I've got to say, my life right now is a little  bit boring.  I'm kind of grasping at straws here trying to come up with something to write a blog about... and all I've come up with is how boring I am right now.  Doesn't really inspire you to read on, now does it?

No seriously though, the weather has been pretty bad lately (cold, windy, and rainy), and I've been sick and I don't start work until next week, so I mostly have been hanging out indoors this week (and weekend, for that matter).  There was a huge earthquake out in the pacific ocean, and New Zealand got some serious tsunami warnings, although all that meant was all the kiwis gathered at the beach to go surfing.  Smart.  I, being completely out of loop, only found out about all this through an email my mom sent making sure everything was okay.  I really need to get out more.

As for home renovation projects, slowly but surely we're getting things done.  By the time people come to visit our home will be complete!  We have also figured out we have the most multi-cultural neighborhood EVER.  There are some Sri Lankans in the house across the street, some Brits, a few Kiwis, a South African woman and Irish man, an Asian family, and then me, the Yank as they so nicely put it.  We are from all over the world.   AND, the baby that lives across the street looks JUST like that baby in the video that bites his brother's finger, AND his name is Charlie... see below... 

Anyway, that's my fun and excitement for today.  Tomorrow I go back to work with the babies, and then this weekend we will be celebrating Mark's dad's birthday as well as his parents' anniversary!!   Pictures to follow, I swear.

Yesterday I went to my very first Wellington Phoenix game (and I didn't bring my camera, hence the "filler" pictures above).  The Phoenix is Wellington's professional men's soccer team, and so far we have just been watching them on TV.   The soccer team I played for decided to have an end of the year social event at the Phoenix game, so Mark and I tagged along.   Since the Phoenix has mostly tied or lost all the games we have watched so far, we weren't expecting a whole lot from this game.  And, what a surprise, the game ended in a 0-0 tie.  There were about 7,000 people at the game, and it was a pretty fun environment, I must say.  People decked out in black and yellow (the team colors), yelling the most random chants... things like "Who are ya? Who are ya? Who are ya?" when someone on the other team would go to take a free kick.  Or "you're so shit it's unbelievable" on repeat when someone on the opposing team would miss a shot or make a mistake.  Hard to really get a feel for what the chants sound like without being there, but it was pretty fun. Would have been better if they got a win, but that was clearly just wishful thinking.

Now today I was supposed to be at the photography studio, but I managed to get a nasty cold, so I am still laying in bed surrounded by tissues.  Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow!  It probably doesn't help at all that it is absolutely pouring outside, and has been for the past 12 hours or so.  Can't wait for New Zealand summer to be here!

I have been trying to learn more and more things about my camera and about photography in general, and I must say, there is a LOT to learn.  I submitted my first photography assignment, which was much more difficult than I had imagined it would be.  But I am really liking it so far, and hopefully when it stops raining I can get outside and take some more pictures with my newfound knowledge. 

Today was also my first day working at Jo Frances Photography Studio.  It started off with a photo shoot of a family of 5, and things got crazy really fast... The kids were 9, almost 3, and 5 months old, and super cute.  While I didn't take any of the pictures, I got to help with all the backdrops, lighting, posing, and the monumental effort of making the 2 year old stay put, look at the camera, smile, and keep her hair out of her face, all at the same time.  I was exhausted!  Then after the shoot I got to spend about 3 hours just playing around with photo shop, and there is SO much to learn I don't even know where to begin!  I'm going to have to try and work with photo shop a little bit every day so I can learn some of the fun tricks to make ordinary photos into beautiful works of art.

As for Jo, she is a really nice lady, and she is very willing to help me learn and get some practical experience, which is wonderful for me. And oddly enough, one of her assistants is actually from New York originally, so we at least have the US accent thing in common. :)   But anyway, one of the things I found kind of cool about Jo is that she actually has a masters in Psychology, but no degree or formal education in photography or art.  She thought she wanted to do something in psychology, but changed her mind, and now runs a successful business, has two daughters, and takes beautiful pictures.  She's entirely self taught (never did anything like I am doing with her), and she just has an eye for photography and portraits, so she decided to go for it.  She is very successful and is even expanding her growing business. Anyway, it gave me some encouragement, maybe I will be able to do something similar... maybe.

Overall, it was a good first day at the studio.

Slowly but surely, I am learning to talk like a kiwi.  There are a lot of words and phrases here that are very different than back home, and I am finding myself starting to use some of them.  Mark is even convinced I will have an accent when we get back to the US, but I think that is highly unlikely.  Let me give you an idea of the language differences.

We'll start with some basic ones I'm sure you already know...
garbage = rubbish
parking lot = car park
crosswalk = pedestrian crossing
trunk (of a car) = boot
cleats = boots
friend = mate
cookie = biscuit
dinner = tea
tired (like from a workout) = puffed or knackered
full (from eating too much) = choc-a-bloc (or just choca for short, not really sure where this came from but whatever)
rain boots = gumboots
a lot = heaps (i.e. "i miss you heaps")
sandal = jandal

Now a few other phrases that are pretty popular/common..
"How are you going?" instead of "How are you?" or "How are you doing?"
"Good on you" instead of "Good job" or "Good for you"
"Cheers" as a goodbye or thanks
"dodgy" means bad or unreliable
Also good to know... and "entree" here in a restaurant is actually and appetizer
Sentences become questions here just by ending in "eh?" --Like, "The team is pretty good, eh?"
to "fancy" something = to like something/someone

Also, it's the weirdest thing... Words that end with "-er" end up sounding like they end with "-uh." For example, "water" sounds like "wat-uh", "runner" sounds like "runn-uh", etc... BUT, words that end in the "uh" sound (like the name Brenda, or Linda), suddenly get an "r" added to the end, and sound like "Brender" and "Linder."

Very different, that's for sure.  There are definitely times when I need to ask people to repeat themselves (which means I should say "pardon?" rather than "what?")... That's all for the New Zealand language lesson for the day. :)  I haven't really gotten out much since it's pouring, so I don't have many new pictures to add.  Maybe this weekend I'll be able to take some!
 

Day 2 with the babies!  Now I didn't have them both together like I originally thought, but I got 2 hours with each of them today while their moms went out.  I took Kyan for a walk in the Baby Bjorn, which I liked very much.  And then after a bit of struggle, I managed to put him down for a nap, and that was it!  Then I went to Hugo's house, and I must say, he is getting quite mobile.  He rolls all over the floor, and can get from one side of the room to the other.  He also seems to want to get into everything he is not supposed to (his dad's stereo,  my camera bag, mom's purse, etc...) so I have to keep a close eye on him at all times.  And I tried to give him a bottle, but that little boy is just so busy that he doesn't want to stop playing to drink it!  He would start drinking it, then something would catch his eye and he would lunge for it, getting milk everywhere!  I think he drank half the bottle, and his mom considered that a success. :) But we had fun, and of course the two boys are on opposite schedules (one goes down for a nap at 10:30 whereas the other one is waking up at 10:30, etc...) so I will definitely be worn out by the end of a day with these two!

Now all this time with the babies is making me really realize how much work having a baby is.   I mean, they constantly need to be fed, burped, entertained, diaper changed, and when you aren't doing those things, you are cleaning up after those things... And once these babies start really crawling, they will be into everything!  Little things left laying around the house become potentially dangerous, things that are "hidden" are not safe unless locked away, baby's aren't content to just lay there and hang out like they did before they were mobile.  Being a parent has got to be absolutely exhausting!  Worth it I'm sure, but exhausting nonetheless. 

We had a rather uneventful weekend, although we did have a huge shopping spree on Saturday.  We bought a bed (so my parents have somewhere to sleep when they visit) and some rugs and patio furniture.  Then we watched the All Blacks smoke Aussie in rugby, and the Wellington Phoenix blow a 1-0 lead to tie yet again.  I think they might be in last place now.  Other than that, we just had a low key weekend!

Today was supposed to be my first day working with the photographer, but she called last night and said her best friend had a baby so she was spending the day at the hospital today.  So we moved my first day to Friday.  Oh well, I got to sleep in!  And I am in the process of moving all the furniture in the bedrooms, AGAIN.  I kicked Mark's desk and computers out of our bedroom, and put them all in one of the other bedrooms, mostly because any time I walked by the desk I would bang my shin on the foot board of the bed because there wasn't enough walking space, so I had multiple bruises.  The desk had to go.  Mark was not pleased, so I was sneaky and moved it while he was at work...  We'll see what he has to say about it when he gets home tonight. :)  Plus, with that desk in our room, chemistry was taking over our bedroom.  Literally, books and papers and notebooks all over the place.  See below...  And no I did not stage this.

In other news, Mark and I finally got cell phones.  That means we went 7 weeks without cell phones.  That's a very long time.  But it's probably a good thing seeing how expensive cell phones are.  I think the plan I'm on I get 30 minutes a month.  That's like 3 short phone calls.  A month.  But, I do get to call and text Mark's phone as often as I want, no charge, so it all works out I think.

Not much else is going on, tomorrow is my second day with the babies which should be fun, so I bet I'll have some more pictures to post! 

While I don't actually start work for another 3 weeks, today I got a little taste of what my new job is going to be like.  I am going to be taking care of 2 little babies, and today I got to spend some time  with each of them individually.  Both moms are getting a little nervous/anxious about leaving their baby boys, so they wanted me to come and spend some time with each of them today so they could get out of the house and feel more comfortable going back to work.  So first I got to hang out with Kyan!  He is 6 months old, and such a cutie!  You will be seeing many pictures of this little guy, as well as his little buddy Hugo, in my future posts.   I am sure they will provide plenty of interesting stories as well!  So, here is Kyan! I only managed to take a few pictures but there will be plenty more in the future!  Look at those big baby blues!

Kyan is definitely the more "serious" of the two babies... he would be content to just stare at me (or anyone) for hours and hours!  I only spent an hour with him today so there's not very much exciting stuff to tell, although I did manage to get applesauce all over myself, as well as a big glob of spit up on my shoulder.   Oh and I changed my very first cloth diaper... I'm still not sure what I think about them, although I am leaning more and more towards using them when I have kids.  Anyway, so then after I left Kyan's house, I headed over to Hugo's house for round two.  So, meet Hugo!

It is amazing to me how very different two baby boys can be.   Hugo is full of personality... all smiles, babbling up a storm, lots of facial expressions, whereas Kyan is more subdued and serious,  perfectly happy to just be held and cuddled.  I'm sure this will change once I get to know them better.  Hugo is going to be tough work once he learns to crawl, I can tell you that much!  But anyway, overall it was a good day with the babies!  Stay tuned for next week, when I get them both at the same time!!

So this was the first weekend in New Zealand so far that we haven't had ANY soccer games!  Which means we had zero commitments, and we could do whatever we wanted!  Now we have been working a LOT on the house, and I have been home for most of the week, so we decided to get out and do something this weekend.  And by "something,"  I mean NOT painting, cleaning, unpacking, etc...

Now when I first asked Mark what he wanted to do this weekend, here were his sincere responses... (1) "We could paint...?"  Not really what I had in mind.  So he moved on to number (2)... which started out with, "Well, if you're up for it...." which I thought was a good sign, like maybe some adventure, going for a hike, something, anything, along those lines.  But that sentence finished with "... we could go into Wellington and I can do some chemistry, and you could bring a book?  I'll show you my lab!"  As if that was like, soooo cool and so very fun.   Oh the joys of being married to a passionate chemist...

So, on Saturday, I humored him and we took a big adventure to his chem lab at Victoria University.  I brought some reading and my camera, determined to find an adventure!  Now as luck would have it, it rained all day Saturday, so not only was I just stuck inside, I was stuck inside the chemistry lab at Victoria.  Wonderful!  Oh well, I suppose it gave me some time to create this blog (not that I'm ever pressed for time these days anyway...)  And I got a few pics of Mark while we were there (and the top photo is the view of the city from inside his lab... not bad!)

At least the day ended like this!...

Today I had a meeting with this photographer in Wellington, and starting in 10 days I will be working in her studio once a week.  She has agreed to mentor me and help me learn the ropes of portrait photography and running a studio.  While I will not be making any money, I am actually really excited about this opportunity.  I am hopeful that I can someday have a career in photography, and it will be great to get some first hand experience working in a studio.  She also said that she would definitely think about hiring me as an assistant sometime in the future, since she will be training me and have built a relationship with me.  So I better do a good job!!  The funny thing is, she has never had an unpaid assistant like me before, although she said many people have asked her before.  Funny thing is, she said the reason she said yes to me was because I could write a good email... Seemed a little strange to me, but she apparently can tell a lot from the way an email is written, so she gave me a chance.   I certainly can't complain!

Anyway, if you are interested, here's her website... http://jofrancesphotography.com/ 

The other cool thing is, now that I am going to be a nanny for two 6 month old baby boys, I can practice my portrait photography using them as my little subjects!  I will be sure to post some of the pictures I take over the next couple of months or so, since they are super cute.  I start in 3 weeks!

In other news, we are still "almost done" painting.  Taking a little longer than expected. 

As for the unpacking process, we are all unpacked, but now we seem to be drowning in cardboard boxes and garbage (or rubbish, I should be saying)... literally half of our garage is filled with garbage! This picture doesn't do it justice, there are like 9 HUGE rubbish bags and about 90 flattened u-haul boxes in there, plus some large appliance boxes... But once we get rid of that (somehow) we will finally be able to actually put our car in the garage. 

So I just wanted to see how this works... My mom and dad bought me this little video camera before we moved, and I haven't used it yet because I forgot to get the memory card for it.  But my mom was kind enough to send one to me in the mail, so now I have no excuse...So I thought I would test it out!  Now it's a little bit like the Blair witch project, so it's up to you if you choose to watch the whole thing or not...  And pardon the mess, I even tried to clean up for the video debut, but at some point you run out of places to cram things... I will do this again maybe when the house is all done, and maybe at night time or something so we can avoid the awful glare in the video (which really is very nice sunlight in our home!)

P.S. Note the lovely flattering angle below.  I look beeeeautiful. 

In other news, I have a potential new opportunity in my life...  In my quest to learn and practice photography, I stumbled on this photographer in Wellington who seems to do some pretty nice work.  I sent her an email to see if she would let me come to her studio and just try and learn some things and help out any way I could once or twice a week. And to my surprise, she agreed to it!  Now this is not a job, as I won't be getting paid, but I am going to get to hang out and learn from the professional photographers (there are 2) at her studio once a week.  So I don't know when that will start, but hopefully soon!

As for Mark, he is, well, happy!  In fact, he turned to me after I picked him up from the train station today and gave me this big smile, and just told me how truly happy he has been lately.   With our house, our life, his work, being in New Zealand, everything.  Truly, truly happy.  And... all you critics take note... he said he's very happy with MY COOKING!  Yes, I have been cooking every night, and not things that come in a box or frozen package.  Real food, with real recipes and everything.  And I think I am liking it!  Although I have a thing or two to learn about portion control... the first night I made enough food for like 10 people... we had leftovers for 4 days.