my auckland

*love*

xmas eats with the ladies

this week we ventured out on the town to celebrate the holidays... and who would have thought that in a crazy little k road nook we would find the most amazing food! the hard luck cafe with its award-winning chef and funky vibe just might be the coolest thing to happen to auckland... ever.

  

thanks occupy

...for the reminder.

i should be working...

rained out on waiheke

reunited...and it feels so good

a beautiful day in the neighborhood

twenty-seven

I’m so excited for 27 – I’ve been waiting my whole life to be this age and I only feel positive about the direction my life is taking.  There definitely have been some challenges this year, but I made the decision to do good things and be surrounded by good people. It’s working. I’m happy. I’m proud to be me.

As I celebrate my 27^th birthday this week, I thought it would be a great opportunity to reflect on the lessons I have learned, am trying to learn, or need to remind myself on a regular basis.

1.             There comes a point in life when you get tired of chasing everyone and trying to fix everything, but it’s not giving up.  It’s realizing you don’t need certain people and things and the drama they bring.

2.             If a person wants to be a part of your life they will make an obvious effort to do so.  Don’t bother reserving a space in your heart for people who do not make an effort to stay.

3.             If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.

4.             Sometimes you just have to forget how you feel, remember what you deserve, and keep pushing forward.

5.             No matter where people are from in the world they all want the same things – validation, love, happiness, fulfillment and hopes for a better future. 

6.             The more things you own, the more your things own you.  Less truly gives you more freedom. 

7.             Finding a companion or a friend isn’t about trying to transform yourself into the perfect image of what you think they want.  It’s about being exactly who you are and then finding someone who appreciates that.

8.             Relationships must be chosen wisely.  It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company.  There’s no need to rush.  If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason.

9.             Making a thousand friends is not a miracle.  A miracle is making one friend who will stand by your side when thousands are against you.

10.         My body tells me exactly what I need and when I need it – if only I would pay attention!

11.         Making progress involves risk.  Period.  You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.

12.         I know how to give love. But I deserve to receive love. I deserve to receive love. I deserve to receive love.

13.         Everyone makes mistakes.  If you can’t forgive others, don’t expect others to forgive you.  To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.

14.    You can’t force someone to like you or love you – people see what they want to see and usually the things that they don’t like about you are the things they want to change in themselves.

15.         Someone else doesn’t have to be wrong for you to be right. 

16.         Nobody is perfect, and nobody deserves to be perfect.  Nobody has it easy.  You never know what people are going through.  Every one of us has issues.  So don’t belittle yourself or anyone else.  Everybody is fighting their own unique war.

17.         Time is valuable. It’s the best gift to give to others and the most important thing to give yourself.

18.         The happiest people I know keep an open mind to new ideas and ventures, use their leisure time as a means of mental development, and love good music, good books, good pictures, good company and good conversation.

19.         You can’t take things too personally.  Rarely do people do things because of you.  They do things because of them.

20.         True happiness comes from within.  Don’t make the mistake of waiting on someone or something to come along and make you happy.

21.         You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.

22.         Everyone measures success in different ways, whether it be money, career, material things, etc. I measure my success in the quality of my relationships.

23.         One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else.

24.         Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things. 

25.         Anyone can make a difference.  Making one person smile can change the world.  Maybe not the whole world, but their world.

26.         Everything is a life lesson.  Never forget to acknowledge the lesson, especially when things don’t go your way.  If you don’t get a job that you wanted or a relationship doesn’t work, it only means something better is out there waiting.  And the lesson you just learned is the first step towards it.

27.         I am capable of making the same mistakes of my past unless I make a conscious effort not to do so. 

here's to the crazy ones

{Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.} 

- Steve Jobs

warm moonlight over my horizon

this 7% slice of heaven represents the chunk of my life spent in new zealand... 

i thought this pictorial representation was fitting as i celebrate two years in this country today. 

{in case you're wondering, the other 93% was spent entirely in indiana...}

if i were to quantify my time in new zealand, here are some of the other numbers you would see:

5,840 hours of sleep

174 new friendships

43 wineries visited

13 meat pies consumed

2 jobs

1 sky dive

but who's counting, aye?

and now i leave you with this kiwi classic...

this is a promise with a catch

happy snaps from wynyard

old and new in welling-town

i've been to wellington before. in fact, i couldn't envision living anywhere else in new zealand before i actually arrived. ok, clearly that didn't work out. you could say i have a love/hate relationship with wellington and its extremes. but as with any bitter separation, give it a little time and you see things in a different light. it's been over a year... and wellington welcomed me back with open arms. :)

thank you wellington! i so enjoyed your quirky cafes/shops, barefoot pedestrians too cool for school, schmancy restaurants with good eats (broccoli bruschetta!!), hidden beer houses full of certified beer snobs like myself, and condensed city center making it easy to get everywhere. i may have fallen in love with you all over again.

new sneaks & new sounds!

finally invested in a suitable new pair of romping-through-town shoes

yesterday... and it makes me think... where in the world are these adorable new

chucks going to take me? europe, southeast asia, canada, or back home to the 

good ole us of a? maybe all of the above! shoes can stick with you for a loooong time!

first stop: brunch with the ladies

now for some great new beats from one of my favorite bands, beirut... zach condon

could quite possibly be the quirkiest/most talented musician of his generation. chill out

and groove to "santa fe" here: http://hypem.com/item/1ct3q/Beirut+-+Santa+Fe 

indulge in your favorite pasttime

for me, one of those things is experimenting in the kitchen. 

where's the fun in baking cupcakes unless you decorate them with roses on top?

i tested a martha stewart recipe for meringue buttercream icing

and four hours later...

yum!

Off to the markets!!!!

a lovely winter day spent at the matakana markets...

*good weather*

*good food*

*good music*

*good friends*