In an ideal world...

In an ideal world, I'd be able to go about everyday life without worrying what kinds of food I can and can't eat. For instance, not being able to eat dairy. But never fear, here's the positive. 

Despite me looking all weird in this photo, I managed to find some DELICIOUS soy yogurt here in little ol' London! The stuff back home is a bit rank, kinda makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up whilst you cringe as you swallow it. So I'm pretty stoked about finding this. And it was only £1.50 for 4 wee ones!

In an ideal world, I'd have lots of friends on London. Well I don't quite yet but I am working on that! I loved an afternoon out with Nat and Dave whom I met in Sydney a few years ago. They are from England and came and stayed with me for a bit in New Zealand so they were more than delighted to shout me lunch and take me sight seeing :D

In an ideal world, my family would be able to come over on this new leg of my life with me. However, I'm super excited for Mum and Dad's visit sometime next year. In the mean time, I just get to look at photos of my wonderful we babes who I'll miss watching growing up!

I nannied my cousins M on the left and C on the right for most of last year! K wasn't born yet!


In an ideal world, I would be handed a job on a silver platter with a big pay check stuck to the side of it. Sadly it may look like I won't get something full time until September so retail or bar work it is for a few months! I don't really mind, I'd quite like a flowing income, so however I go about getting that is fine! 

In an ideal world I'd be able to exercise and actually loose weight WITHOUT getting sore hips resulting in not being able to walk for the next day. Just watching what and how much I eat is all I can do at the moment to keep the rolls at bay.

I found this wonderful Dr Suess book on the shelf at my cousin's flat. It's called "Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?". It's one of those cool children's books that have a totally different meaning for adults when they read them! 

My favourite page goes like this...

Photographic Buzz - London Style!

I made a really cool 'joiner' photo of one of the school's corridors in my 7th form photography class which I used for my end of year portfolio. The teacher loved it, I loved it, and it helped me get an excellence! Here are some quick ones I've done over the last two days. Enjoy :)

p.s. the whole concept has been inspired from artist David Hockney. He does some pretty awesome stuff, check it out here http://www.hockneypictures.com/

Shakespeare's Globe

The Tate Modern

On the River Thames

Buckingham Palace

St Pauls Cathedral

Things I'm Loving London Style!

I've made it people! 

♥ The tube!! ♥

My first time on the tube was a success! Such a good way of transport - however I can understand how annoying it'd be when it breaks down or is super full in rush hour!

♥ This isn't the best photo but... ♥

Double decker red buses! It's so Londony! 

♥ My one and only ♥

This has been soooo helpful already and I'm only on my first day!! Thanks to my cousins who gave it to me for my birthday! 

♥ Bless duty free's little heart for reeling me in and making the big purchase ♥

It is worth every single pound I spent on it. Lovey lovey love it!

♥ Oh la la, limited edition! ♥

How rad is this?! Limited edition Oyster card! Whoop whoop!

♥ First dinner out! ♥

We went to a 'Caribbean Cuisine' restaurant tonight! So weird and yum! I got the curried goat, Dugald got the Oxtail and Ceirios got Orville's special chicken! And we got some fried plantain which was sooo delicious!

♥ And because I love this (and also forgot I had taken a photo of it before I left), a family from work made it for me before I left and I just found it and now feel sad! Love ya! ♥

My happy first day in London!!!

Firstly, at KL airport, they only had about 3 "normal" toilets (Normal as in the ones we're used to) and all the rest were squatty long droppy things! I was going to be brave and try one out but chickened out last minute! The thought of falling in is just as bad as getting sucked down the airplane toilet! 

I arrived safe and sound yesterday afternoon. The sun was shining and views from the plane were just as I expected - land going on for miles and a bajillion brown brick houses!

After not having slept for the last 12 hours I was pretty knackered! But the drive back from the airport was really cool! Ceirios pointed out some landmarks and before we knew it we were back at their flat! It's a typical English block of flats but it's super awes inside - it even has a cat called Keith who is lovely! 

Last night we met up with my other cousin Martin and we went to the pub. After having 2 gin and tonics, I was feeling pretty tired and drunk so one cider was the cut off point for me! The pub was really cool, about 10 mins walk away and I think we passed two others on our way there/back too! Went to bed about 11ish and slept straight through til 6.45 when I was wide awake!

After being at the toilet in the pub and at the flat, I can make a general assumption that a lot of toilets have pull flushes not button ones! I'll report back after today's adventures but it's kinda cool and old school. I like it.

At this present moment in time, it's 8.30am and I have a meeting with a teaching agency I've signed up with at 11.30am. This means that I have to get a tube there. This also means that I have to be super aware of what is going on so I don't miss my stop or get lost! This also means that it's a recipe for disaster! Luckily for me the agency is a short walk from the tube station so I shouldn't get too lost! I'm still debating whether or not so head on an adventure of some sort this afternoon after that happens! 

A while later at 1.30pm....

I made it! I am still alive and about to go on my next mission!

But first, this is important: The mail actually gets put through the hole in the door! It's not just for show! How amazing!!

A while after that at 4.05pm....

Sooooo I've been on lots of adventures!!

I caught the tube to Finchley Central for my meeting with the teaching agency (I already said that earlier!). There was some excitement in amongst the nerves of getting lost! But it's all done and dusted.

After the meeting I became a 'big girl' and went home, got my passport (which I forgot for the meeting...) then googled Lloyeds bank and found a branch in the Elephant and Castle mall, got my A to Z map book, looked it up and turns out it's like a 10 minute walk from the flat so I went there all by myself! I then continued on buy two adapter plugs from some cheap pricebuster sort of shop, I went to Tescos to buy shampoo and cereal and chewing gum, and then I came home and got lost on the way so I got out my A to Z map book again and found my way back home!! (guess what will feature on the 'things I'm loving' blog =)

And now I am at home! Welcome to my exciting first day in London! 

Bye xx

Instalment number 3 (revised edition)

I've walked around and have heaps of time to kill so here's a more thorough break down of my trip so far! 

I freaked out big time when I had to go to the toilet on the plane. I absolutely hate them! I just keep on imagining that I'm going to get sucked down that tincy tiny wee hole! Not that it could actually happen but I think it's the noise and the draft you get around your ankles when it happens! 

Sleeping on the plane has also been proven to be a hard task for me. I'd either slip my legs or arms over the edge of my seat and the air hostessess would just walk straight into them without even trying to dodge me! I don't sleep well in confined spaces, I'm one of those annoying people who sleep diagonally in a queen size bed, so to try and squeeze into a small seat is nuts!

And sitting in those seats for super long amounts of time has totally buggered my lower back and hips! But I only have 12 more hours of it and then I won't have to do it for a very long time!! I would say it has put me off flying but the flight over here so far went super quick!

I feel super blessed to have such loving friends and family who have sent me special messages so far or came to see me off at the airport!  It was a very tearful goodbye! I finally cracked at 630 when I was reading a book a good friend made for me with some memories in it, and then when I had to say goodbye to my gorgeous wee pooch!! But needless to say I did look like I was on some sort of drugs when I requested 2 big cups of water to rehydrate my self; the airhostess just looked at my bright red puffy eyes and gave it to me! I suppose though that they get that all the time! 

This airport is so big! I've tried to stay in one spot so I don't get too lost but I've already lost the spot I was trying to stay in! I need to find some place that sells some water bottles and potentially one of those really lame neck things that will actually be quite good! I woke up a few times with my head bent in some awkward direction and the muscles had cramped so it was a mish to try and lean back upright again! And they have this super awesome massive shop and all they sell is chocolate! I feel pretty bummed that I couldn't eat most of it so therefore no purchases were made. But if anyone does want to send me a piece of New Zealand, some Whittakers Dark Ghana and Peppermint would go down quite nicely ;)

Ciao amigos

Watch this space again!!

Instalment number 2 and 3

I'm having to combine these as I was delayed in Wellington then had to wait over an hour in the check in line at Auckland!! Trip to Auckland was miserable. I cried the whole entire way. It was kinda lucky I was sitting by myself! Met some lovely people who helped me fill out a form and told me where to go haha! Flight to Kuala Lumpur was extremely bumpy for the first like 3 hours! Tried to sleep a bit but felt real sick! Then had some weird 'lactose free food' that I'm pretty sure still had dairy in it! And they gave me chicken for breakfast haha! But I only watched one movie - Country Strong - pretty good!! Then I fell asleep when I started to watch Yogi Bear! I have 2 hours to kill at KL airport so I'm just going to freshen up and browse some shops! 

Reality still hasn't set in yet! My butt is still sore from sitting down for 11 hours so I need to keep walking! Love you lots people who read this!! (mum, Meghan and Nat!!) 

Will write an awesome awesome blogggggy when I don't feel all sweaty and rushed! 

Ohhh and the sunrise was absolutely beautiful! Sooooo amazing and spectacular. But I forgot to take a photo cos I was thinking to much about how beautiful it is!

xoxoxoxoxo

Instalment number 1

Until I can think of a better title, they are just going to be called instalments 1, 2, 3 and 4.

So after a very sleepless night and what seemed like a few hours filled with the craziest dreams ever, I am now starting to very slowly feel like I am leaving. I have had a few texts and phone calls from people this morning saying have a safe trip etc etc, but I am still waiting for reality to kick in. 

Back to the dreams for a sec, they were abnormally weird. I often have very vivid dreams which I will remember the next morning, and sometimes I find it difficult to figure out if it was a dream or reality. But last nights ones were of my Mum teaching my younger sister how to crochet, but really she was knitting. And then after that all I could see in my dream was the knitting needles going through the stiches, row after row after row, until I banged my hand on my face and woke up. And then I dreamed I peeed myself and freaked out when I woke up that I actually had, cos that'd be pretty shame! But I didn't, so all is good!! Haha imagine that, wetting the bed at 21. Yikes.

I am now off to sort out the things I really need and not just want to take. It's going to be tough, I am one of the worlds biggest hoarders! If I put everything that I had in my room into a shop, it'd be full and I'd probably be able to make lots of money! But for now I have cut down my 1.5kgs of jewellery to 1kg, and my dresses to 6 not 10 and my t-shirts to 1 not 5. The shoes are only at 3 (two pairs of heels and my running shoes) so I think I might chuck my jandals in for a laugh! 

The next instalment will be more interesting and emotional I think. 

Watch this space!

Am I Alive?

This whole day has been about tying up loose ends, getting the 'really important' things done and saying goodbye to loved ones. I probably didn't do myself any favours by popping into my old work to say goodbye to my little munchkins, who were all so delighted to see me it made my heart sink even more.

I will not regret leaving little old New Zealand, but at this precise moment in time, I feel like I am having an out of body experience. Life is just so surreal and will be for the next few days. Things will hit home pretty hard tomorrow once I've packed up the last of my things, but right now I feel so unattached from everything. Until reality hits, it's going to be weird! 

So for now it's back to packing away treasures, throwing out years of memories, and mentally preparing for my new, wonderful life that is going start in 29 hours! 

Being in New Zealand is....

Living where four seasons hit you in one day. You never know if they are clouds of doom or simply soft cotton wool-like pockets of joy. 

Where you can walk five minutes away from your house and you are blessed to enter 'another realm'. It's like a sanctuary where the comforts of home are so close, yet so far away at the same time. You can still hear the cars on the motor way, you can still see the top of buildings in the distance, but while you are there it's different. 

Where you can travel for 2 hours and leave the hustle and bustle of a big city and come a cross a wee place like Te Apiti Wind Farm. It is out of the way, and after living in New Zealand for 19 years I never knew it existed. It's so fantastic and weird at the same time. 

I love this country so much. It's perfect and I will definitely miss it when I leave. 2 more sleeps to go! Yikes!

x

Things I'm Loving!

♥ There are a few things I'm super loving at the moment ♥

First things first is that I graduated!! Yay me!! The non-academic of the family; the only one to complete 7th form; then mish it onto uni! Sooo stoked for myself! Despite people and friends saying they'd do my degree because it seemed too easy, it's actually not! It may not be as hard out as your one, and we are pretty wanted in our field of work, but it doesn't mean that we don't have to try! 

Without sounding like a creeper, I love people watching (ha, total freak!)! I just find people soo interesting! Just watching their facial expressions, hand gestures and body language really intrigues me. It totally confirms the fact that everyone is an individual. You guys should all try it. You've gotta be on the sly though, otherwise people will think you're a weirdo!! (I've had a few run ins in my time!)

I have a new obsession. For a while it was watching (and getting up to date with Australia) Home and Away - it is still a mild obsession! But I watched Skins the other week on tv, and have now nearly watched the whole of season 5 online! Oh the joys of being unemployed. I would like to blame my lack of packing and sorting out my life on that, but sadly I can't! Here is the link for those of you who may want to dabble in a little fun! 

http://tv.blinkx.com/show/skins/qUfkcLuVFAPyghsV

I absolutely love and adore my wee cousins sooo much!! I was a nanny to two of them one day a week last year for pretty much the whole year. It was so much fun and we always had awesome awesome times! M is now 5 and at school, and C is 2.5 years old and just the cutest wee pumpkin ever! K is 5 months old and such a sweet wee babe! I'm totally going to miss them when I leave! 

I'm loving my special plans with a special family this weekend, even if it does end up being us hanging out! (you know who you are!!) It feels so nice as a teacher to have made such an impact on some people's lives! 

Life is pretty busy at the moment with sorting out my room, which is a total pig sty! I'm thinking I might leave it a bit messy so Mum and Dad have something to remember me by! It can be a shrine! But I love my parents so much! They have both taken the day off on Tuesday to have a NIKKI day! It's my last day here!! And Dad even said to make a pile of all my stuff and he'll pack it for me! Boom! Stoked! Love!

That is basically all my immediate loves for now! Apart from two more I just thought of. 1. I love to centre my blogs in the middle. I think it takes away the formalness of them! Having them on the left just reminds me of essays or boring things that I don't wanna read (unless they are really cool!) and having them on the right doesn't make sense! 2. I love wine and have probably had too much of it this week but I've been celebrating so it's ok right? 

xx

Nature's Beauty

I love taking photos and I love raindrops and I love nature. These are my favourites so far.

I love the beauty that is captured by a single click of a lens. 

I love how beauty is portrayed differently through each and everyone's eyes.

I love the different interpretations photos can bring to people.

I love the abstract side of photography, again it's the beauty seen by one and captured in a single image.

I love nature's impact to change a whole entire image. 

I love how nature is so beautiful when captured 'in the moment'.

I love nature. I love beauty. I love photos.

The only editing done on these photos has been cropping.

Snapshots of my 21st! 14.5.11

The All Mighty Cake!

Thanks to Kaysey from Snowflake Cakes who made it for me!

Decorations!

Cupcakes!

The Guests!

More Guests!

And more guests!

Making my life

This week, there's one main thing that I'm loving; not the fact that I've left my job, but what I've left behind. 

After having my last day at work yesterday, the appreciation and love from not only the teachers but the parents and kids as well has totally made my life. I became so much more attached at this centre, and making the decision to leave was pretty hard for me. But it's time for me to go overseas and leaving my job came hand in hand with that. I have a long life to live but I wouldn't be surprised if I never find a centre as warm, caring, friendly and downright awesome as the one I've just left! 

After a lovely dinner at a very special family's house on Wednesday, reality started to set in with me leaving. I think I'm at the age where I appreciate a lot more than I would've a year or two ago, and the generosity and love from a few certain people is what I'm really going to miss! I got so many lovely messages from the teachers, children and parents that the positive has outweighed the negative. 

There will always be a piece of my heart at that centre, and a lifetime of memories. xxxx

I didn't take this picture, but how cool is it?!?!

My Mumma

This post is dedicated to my beautiful Mum. 

a repost from 2011, with new photos, for her birthday.

She's the most amazing person.

A good friend.

A beautiful woman whom I look up to.

She's always there.

My love for her is endless. 

Happy birthday you gorgeous lady. I'll be thinking of you from London! See you in 6 months! xxxxxx

Fun Youtube Videos

Every now and then, a good few hours is spent on youtube watching pointless videos. You know when you watch one and then click on another that's in the sidebar? Well here are a few of the most recent ones that I've watched - Enjoy!

 This is a lovely example of a pointless video made by some poor souls who think they're onto some extreme exercise fad.

One talented guy. It's mind blowing. So much time and effort to produce something this rad is awesome!

Another amazing video - This guy went to the same school as some friends! Claim to fame? Maybs..

Watch this space for more!

Perfection from a cocoon

These insects are simply amazing. Probably the most amazing insect ever. We have had a few cocoons at work over the last few months; these photos are of our latest edition which has just hatched. The Monarch's beauty is mind blowing, it's perfection all wrapped up in a butterfly.

Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches

Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.

Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees.

Many butterflies can taste with their feet to find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to lay eggs on to be their caterpillars' food or not.

Butterflies and insects have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies, called the exoskeleton. This protects the insect and keeps water inside their bodies so they don’t dry out.

When in the stage of migration, Monarch butterflies use drafts of warm air that helps them glide in the air. This process in turn helps them to conserve energy required for their long flights.

The Monarch butterflies are foul tasting and poisonous as well. This is due to the presence of certain cardenolide aglycones in the body, which is ingested when the butterfly feeds on milkweed

(The top left and bottom right have been edited. The other two show natural true beauty which is simply amazing and irresistible!)