Spring is in the air

Had lunch by the leith under the cherry blossoms...


with Rachel and Sabine :)

Welcome Home

I went out for dinner with some friends the day after I got back. We went to the espanlade at the beach. It was a warm spring evening. Heaps of surfers were out even though there was no surf!


What a beautiful sky!


It is good to be home :)

Eating my way around America

I had a grand time on my trip home! A whirlwind couple of days in San Fran and Sac, seeing family, getting in my first Mexican meal and enjoying the 100F temperatures! Then off to Knoxville for ASP, networking, giving a talk and hanging out with Emily, Devon and Katherine...oh such fun times! I was pleasantly happy to be in America amongst Americans, where I can be as loud as I please and not stand out...ok, maybe I still stood out, but it was totally acceptable to be loud. My talk went well and I had lots of questions and interest. Then on to Minnesota...by this point I had taken 8 flights in a week and was so ready to be home! I flew into Humphrey and my mom was waiting for me at Lindberg without her cell phone (it was in the wash machine...oops!) and it took me an hour to get to her...thankfully she stayed put and was sittting there waiting for me! Couple days with my mom, then I headed up north to see both dad's and Chad's family. Colder than it should have been for August...as you will see in the photos, we were often wrapped in towels on the lake trying to stay warm! Then back to my mom's for a week and half. Went to the State Fair (YUM), had another Mexican night, bbq at Tammy's, but mostly just hung out at my mom's. I'm happy to say I ate all the foods I've been missing...turkey (sandwiches and a drumstick at the fair), Mexican food (4 times :), pizza, brats, hotdog, breakfast sausge, my brother's sausage gravy and biscuits, blueberries (only available in NZ when in season), doritos, and a steak actually cooked to order (rather than well done no matter how you order it). My last day was spent at my aunt's in San Fran, just hanging out in the garden and relaxing! Check out the photo albums...

Shakin' my world

So the other night I'm laying in bed just on the verge of falling asleep with the tv on and I think "the cat is really purring" then "how can the cat be moving the bed that much?" then "hmmm my clothes hanging to dry are moving" then "omg! it's a major earthquake!" and I hop out of bed and run down the hall yelling to Michel. She also was just falling asleep and thought somebody was standing there shaking her bed. So there we are standing in her bedroom doorway, clinging to each other. It seemed to last forever...even Michel, being from Cali, said it was the longest quake she's experienced. Previous ones I've felt were over by the time I figured out they were happening, and only shook side to side. This one went in all directions, back and forth and side to side. It made us dizzy so we had a hard time telling when it was over. The whole time I was thinking about how our house is on re-claimed land. It was a 7.8 about 200 miles away. I guess there were 2 more throughout the night, but we went back to bed. Thankfully we didn't get swept away in our sleep as they issued a tsunami warning!

Home sweet Home

Well, I guess I've been avoiding writing a new posting. This last month has been a difficult one. Grandma H was in and out of the hospital and then in a hospice so that they could try to manage her pain (fluid retention due to kidney failure) and make her comfortable if possible. She passed on 23 June. It's been sad, but I am thankful that she is no longer in pain. I just wish I could have been home or at least be home for the reunion and memorial service. Those couple of weeks were not very productive for me. Last week I started to get into the swing of work and this week I can say I've finally been productive again. The pressure of what needs to be done before leaving in Aug for the conference and my visit home is overwhelming! I'll be working most weekends until I leave for the good ol' US of A! Looking forward to being on American soil again...

Snow and 4WD

We had our first snow down to sea level this week! So I had snow at my house for the first time...of course it was gone by the afternoon. The city pretty much shut down. I drove into Uni anyway, but I don't live in the hills. I hear there were lots of idiots trying to drive down the hills in their cars and sliding all over the place and into parked cars...no salt trucks here and it rains, then snows, then rains again. I had to come in for the class-portion of my 4WD course. For the practical, they put you in all these situations and you have to drive out of them...it should be lots of fun. I've only used 4WD for snow, so I'm excited for this! This course is a requirement for me to take a Department vehicle off road to my field sites next summer.

Other than that, my life is boring. Data entry, data analysis, the gym, procrastination...over and over again. I did have a dinner party last weekend, where we made a few of the dishes from an Indian cooking class a bunch of us took, and then we watched the Simpsons movie. Tonight I get my hair cut (which is red now...I'm tired of having gray hair) and then dinner and a play - Don Juan in Soho. I'm way excited!

American and Proud

Ha! So I was just called a stereotypical American because I wouldn't be coerced in coffee date after only exchanging a few lines with this guy on an online dating service. To him, I should be totally comfortable with meeting him when I don't really know much about him just because he's a PhD student at the university as well. Like academics aren't just as much freaks as anyone else out there! Then he made some reference about maybe I'd rather date someone who isn't educated or that sort...ok, now who is the stuck up one here? I'm glad I didn't end up wasting a coffee date on this dude. And am proud to be a stereotypical American in this instance!!

Who spread the myth?

I just read this hilarious article on what it's like indoors during a New Zealand winter. Click here for the article. I've been wearing thermals everyday for 2 weeks now and scarves are certainly in fashion here because you NEED them!

Celebrate good times!

I had a fabulous birthday last week! I slept in, went to the osteopath for a back adjustment and arrived at the office to banners and streamers and presents and brownies from my friends. :) Rebecca and I went shopping and I bought this merino wool/possum sweater I've been eyeing for a while. And I got a long-sleeve merino shirt and swimming goggles (I've started going to the pool for laps and aqua jogging). Then we went for a walk to the gardens. I got more presents and managed to goof off until dinner time. 15 of us went out for Mexican...it's not even comparable to real Mexican, nor American Mexican, but it was good. So was the Patron...yum! I had an excellent time! Once I get the photos from Anne, I'll put a few up.

Friday night we hosted a farewell potluck for Johan. Many of my lab members came and I made a new recipe for fish pie...it was delicious! I dropped Johan off at the bus station yesterday. I hope he has a safe journey home! So now we are back to 3 for the next month until Anya from Russia arrives...hopefully mid-June, if she gets her visa sorted. She will be an intern in our lab for 3 months.

Well, it's Sunday...I should do some work and then hopefully go for a jog if the weather holds. I'm going to roast my first leg of lamb tonight...

Meeting the neighbor

Last night there was such a horrendous pounding on the door that I wasn't even sure it was the door. I open the door and there's this strange woman standing off to the side smoking a cigarette. Our exchange goes like this...
Me: "Hello?"
Psyco woman: "Can you keep your comments to yourself?"
Me: "Excuse me?"
Psyco: "Do you think I can't hear you? Keep your comments to yourself!"
Me: "What?!"
Psyco: "Do you speak English or do you only speak American?"
Me: (jaw hanging open)
Psyco: "Fuck off!"
Me: (slamming the door shut as Psyco walks away)
So I guess that was my neighbor, who I've never even seen, let alone met, in the year and a half that I've lived here. She obviously thought I was Deanna with the American comment. Why would we talk about some stranger we've never seen? We hear people knocking on her door every day all day...drug traffic, I'm sure. Even if she could hear us talking from inside our house, we haven't talked about her. Must be the voices in her head...lol! Regardless, it's a bit scary to have a stranger show up at your door and bitch you out for something you haven't a clue about. Deanna says she does this kind of thing about once a year. Hopefully, I can get away with not seeing the woman for another year and a half!