you ROC my world

Today I met Roc Travers- young, aspiring, talented and experienced stylist. He walks the walk and talks the talk. Been around the block in the Wellington's fashion world and the boy's only 19 years old. I really like him, especially the fact that he is eager to collaborate. Put us in a room together and we explode ideas like a shaken can of cola!

Here's Roc:

I miss my girls at home who are busy busting out dresses and busting out of dresses, but I am excited about my new little connection with this guy and the larger group he is involved with "Designer Direction"... eager to see where this takes me.

Today I strolled around Wellington looking for neat places, while doing so I stumbled across some fun steel faces:

I strolled along the boardwalk of Wellington, the sun shone upon us for the first time in a week. The winds were also on a vacation and it was quite a nice day...

I bought a warm little car, 2 door bubbley thing... I don't have any photos of this little kitten, but I am excited for the heat function and ready to get rid of the ol' subaru. Right now I am sitting in my bed, sending birthday wishes to my beautiful friend Caitlin... enjoying the technology of my computer and the degree to which it allows me to communicate with myself, my loved ones and the world. "HELLO OUT THERE".

fly away

Heart-shaped balloons are hard to find, and when you do find them they kind of look like round triangles. Pink and Silver balloons are just as special anyways,

Wellington, New Zealand

population is just under 200,000 but it feels like 2 million at times.

from what i've discovered central downtown is compossed of the intersection of two main streets... Courtenay Place & Cuba Street.

When I am looking for a bite to eat or something to do, I just go down there. People watching is incredibly fun in this city. Generally speaking the population is a bit more diverse and in-tune with European fashions, than the beautiful grungy kids of portland (myself included). The streets can be a bit of a catwalk, filled with a combination of really skinny girls in bohemian rags or overweight women standing on 4 inch heels and wobbling unattractively. Its not a bad thing, its actually really fun to watch. The best of the boys are incredibly cute... flock of seagulls haircuts are always flying by on guys with huge shoulder pads in jackets, skin tight pants and big boots. I've seen this one guy walk around in a suit that is something like David Byrnes famous over-sized jacket... its wonderfully bizarre. Sometimes I think I am an extra in an A-Ha music video. The good looking women are equally stunning and they all have amazing haircuts that make me jealous. I have been considering chopping off my locks and getting a bit of a euro-trash make over, but am currently sitting on the idea. Trying not to be overly impulsive. Excersizing restraint :)

Right now I am sitting in bed, watching the wind shake the trees out my window. Wellington is known as the Windy City... its much colder here than it was in Auckland/Waiheke area. Today I am going to go to thrift stores in search of a winter coat, big blanket for my bed and a much needed space heater.


I love my new jobs. Both are great. On the weekdays I work at the #1 restaurant/bar in the country- Matterhorn. I get to wear a military green shirt and jeans to work. And serve the best food and drinks I've ever been around. Imagine Portland City Grill meets The Farm meets Holocene meets Le Cordon Bleu... :) The best of the best. And on the weekends I work at a busy cafe/restaurant that I can walk to in 5 minutes. Its perfect for the time being.

Here are some new photos of my place and my space...
I miss portland, can someone figure out how to put some of it in a glass bottle and send it to me? Wellington is wonderfully great, but so is Portland and no city can ever replace the love I have for her, ever.

this is my favorite corner, complete with polaroids (tiger, shola and deanna) music, fashion magazines and lovely cross-stitch of woman and dog
my memorabilia: postcards, photos, and found objects

This is the amazing kitchen table. I usually have morning tea and sit out this window thinking about my friends and family, wondering "why aren't they here?"


The full moon over the bay from this weekend.

What: road trip with boyfriend and beast (Alibi)
Destination: Napier & East Coast
When: Last Weekend
Why: because when you've got the time and the wings... you've gotta fly. Additionally, this is my last hurrah for the unforeseeable future. I have now happily relocated to Wellington, am unemployed and have depleted my funds buying a new bed, bike and sewing machine. I've spent the last few days, bundled up in blankets and working on my resume. So far I've had an interview at the best restuarant/bar in Wellington, Matterhorn, but no job offers. I am actually trying to get out of the restaurant industry so this weekend I have devoted myself and efforts to working on a CV for the __________ industry. Hopefully I'll land a job that will challenge and teach me great new things while make me wildly succesfully! So in summary, "Its business time"!

Back to the point: The east coast of the North Island is the bomb!!! I am excited to take my family there in September. Napier is known as the art-deco city, which really means the awesome city with beautiful design. The people were friendly, the second-hand stores were abundant and affordable (not the case in wellington), the beaches were vast, there was great cheese and wine all over the region, and camping was FREE!!!
John and I camped 3 different nights. It wasn't easy to find the free campsites, most cities have mapped out motor camps that A. don't allow dogs and B. cost about $30/night, so we devised a plan to get to know the local hot spots. Once arriving to our new destination, we hit the local pub and chatted with the patrons until we had figured out where we could rest for the night and wake up and surf in the morning. We stayed on two beaches and in one parking lot.
The weather was ideal, we played barefooted under the stars and around the campfire while drinking whiskey and shooting photos. The following are some moments from the trip...

Limonada

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS...

my silly car has broke down three times, been towed once and had this glorious flat tire all since leaving Waiheke Island... I guess it wasn't ready to leave the island.

MAKE LEMONADE...

I love MY NEW BIKE!!! I got it for only $30 (much less than half a tank of gas) from the Green Bike Trust at Massey University!!!

Hello Blogspot,

I hope all is well in the lives of those who read this. I've been having an interesting time since my vacation with Marc ended. My time off has been enjoyable, but left me penniless. As Poison says "every rose has its thorn". There are always surprises when traveling, some great, others kind of annoying. My car has been constantly breaking down on me. I keep fixing it, thinking that its good to go, and it keeps dying. Last week I drove to Martinborough to give grape harvesting a try, and more importantly make a little extra cash, unfoutunately the trip left me more in the hole than I was before I even left. My car stopped starting, I couldn't find a backpackers to sleep at, and I had a hard time finding a decent job. After 3 days of harvesting it started to pour, I figured that was a good sign to go back home. John found me some work catering, and my tax refund just got deposited in my bank account so I am back on my feet.

I am ready to start working again. Tomorrow I am headed to Wellington to look at a couple of flats and drop off the ol' resume around town in search of a job. I am going to try to get out of the service industry... maybe even use my degree for a change. Wish me luck, as I will need it!

Coming "home" was a good idea. I just had a terrific easter weekend... whipped up some great lemon bars, watched my fav movie "charlie and the chocolate factory", and been crafting it up at John's place. The catering gig was also great, the bride gave us all a few bottles of wine to take home so I am stocked for the next few weeks and they paid me cash under the table!!!

I am thinking about changing the name of the blog, it was supposed to highlight brilliant things that happen in everyday life. I wanted to interview, document, and share beautiful things with people, but its turned into more of a travel blog... I still love the original idea better, but I find I haven't really been staying in line with the concept... well in the meantime, here are some photos for pure and sweet fun!

Happy loooong Easter weekend, from me to you!!!!



My new glasses stand a.k.a. John's anatomy study tool

Marc Blochs-a-lot & C Dougie

Dear Blogspot,

I just had a wonderful week with my friend Marc. He came ALL the way from Eugene, Oregon to go on an adventure with me!! I might be tooting my own horn a bit, he probably came out for the vacation and me being here was a bonus, but regardless I was still delighted.



Marc and I only had 7 days together, but they were action packed! We started off our vacation with a surfing adventure in Raglan (on the west coast of north island). It was amazing!!! Marc and I are great beginner surfers, we both got up and rode the baby waves all the way to the sand! I haven't had that much fun in the ocean since I was a child playing in California with my uncle. Our car broke down, but we were in luck and happened to stop at the nicest mechanics and they jimmy-rigged the car so that it should be running for the "next 6 months", I am keeping my fingers crossed.



War wounds photo: Colleen has minor injury due to long board whacking me in the face, Dude in background suffering from much more severe surfing injury


we saw these fantastic mushrooms all around the fishing hole...

Then we headed to Lake Taupo for our fly-fishing excursion. Marc is an expert fisherman, he probably would have caught far more trout had I not been fishing right next to him and scaring all the fish away with my sloppy cast and loud mouth. We had a really good time, our feet provided a delicious meal for about 200 sandflies. We got bit so badly we both couldn't sleep at night and had to go the the doctor to get antihistamines.

Don't worry, we didn't kill this beauty!!


Our final fantastic destanation was hiking Mt. Tongariro. John joined us for this beautiful 12 mile hike. It was stunning. The first half of the hike is up the volcano, the next part is walking along the mountain ridge... through emerald-thermal lakes and dried up lava flows, and the last part is all downhill, through fields of wild flowers and along a forest stream. We were all proud of ourselves, we happily made it over the "Tongariro Crossing" and none of us felt too beat up afterwards.




woop woop... almost back to the car!!!

Wine Season is underway...

I am so excited I got a chance to stomp on grapes with my naked feet. Its more invigorating that I had ever fathomed. Imagine being surrounded by thousands of juicy, squishy, slimy beads that envelope your feet much like the sand might do at an ocean, but far more quickly. With each step the grapes suck you in and surround your legs. Its actually quite difficult to move around, although its obvious the we were achieving our goal of "human press", as underneath us a flood of grape juice was streaming out... all cloudy and delicious!

This opportunity was made extra special as it was performed soley by females! The winemaker, Summer Bell, had decided she only wanted the Chardonnay to be handled by women to give it a naturally sweeter taste. I am now even more curious about wine making. I find myself very much attracted to the idea of working close to plants to produce something so delicious, difficult and extremely fragile.

All in all today was really special and a wonderful way for me to wrap up my experiences on the island. "oh
waiheke"... one of my favorite phrases to whisper as I drive along the streets of this island that has no stop lights... "wonderful waiheke"