Halloween at work!

Nurse from Kill Bill, Little Red Riding Hood, and a Witch

todd and jess

Jack Skelington

to print

Today my first big job went to print. First big job ever that I am really proud of. I have had jobs go to print for UAB and for Cummings but I wasn't as in love with the work as it had been bent, warped, and generally dictated by other people. The project today is for Lexus's 20th anniversary dinner at a private location. It is a menu/placeholder each of which must be hand assembled and embossed. We'll see how thrilled I am after tomorrows work on such. But for today they are on their way to the printer and that is enough for me :D

Labour Day

Today is New Zealand Labour day and like all holidays in NZ we will either get time-and-a-half plus a day off later OR the day off with pay. Loudhailer is doing the later which is fantastic. The week was a long one and by friday we were all dragging our feet so an extra day off is just what the doctor ordered. The weather here has been cold and wet with heavy wind but this weekend has been full of warmth and sun making it all the more sweeter.
The girls and I went out and played some mini-putt, pool, air hocky, and bowling all of which I was horrible at. Vastly irritating. ah well...

Mini Show!

Loudhailer

my desk, Todd brought me a CA name plate for it :D

my desk which is now much more cluttered

Kitchen compete with Dr.Pepper and Chocolate banana nut bread muffins

lobby

lobby/logo wall

A few of my favorite things :

So i love musicals and as i was listening to some soundtracks "A few of my favorite things" came thru the speakers and I like very little of what's on that song. I understand that my list doesn't make as good a song but it's much better for me. So without further a-du

A few of my favorite things :

Chocolate Strawberries

whiskers on kittens (ok some things)

getting and writing letters

riding on the back of a motorcycle/4 wheeler, holding on to someone special

laughing 

lunch with a friend

back porch swings

boats/being on the water

slow dancing

splashing in puddles

margaritas 

junk store shopping

Lemonade on a hot day

thunderstorms

slow jazz songs

showers/hot water

Tasmanian Sea

Tea with Loudhailer

So this morning I was invited to go out for tea and coffee with the Loudhailer crew. I hadn't really had an opprotunity to meet the other girl that works there so it was nice to see her and talk to her a bit. There are only 3 people at Loudhailer; Todd (owner and designer) Rachel (who works with accounts and clients) and Jessica (who does limited design and mac operations). Super stoked, I went in and I could see my desk already set up ready to rock and roll :D
We went out for tea at Cafe Cuba, ended up staying for breakfast and then going back to the office to discuss my contract. The whole process took about 3 hours since we kept getting side tracked talking about all sorts of random things. It was a blast, sooo excited to start!

Mall in Palmy

The Mall here in Palmy is kinda small compared to the galleria however since it is full of stores I literally have never seen before it's kinda nice. Also, the majority of the stores are for women ages 19-30 so I've got a broad selection of clothing to choose from. It's an added bonus I was not anticipating. I am still wearing some clothes from high school and am beyond ready to graduate from my frumpy blue jean and t-shirt stage to something a little bit more feminine on some occasions. I'll always have ripped jeans and chuck t's but sometimes it's nice to dress nice. So since some of you girls have been asking I've posted pics of what's going on in NZ fasion. Ohh also, interesting fact, it is illegal in the mall for the people at the kiosks to hunt you down to try their products. That doesn't stop the ones on commission but at least it's not as bad as the galleria. Just a fun fact.

For the larger and curvier ladies they have all sizes

Cute business wear and the black dress on the left is stunning

I'm going to buy the dress on the right with my first pay check because it is awesome

thought of you sadie with these crazy patterned tights

a store that sells nothing but different types of chocolate, including dipping for you to eat there

EB Games is conveniently located in the food court next to McDonalds and some Sushi. win win sophia

When I miss my friends

I miss my Birmingham gang and whenever that happens I can always plug into our music so I thought I would share.
http://www.myspace.com/mattcarrollmusic

Post Shop

Today I was going thru a brochure on Prohibited Items to mail in New Zealand and found the following very amusing. Not because they are prohibited but because there is a really good chance some one has tried to mail this and I keep getting hilarious images in my head as it goes wrong on the unfortunate post man.
-Air Bag (car)
-Animals (except correctly packaged bees, leeches, silkworms and harmless insects)
-Christmas Crackers {why specifically Christmas crackers?!?}
-Human Remains (including ashes)
-Paint (oil based) {so acrylic and tempera are fine?}
-Poisons (eg cyanide, lead, arsenic)
-Theatrical Flares
-Toys (containing batteries) {You are not cleared for this sector}

New World Grocery & Library

Todays journey started earlier than this past weeks as I am working to acclimate myself back to the work schedule of early mornings and early nights. I'm finding it difficult as it is still early spring so the early morning cold isn't nearly as inviting as my warm bed especially when I really don't have to be anywhere in particular. My newest motivation to get up and out of bed is actually to work out since I need to get into proper shape anyhow and it warms me up even better than a shower. Got to get past the whole 'round' being a shape thing. Riding the bus early in the morning around 9 is actually quite nice since all the work rush is gone and the moms don't have their kids really ready yet to go out for the day yet. That and the teenagers aren't out either like they are in the afternoon although they really aren't as big as a problem as the moms. There were some teen moms and they are a bit loud even over ear buds so I think "what would Spock do" and smile to myself all the way home.

'New World Grocery' is much better than the 'Countdown' and 'FourSquare' stores I have been going to. They seem to have a larger selection of stuff I can eat plus the prices are lower. I thought I had kinda gotten over being a picky eater however after moving to New Zealand I have decided instead that after 16 I was pretty much able to get whatever food I wanted and so I've been eating a rather limited (in retrospect) food selection for the past few years. And so the result of that has been me going to a new grocery store every few days, staring hungrily at the food on the shelves chewing on my lip looking forlorn and then leaving with apples and bananas. The discovery of NWG has brought hope for my search today so hopefully I can find some things I like. They even have Dr. Pepper. The only thing they didn't have that I was keen to get was Lemon juice however when I got home frustrated I was washing dishes and stared at this obviously yellow Lemon tree we have in the backyard.*Face palm

The Library here is also quite nice. The only downside is you have to pay to rent non educational DVD's, CDs, and Xbox games but that's kind of ok. They do have a pretty large selection and so I walked out today with a couple cooking books to try to expand my knowledge. We'll see how well that goes.

Send me your love!

PO BOX 12210, Inner City, Palmerston North, 4444

translations

lilies grow wild

Apartment-Flat

Cooler- Chilly bins

Roommates-Flatmates (duh)

Barbie-BBQ

New Zealander-Kiwi

Bugger - damn!

Caravan - mobile home that you tow behind your car

Chips - deep fried slices of potato but much thicker than a french fry

Duvet - quilt, doona

Fizzy drink - soda pop

Flannel - wash cloth, face cloth

Flog - steal, rob

Footie - rugby union or league, as in "going to watch the footie"  

Going bush - take a break, become reclusive

yes Greasies - fish and chips

Gumboots or gummies - rubber boots

Jandal - thongs, sandals,flip-flops

Ta - thanks

Togs - swimsuit, bathing costume

Torch - flashlight Tramping - hiking

Whoops

Daydreaming + public bus = 40 extra min. ride

New People

Yesterday I spent some time hanging out with Beck and her friend John. Beck is my roommate who is a nursing student at the Uni who I really haven't seen much of or really talked to. She seems a lot like me in that when she gets home she really doesn't want to deal with anyone so I give her the living room to herself during the week and if I go in for food she retreats to her bedroom to let me have it. It works for us. John is an Egyptian living here in NZ and is in his final years at Veterinary school. I think he's getting a teaching degree of sorts because his goal isn't to practice but to teach. He seems to be a huge nerd as we got into the typical mac vs. windows argument and a discussion on the processors available on cell phones and how the   industry is about to explode with open processors since everyone but windows uses some ATF? processor.  It was much more fun to discuss firefly, farscape, and star trek but that's a personal preference. Also got into discussing curses on ancient tombs which was fun. The 3 of us went for a walk along a local river and to a duck park near Massey Uni. where they thought it was a good idea to hand feed swans and so when they began hissing I was standing about 5 feet behind them saying 'see'. Baby ducks were cute and they don't hiss. just sayin'.