valentines Day with I think you should buy yourself a present. Or at least a chocolate bar... and really enjoy it! That's what I'd do. Actually I should have bought myself a Valentines Day present anyway. Any excuse to buy myself a present and I do! I've been planning my birthday present for weeks now (and it's not my birthday till May). I'm getting a gold citizen eco-drive watch. Now I try not to be a materialistic person, but I'm not very good at it. I currently have a silver eco-drive and it is one of my favourite possessions, I love everything about it, I think the design is just flawless. The only thing is, everything going to plan, one day I hope to be married and wear a gold wedding band, and so will have to switch my jewelery to gold - thus I need a gold watch. This is the one I really like:


But it is probably a little out of my price range. And I'm not sure I really need diamonds on a watch. But it is very nice isn't it?

Anyway have a great day everyone!

Love Mindy

Honey I'm Home....

Hi Everyone!

Happy New Year! I know I know, it's February... but I've been in a coma since December so that's why I haven't posted. I fell off a molehill and banged my head on a toadstool. Ok so that wasn't true. But at least it was all spelled correctly. There's nothing worse than a misspelled lie.

So I had a fantastic Christmas. And New Years was a non-event.

My hair is now blonde again. Ok so three weeks of holiday = bored Mindy = her hair changes colour. Now it's really light, kinda like Marilyn Monroe, well that's what I was going for anyway! It's amazing the different responses I've had to it, quite a few people don't like it and I've been surprised with how forthright they are about coming out with it. The worst was the cleaner at work said "Oh dear did you have a fight with the bleach bottle". After that I vowed not be nice to her and say good morning every morning, but I felt too mean doing that so I've just been acting normal. On the other hand I think some people genuinely like it, and the rest probably just tell me it looks good because they are polite and I have no idea at all what they think.

Also hello to the other Mindy who commented here! I've never met another Mindy before... so that was very exciting. It's not a particularly common name in NZ really. It's more American. To those who don't know my real name is Melinda, but I was called Mindy from birth. Mum and Dad got the name from 'Mork and Mindy' apparently but a lot of what Dad tells me is not 100% true. I answer to the following nick names:

- Mindy (most people call me this)
- Mindy Moo (Dad calls me this, and Helen has been known to as well)
- Minnie Moo (hmmm not sure maybe Amy and Claire call me this)
- Minnie Minnie Moo Cow (Amy calls me this)
- Minds (not pronounced minds as in great minds think alike, but more like the first syllable of Mindy with an s on the end, oh most people in my family call me this).
- Min (Lara calls me this)
- Minnie (Claire and Amy call me this)

That's probably it. Not very interesting but I'm beginning to realise Mindy is quite flexible. Amy on the other hand gets called Ame or Amy and that's all, and Claire gets called Clairey by me, used to be called Claire Fairy when she was younger, and I'm trying to remember to call her Hairy Fairy now instead.

So this year my goal is to have as good a year as I did last year :) I'm still just at my job here at Jade and that's going well, still living with Darren and that's going well, still biking and running a bit and they are both going well. So pretty much I just need to not stuff anything up... should be manageable! Though I don't do New Years resolutions as I think anytime is a good time for self improvement. Although I kind did make one which was to keep my house tidier especially the kitchen and I've been doing that so far, it's so nice having a tidy house!

Right one and all are welcome to comment or not. But hi anyway, and thanks for stopping by. I'll post some photos soon (maybe one of Darren bungy jumping if he lets me!).

:)
Mindy