Guess who's in Wellington....

.... and going to see Fish and Sam in less than 10 minutes? THIS GIRL RIGHT HERE! So excited! It has been nearly 3 years since I've seen them, and I'm sitting here at the Base backpackers in Welly, waiting for them to pick me up... which should be in like 5-10 minutes. YAYAYAYYYYY!

Also, white water rafting today in River Valley was so amazing! I was in the front of the boat so I got drenched thoroughly... will write more about it soon! Gotta run though, as my internet cost goes by 15 minutes and if I want to avoid paying more I have to sign out now! Catch you again soon! More pics to come soon too (unfortunately I didn't get any of the rafting but I've got others to share!).

Hi from River Valley!

My internet will expire in 2 minutes but I wanted to say hi from the middle of nowhere! I'm at a scenic log cabin on the Rangitekei River, and tomorrow I will be white water rafting down its grade 5 rapids! Holy crap! Gotta run!

B-U-N-G- WHY? Cause we GOTTA!

Check another one off the bucket list! I did my first bungy jump today in Taupo with a friend I made on the Kiwi Experience bus, Jade from England. We were both keen to try a bungy, so we decided to do the tandem jump, which was actually called "Couples Therapy." We definitely got a laugh out of the name. The laughter soon turned to nervous giggles and quivery-voiced profanities as we shuffled our feet over to the edge of the bungy platform. I can't really tell you how crazy it looks when you're actually up there and looking down, knowing that you're about to (willingly!) jump off. It sure seems a lot higher looking down than it would if you were just standing on the bank across the river watching somebody jump. I also wore one of Brent's "Badd Habbits" band t-shirts, which he gave me when we met up in Vancouver on my layover en route to NZ. I promised him I'd do some advertising in NZ for him! Voila! :o)

Smiling for the camera before taking the plunge off the platform

Screaming madly as we jumped off

Mid-jump shot from across the river

I've been waiting for a whopping 2 1/2 hours for the video to upload to my blog, but I really can't be bothered to sit here any longer so I've canceled the upload and will try again later! It's so painfully slow... and my patience has run out! Peace out until next time! Love you guys!

Photo updates from Taupo

Kia ora from Taupo! We're actually working backwards in time with these photos, but that's how they uploaded and these pictures are taking AGES to upload on these slow hostel computers.

So, I did my first sky dive today and lived to tell the tale! Here I am jumping out of the plane, 15,000 feet above Lake Taupo.



The whole experience was surprisingly less scary (but WAY more painful) than I had expected. The freefall really hurt my ears to the point that I didn't really enjoy the first minute of the jump, save for the first few seconds where I screamed bloody murder with adrenaline and the realization that I had just jumped out of a perfectly good plane from well above the clouds. The view was amazing though!!!!


And here are a couple more photos from the past couple days. I had intended to upload one of us in the Waitomo Ruakuri cave, but for some reason it didn't show up and I can't be bothered to spend any more time trying to get it on here at the moment, as it is 11pm at home and I'd like to call Jeff before he goes to bed. In any case, here are a few pics for you viewers at home!:

Tamaki Tours Maori cultural show in Rotorua (2 night ago)

A tiki statue in Tamaki Maori village - Rotorua

A scenic walk at the Karangahake Gorge - 2-3 days ago (?)

More pictures and updates later! I will write a good post on the black water caving tomorrow or even later tonight. It has been the highlight of my trip so far for sure!!! I hope all is well back home. I will check in again soon!

A post-luging update from Rotorua

So I finally got my pictures uploaded from my camera to my external hard drive... and wouldn't you know, now I can't upload pics from my hard drive to my blog! Gah. I will be very happy when I become reunited with my computer.

Speaking of my computer, do you want to know something funny? The computer will arrive in Lower Hutt this week. Guess how much my credit card was charged for to FedEx it (economy rate)? TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS AND SIX CENTS. Holy crap. I honestly just have to laugh at it, because the other alternative is to cry, and really, what fun is that? SOOOO expensive. I will keep it very very close to me for the rest of the trip, I can assure you that! Haha.

So I'm writing this post from the Base Hot Rocks backpackers in Rotorua. I spent the afternoon luging with a group of 6 or 7 Kiwi Exp bus friends, and actually managed to successfully record a video of an entire luge run down the advanced track from my makeshift "helmet cam" (which just consisted of my own regular camera, heavily taped to the front of my helmet with maple leaf print packing tape).

Oh, what do you know? This computer JUST recognized that I wanted to upload pics... SO SLOW! Haha. Here's one of us luging earlier this afternoon:


Anyway, I just noticed the time. We're heading out to our Tamaki tours evening in about 20 minutes so I'd better run. I need to get spruced up for the big event! I'm sure I will take heaps of pictures. My camera battery is charging up in my hostel room as we speak.

Thanks again for all the blog comments, guys. I will continue to update with pics as often as I can! I took some amazing scenic shots at Cathedral Cove yesterday so would love to share a couple of those when I have the time.

Cheerio until tomorrow!

Updates from Whitianga

Hello all! I am safely in Whitianga (Mercury Bay) and I have 6 minutes and 35 seconds of Internet time now that I've checked my e-mail and facebook briefly. Internet here is expensive but I know I haven't updated for a couple days so I thought I'd check in.

I had my first (and hopefully only) homesick breakdown today. 2 lovely girls in my hostel room came in and saw me crying so they brought me Kleenex and visited with me. I told them that I missed home and Jeff and my adorably pregnant sister, etc. etc. and they lifted my spirits. We've just finished a hearty meal of spaghetti bolognese, cooked by our hosts here at the Turtle Cove Backpackers, and we're about to play some pool and go out for drinks a bit later on. Tomorrow we're on to Rotorua, which means zorbing (yay!... although COLD at this time of year!), and then an authentic Maori hangi tomorrow night. For those of you not familiar with the Maori culture, a "hangi" (which translates to "earth oven") is a traditional meal that is cooked underground by hot rocks. We are in for a great evening I think, with good food, good company, and of course a performance of singing, dancing, poi, and a haka by the boys.

I have less than 3 minutes of Internet here so I'd better wrap it up and submit this post before it gets lost! I'm sure Rotorua will have better Internet access, as we are staying at another Base Backpackers location, and they provide internet through Global Gossip, which is pretty reliable and widespread around here. This computer here is coin operated, and I just got a warning message! See you tomorrow!

A chilly hello from Paihia!

I wanted to update with a few more pictures from my day in Paihia today but the computer here was having issues and freezing up so I'm going to save that for a bit later on down the road (literally).

I hopped on the Kiwi Experience bus today at 7:00am in Auckland and headed up to Paihia, in the Bay of Islands. It's gorgeous here, although chilly with the wind coming off of the ocean. We got checked into our hostel (the "Pipi Patch" Base Backpackers) and I picked up a few groceries from the Four Square a few streets over, then I headed out on a cruise to the famous "hole in the rock" with a few friends I met earlier today on the bus. It was really neat, but very cold! There were a few funny moments on the trip, too - like when a little boy silently befriended me on the boat. He kept coming to see me and he'd look up at me with these big eyes, I'd say hi, and he'd carry on. Finally he came back and pointed to my purse. His mom saw this happening and explained to me that she keeps her cookies in her handbag and so her son thinks that every purse should have cookies in it for him. So cute and funny! I had another good laugh watching a man hold a granola bar above his head on the front end of the boat to tempt a seagull that had been hanging around. It kept diving down toward him and taking quick snaps at the granola bar. He had drawn quite a crowd, and after he had held it for a while, he passed it to his teenage daughter. She held it up and the seagull took only 2 snaps at it before he pulled the entire thing out of its wrapper and flew away with it! Clever bird!

Now I'm back in the hostel warming up, and I might actually top that off with a visit to the hot tub before supper (SO tempting!). They're cooking a BBQ supper here tonight and then we're all watching the rugby match on the big screen in our hostel's bar. All Blacks vs. South Africa. Keep your fingers crossed for NZ! I think they're the underdogs, but hey, you've gotta have a little faith!

Thanks for keeping up with the blog and for commenting. It's fun to know that people at home are reading this. I will post more pics when I can get them off my camera!

Minus 5 = So cool!

Voila! Here are the 2 pictures we could get inside the Minus 5 ice bar. We paid $16 NZD for these - big ol' tourist rip off, but we weren't allowed to take cameras inside so the bartender took our pics and we bought them on the way out! Check it out - even our glasses were made from solid ice!

(Me, Jude, and her brother Peter)

A day at Mt. Maunganui

Jude and I spent the morning at Mt. Maunganui today. We walked around the mountain and went out for lunch in a nice little beachside cafe, then did a bit of shopping and headed back for Auckland. It's now 8:30pm and we're about to go out to Minus 5, the bar that is made entirely of ice! Should be a "cool" experience (ba doom TSSS!). I'll be sure to post a couple pics. Here are a few pictures of our day. :o)

(We saw this cute puppy on our walk around Martha Mine in Waihi and couldn't resist borrowing it from its owner for a picture! Her name is Bella.)

She had a frigid stare....

Random thought of the day:

Sleeping in a house with no central heat in the middle of winter is a brutal experience, especially for a Canadian who just came from a hot, humid summer climate. Even worse than that? Putting freezing cold contact lenses into your eyes. Not very comfortable.

Just your random thought for this morning. :o)

Post-Sky Jump updates!

Well folks, we did it! Jude and I jumped off the Auckland Sky Tower and survived! It was a really neat experience, and the nerves definitely got going when I stepped out onto the platform! The view was incredible, and the first couple seconds of freefall were pretty scary, but to tell you the truth I bet it'll actually prove to be pretty tame in comparison to some of the other things I have planned for this trip (sky diving, bungy jumping, etc.). I guess that remains to be seen! It was really neat, though, that after we finished our first jump they let us go back up for a free 2nd jump because they weren't busy and they wanted to keep the viewers in the observation deck entertained! Heh. 2 jumps for the price of one (or 4 for the price of 2, I suppose)! I will try to post videos later when I have a bit more time.

After the Sky Tower jump, Jude, her boyfriend Scott, and I went out for lunch with Jude's sister-in-law at a cute little coffee shop just down the road from the Sky Tower. We then went shopping a bit on Queen Street before heading out to Tauranga to visit Roger Stevenson, our former Wellington Youth Choir director. It was SO wonderful to see him again. His wife Denise cooked us an amazing meal, and we stayed over there for about 4-5 hours just visiting, singing, playing piano, and catching up after 3 years apart. It was just awesome.

Now I'm sitting at Jude's sister's place in Tauranga, FREEEEEZING my butt off (how could I forget the uber low temperatures inside New Zealand houses in the winter?!) and am about ready to head to bed. We've had the heater and electric blankets warming up in the bedroom for a couple hours, so it's just about time to climb in there and drift off for the night. I've had an amazing first day in New Zealand and can't wait for more adventures to come! I even fit in a pub quiz at Cardrona Ale House with Jude and Scott on the first night here (although I fell asleep on the table at about 9pm, as it would have been 3am back at home - still just adjusting to the time change!).

Here are a couple pics from our day!

Suited up and getting ready to jump

The view from the bottom

Posing in Paeroa with the giant Lemon & Paeroa bottle en route to visit Roger

A journey of misadventures

.... it can only go up from here, right?

Here, in point form, is how my past 24 hours has panned out:

- enjoyed an uneventful (although somewhat uncomfortable) flight from Saskatoon to Calgary
- flight to Vancouver was comfy and all was well
- met up with Brent in Vancouver and enjoyed an evening out on my 4-hour layover - had supper and drinks, and met a member of his band at the Foggy Dew pub in Richmond
- Brent gets turned around on the would-be 10-minute drive to the airport, which turns into 30 minutes (don't worry, Brent, I don't blame you!  Richmond looked confusing - thanks for the ride and the good company!).  I make it just in time to board, but still 40 minutes before departure (I know you are cringing, mom).  At this point, things are all good.
- I get stopped by Canada Customs in a "randomly selected" process of questioning, making me more rushed to get on that plane
- I take off for Australia, and only realize 2 hours into the flight that I left my MacBook in security in Vancouver.  Woop de freaking doo.  This is awesome.
- I sit for 16 uncomfortable hours on a plane in which I have no working reading light nor TV screen.  I switch to a seat further back that is open and attempt to watch "Alice in Wonderland" but the man beside me is burly so his arms are touching me and his reading light is shining directly into my eyes.  The blasting air conditioning isn't awesome either.  I return to my original seat.
- a flight attendant tries to reset my TV/reading light 3 times but to no avail.  I move to another seat further back in the plane, watch one episode of "30 Rock" on TV, then get booted out by the woman who had moved from that seat hours earlier to sit closer to her husband.  Apparently her seat doesn't recline and she doesn't like to watch TV sitting up.  I move back to my original seat again.
- Realizing that I still have 6 hours on this plane, with no TV and now no computer, nor anyone I know to talk to to pass the time, I start crying.   A caring young mother offers me chocolate, which I refuse (with a teary laugh).  An even more caring flight attendant talks to the crew, tells them about my crappy day, and offers the crew seats at the back of the plane to me so I can at least try to get some sleep or watch a movie.  I accept, and enjoy a couple hours of sleep.
- the aforementioned caring flight attendant (named Yvonne) wakes me up, and guiltily tells me that another crew member is going on break and needs to try to sleep, but I'm in her seat.  I move yet again, to the 5th seat I've attempted on this flight.  I watch a couple TV shows, sleep a bit, and then the announcement comes over the intercom that we are preparing to begin our descent into Sydney after 16 fairly ridiculous hours.
- I take off my seat belt to try to get a picture of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House out the window and get chewed out by a member of the flight crew.  Bitterly, I buckle my seatbelt and sit still for the last 10 minutes of descent into Australia.  What a freaking day!  At least I got the picture! :o)

Soooo, long story short, I'm here in Sydney safely, I don't have a computer but the airport officials have all of my information and should be able to get the computer back to me.  Whether that means I will have to wait for 6 weeks and pick it up in Vancouver, or if they can ship it to Wellington and have it waiting there for me, I have no idea.  I will have to wait to find that much out.

Also, when attempting to watch TV, my iPod headphones broke right inside my ear.  Just to add to the ridiculousness of the day.

The most ironic part of this whole ordeal?  I had JUST been reading my "Smart Traveller's Passport" book of travel tips en route to Vancouver, and one of them was along the lines of "Airport security officials say that they have several laptop computers left in security screening areas.  Tape a business card to the bottom of your computer so it can be sent back to you if such a thing should happen in your travels."  I remember reading that and thinking, "That's a good idea.  I will put an address label on my computer when I get to Auckland.  But really, who would forget their COMPUTER at security?!"  Hah.  Guess I know now.  It had been in my backpack all day, but I had to take it out for screening and was in such a rush what with the little detour en route to the airport, the Canada Customs dealio, etc.  Ahh well.  Internet cafes, it is.  For now.  Hopefully temporarily.

On the bright side, I'm almost finding this funny now.  It should be a comedy skit or something.  "Baby Griswold Goes to New Zealand."  At least tomorrow I will be jumping off the Auckland Sky Tower with Jude and heading to Tauranga for supper with Roger from WYC!  Life is good, and this trip HAS to get better from here.

(*crosses fingers*)

Let the (good) adventures begin!  (The bad ones are getting old already!)

Hello from Calgary!

Here I am in the Calgary airport, ready to board for Vancouver. I will be meeting Brent in Vancouver for supper, as I have a 4-hour layover and am already checked in for my flight to Sydney. I unfortunately got booked into a middle seat for the 15 1/2 hour flight from Vancouver to Sydney, even though I requested an aisle seat. Hopefully the flight won't be full and I'll be able to snag an open aisle seat.

I can't believe I'm actually on my way! It hasn't sunk in yet. In fact, leaving Jeff for 6 weeks didn't sink in until we were looking for a parking spot outside the restaurant last night (we went for supper with mom, dad, and Karyn), when I unexpectedly burst into tears. We had a nice evening and a good day today, and then I cried again before we went to the airport. Fortunately, we saw a teacher he works with in the Saskatoon airport (on her way to London) so we chatted with her until it was time for me to go through security, which was a really nice distraction, so there were no tears at the gate.

Just heard my boarding call! Better run. More updates asap.

IMC pics and NZ on Monday!

Here are a few photo highlights from the week at IMC so far. I am having an awesome time here (as always), working with some crazy fantastic people, and really enjoying having 3 of my own band students with me. I'd post pics of them in their super cute matching Canadian shirts, but privacy laws don't allow it. Ah well! Here are a few other pics from the week in any case:

It hasn't actually hit me yet that in only 3 days I will be heading over to New Zealand. I'm still in such an IMC mode - and, in fact, the reality of heading to IMC didn't hit me until we were half an hour from camp! Prior to this week I was so focussed on finishing report cards, marking final exams, doing band instrument inventory, etc. that I barely even had time to get excited. So now, on a logical level, I know that I'm going to New Zealand soon, but it probably won't hit me until I'm boarding the plane in Saskatoon! Or maybe even Vancouver. :op

I booked my Auckland Sky Jump for next Thursday morning (Wednesday afternoon in our time zone), so Jude and I will be doing that together very soon! Then it's off to visit Roger in Tauranga - SO EXCITED! Will update lots from NZ. Crazy to think that the next blog post might be from across the Pacific! Or more realistically, from an airport when I'm crazy bored. :op Til then!

Last day of schoooooool!

As the title would suggest, it's the last day of school and the students start writing final exams on Monday. I can't believe how fast this year has gone! It has been a great one though, full of funny moments and wonderful memories. My band program has grown so much this year, not necessarily in numbers but in successes. My Level 2 band got the elementary band scholarship from our local Music Festival for the first time in our school's history (yay!), my senior band tackled Ralph Vaughn Williams' "English Folk Song Suite" and actually performed it at our final concert, my Level 1 band rocked out the concert with 2 pieces that had been played by higher level bands earlier in the year, and my Level 3s played Percy Grainger's "Shepherd's Hey" beautifully (something I had always wanted to teach to a band). Students played solos and duets, in and out of school, students won Music Festival scholarships for their performances, we featured duets at our concert, senior band performed at Unifest in Saskatoon, senior choir performed for senior citizens at Pineview and Mont St. Joseph's.... I could go on! This year was musically one of the best.

This afternoon is our final assembly here at the school, and my senior band is playing a South African song called "Ipharadisi," on which we will be joined by younger students (mostly grades 7-8) playing African drums and singing. The senior choir is singing "Hands" by Jewel for the final prayer, and then will be entertaining the audience with "Don't Stop Believin'" from Glee. After the assembly we will clean out our classrooms and head off for the weekend! Unreal. Where did this year go?!

It's finally starting to sink in that this year is almost over and that I am actually heading to IMC next Saturday. Then to NZ the Monday after that. Too too crazy! I can't wait!

The countdown is SO on!

Today is June 16th. June 16th is exactly 2 weeks until the end of the month. After June comes July. On July 5th, I jump on a plane to New Zealand. So, if I can do the math correctly, in exactly 19 days, I will be on my way to kiwi land FOR REAL! After 2+ years of planning it and talking about it, it is finally almost here! This is actually crazy. I still have lots to do before I can say I'm "ready" to go (practice packing my backpack and make sure I have enough room for clothes, i.e. cutting out half of what I think I need to bring, fill prescriptions, hopefully find my favourite pair of glasses which I somehow misplaced in the last few weeks, etc.), but otherwise I'm very excited and ready to see everyone again after nearly 3 years!

In other exciting travel news, Jeff and I booked our Mexico vacation a couple weeks ago! We are spending 10 days in and around Cancun at Easter, and we booked a bunch of fantastic day trips and other excursions. We got a great deal on it too, and I ended up paying for the whole thing with money I made selling bags! It only took me a couple hundred hours of sewing too! Haha. What a deal!

It's now 7:15am and I am about to start getting ready for work. I can hardly believe we're almost at the end of the year! I teach today, then tomorrow I'm out on a field trip with our Grade 7s, then I teach Friday morning, then done! Friday afternoon is our final assembly/classroom clean up, then we have all next week to write finals. Next (next) Saturday (June 26th) I'm heading off to music camp with 3 of my students as well, so the time is flying by at warp speeds, as it tends to do in June. This year in general has gone really fast, in fact. I have been counting down to IMC/New Zealand for ages, and I almost can't believe how close they are!

LOVE!

PS - Nice new template, hey? Much better than that old green one! ;o)

Bags for sale!

As many of you know, I have taken up the hobby of sewing fun, colourful tote bags as a way of making extra money for a trip that Jeff and I are planning for Easter break 2011 in Mexico. I recently have had a few (non-facebooking) people ask if the bags I sell are posted on any other website other than facebook, and until now they haven't been. In any case, here they are!

For any interested onlookers, these bags are all handmade by me, pre-washed and dried (so they are totally machine washable), and backstitched to the point that I'd dare you to carry your anvil collection in them and see if they rip (they won't). I sell them for $20 each, and if you need them to be shipped I'd be happy to do it, just add $5 per bag. I may even cut you a deal if you buy multiples. ;o)

I have found them super handy as school bags, overnight bags, beach bags, etc. I know other people use them as reusable grocery bags, dance/yoga bags, diaper bags.... and the list goes on. Basically you can put whatever you want in them. They fit my MacBook nicely, and I often pile textbooks, binders, and anything else I need to tote around in them on a daily basis. The straps are a bit short to wear as a messenger bag (although it has been done), but are very comfortable to wear on one shoulder. The pictures are actually a bit deceiving in that sense - lots of people who have bought bags have commented that they were pleasantly surprised at how big they were.

And without any further ado, here they are! Please note that for some of these designs I have several in stock (but of course just took a picture of one of each). I also have some fabric yet to be sewn, so if you see one you like but you want it with blue on the other side instead of pink, for example, just ask and I may be able to accommodate your requests.

Thanks for looking! (Click on the pictures to enlarge for detail)

Some of my favourite new bags!

Misc. patterns

Fleur de lis patterns - pink/brown and red/white/gold

The blue/green paisley series

Some of the funkiest, most colourful IKEA fabrics in my collection

The florals - Pt. I

The florals - Pt. II

The polka dots!

The reds

The ridiculous pile of bags needing to be sewn (many have been sewn since this picture was taken... still, daunting!)

Jason's travels

So my friend Jason won a place in the top 6 of a travel competition this past month, and now he's heading off on an incredible South American adventure! I just got the link to his blog, so in case anybody is interested, you can read about his travels here (also linked to the right). Travel safe, friend!

Travel plans = addictive!

41 days until New Zealand! How exciting! Travel planning is always so much fun. In fact, it's *almost* as fun as the trip itself! Well.... close enough. :o) I love imagining the possibilities of what each travel experience could entail, and then actually budgeting, saving, and making it happen.

The next travel plan after New Zealand is Easter break in Mexico 2011! Jeff and I have been building vacation packages online for the past few hours and now I'm in total travel mode! On our list:

- swimming in underground cenotes on the Coba Mayan Encounter

- parasailing

- partying in Cancun at Senor Frogs, Daddy'O's, Coco Bongo, The City, etc.

- snorkelling at Xel-Ha

- day excursions to Tulum and Chichen Itza

- lounging around in our hotel pool(s) with swim up bars and all-inclusive food/drinks.... ahhh!

- cruising the strip in Cancun for neat shopping, markets, souvenirs, etc.

No real updates otherwise... just felt like sharing the excitement of travel planning!

Better (4 months) late than never, right?

Holy slacker, Batman! I went to update this blog and I realized that my last post was on January 6th... could this qualify for the longest kiwilauren absence yet? Almost 4 months.... yikes! So much has happened. Here are some of the highlights:

- I directed my first musical ("Alice in Wonderland") and it was a hit!

- I took a trip to Calgary/Banff/Edmonton over February break and went skiing, shopping, picture-taking, and visiting friends

- My choir and my Level 2 band won scholarships at our local Music Festival, and all 3 of my bands that I entered scored A's for their performances (yay, girls!)

- I spent a week in the Cayman Islands visiting a friend (AMAZING!) - I snorkelled, held a sting ray, took hundreds of awesome underwater pictures, and got a crazy tan (darn bathing suit tan lines! Should've gone naked!)

- I was hired to play saxophone and flute in the pit band of St. Mary's musical "Honk!" - rehearsals start tomorrow... should be a good time again (I played "Fiddler on the Roof" last year), and I'll make a few extra $$ to toss in the travel fund (yay!)

I've also been selling a ton of handmade bags on facebook and making some extra $$ for my potential trip to Mexico next Easter with my boyfriend Jeff. On my aforementioned trip to Calgary over the February break I bought a bunch of really cute fabric from IKEA, and on the advice of a few friends who I had sewn bags for as Christmas/birthday presents, I decided to start selling my bags. It took off, and now I'm having fun experimenting with different colours, patterns, etc. and seeing where it goes. :o) If anyone needs or wants a new bag (or some easy birthday presents!), check them out on facebook in the group called "Buy My Bags."

And now, in BIG NEWS (!!!!!), I just booked my flights to New Zealand this past week! YAYAYAYAYAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!! I land in Auckland on July 7th and I will be carousing about the country until August 16th. SO excited! It has been almost 3 years (can you believe that?!) and now I'm finally on my way back to kiwi land!!!! There will be many adventures to be had. Fish, Sam, Rich, Kirsten - maybe a weekend trip to Castlepoint? Let's talk!

LOVE!