Mission really possible

I was dragged kicking and screaming to the movies on Tuesday night to see Mission Impossible 3, why kicking and screaming? Because I don not like Tom Cruise and I thought MI2 was the worst movie ever made and I have seen some of Barbwire! But I was promised food and wine afterwards so being the booze hag I am I went he he I am now going to shock you all by saying it wasn’t that bad a movie, don’t get my wrong by no means was it a good movie or a great movie or a movie I would recommend but I didn’t feel robbed of my $9.50 when I left the theatre. There were some really cool stunts and blow-up scenes, the dialogue was poor but Jonathan Rhys-Meyers totally made up for the movies flaws with his jaw-line and Irish twang (made me home sick). So if you are stuck in a plane and you have a choice to either watch this movie or watch another flashback over the series edition of Lost I would go with the movie!

Crash, bang, ra, ra, ra

Yippee I went back to drumming lessons on Monday, I had missed the last three weeks of lessons due to the fact I was sick one week and Theresa was here for the other two. I didn’t practice either when the lads stayed with us as listening to the drums is one thing, listening to someone try and learn the drums is a complete different thing. I realised how rusty I was with stuff though so I have vowed to work extra hard this week before my next lesson so I can impress my teacher.

Yippee its Friday night

We had leaving drinks at work for someone on Friday night, which ended up in some of us going to a restaurant for dinner which then in turn ended up just myself and Darren going out for a boogie. Al was out with his mates and he had been drinking since one and we did expect to bump into him but he was huddled in pub corners chatting and drinking away leaving myself and Darren to go on a boogie rampage. We hit a good few places in town leaving two of them because we got fed up of the music, going out with a single guy is funny and cool all in one, you spend half the night pointing out girls for them to chat up and then when these girls look at you sideways you can slag them off guilt free! He he I must say I do notice how precious some of these girls think they are, in my eyes everyone is precious but you don’t have to act like you are above other people, I do feel sorry for a single man in Wellington some times. Although hanging out with a old nearly married woman was not going to help Darren’s pulling power!

A great Red

Thursday night we had Kirsten over for dinner. I am a pretty much Sauvignon Blanc drinker until Tuesday night when Kirsten and I went to the pub before the movies and she started to tease me about only drinking Sav so I decided to be brave and order a glass of red instead, well I totally loved it. So because of this she brought over this delicious bottle of red over for dinner and let me tell you she knows her wine! So not only is she teaching me how to swim but she is also wine educating me too, what a cool friend eh? I could teach her the Macarena but she doesn’t seem that keen hmmmmm can’t think why?

Liane and Jade

Between going away and sickness it had been ages since I had seen Liane and Jade, on Wednesday night I went around there for dinner and when I say dinner I mean cheese board for starters, a delicious home made yellow beef curry for mains and the biggest bowl of stewed apple, custard and ice-cream you have ever seen for dessert. Jade has gotten so big and she was even standing up on her little legs supported of course but she is so strong on them, she loves to sing and she is an eternal smiler. Liane was also looking great, she was always a very relaxed person but she is so laid back over Jade and loves being a stay at home Mum, and from my observation it really suits her.

Great Movie

Last Tuesday I went to see what I claim to be one of the best and funniest New Zealand movies ever made called Sione’s wedding. Sione is the brother of one of four men who basically refuse to grow up and he is getting married, what normally happens at weddings with these four boys is that they do something to mess the day up for the couple, so the priest has told them they need to find girlfriends if not they cant go to the wedding. The film is set in the Samoan community of Auckland and its just hilarious how everybody views there life and their culture. If you live in New Zealand and you haven’t seen it yet, shame on you go out right away and watch it, if you live outside New Zealand beg and plead with your video store to get it in for you it’s a must see!

Theresa and John

Yippee yippee my sister Theresa and her husband John have been out to visit myself and Al here in good old Kiwiland. They arrived last Monday and spent a week with us, they had been in Sydney for a week beforehand visiting some friends and attending a wedding. I went to meet them at the airport of course and I was like a kid on xmas eve I couldn’t wait to see them both. That night we just had dinner at home and caught up on all the gossip from back home. The next day was Anzac day so the country was pretty much shut down so Al’s family came over to ours for lunch and to meet Theresa and John, we spent the day drinking, eating and watching Al’s family try and work out some of the things Theresa and John were saying as their accent is by far stronger than mine. The next day, I took the guys around the bays and into Al’s parents shop so they could have a nosey around and buy some stuff, that night Jase came over for dinner and to meet the lads. Thursday we went to Te Papa the national museum and we saw the Lord of The Rings exhibition which was pretty cool, although I did think it would be bigger, we then just went around the rest of Te Papa and did the earthquake house, shear a sheep etc. After Te Papa we went for a walk around town and up the famous cable car to the Botanical gardens at the top, from there you get great views of Wellington so they got some cool photos. We then hit the shops for some rugby gear for Theresa and John to wear to the rugby game on Saturday, did they find stuff? Put it this way they now have a different top to wear for every game this season! I then drove up to Mt Vic to the lookout so they could get a great view of the city and its suburbs. That night we went to Al’s parents place for dinner and so the Theresa and John could watch a DVD of his parent’s holiday in the south island and see a bit of the country that way! On Friday Al took the day off work and we all headed over the hill to Martinborough to visit some vineyards for wine tasting, we visited five different places and we bought a good few bottles and so did Theresa and John in fact they nearly took home more wine than clothes back with them! We had lunch in Martinborough and afternoon tea in Greystown. On Saturday we had a wander around town and had a lazy afternoon in the pub just to get us in the mood for the rugby that night. Everyone came over for a BBQ before the rugby so we could all get excited about sitting outside in a cold stadium while it was raining! Thankfully when we got to the stadium the rain had stopped and it wasn’t to cold inside there. The game was brilliant we won by loads and we even got a try which we converted in the last few seconds after the whistle was blown pretty awesome. Theresa and John really enjoyed it to as they would of heard of a lot of the players the Wellington team the Hurricanes had so it was quite exciting for them. After the rugby most of us headed back to our place for drinks and a guitar playing session courtesy of Darren and Al. On Sunday we took them over the Haywards Hill and then over the Paekakariki Hill for amazing views of the Kapiti coast and then into Kapiti itself to see Susan, Kim and the girls and to have a stroll on the beach. They went home on Monday afternoon and I found it very hard to adjust to them not being at home, it was so great to see them and spend time with them and sharing some of my life here with them and it made me very home sick for my family big time, but I guess I will see them in 13 months time.

After Easter

After Easter: The Rolling Stones and Nickleback were in NZ for two concerts one in Auckland and one in Welly, the usual gang of myself, Al, Nat, Stu and Jase all went to mainly listen to Nat scream at Nickleback he he The concert was awesome, Nickleback were just amazing life and Chad the lead singer announced that they will be back to do their own tour, woohoo I cant wait. The Stones were pretty amazing for bunch of old guys, Mick Jagger owned the stage as he ran all over the place while Keith Richards did his best to stand. It was the first time I had seen the Stones live and I was impressed, however with the price tag of $185 per ticket you would want to be impressed!

Easter

Easter: We decided not to go away for Easter but to catch up on things around the house and outside, as usual these tasks take at least 10 times longer than you thought and was more expensive than you thought. On Friday Al hacked off a forest load of branches off the trees around our property, we obliterated a part of the garden that hadn’t seen day light since 1601, we weeded and weed sprayed and I started to paint a wall out the back and the trellis.

On Saturday we tidied up all the branches and crap etc to take to the skip, I finished painting the trellis etc. That night we went to our friends Sandy and Scott’s place for an Easter Egg hunt, well what a laugh we had, it was great fun. When we first got there we all got stuck into a delicious BBQ and a few drinks which gave people enough time to work out their plan of attack for the hunt, one of their friends had brought a halogen light with them but it was confiscated due to the strict rule that you must be able to carry your torch at all times. The hunt started off looking like the beginning of the London marathon with woman and children been trod on to get to the eggs, the guys had hid over 250 of them some small some large etc, well I am telling you I haven’t laughed so much looking at other people etc for ages it was such fun. After the hunt we went inside to play singstar, being as shy as I am it took a lot of convincing to get me to sing but with Al’s help I did it! I cant wait for the hunt next year!

On Sunday, we hired a water blaster and Al got stuck into blasting the fence and the house and anything he could basically, while I was cleaning, painting and tiding up the rest of the place. That night we had a crowd of friends come over for an Easter BBQ, with Al, myself and Jase on one team and Kirsten and John on the other you think we would of kicked butt on the board game Cranium but oh no not us, the two lads whopped our butts big time and we all secretly made a pact not to play with them again he he he

On Monday, with the fence all clean and dry we painted the fence black and it looks so cool, it took the two of us a good few hours to do but the following weekend it only took me 2 hours to do the second coat, so it wasn’t too bad. The following weekend we also oiled our front deck after Al had waterblastered it clean. So there you have it we spend ages in the garden and in the fresh air doing stuff and we felt very proud of our work once it was complete.

Before Easter

Wow so much has happened since I blogged last so let’s get straight into it.

Before Easter: Two friends of ours from London Helen and Chris came to visit us here in good old Welly, we caught up with them when we were in London last Sept but it still seemed like ages since we had seen them. They were in NZ for Helen’s brothers wedding and they stayed with us for two nights on their way down to tour the south island. While staying with us I managed to convince Chris that letting me shave his head was a good idea, everyone but me was nervous at first but man alive it looked really well when I had finished with it. It was great to see them and we took them to our favourite cheap BYO restaurant and we downed a few bottles of wine at home too, nothing strange there then!