Finally I've blogged!! ~Christmas In New Zealand!!~

Going back to Wellington for Christmas was probably one of the best holidays of my life.

I was well overdue for some R&R and what better way to spend ridiculous amounts of pounds and three glorious weeks with my family and best friends!!

Boxing Day with the fam - win!

The weather was absolutely perfect!

Some of my favourite and best moments are....

Spending time with one of my all time favourite humans

And one of my favourite non-humans

Having icecreams overlooking this view before going to see the third Hobbit film at The Roxy cinema.

Getting to hang out with this scallywag!

These two were alright..

Catching up with family on Boxing Day

Making this to-die-for dairy free, gluten free, chocolate cake.. twice.. and eating one that Markie had made!! Recipe can be found here over at the glorious Meghan's blog

Having afternoon gin and tonics with my Mumma. Feet in pool, gin in hand - what more could a girl need?

Taking this pooch for walks down to the Hutt River near my parent's place. I feel like I took complete advantage of the outdoors!!

Spending my second to last night and last day with Meg and Mark and the boys was one of my most special and favourite times. And having 'panini coladas' on New Years eve!!

Saying goodbye to these two at the airport wasn't easy.

It was very much a last minute trip planned - flights were booked on a Friday and I was outta London on the Sunday. My parents were a bit shocked to say the least, but it was still hands down one of my best holidays.

Until next time New Zealand!!

The Grateful Project - Life Through The Lens

So sometimes life throws you lemons, yeah? And you can't make lemonade out of them, just yet. So while I wait for the answers that I need, which are completely unbeknownst to me at this point in time, you get to have some of my 'more arty shots' from the month. Lucky you guys!

This pooch, she's the best.

Crocheting in the sun!

Under Petone wharf 

Petone Wharf

 Spring has sprung! Plum tree blossoms

Walking along The Thames, engulfed in the lowering light

My new favourite photo!

Linking up with Simone

Things I'm Loving - NZ Favourites

Well, I have officially ended my five and a half week holiday in New Zealand and am back in sunny London! Time went super quick and I'm a bit sad that I'm back to work on Monday!

However, I have the memories to last a lifetime of such an amazing trip! I met some pretty awesome people, caught up with my pretty awesome friends and family and had a pretty awesome time.

So, without further ado, here are my top favourite moments!

Going to visit my Mum's friend on her farm in Featherston

Getting to meet two amazing ladies. Cat and Simone, who's blogs I've been following since forever!

Spending my days with these two gorgeous animals!

Spending so much time with this amazing lady and her family. They really are choice! sorry Markie, there were no photos of us - but you are still choice!

Being so close to nature's own special beauty

Hanging out with these hooligans aka Ma and Pa

And these other hooligans, who are not my parents..

It was such a fun holiday, there's way to memories to have a blog post full of 'just the favourites' so that's all my jet lagged brain can muster up! Check out my previous posts for more fun adventures in New Zealand!

Linking up with my choice babe!

The dog made me crack, that was fine....

Leaving home again, was just like the first time. When I left my family home nearly two and a half years ago, I didn’t let myself cry about leaving until the actual day. Then I lasted until we had to leave our house and my Mum told me to say goodbye to our dog Bella. I thought nothing of it, bent down to give her a massive patty cuddle thing (you can’t really hug our dog, she likes to jump!) and the water works started. For someone who’s never had a dog, I’ve heard from those horse’s mouths that “why would you cry over a dog, they’re just a pet”. Well they aren’t just a pet, they’re family.

So this time leaving I thought things would be a bit different. Low and behold, they weren’t. Same again, the whole huggy patty scenario, the crying but trying to hide it from Mum and Rosie so they both wouldn’t start either, as we had to go and see my Grandad and then go to the airport, so it was a long way to start crying and not stop! That was fine, Dad shipped me into the car pretty quick, we drove to my Grandad’s and then that was all fine. Until we were about to leave.

My Grandad is such a darling, but he’s getting old. I don’t want to think that this could quite possibly be the last time I see him ever, but it could be. I don’t know when I’ll next be back in Wellington, so I had to ‘pretend I needed to fart’ so I could scoot out the door and not cry in front of everyone again. That was fine, we drove to the airport, had lunch and my friend Tara came and met us there. I went for a wee, let out ‘eye wees’ ha! And then that was fine. We were messing around by the gate, I was umming and ahhing about what time I should go through as I was cutting time slightly fine (before the plane decided to be delayed) and that was fine. Then good old Papa Bear gave me a hug and BOOM! That wasn’t fine! Cry cry cry cry cry, cried through the security checks, cried sitting down waiting for the plane, and some lovely lady came over. She was a promotional lady for something, I had stopped listening at that point, and then we had a wee chat about where I was from and lived and she gave me a DVD about New Zealand that has “some really rad and awesome photos” on it.

We will wait and see, I hope it’s good. Cos I love New Zealand, and free stuff! 

Loving and Gratefulness all summed up in a special friendship

Firstly, I'm loving this song. You should probably listen to it. It's Riptide by Vance Joy. Make sure the speakers are up loud.

Secondly, I'm loving and beyond grateful for some special people I've spent this past Sunday with. Meg is one of my favourite people, and she comes with a pretty favourite family too. There's so much love in their four walls and they're more than happy to share some of it with me.

We went to the waterfront and rode the The Enormous Crocodile Bikes in the glorious sunshine. Yeah, that's right, sunshine during winter and not a breath of wind. It was something I've never done before and it was just so much freaking fun. 

Oriental Parade in it's prime.

Mark was really good at steering, I however, was not that good at pedaling! 

Being able to spend such a lovely day with such lovely people was perfect. There were loads of laughs, like so many laughs, and just so much fun. 

Being able to hang out with friends who you haven't seen for nearly two and a half years and still get along like a pair of houses on fire, that's what makes it special. There's no awkward silences, or forced conversations. We can be ourselves, are ourselves, and enjoy each others selves. So it's perfect. 

And speaking of perfect, so are these two monkeys! My craziness might have rubbed off on them a little bit, but that's just one of the ingredients of being choice! 

I'm so thankful and grateful for the friendship that Meg and I have got. We just clicked and will keep on clicking for a bajillion more years. I hope! 

She's one of the best and definitely a keeper! And she comes with 3 pretty choice minions too! 

Linking up with Meg and Simoney (who's also supes choice!)

Home Sweet Home - Let Me Introduce You To...

My beloved Blue Rabbit.

This raggy old thing that's lost half his fur? Yeah, he's still my favourite. He's still got his smile too, despite no nose - it just gives him some swag. 

He's been through some tough times; every wash in the washing machine when he was 'older' was like time standing still, to see if he'd make it out still intact; and I can't forget the time my sister threw him in the fire place - luckily it wasn't on, but still! 

You see, I'm one of those people who fiddle with things, whether it be my hair, the seam of something, tapping a pen, the end of my scarf - the list goes on - and poor Blue Rabbit bore the brunt of that. So my Nanna made him his jacket to cover up how raggy he is 'keep him warm' and Mum made him some gloves - which very quickly got fiddled through... 

Along with his ears and tail!

So folks, that's my Blue Rabbit aka Rabby. 

Grateful for gratefulness

This past week I'm grateful for...

Dogs who have the best welcome homes

Friends who are there and get you

Meeting other bloggers IRL!

Clearing/sorting out my stuff/life and finding so many special memories like...

... This photo of my Nanna and I. I was 10 days old and this was my first ever smile to one of the most special people in my life. 

Linking up with Simoney

Home Sweet Home - The Animals

Whilst everyone is working and I'm at home, I've got two furry beings keeping me company!

Bella, the pooch, has got so much love and follows me around everywhere. Mischief, the ginge, doesn't like people too much, but will still follow me and Bella around! It's like having two little kiddies to keep me company during the day!

Bella lets me dress her up...

She might not quite be a lap dog, but she does the trick

This is what they do, they'll wait for me to go out and play and as soon as I come back in, they're right there chasing after me!

She needs no encouragement to squash a human

Here's looking at you, kid.