Back when I first moved to Hoboken, I was lucky enough to coincidentally move onto the same street as my friend Nina.  Literally, we were 7 or so steps away from each other. Strange enough, a few months later, my friend Emily randomly found an apartment in the same building that Nina lived in. How do things like that happen?  Anyway, Nina & I had dinner dates a few times a month and ALWAYS made the same thing: tom yum kung (spicy Thai shrimp soup) and larb moo (Thai pork minced salad). Always a wonderful delicious treat.

Strange enough, we haven’t found any good Thai places yet in New Zealand.  And the one place that does is ridiculously over priced. Psh no thanks. Looks like the only way Kyle & I are getting Thai food for now is if we make it ourselves.

So tonight I decided to make the classic tom yum & larb combo and I must say, it turned out pretty good. And the best thing is that many of the ingredients (like cilantro, mint, & chili’s) were all conveniently found in our garden!

Mmm Delicious

Larb + Tom Yum = <3

For the most part, I am completely out of the loop with what’s going on back at home.  When it comes to news, movies, books, and music,  all I know is what New Zealand tells me… which isn’t a whole lot.

So it’s always a shocker when something has quietly made an appearance to the world and I’m the last one to know. Generally, it’s not that big of a deal.  In fact I’ve been enjoying the break of constant breaking news overload.

The one exception is books.  Last week I was browsing a local bookstore and came across these two gems:

New book by Augusten Burroughs! How didn’t I know this? How could this have happened?

And a new one (finally) from the chick who wrote “Eat, Pray, Love”…the book that absolutely inspired me to take my own travel adventure.

Alas, these two will have to wait.  I’m attempting (I know, famous last words) to finish up books already in my possession vs. frantically binging on the written word….which has been known to happen at least once or twice a year. So we’ll see how it goes.

Did I ever show you a picture of my latest tattoo?  I got it back in late August/early September to celebrate the trip to New Zealand. It’s an earth from the view point of the southern hemisphere, with Latin underneath translating to, “prepared for all things“. It was an optimistic gift to myself that everything would turn out great.

I think it did

I don’t know about you, but I am soooo OVER piercings. I feel like they hit their boom back in 2001-2002 and now should be something few and far between.  The only exceptions should be:

• if it’s part of your culture
• a piercing that has been there forever
• or if it fits your personality perfectly. I’ve met people who look naked without a hoop through their nose or bar through their tongue.

Otherwise I’d like to see a ban immediately. It hasn’t always been like this though. When I was about 18, I got caught up a bit in piercings & tattoos.  At one point I had my tongue pierced (ugh traumatizing) and my belly button (kinda drunk when that happened, oopsah.). A year or two later, the piercings  were gone, as well as the love for them. One of the main reasons was because they got popular & it was no longer a novelty; tattoos at least are different. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of seeing new tattoos and the creative things people come up with.  It seems that people with piercings, in order to remain a shock factor, have to come up with interesting body parts to get done..

When we were at the Big Day Out a few weeks back, I saw BY FAR the worst piercing ever. After hearing the band Jet perform,  the entire crowd broke up and moved this way and that, looking for new music to enjoy. It’s always uncomfortable being in a huge packed crowd, UNTIL you are  pushed to that next stage of discomfort….A HUGE MOLE…. ON THEIR BACK…..PIERCED.

I repeat.

Back.Mole. Pierced.

!!

I don’t know what else could have been worse.  Moles are hideous. Why draw that extra attention to it?  Oh god…..  at the same time basically, Kyle & I pointed and gasped,

“Oh My God. WHY???? Why oh why oh why???”

So at the end of the day, I say yes to : pierced ears & sometimes the nose. Otherwise, over it! Lets think of a new way to express ourselves.

Since leaving LA, I have not touched one drop of vodka.  It wasn’t a decision made for any real reason. I didn’t wake up one morning and think, “hey, lets see how long I can go without vodka”.  Basically,  buying bottles of vodka are super expensive here, and if you go out to the pubs and order a drink, they have one choice (Smirnoff) and the cocktails are watered down. No thanks.  I’ve been content sticking to wine & beer.

Last night Kyle & I attended our very first Burns supper.  It’s a tradition  in Scotland to celebrate the life & poetry of Robert Burns. I think this dinner will be coming back with me to the states.  Celebrating your national poets..loves it! Jamie & Marc, our Scottish friends, did a fantastic job hosting the shindig.  They insisted that everyone wore some sort of tartan, played traditional music, read Burns’ poetry,  and even had a haggis. How they found one in New Zealand is a mystery, but a Burns dinner without a haggis is one not worth celebrating.  I was excited because when else in my life would I have the chance to try haggis? Well I have to say, I’m not a huge fan.

Kyle was given the honor of addressing the haggis.

Anyway, Kyle & I have been a bit lonesome for vodka lately – me, a nice vodka soda & him, a good old dirty martini.   We decided to take  the plunge and split a  bottle. I don’t know what happened – could have been the fact that I haven’t drank it in a while or the mixture of vodka and haggis – but I woke up this morning with the worst hungover of my life. LITERALLY I felt as if I had alcohol poisoning. After pseudo-recovering after a full day of rest, I think my relationship with vodka is over.  I don’t have it in me anymore and quite frankly, I’d rather not spend my precious days off nursing a hangover.

So it’s wine & beer for me…..it’s over vodka, move on.

Big Day Out is a HUGE touring music festival (starts here in New Zealand and then makes a few stops through Australia) that Kyle, a few friends, and I had the pleasure of going to last weekend.

SO much fun.  We packed up, grabbed some beers for the road, and took the three hour trip down to Auckland.  Here in New Zealand (so I’ve learned)  it is very ok  for the passengers to take a few cocktails along for the ride.  How crazy is that? The driver of course can’t drink, but everyone else gets the luxury to have a few drinkies while taking a long drive.

The journey to Auckland is absolutely beautiful.  It’s mainly country roads with perfect scenery and lovely water views. Definitely a nice chance from the New Jersey Turnpike.

Anyway, we popped by our friend Paul’s moms’ (he grew up down there) for a glass of wine and then headed to the hotel to check in and get some food.  After dinner & being completely spent, somehow I made my way to bed, hoping to god I wouldn’t be hungover the next day.  Turned out, drinking while traveling is not good for me and I found myself pretty typsy when we arrived at the hotel….oops.

The next morning I felt kinda refreshed….BUT the excitement of the day ahead boosted my spirits.  We were off to the Big Day Out!  Compared to American shows, I can tell you that the one thing that struck me was the vibe; it was wonderful.  Everyone was happy. You felt safe and a part of something good.  Personally, I found myself smiling for no reason – pretty much amazed that not only was I (a) in New Zealand  (b) enjoying summer in January, but (c) going to see some bands that I liked, but never really thought to go see!

The best bands by far were Jet:

Eskimo Joe:

And of course, Muse!

After a full day of good music and tons of sunshine,  I left feeling happy, exhausted….and burned!

Obviously being an Island, you don’t have to travel far to find a beach here in New Zealand.  Yesterday, Kyle & I had the day off together, so decided to check out this beach that was supposed to be absolutely unreal.

Maitai Bay – about an hour and a half north from where we live.

It was beautiful. There really are no words to describe it.  Coming from New Jersey, where sometimes you are sharing one small area of beach with 50 loud beach goers, Maitai Bay felt like a gift to just Kyle & I.  Literally there was 4 of us, including two sweet black lab puppies.

The water was crystal clear and the sand was like walking through that super soft sugar that is used for baking – I couldn’t get over how comforting it was.

So we spent the afternoon lounging around and reading, collecting seashells, and fishing.

Sorry for the delay.  I finally had a few minutes to take some pictures of the new home!

Living Room (and where I am currently sitting).

Bedroom.  Woohoo a big bed!

Some of the backyard, grille, and sliding door to our bedroom.

The babies! Look how big they’ve gotten! We began to dig up an area in the yard for a garden, so they’ll be going into the ground soon enough.

And even a real clothes line!

There are a few more rooms, but you get the idea.  It’s such a beautiful home & really, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. The next few months are going to be great – plus the fact that my friends Mary & Emily are coming in March – it’ll be nice that they get their own room and a pool to lounge around all day.

This is the first year I actually feel that my future completely belongs to me. For the first 24 years of life, the upcoming year was always dedicated to education.  Year after year, I knew that the time ahead would be filled with new classes, facts to be learned, papers to be written, and boring lectures to endure.  But then I graduated… school over.  From there the next step was dealing with the big to do of applying for jobs & praying that someone would hire me.  Sure enough companies did, making holidays & days off the only things to look forward to.

But now, being on vacation for over three months, I can’t help but be giddy for my future. So for 2010, here are the big todo’s:

(1) Finish at least one of my open ended writing ventures: As other aspiring writers know, good ideas mean nothing if they aren’t seen through.  I want to complete something. Finally see the beginning and the end.

(2) Travel more! The plan (for now) is to stay here up in northern New Zealand til’ the end of April and then rent a camper van to explore the south island.  Maybe we’ll do that for two weeks or so.  Afterward, head over to Australia for another 2 weeks and then off to Thailand we go! From Thailand….well that’s a mystery.  I’ve been talking to my brother about possibly setting up a trip to meet up – he’s thrown Turkey out there, which would be awesome.  Otherwise back to NJ.

(3) Have a year of Summers! Kyle & I will get home in July/early August and hip hurray, it’s time for another Summer! I love New Jersey that time of the year.  The energy is so good, plus there is always a fun party or bbq to go to.  I’d be sad to miss it. Plus one of Kyle’s friends is getting married in August and it is guaranteed to be an amazing wedding.

(4) What’s next? Who knows….I suppose get a job? One thing for sure it’s NOT going to be a traditional 9-5 job.  Life has been quite enjoyable working 4 days a week and so wonderfully stress free. Kyle & I could NEVER go back to where we began.

…. if you didn’t know any better, you’d think we were at a summertime bbq!

This years Christmas was definitely the most unique that I have ever experienced. Coming from a place like New Jersey, where December is cold and snowy, we were happy to welcome a summer holiday season.  Most Kiwi’s, I’ve learned, spend the day down at the beach, but we opted for an afternoon out on the deck, sipping cold wine, and enjoying the great weather & good company.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were kinda weird here in Kerikeri, where no one decorated or played holiday music.  I always thought of my friend Courtney, who absolutely adores Christmas music – if she was here, she’d be outraged!  Me, I usually get sick of the music pretty quickly.  But without having any, I was thrilled to hear  “White Christmas” while shopping for Kyle’s gift – a puzzle & cookbook. He surprised me with a book I’ve been wanting to read.  It really doesn’t take much to make us happy   But anyway, it was disappointing that New Zealand doesn’t get into the holiday spirit.  Next year’s will just have to be super  big traditional Christmas then!