On the beach

Today is a VERY lazy day. All we've done today is sit either by the pool or on the beach. Knowing me I probably have some ridiculous burn that I will realize and feel in a couple of hours.

Tonight we're dressing up a bit and going to this fancy restaurant. I get to wear the new summer dress that I bought though and I think I look pretty good in it lol.

Crap...my knee is starting to hurt...only I would burn a knee...

Relaxing

So today in Hawaii we woke up late, had breakfast basically on the beach. Then we went shopping again lol. I bought 2 new books to read though and Roz and Meiling I think you'll like this new author I found. Her name is jane green. The book I just bought is a chick book and totally hilarious so you guys should go and check it out.

This afternoon and evening we went to a la'au which was really cool. There was a show, some crafts, some houla dancing, a fire dance, and of course a lot of food.

Plan for tomorrow = all day beach. Hey I need a tan.

We have saturday and Sunday here and then we fly back Sunday night to Toronto. No idea what we're going to do Sunday but I'll let you know lol.

Here in Hawaii

Let me get on thing straight right from the get go - I do not enjoy flying in any way shape or form OR by any stretch of the imagination. I can endure flight and I like where it takes me but I don't actually like flying.

So I endured the flight. And now I'm in Hawaii - with free Internet no less.

Today we went shopping and I got some things that look good on me I must say. And then my mom and I went to the beach (the hotel is literally on the beach) and sun tanned for a bit. Then we went for dinner and took a night time stroll along the beach.

Tomorrow we're going to a lu'au which my mom wants to do. Nana wanted to go see another island but you have to fly and it's not cheap. So we decided not to do that.

Starbucks is also attached to our hotel so I think I will end this hear and go drink my starbucks drink.

Christchurch

So this morning started off rough - as it at 12:30 am last night I got a panic attack which was just lovely. And then I woke up about 4 more times that night. And this morning when i actually woke up at 6 am my cough was back at fully force. OTHER than that, today has been pretty sweet. We're in Christchurch today so we got to explore the city a bit. It's such a beautiful city. There are massive amounts of parks and green space too. It's just a really cool city to wander around in.

Our flight leave Christchurch tomorrow morning at 6:55 am to Auckland, then from Auckland to Hawaii at 11 am. We get into Hawaii at 11 pm on Wednesday (it's Wednesday right now for me) so I get to repeat Thursday basically. cool for living a day twice lol.

I really like NZ. It's a really cool place. I hope I can come back some time again. My tour guide Laurel told me that if I ever needed a place to stay that i could just email her and tell her that I'm coming and she would give me a bed in her house. I thought that was wicked.

So yeah, that's it from NZ I guess. Next post will be from Hawaii.

Dunedin

Well I'm in Dunedin today. It's a Scottish city actually, and it's also very hilly. Still cold here but that's alright. Only 2 more days and then I'm flying out of here. But in all honest NZ is really beautiful and the people are awesome. I like it. Today we went on a tour of this house from a very prominent family from back in the day who did a lot of charity work and such. It's a beautiful old house and has all of the modern conveniences of its time. The other options were a castle and a brewery that we could have gone to but I got outvoted on this one. Mind you my mom and nana came with me on the 4WD LOTR tour so I can't complain lol.

Tomorrow were going to Mt. Cook and then the next day it's Christchurch and then we're flying to Hawaii. I only have like a week left of this trip and 2 weeks until I'm back in K-town. I'm excited to get back to K-town I have to say. I have plans for this summer that I'm excited for.

Christian I think you'll like Dunedin if you come. It's cold here - but it's a damp wet cold not the cold like in Canada. But it is really beautiful and the university here was voted best in the country so if you're going to come to NZ for school here is the place to come.

Some Random Town

ok, I honestly don't know how to spell the name of the town that I'm in at the moment. And this is going to be a short blog because I'm exhausted. So we woke up at 5 am this morning, had breakfast at 6 and left at 7. We then drove to Milford Sound which is a world heritage park and we stopped off at different little scenic sights along the way which were beautiful of course. And then we took a boa of the ford/fyord whatever you call it - land on either side, river/sea in the middle. Beautiful waterfalls, mountains, trees growing on mountains. Have you ever heard of a tree avalanche? I saw the remains of one today. It's when a tree or two on the mountain is too top heavy and because there isn't a lot of soil on a mountain it gives way and then takes out the rest of the trees near which take out trees near them etc etc. because they're all holding onto the mountain rather loosely.

After the boat, we drove back to the hotel (cause all of that took all day) and we're eating dinner in an hour. I am currently wearing 2 sweaters because NZ does not have central heating - including in this hotel and so our room as 1 space heater in it and the room is a suite and so it's bloody cold. It wasn't until this trip that I realized how much I love central heating.

Tomorrow we're going to Dunedin (DUN-E-DIN) for the night, and then Mt Cook, and then Christchurch which we fly out of the next day to Auckland and then Hawaii. I'm in NZ until Thursday (which is Wednesday for Canada people). And once I get to Hawaii and it's the same day again cause I'm going backwards in time so I relive May 28th.

LOTR Site Tour

So this morning I went on an amazing 4 wheel drive tour of some of the
LOTR sites. It was completly awesome and the best thing that has
happened to me on this trip. I totally loved it. I had tea this
morning on the location where they shot of the scene of the 9
Ringwraiths on one side of the river and Arwen on the other when she
says to them about Frodo "if you want him come and claim him". I also
saw a mountain range where they shot a lot of stuff. The river that
the 9 paddle down in Elvish boats, the river where Aarogorn (yeah I
spelt that wrong, I'm too tired to think at the moment) before he
climbs onto his horse's back. I also saw the mountain where they
filmed the wargu (those hyenas on steroids) attack, and where Aargorn
falls off the cliff. I saw the path that Isludor travels down when
Gladerial is explaining the beginning of the movie as a voice over.

Since it was 4 wheel drive, we drove up a river and down a river. We
drove up crazy mountains paths with 200 foot drops on one side. It was
awesome.

My Nana was terrified for most of the trip but she kept up her own
sassy remarks and made everyone laugh while she had my mother's arm in
a death grip, and in general we all had a really good time. Our
driver's name was Niki.

When we got back, we relaxed in the hotel room for a bit, and then
walked around town and had some lunch. And now we're back at the hotel
and going to chill until dinner. Tomorrow we have to our bags packed
and ready to go at 6 am and we're leaving at 7.

Not including today we have 5 more days here and then we're on to Hawaii.

I'm having a good time but I'm tossing between whether the trip feels
really long or really shot - sometimes it's one and sometimes it the
other lol.

Some food that I'm dying to have though is: frosted flakes (the best
cereal in the world), jasmine tea and honey, subway or quizzinos,
mcdonalds (sadly lol) and perogies.

Queenstown

Today we are in Queenstown. Last night we were in Wanaka and the hotel was funny. They only had space heaters so we had one in the main room and one in the bathroom, and then there were electric blankets. This morning we spent 45 min in the town of Wanaka walking around and checking out some stores. Then we went on to Arrowtown which a gold rush town (the town sprang up because of the gold rush that happened there in the 1800s). We walked through their little museum and did some more shopping. The town is really small, and it's closed in by mountains but it's really beautiful. I mean imagine waking up to mountains every morning? Apparently snowboarding and skiing in the area is really good too. After Arrowtown we came to Queenstown.

The hotel we're staying at here is called Sofitel and apprently it's a 5 star of pretty damn near it. This is going to sound spoiled and brattish but I really like staying in 5 star hotels when I don't have to pay for them. There's a walk in shower and a jacuzzi in the bathroom, plus the bathroom floor is heated. Also in the mini bar there's this little box of condoms that looks like a briefcase and on it, it says "just in case", for some reason we found it really amusing.

We did some shopping around Queenstown, and we're going out to dinner along the wharf tonight. Queenstown is really beautiful too - lots of mountains again. It kind of reminds us of Banff in Alberta or even Jasper, it has that sort of feel to it. Tomorrow we're going to go and see some of the sights of where they filmed LOTR, which I'm excited for. After that we have the rest of the day to explore Queenstown.

Apparently Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ. You can bungee jump, or jump off mountains and cliffs with a parachute, white water raft, jet boat etc etc. It's also a popular destination for people from overseas who want to go abroad and work and everything.

On a personal note lol my cough is getting a bit worse and I've had to start taking my puffer which is really annoying though I have to admit I can breathe alot better after I take it lol, and it's also bloody cold here. Winter apparently has come early to NZ as some locals have been saying. No matter though, I mean what's cold to a Canadian right? (yeah we all know that I'm a bad Canadian on the feeling the coldness front) and in less than a week I'm in Hawaii so I can handle the cold for a few more days lol.

This internet is free today which I'm quite happy about. I've spent so much money on internet, postcards and stamps I tell you. But it's been worth it lol.

HUG!

Love from NZ

Wanaka

So tonight we're in the town of Wanaka. It's cold-ish here. Frost on the ground. Temperature of 2 degrees this morning and did I mention I only have a spring coat? Apparently winter is coming early this year. Even the locals are surprised.

Today we drove through mountains which were completely majestic and snowy and everything that mountains are suppose to be. We also saw some rapids and rivers and a salmon farm too. Today was a very scenic day. It was absolutely beautiful. Everything just took your breath away.

Tomorrow we're going to go to Queenstown and were spending saturday there as well (which would be Friday for everyone in Ontario). I get to go to some of the LOTR sites then. I'm excited.

We only have 7 more days here and then it's off to Hawaii. It was funny today the porter came into our room to deliver some stuff and he stayed chatting to the three of us for a good ten minutes and my nana was in bed reading and so she's just chatting away to him asking where he's from and stuff (he asked us first which was how the convo started to begin with). There are so many ppl in this country who are not actually from nz it's funny.

Also I finished the book Velvet Elvis tonight. Such an awesome book. Totally blows your mind and gets you thinking. I liked it alot.

Hug!
Love from NZ.

St. Joseph

Today we're in a tiny-ish hotel in St. Joseph NZ on the south island. We're only here one night and then tomorrow we go on to Wanaka for a night. I have 8 more days here and then it's on to Hawaii for 3 days and 4 nights. I have to say the south island is cold, though it is really beautiful.
This morning we were up at 5:30 am (just like yesterday) and we drove to look at mountains (and we drove up and down mountains today) and a glacier. We also saw how jade or greenstone as it's called here is mined and crafted and stuff. It was really cool. I slept on the bus until basically lunch cause last night I woke up about every hour. We gained 9 more people on the tour today (people come and go) and tonight we're having drinks at 7 pm with all of us and then dinner at 7:30 pm,

That's really all to report today. The scenery is still as beautiful as ever, even if it is colder.

Nelson

Ok, shortish blog of life because I don't have much internet time left:

1. In Nelson on the south island
2. took a ferry this moring that was 3.5 hours to the south island.
3. very beauitful
4. water calm as anything though i still feel like i'm on the boat (hey I'm not a good boat person)
5. Walked around Nelson and did a little shopping.
6. Wished we could have spent more time in Wellington
7. Thanks for all those who emailed me :) It was like I was getting a hug from around the world lol
8. I'm really tired can you tell?
9. No idea where we're going to tomorow - although I do know we're stopping at the place where they carve jade here (actually the NZ-ers call it greenstone)
10. Miss you guys.

Wellington

This morning was an early start. Wake up was 6 am. Breakfast was 7 ish
and we had to be on on the bus by 8. The bus however left without us
this morning.

We got there (no word of a lie at 8 am like we were suppose to) and
the bus was already on the street pulling away (apparently our guide
who counts to make sure we're all there, counted Wellington numbers
because 3 people from our tour are leaving us today, so she thought
she had everyone and didn't). So the hotel people called the bus,
called the APT company, and 5 minutes later or so the bus came back
with our guide and driver apologizing, and then we were apologizing.
In the end it was all good.

So we finally got onto the bus. Then we went to this steam plant
(because the area has thermal heat) and they use the heat to make
electricity, which was really cool.

Then we went and saw a waterfall that led out into some rapids a bit.

We arrived in Wellington (which is seriously not called the Windy City
for nothing. Kingston has got nothing on Wellington) and we went up
Mt. Victoria which is actually where they filmed part of LOTR. It's a
really lovely wooded area with a lot of trees and greenery and then
when you get to the top it has a fantastic view of Wellington. Peter
Jackson lives just north of the city and his Weta Workshops (where
they did all the graphics and such for the movie) are around the
harbour on Matamar (didn't spell that right). We're only in Wellington
for the evening though and so we don't have time to go and see.

The hotel here in Wellington is ridiculous. Nana and I are sharing one
and it's beautiful, and Mom has one to herself and it's like a suit.
They also have littely toy duckies in the bathroom (1 per room)
wrapped up in plastic packaging for you to use. I'm so taking it. I
also took a movie of the rooms and everything because we were having a
grand ol' time.

We're going to have dinner in about 20 minutes. And then tomorrow
breakfast is at 6:30 am and we're leaving at 7:15 to catch the ferry
to take us to the south island. It's a 3.5 hour ferry, and part of it
is across open sea so it should be interesting.

The only thing I don't like about the hotel is that the internet kind
of sucks. Firstly it's 10 dollars for 30 mintues. The computers are
older, and even though they have wireless internet you have to $50 for
24 hrs, you can't buy any less than that. Also on their computers they
don't have javascript enabled so I can't access some sights tonight
like twitter. I know, small beans. But you would think for such a ritz
hotel they would have planned their internet out better. Oh well. I'll
live lol.

ALSO
Just because people that I'm on the other side of the world doesn't
mean that I've fallen off the world. I would LOVE to get some kind of
emails from someone. It's rather lonely checking your email and
finding no one's written to you. Out of sight, out of mind eh?

HUG!
Love from NZ

Rotorua

Ok so yesterday I got into Rotorua and I spent the day here today. Tomorrow we're going to Wellington.
Yesterday (which was Saturday) we left Auckland and first went up to Mount. Eden which is actually made from a volcano and at the the top you can see the crater and everything. Very cool. There was a fog over everything too and it had a very peaceful and yet surreal atmosphere going on.

Then we jumped on tbe bus and drove to the caves and saw the glow worms. So the caves (who's actually name excapes me at the moment) are between 4 million and 12 million years old. Formed by water etc. They're deep and absolutely fantastic to walk through. In them there are glow worms.

Glow worms are these little 3 cm worms and only 2 cm of them glow (they're lower half). There's a little rhyme to them too: "I wish I were a glow worm, a glow worm's never glum. Cause how you be sad when the sun shines out your bum?"

They live for 11 months. There are 120 eggs laid per glow worm and the 1 egg of out 20 eats the other 20 eggs. They're larva for 7 months then they form a coccoon (like a butterful) hatch again as it were and come out as like a masqueto (yeah didn't spell that right) and then have 3 days to reproduce before they die.

In the cave you go out onto a boat because there's an underwater stream and they cover the ceiling of the caves millions of these tiny little dots of glowing bums (and they're blue). It was really cool.

After that we drove into Rotorua and that night we went to this Mauri concert, where they put on a show of how a tribe traditional was, they're dances, told us some stories. The opening part though, was that we walked down these paths to a stream, and we waited. Then this conch shell sounded and then this lonely wind instrument sounded too. And all around you are Mauri carvings (which are seriously scary looking as they are made to warn off people) and then torches come out, and then on a canoe (which they call a waka) these men came out of the darkness (cause it was night) chanting and singing. It was unbelievable. I took a bunch of videos of it all, so I'll put them up on fb when I get back.

Today we went to see sheep shearing. There are almost 20 different kinds of sheep in NZ. So we were introduced to them all, and then the guy sheared a sheep. We also saw sheep dogs and how they operate, which was cool. One kind of dog is used for small numbers of sheep and doesn't bark, and the other is used for large numbers and does bark. And also jumps all over the sheep to get them moving it was interesting.

After that we went to the gysers. Rotorura is sitting on top of gysers. You walk around this town and there are random fences put up around certain patches of ground and steam just pours out of them because there's boiling water underneath. One of the hottest pools here is over 200 degress. So we went to this gyser place (two words but I can't spell it, it's in Mauri) and they showed us these crazy gysers that can shoot out water up to 15 m in the air. We also saw the bottom half of Kiwi cause it was burrowed it it's little tunnel and you only saw the backend. They're endangered here and they're trying to breed them and bring them back.

After that we went to meet a friend of my grandmother's Clare who owns a motel here called Cozy Cottages. She also told me to come back backpacking and that she would give me a job. She also said that NZ needs teachers. So we went to her house and had some tea and visited. It was cool.

Now I'm back at the hotel writing this ridiculsouly long post (sorry about that, but awesome if you've gotten this far in reading it. I appreciate it :) and we're going to have dinner in a couple of hours.

So yeah, that's the last 48 hours for me. Tomorrow it's on to Wellington.

Also, I'm currently eating Ruffles salt and vinegar ships which I think is cool cause I don't think we have ruffles salt and vinegar, we only have Lays right?

Bay of Islands Day 2

So today we were once again in the bay of islands. We went out on a boat today to see this famous hole in the rock that has been there since prehistoric times and has been caused by erosion. It was pretty cool. It's a massive hole - the boat backed into it. It had a really cool echo inside. On the way to the hole in the rock we saw some orcas (killer whales). And there was a baby swimming with it's mum.

After we got off the boat (that went put onto open seas too which was cool) we had some lunch and then got on the bus and came back to Auckland. Tomorrow we go to Rortarura. And then we keep heading south.

Right now we're sitting in the hotel room spoiling our supper by eating fudge, carmal corn and goldfish crackers.

Bay of Islands

Today we were in the Bay of Islands which is in the North of NZ. Yesterday I was feeling sick and today it's now just a cough - that is slightly turning a bit nasty but I'm sure I'll get rid of it.
This morning we walked into town along the beach. It was beautiful. Our view from our hotel is beautiful too - sea, palm trees (yes palm trees) and little islands. It's crazy. We went shopping in town and then had some lunch and then we went on a tour of this town Kerikeri which is where the first Europeans settled. So we saw their houses. It was really cool.
Our guide was named Hewie and he's Mauri (which are the Natives of NZ) and he sang us some Mauri songs which was really cool.

Did I mention that NZ-ers drive on the other side of the road? Well they do. And everything is massive HILLS so it makes the driving experience interesting at 100 miles an hour.

We're just about to have dinner and I only have 4 minutes left of internet (20 mintues for 3 dollars at this hotel)

I also just wrote a bunch of postcards and am mailing them out so they should be coming to you guys soon.

Sick

So this morning I woke up with a sore throat. I am now finishing up the day with a sore throat, a cough, naseusa, a headache, and the shakes.

We left Auckaland this morning after an early morning wake up and a lovely breakfast and got onto the coach. We drove for a few hours today. I seriously can't get over how green this country is. Everyone here also drives on the other side of the road - there are signs that I find amusing that say "keep left when passing". The first stop today was at the Kaumri musuem. The Kamuri is a tree that grows in NZ. They are some of the tallest trees in the world and their wood and bark is seriously flexable which made it fantastic to use for ships and houses and stuff. They also produce this gum that the tree bleeds to heal itself. The problem is that NZ-ers for the ship business and for the gum (good market for it back in the day) cut or either killed 96% of the Karmui trees. They're really slow growing trees (even for trees) and take thousands of years to grow. We saw one today called "God of the Forests" it's over 2000 years old and it's 13.5 m wide. It's bloody huge.

After the trees we went on a tour of where the Mauri (the Native people of NZ) and the Europeans first signed their treaties. The Mauri were very warlike apparently and were even cannibals at times.

We're staying in this current hotel (right now we're in the North at the Bay of Islands) for 2 nights. Tomorrow we have the day to ourselves and so we're going on some tours and such. Then we head back down to Auckland after these 2 nights to start going to the south island.

Hopefully I'll feel better by then.

The City of Sails

So this morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. We then did a bit of shopping and had lunch at Esquirers Coffee which is like Starbucks only NZ style. It was really good. I like sitting in coffee shops. Anyway, then we came back to the hotel and met up with the tour.
For the tour, other than my mum, everyone is at least 40 yrs older than me. With the tour we went on a tour of Auckland and saw all the yachts and rich areas of town. We saw the harbour and went to the fish market where one of the guy workers there lifted out a 3 kilo lobster from the tank so I could take a picture of it.
Then we went on a sailboat and toured the harbour. The skipper let me steer the boat for a while which was really cool. Then we had dinner and came back to the hotel. Tomorrow the tour is leaving at 8:30 am and we're going north.

Farm Life

Today we went to Alison and Gary's farm. They have 160 acres of land. They were dairy farmers and they do have 110 cows but they lease their land now and make money that way. Just before we got to their house we saw a calf being born it was crazy. Gary went over to help and then the mother cow stood up and the calf was half in and half out of her. I'm not kidding. I also have pictures.

Nz-ers also speak like the English. I also saw pheasants, magpies, wild turkeys, deer, hawks, tons of other birds. Gary and Alison also have fruit trees: lemons limes oranges manderians peaches pears and some others.

I had venison for lunch (that's deer guys). Then we went on a drive along part of the country and hit the coast and saw a lighthouse. I lost feeling in one of my toes lol. This country is seriously ALL hills. All you do is go up and down up and down. But it's beautiful and so green. They also have so many different trees. It's also crazy windy here which makes it colder than I was expecting. We pick up the tour tomorrow and then the day after we leave Auckland and go to the north of the island which means it'll be warmer (the south is colder).

Sabrina is posting my blogs because my iPod touch doesn't let me use blogger for some reason so I can read it but I can't type anything on it so if I don't respond to your comments that's why.

Here in NZ

So we arrived in NZ at 7 am Sunday which is like 5 pm Saturday for Toronto people. It rained when we landed then cleared up and we saw a beautiful rainbow on the way to the hotel. Friends met up with us - Alison and Gary ( they're in law extended fam technically) and they took us out for lunch. Then we went to the winter gardens which are beautiful and got a tour of the city. We went to Gary's sister's(Elizabeth) place for tea and a chat after that.

We had to switch hotel rooms because the AC was on and no one could figure out how to turn it off. Turns out it was broken or something. So we got a new room. Right now in Toronto it's 1 am Sunday and it's like 5:30 Sunday here so we're going down to dinner soon. I'm really tired. And I keep feeling like I'm on the plane cause the room feels like it's going up and down.

Tomorrow we're going to Alison and Gary's house. They live an hour out of Auckland. Maybe I'll shear a sheep or milk a cow while I'm there.

Flight One

In Vancouver. Have 5 hr layover until next flight to auckland. That flight is 13 hours. Taking off is scarier than landing. It took my right ear like 20 min to pop and it really hurt. Right now I'm drinking starbucks and walking through a duty free store.

the night before flight

So. It's the night before I go. Sleep? I don't know if it's going to come tonight. I'm getting a bit nervous and tense. I also have a headache but that's more because of family than trip nerves.

I just posted the opening scene for the new story that I'm writing. It's in it's rough draft at the moment.

The flight tomorrow leaves at 2 I think, and it's 5 hours and a bit to Vancouver. Then we have a 5 hour layover, and then it's 13 hours and a bit to New Zealand. Because New Zealand is 19 hours ahead we arrive on their Sunday which would be our Saturday. So I don't actually have a Saturday this week. And then when we come back I re-live a day.

Also I discovered today that it costs 60 cents to text message from New Zealand and it costs $3.50 per minute to receive calls and to have outgoing calls on my cell. So if you need me text me, or email me. I'm going to buy a calling card tomorrow.

I'm all packed. It really didn't take me long at all. I just have to put a couple of more things into my carry on and I'm good to go.

I will update this as much as I can, and I will probably send random one liner emails to people too. Ex: "OMG I'm on the plane." Or "We're about to board for New Zealand." Look for those ;)

new story. opening scene. (rough draft).

"Is?"
The screen door slammed. "Isabelle are you here?"
There was a muffled noise from behind a closed door further down the hallway. "Are you still in bed?! It's noon! Get up!"

The closed door led to a bedroom, in which Isabelle was sleeping. The covers were drawn up to the base of her neck, her face was implanted into the pillow and her left foot was dangling out of the covers over the edge of the bed.
"I brought tea!" called the voice that had invaded Isabelle's sleep.
Isabelle moaned, and lifting her face slightly out of her pillowed yelled, "10 minutes!"

True to her word 10-ish minutes later Isabelle appeared in the kitchen in baggy pants and a cut up tank top. Her hair was loosely piled up on the top of her head.

"Why on earth are you still sleeping at noon?" asked Julie who had brought the tea.
Isabelle yawned, grabbed her tea, and plunked herself down into a chair.
"I didn't get in until about 5 last night."
"Am?" screeched Julie.
Isabelle raised an eyebrow, "Yeah."
"What the hell were you doing out until 5 am? It's dangerous to be out so late!"
"Relax. I was just spray painting - over on fourteenth street, at that abandoned building. You know, the one on the right hand side when you turn left off of Patterson?"
Julie nodded mutely. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but no sound emerged. Isabelle looked at her in amusement. "You look like a codfish."
"You sound like Peter Pan."
"I always wanted to meet him. Though I have to admit I've always wanted to give Tinkerbell a good kick."
"She does save Peter from the poison in the play, and a bomb in the Disney movie."
"Still, she's a vindictive little tramp who won't let any other girl have him, even though she can't have him."
"Welcome to the Hollywood style story line of most present day teenage girls' lives."
"Betcha Barrie never thought he'd write such an immortal, and dare I say it, relateable character."
"Indeed. So who got you to go spray painting last night?" said Julie getting back to the original topic. "Please don't tell me you went by yourself."
"I didn't. Mike invited me along. He's got something going on the left hand side of the building, and needed some help filling in some colour."
"Who on earth is Mike?"
"You don't know him? Hmm..I assumed you knew him already. He's the pizza delivery guy."
"The pizza delivery guy and you decided to go spray painting."
"Yeah."
Julie took a gulp of tea, and put a hand to her forehead, "Sure, why not." She took a calming breath, "Plans for the rest of the day?"
"I was thinking of going and having a chat with Granny Bird. I haven't seen her in a couple of days."
"Sounds good. What time were you thinking of going? I'd love to-
Julie stopped mid sentence, and cocked her head to the side, listening.
"Sorry I got to go," she said, standing up. "I'll talk to you later. Tell Granny Bird I say hi."
"Later," said Isabelle as Julie walked out the door.

Isabelle took another sip of tea, and standing up with a groan went looking for some bread. She made herself some toast, then showered and changed.
"Gotta buy hair dye," she muttered, ruffling her hair, as she paused to look at herself in the bathroom mirror.
Roughly 30 minutes later Isabelle left the house with the loaf of bread from her kitchen to give to Granny Bird.

it's all in the touch

I got my ipod touch today. It's pretty sweet. I've spent the last couple of hours fiddling with it and such. There is ONE disappointing thing about it however. It does not let me type at my blog. I know. I was slightly upset when I discovered this.
So for the NZ blog then, I'm going to write it, email it to my best friend and sister Sabrina and she's going to post it for me. It's a pretty solid plan. That way everyone is on the same page with me and what I'm doing.

NOW

The thing is, it's totally great that you guys all know what's going on with me BUT I want to know what's going on with you guys. Thus email me or set up a blog that I can read or message me on fb or send up smoke signals or something. I need news too.

Update on getting ready = I have everything I need. All I need to do now is stick it into my suitcase, which is what I'm doing tomorrow.

Sabrina and I hung out tonight which was completely awesome. We really don't see each other enough. We had some ridiculously good laughs, and a lot of sarcasm. We also hit up chapters and bought 2 books each (that we totally didn't need but wanted) and also a travel mug for tea because we both need one but don't have one. It was good times.

Last night I also started writing a story. I technically had already started writing it - but I rewrote the opening scene and I like it alot better. I also know where I'm going to take it I think - or at least I know more about the characters this time, and the end I want to achieve with it. So that's good. If it's not too long when I finish it I'll post it here.

Less than 48 hours :)

it began with ants

This morning I woke up to ants in my cereal. Oh that's right. You heard me...er...read me? Anyway, there were ants. In the pantry my parentals apparently have an ant problem. But it's weird they weren't there yesterday or the day before but this morning I woke up, went to go eat some cereal and they were all in the box and everything. It was gross and creepy. But i wasn't girly just for the record. I didn't scream or anything. I just completely lost my appetite. And threw out the entire box in the outside garbage.
Just for the record the ant guy is coming tomorrow morning.

Anyway, today was more errands and more shopping. Hit the tailors, the post office (see I remembered) and then my Nana and I went to Tim Hortons when I got back my appetite. My mom and I went shopping tonight and I got a carry on bag and a coat. All I need now are some socks, my ipod touch, and a bathing suit. That is tomorrow's deal.

Today I also watched the newest episode of Greek (I realize it's a ridiculous show but for some reason I really love it) and this mini series called Lost in Austen. So good. I really liked it. I of course was yelling at the screen and covering my eyes at other parts. No one reading this is really surprised about that lol.

Right now I'm not a fan for some reason of the set up of my blog, but I'm also not a fan really of the other templates they've got going on either. So who knows, maybe I'll change my set up or maybe I won't lol. I do want to add some pictures and things to it. I'm probably going to fiddle around some more with it after this post.

I also am going to write after this post too. I've got 4 different characters or groups of characters yattering on in my head demanding that I tell their stories so I'm going to go and work on that I think.

I can't believe that in less than 72 hours I'm going to be on a plane heading for New Zealand...

the case of the over-packer

Today was my productive day. I did all the laundry in the house, I applied for jobs, I got some graduation details sorted out and I went shopping for some clothes that I need for the trip.

My mom and I are disputing about what to pack for the trip. She is an over-packer. I'm a slight over-packer I'll admit but in comparison to my mom it's like I told her I'm only taking a backpack or something for 3 weeks. I swear Thursday night she's going to sneak into my room and pack more clothes into my suitcase or something. (The flight is on Friday afternoon).

My plan is to only fill half of my suitcase so I have space to buy some things. Yeah it's an ambitious plan I realize but you never know maybe I could do it.

Tomorrow is more errands - the tailors, more shopping, and the post office...I have to remember that one.

My mom keeps walking in showing me different outfits that she's taking, and earlier she wanted me to look up all of the hotels to make sure that they had hair dryers in the rooms. I'm making her sound very girly and she isn't but she is funny when there's some deviation from her daily routine. She's making me laugh.

I've gotten basically everyone's address so when I'm in New Zealand I can send everyone postcards. I love getting mail, don't you?

And now for the rest of the night I think I'm going to watch the newest episode of Brothers and Sisters and then read maybe before I snuggle up in bed.

rain drops on roses

I just came back from watching the Sound of Music musical. I had forgotten how much I love live threatre. I totally love it. The show was not nearly as good as the movie of course. I mean, who can top Julie Andrews? But it was still good, and I enjoyed it.

I also saw Sabrina today - my best friend and sister - in her new apt that her and her finance are sharing. They're so cute. So Suzy homemaker and everything. They have a very nice set up going on over there too. I'm really happy for them, cause they're so happy. One day I want something like that. I don't think I want it now but definitely one day, I would like that.

For all that I'm having a good time in Toronto seeing everyone, I do miss Kingston. There's this little ache in me that won't go away and every time I pause I feel it and it's starting to suck. I guess I'll just have to keep myself busy. Pause less or something.

Maybe I'll sing "My Favourite Things" - it worked for the Von Trapp children.

aching calves and sassy grandmothers

Today my calves are incredibly sore. I didn't realize that climbing up and down 3 flights of stairs with boxes and such about 100 times would pain me so much the next day. I utter a slight curse when I have to go up and down stairs today. There have been a lot of stairs today too. I've been cursing quite a bit.

Today I went to Meiling's house. Which is a completely beautiful house. And we had a BBQ with a bunch of Queens people and her family. It was fantastic and I had a great time. I took the subway to get there, and it was my first time having to take 3 subways on one trip. The problem with the subway though = stairs. BIG flights of stairs. BIG flights of stairs every time I transferred. Other than the stairs the subway was rather enjoyable. There are a lot of interesting people on it. I find it difficult to get bored on it.

When I got home I had to get ready to go to my Nana's 80th b-day dinner. That was really good. I got to see 2 of my greats aunts and a great uncle that I don't normally get to see often. My Great Uncle Bob (who will now be called Uncle Bob) has a film premiering downtown on Friday. It's a documentary created by the National Film Board (where he works) and it's about a McGill religion professor who was fired by the university after bringing in big name relgious people from all different religions to speak to his classes. Apparently a lot of the big money that goes into McGill comes from certain Jewish individuals and there was some mention of money being cut off if McGill didn't fire this professor. It's a controversial film and a controversial story. McGill is apparently very nervous about it coming about. We'll see how it goes. Well really I'll hear about it since I'll be on a plane by that point, but you get what I mean.

My aunt Marion (uncle Bob's wife) has been battling cancer for the past year almost and apparently they've stopped it from spreading which is really good. She looks so small though, and while not frail, slightly breakable. I felt the need to protect her almost, to keep the world from smacking her again. She's hilarious too though, and definitely sees the world in a different way. I also get a new perspective on things after talking with her.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Marion are some of my most favourite people in the world. They're also how I would define marriage if it needed a living example definition. I would like what they have.

After hanging out with my nana and my mom this evening too I realized that I'm in for a ride on this trip. My Nana is a card. She's totally sassy, and has no problem showing that sass to everyone. My mom and her play off each other really well. It's going to be quite the time.

a new abode

Well the moved has happened. It went a lot better than it thought I would which is lovely. There was 4 of us moving everything and everything was moved by 3. The old place was cleaned by 3:30 and the set up of the new place is almost done. Productive day.

It also didn't rain. It rained all last night and it even rained on the way to Toronto a bit. But no rain during the move. That was my prayer answered.

At the moment I am sitting in Toronto at my parent's kitchen table. I got to shower which was fantastic and I'm really looking forward to cuddling up in bed.

Tomorrow I'm going to a lunch BBQ, and I have to be on the subway by 10 am. And then it's my Nana's 80th birthday dinner tomorrow night which is exciting. Major socializing tomorrow. But it'll be good.

I really like the new place. (Sry if I'm jumping topics but I'm tired). I like my room in the new place. I got it all set up before I left (with the help of my new housemate who helped me move some of the furniture).

6 days until I leave for New Zealand. I'm starting to get nervous I have to admit. And I have a massive to-do list to get through before I go.

BUT

That is tomorrow's deal. Right now it is off to bed :)