Twenty Twelve!

Ok so this is the first chance I've had to write a blog entry this year.
That sounds bad, but you have to remember its only the 4th of January!!
I've spent the last few days with some friends who have been road tripping around New Zealand.
I went to Cape Reinga for the first time in at least 7 years or something. It looks really cool there now!
Very different to how I remember it anyway...
Yesterday we also went to Waitangi, and I'd never been there before so I found it really interesting. Its funny how I've been living in the Far North for over fifteen years yet I'd never been to see Waitangi yet.
I guess you'd expect us to go there on school trips but we never did.
Ah well, I've seen it now so it's all good!!!

One thing I actually wanted to get a written account of was my Sunday Dress Rule that I managed to stick to for the whole of 2011.
What it involved was wearing a dress or skirt to every Sunday church service I attended. Rain, shine or snow, I'd have to wear a dress. Of course I didn't HAVE to wear a dress, but it was just a challenge to myself.
This whole thing came about because my Mum had told me a few years earlier that she only ever wears dresses or skirts to church (which is a lie, because when she was in Dunedin she wore pants, hahaha) But anyway, I remembered that and when 2011 rolled around I thought I may as well try to wear a dress every Sunday.
There were of course the handful of Sundays that I didn't make it to church, and those days I didn't wear a dress. But I promise you, every church service I was at- I was wearing a dress or skirt.
It got harder to abide by this rule the colder Dunedin got last year, but I managed to stick with it.
I think the hardest time was when we had an insane amount of snowfall on a Sunday, but I just chucked some tights on underneath my dress, put on my wool coat and I was good to go!

I actually found the "Have-to-wear-a-dress-on-Sunday" to be a really good way of challenging myself to dress outside of my comfort zone. It forced me to wear a dress at least once a week, and once you get into the hang of wearing a dress once a week, its easier to wear them more often!!! These days I wear dresses more often than not, which is a drastic change to how I've dressed in previous years. I wore jeans pretty much everyday. No experimentation. Where's the fun in that?!?!

Anyway. This blog entry is mainly about me wearing dresses..... But girls, seriously, wearing dresses is so much fun! I would recommend it to everyone! If I can wear a dress almost every Sunday of 2011, I'm sure you can too! :-P

ps- Less than 6 weeks left of my time in Kaitaia! Summer is halfway over.

Is Christmas Over Already?

Hello Blog.

I was going to write this on actual Christmas but I'll be honest, I was feeling too lazy.
We had our annual family braai in Kerikeri again, it was meant to be in Whangarei this year but because of unforeseeable circumstances it was changed to Kerikeri. I think it was better that way.
Firstly: it meant only one hour of travel for those from Kaitaia, as opposed to two hours. And the Whangarei-ans only had to travel an hour as well! WIN WIN WIN!

This year has actually been the most un-Christmas-iest Christmas I have ever experienced!
I think this is definitely due to the fact I didn't make it back home until a few days before Christmas.
Usually I start decorating the house in early December. I put up Christmas lights all around the lounge, chuck a few pieces of tinsel here and there, and of course put up our tree and over-decorate it with heaps and heaps of random sparkly things and Christmasy objects.

But not this year!!!!!
Because it was only a few days before Christmas I really couldn't be bothered decorating the house. It takes a whole afternoon to put it all up, and then another whole afternoon to take it all down.
Can't. Be. Bothered.

I might do it next year though, seeing as I had a break from it this year.

To be honest though, the whole "decorate your house all Christmasy" seems a little strange to me now.
None of the decorations really have anything to do with the birth of Jesus.
That is what Christmas is about, after all.
For that reason I'm kinda glad we had a very minimalist Christmas. I only got a few chocolates as presents, but you know what? I am happy about that.
I don't need more stuff.
At least chocolates can get eaten in a matter of days (or hours, depending on who you are). I cannot even tell you the amount of times I've gotten things for Christmas that I've never been able to use and it just ends up cluttering up my life.

I think I'd just prefer not to give or receive any presents at Christmas time, unless its food. Food is always good. Hahaha.

Anyway though, the braai in Kerikeri was fun. And very civil.
I think my cousins and I are all maturing.
There were no outbursts or dramas this year. We all just sat around and talked to each other like... well... adults!
Its pretty strange. But good.
All in all, pretty decent Christmas though.
The fact that its not about us but really about Jesus was very apparent to me.
So for that I'm glad. Its easy to forget it sometimes.

Back To Doing Nothing

Hey Blog,
So I couldn't write while I was in the middle of my summer craziness but now that I am back in good ol' Kaitaia I will try to fill you in on what's happening.
As you probably know I just finished an INTENSE three week film project with Student Life, the week before that I was travelling to Auckland by bus (took 6 flippin hours, pretty draining), and then by vehicle to Taupo for a very good friend's 21st. It was really fun, and I'm glad I was able to be there. After that I got another ride down to Wellington and stayed with a friend until the next day when I flew down to Dunedin!!!! My story already sounds pretty crazy, but it gets crazier because I spent the next week watching One Tree Hill DVD's and packing up my bedroom in the Gables flat I now FORMERLY lived in (since I am officially moved out).

Creative Media Project eventually started and that was a wild adventure in itself. I met some really fun people and had a great time learning heaps of stuff about film and then actually getting out there and filming stuff and editing it and putting it all together.
I'm not going to pretend like it was always fun though, I found it hard to cope sometimes because I desperately crave alone time. I also didn't have my guitar with me :( Usually I relieve stress by jamming out to angry songs, but I was unable to do so. Surprisingly I didn't have as huge of a meltdown as I initially expected.
I had a bit of a cry on my 21st birthday when my Dad told me our dog Sheba isn't doing so well but I managed to suck it up and carry on so that's all good!!! Dad isn't the most tactful person I've ever met...

We had so many laughs on project though, I'm super happy I had the opportunity to go and be part of it. Now that its over though I am pretty keen to spend the next two months with my parents and the dogs, and maybe try to figure out what I'm going to do my dissertation on next year too (that could be helpful).
I have been playing heaps of guitar since I've been home but I am yet to pick up the songwriting that I was working on before I left Kaitaia over a month ago.

I also can't believe its Christmas in a few days! Since I wasn't at home no-one bothered to put up any Christmasy things (because apparently that's MY JOB). I told my Mum I wasn't going to do it though... I'm too lazy... haha.

Oh yeah, yesterday I had my third 21st. I got one of those sweet as wooden keys with your face on it. Cecil never got one (because he's lame), so I'm pretty happy with it, haha :-P The party was pretty hilarious, it was 7/8ths older people and only very few that were even around my age. Couldn't have asked for much better though. My first 21st was on 30 September, second one was during project and on my ACTUAL birthday (it was really special because my friend Pen made me cupcakes and everyone sang to me a number of times) and my third one was 2 weeks after that. I feel pretty grateful I was able to have three 21st's, because I didn't even expect to have one!
Just goes to show that people can surprise you :-)

Anyway, so Christmas is in Kerikeri again this year. Should be good, but a bit weird because Emil won't be there :( It'll be good to see the extended family though. I have no idea what I am going to do all of January and half of February up until I head off for Dunedin again...

Guess we'll have to wait and see.