Sunshine and sand

How's this for a cute wee sandbox?
My brain is full of baby stuff at the moment. Hence my very sporadic postings. I have to admit, I have been a bit of a pinterest fiend lately. Seems a lot easier to just oogle pictures on pinterest rather write anything on a blog post, especially when you are busy being a personal assistant to a three month old. Especially a three month old with a cold, and (worse) a husband with a cold. (Aka the dreaded Man-flu).
This is a pretty rad little sandbox. However the big one down by the beach will be a lot easier to deal with! We booked our tickets home to NZ today - only 8 weeks to go!! I can't believe how fast two years has gone. So in eight weeks time there will be a fair bit more sunshine and sand than we've seen lately...

image: cannot remember..

What I've been up to

Here's some of the stuff I've been making lately, as part of this nesting business.

A jacket for the little guy...

Hat..

Bibs... 

Some friends picked up this rocking/nursing chair from the recycling part of the dump and gave it to us...with a decent clean up and a bit of re-upholstery (it was a hideous beige colour in it's previous life), we've got a pretty good nursing chair.

Here's a layer cake I made recently for a baby shower...it looked like this on the outside..

but when you cut into it there are six layers of colour. Cool huh. 

And this is my fave part - what we have nicknamed the 'Cute Zone'.

Includes the nappy-changing system Carl finds hilarious, the NZ native bird toys, and of course a bit of Babar... 



Back.

Ahhhh. I'm now back home, or back from home. Had a most awesome 3 week holiday, driving from Seattle to San Fran and then 10 days back in NZ catching up with family. I will put some photos up soon, but I can say I have eaten some very good food over the past three weeks as well as having a lot of nice memories to smile about.
Anyway, horrible as I thought coming back to Boston would be after leaving family and World's Coolest Dog (Oslo) in NZ, it's actually been pretty cool. Helped by the fact that there is a brand new Whole Foods opened up just down the road. Woop woop, say hello to a create-your-own trail mix bar, a taco/burrito stand, an outdoor patio to enjoy your just-bought hot pizzas/coffees/soup and a ginormous cheese section. Had a docs appointement for the little backpacker as well yesterday, which all went very well. And then, I read that Missoni has teamed up with Target, so I have already warned Carl will mean that there will be some (budget-friendly) design items arriving in our house very soon.
And the sun is shining! So all up - it's nice to be back in the US.

Beyond excited

I am so ridiculously excited about about going home for a visit in August, feeling the NZ sand between my toes, cuddling the bejeezus out of Oslo, the furry four legged friend, and seeing the fam. Bring it on!

Image: Beautiful Tairua.

Missing the coolest dog in the world...

Not a day goes by that I don't miss my hairy little BFF Oslo. The number of times Carl and I talk about him is ridiculous. 

I wonder constantly if we have done the right thing being away from him in the US. I am hoping that it all pays off and when we get back to NZ he has a happy chilled out family to hang out with instead of the horrible stress bunnies we used to be.

But it still hurts not to have my crazy little mate around for company.

Here's two pics of him at his happiest that make me smile - running with a ball on the beach, and lazing in the backyard under the shade of the peach tree.

I miss you mate xxx.

So true.

Image: via Escapade

Wedding details

Here's some snaps of some of the wedding details at my sister's wedding, held on Riversdale Beach.
Argh, it was soooooo beautiful! - although of course, nothing outshone her, and the smile on her groom's face as they got hitched. Happy, happy times.

The menu board

The lolly table aka 'Sweet Central'

Photo wall with wedding or special photos of all the guests

Christchurch earthquake

My heart just goes out to everyone in Christchurch. I wish for peace and a sense of normality for you as soon as possible. xxx

Image: Can't remember sorry.

Happy Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, it's nice to think about and appreciate the little world you have created for the two of you. Being a fan of forts from waaaay back, I'm digging this 'love fort' from Justina Blakeney on Design Sponge.

But instead of stringing our own crappy sheets to the roof of our apartment, we're celebrating by having something we both love - fish & chips! Fish & chips feature hugely in our little world - so we're baking a whole fish with some rosemary potatoes and salad. Yum. Happy Valentine's Day babe ♥.

Image: Design Sponge

Back!

Back from one month of the one of my most fave holidays ever. Carl had a month off school, so we went to NYC for a pre-Christmas jaunt for a few days, then back to Boston for Christmas in the snow. Then down to Florida for some fishing, Miami-beaching and Disney World fun in the sun. To top it off we then went back to NZ to sort out some NZ admin, and I snuck in an extra week to head to Welly to hang out with my family, who are all back in Wellington for the first time in years, and stalk my dog.
What a magic start to the year. It feels like 2011 is going to be a goodie.

 Florida Keys

 Miami Beach Art Deco Building

 Oslo the Wonder Dog in Welly

 Macys, NYC

Congrats Kate & William!

I'm such a royals geek. I can't wait for the cheesy memorabilia.
I mean what's not to love?!

Sunday inspiration

More halloween snaps

Fall/Halloween snaps

The colours around the place and the halloween decs are awesome at the moment. There's a house down the road I keep meaning to take a photo of, it's this big posh house, and they have like 3, 6-feet giant spiders hanging off their house. I'm loving it.

Missing lemons

Isn't it kind of weird how you miss the little things about home? Like it goes without saying that I miss my hairy four-legged baby (Oslo) and family and friends. But I also really miss shooting out to the backyard in my slippers, to grab a couple of lemons off the tree to have with the fish Carl had just caught, or to put in a hot lemon drink. And of course, because I'd be heading outside, Oslo would be right on my tail, expecting that I was outside to throw a stick for him, or go for a walk to the beach. And he'd gallop around me, all excited for the potential outdoor adventure that was about to take place. So I would take my time grabbing the lemons, have a quick nosey at the goings-on over the back fence; maybe the cows would be out in the paddock, or there would be some clouds looming around and settling in over the hills. Then I'd pick up a stick for the four-legged excited thing and jump around with him for a bit, then stroll back inside with the just-picked lemons for our fish or cuppa.

It's just not the same paying 89cents each for NZ meyer lemons at Wholefoods.





Mmmmm

Just come back from Cambridge, after having a BIG pile of Mexican for lunch; corn chips and empanadas and tacos. So good. I think I've got the cheesy salsa sweats. This chair looks pretty comfy to lay back in with my stretchy pants on.

image: from crate & barrel. Love that place.

Getting excited!

Getting v. excited about coming back to NZ in March for your wedding Nix!!!!....xxxxxxx



image: From here

San Fran snaps

A couple of cheesy tourist snaps to prove we were actually there...

After biking over the SF bridge (strangely I looked a LOT cooler in my head)

Having a pit stop at Sam's Chowder Mobile.

I think I'm gonna like Boston...

So I L.O.V.E. nachos. Have forever and a day been enchanted by the nacho, cheese, sour cream, salsa, jalapeno concoction.
And since it is now official that we are off to Boston in August (wahoo!), I was doing a bit of research on the place.
Perusing the http://www.boston.com/ website, I find this little article: 'Unique Nachos Around Boston'. It goes on to say ... "Some Boston area restaurants and chefs are elevating this snack and game day favorite to the next level, layering chips with lobster, goat cheese, chocolate mousse, even foie gras (!)."

Lobster??!!!! Happy, happy days. If I come back looking like a house, that'll be the reason.

Image: the lobster version - here

Gorgeousness

Gawd, I've been so slack (read = ridiculously distracted).

Love this pic. Reminds me of Tairua where the lemons are dripping off the trees and the mandarins, lemonades, feijoas are all nearly ripe.

Awwww, I have a serious case of 'I wanna go back and live in Tairua'-itis after a couple of awesome weekends down there. Eating fresh fish, preserved-figs-and-lemon-honey making, kayaking, long walks, wasting days at the beach, cocktail hours, late-night fishing adventures, good friends, happy times.

From: Today I Love