A nice day.

A apple-cinnamon pinwheel from Midnight Cafe, while reading "The Gentle Art of Domesticity".

And watching "Once" with Maegan. It's slow, but has really good music. And the guy is so cute, with his beard and guitar and sweaters and Irish accent.

And in the first picture you can see my new bag. It's purple like Megan's, and square like Ava's. Just what I wanted. :)

WWOOFing

So farm life is pretty cute.

I've decided that collecting eggs must be one of the best joys. When they are still warm from the hen sitting on them, and they come in soft pinks and blues and greens and creams.

And weeding paddocks, while the cows watch you, mooing and chewing. And if you get too close to the sheep, they bolt away from you in a pack, their woolly masses sprinting and leaping with surprising grace.

And the baby lambs, with the long wagging tails as they drink their mother's milk.

Here's the kitchen, with the wood-stove in the front:


My room, underneath the house and frigid cold at night, so I'd go to bed snuggling hot-water bottles.


And dinner. They were a raw family, so we had a lot of salads, sprouted grain casseroles and luke-warm soups.

I loved farm-life just as much as I hoped I would. I'm inspired to keep chickens and animals, there is something so homey and substantial about it.

I did come home early, though, because I felt uncomfortable with the family dynamics. I suppose no one's life is picture-perfect, and I was sad it didn't work out, but my first taste of WWOOFing has me inspired to do more, learn more, and experience more.

Wellington

So finally, I'm back, with pictures. It's taken me forever to find a computer I could load these onto, when (silly me!) I could do it at Susie's house the whole time. Hopefully I can update a little more frequently from here on, but for now I'll just exhibit some of my experiences so far, with a little narration.

First, Susie's house. This has been my main home for the last 6 weeks.


Even though most of my time here is spent reading, drawing, doing yoga, taking walks, baking muffins, and watching bad TV with Susie, the most exciting parts have been the trips to the ocean, both to Waikanae and Taranaki. This is when I see the parts of New Zealand that are really classic, and which I hope to see more of as I start to travel here.
The land is really beautiful here. I can't wait to travel around and see more of it. Right now I'm enjoying the small moments of beauty here in the city...

the winding streets...


the random art...


the purple houses...
unexpected and amazing sunsets...


and reading Charlotte Bronte with a latte...


That's it for now, dearies. Oh, and I'll leave you with some of my favorite sayings here.

"Sorted." = okay, that's fine
"Mean." = sweet, cool
"Heaps." = as in, 'love you heaps'
"Sweet as." --You can put 'as' on the end of anything. 'Cold as.' 'Sunny as.' 'Tasty as.'

Enjoy! I'll update as soon as I have more exciting things to share. I miss everyone!

In Auckland

Here I am! It's still very surreal to be here. Being in the city is definitely hectic, but I'm starting to calm down now that I know my way around and am starting to meet people and get situated.

The hostel I'm staying at is on Queen Street in the shopping district, so there's a lot of cool fashion, a lot of expensive cafes, and a lot of people rushing around. Here's the Sky Tower, that people frequently bungy jump from, and the view from the window right in front of my bed in the hostel:



This is Albert park, right up the street from the hostel, and I laid in the grass in the sun the first day I was here, and read a book on a bench this morning. Lots of people jogging around, it's very cute.


And yesterday, I took a long walk to a cuter part of town, and I picked a lemon! From a tree in someone's yard, but I'm sure they don't mind; it was hard as a rock.


I took an amazing Ashtanga yoga class at a studio I found when I was walking around. It was an awesome class, with a lot of people, and the studio was so light and airy. I felt right at home, and I'm definitely sore today, it kicked my butt.


And some of the many bookstore's I've poked around in...




Here's a view of the ocean, there's a lot of sailboats and the city extends across the whole bay; it's huge.

And here I am in the hostel, happy but feeling dazed. I'm starting to get used to it though, from the orientation I went to today I'm getting very excited to feel at home here and explore.


I'm off to Wellington early tomorrow morning on an 11-hour bus ride...wish me luck!

Post-Op.

Sitting in bed, minus 4 wisdom teeth but plus a lot of yuckiness.
Reading a lot of books and watching movies and sleeping.


I just found Celeste Potter.

An artist who did a video for Sarah Blasko. Click. Watch.

The illustrations are so good. So good.

Last night was spent out in the small cabin by the lake. I woke up and did yoga on the porch while the fish were jumping, and took a walk.

Everyone will be leaving really soon. To college, and for me, to adventure. I'm having mixed feelings, between the excitement of leaving and the reverence of how long we've been friends.



Right now I'm making lemon-lavender shortbread and cleaning out the room we'll be giving to a boarder.

I'm reading The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp, and it has me examining my creativity as a responsibility--to learn about it, to give it time every day to grow by sitting down with a pencil or a paintbrush, by finding out more about it by exploring my own creative tendencies, by respecting it enough to let it lead me.

It has really interesting exercises, like going a week without looking in a mirror to see how your perspective of yourself changes, or not speaking for a week, to absorb your surroundings instead of add to them. Also, it has questions that delve into the nature of your creativity, how you view the world, what makes sense to you, how you express whatever is inside.

It's making me think about my future in an entirely different way.