Our second January in New Zealand is now wrapping up. One that began with this lovely New Year's meal courtesy of Qantas as I was flying back to NZ. Yes not that flash, but very reminiscent of the airplane meal of old – you know the ones we used to complain about before we realized how bad it could really get.
Well actually this one was a tad better than some of the things I've recently prepared – and it came with free bubbles to ring in the New Year's with. Though I must say I kept waiting for a group count down or something, drinking to the New Year in your own personal window seat is a bit lonely.
That said, alone time is not all bad.
I took a few moments with my favourite tea I brought back from tea shop in Cambridge, MA to craft a few resolutions this year:
1 – connect with friends
2 – eat with others more often
3 – more music in my life
4 – learn to bike in Wellington (basically all biking here is mountain biking)
5 – spend more time with Traveler with no computer screens on!
Time with friends: My friend from Spokane has finally landed in Wellington, and it has been so lovely to spend time at her place, at our place, and around town. Her place is a bit, well a lot bigger than mine, so lately I've been there were her amazing young boys can run around and show me the fort under the deck and their very special 'cat house' they've created behind the bushes. Their mother will be glad to know that the plants the boys are tearing up to 'paint' with the goo that oozes out, are actually noxious weeds from South Africa that I doubt can be killed no matter how much painting the boys do with them!
Our friends from Germany also have had us over for several lovely meals. So interesting to hear how we all fared going 'home' and then returning to our new home for the new year...
tea with friends is becoming a real tradition, but somehow the sleepytime is hitting me harder than coffee!
Music: I've only caught a few concerts in the gardens this year due to my very busy frisbee schedule. I did see one recently on a foggy day with great Irish music.
which is inspiring me to finally get up the nerve to go down to Molly Malone's for a Monday night jam session. I still haven't made it, but maybe this week is the week!
Biking: I had a local friend of a friend help me set up my bicycle that Laura gave me. I am so happy, even if I need to get the gears tweaked a bit before I do much more riding. I also bought a tool kit, spare kit, pump, and lock while I was helping two very wonderful girls shop for bikes for each other's birthdays. Iris and I spent several minutes watching a mountaing biking video, which seemed to be a randomn set of clips with only painful crashes as a common thread. She didn't seem fazed by this though, and proudly rode her bike without an ounce of fear. I have fear, but that is probably wise because I have a long history of crashes....
Hanging out with Trav: Recently Traveler and I spent a night playing some rather cut throat Blokus... oh yeah watch out!
But the best part of 2008 so far is that I now get to be "auntie Shannon" to two very amazing young boys. They even asked me to read them the "my very own book about Wellington" and since I made it for them, I could even read all the misspelled words!
which of course leads me to one last goal for 2008 - to be able to tell these two identical twins apart by both sight and hearing their voices. My goal is to master it by the time the boy master the different between Aunt Shannon and Uncle Traveler... I better hurry, as in only a week the phrase "aunt Traveler" is already disappearing.
