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!

Kiwi Experience contest entry has arrived!

In case you missed my last post, I have entered a competition with Kiwi Experience to win an incredible prize package that includes 2 flights to NZ, 2 travel passes for the entire country, 20 nights accommodation for 2, 2 return Interislander ferry passes, and 20 of their favourite Kiwi Experience activities, plus a camera to top it all off! This prize is worth thousands of dollars, and is SO right up my alley, especially considering the fact that I'm coming to NZ in July anyway!

So, if you feel so inclined (please!) to go vote for my entry on www.kiwiexperience.com, follow this link and sign up for an account (I promise they don't e-mail you unless you sign up to receive their newsletter), then post a comment in the box under my video explaining why you think I'm a "legend", as this is the theme of the competition.

The video can be found on the Kiwi Experience website at:

http://www.kiwiexperience.com/Communities/Pages/DisplayPost.aspx?PostId=1229

Thanks in advance for your help!

Also, you can check out the video here before you vote so you can see what you're voting for! :o)

2010... the year of the kiwiland return!

Hello friends! So here I am again, after yet another deplorable 3-month hiatus from Lauren's Kiwi Adventures. I've kept up with most of you in other online areas (yay, facebook!), so I suppose this isn't much of an update per se, but here I am anyway. I have to admit, I've kind of missed this place!

In recent news, I had a great Christmas holiday. I headed out east to Falcon Lake, MB (about a 10-hour drive from where I live) on the 26th to meet up with 4 of my closest friends from IMC who had made the trek from Brandon, Winnipeg, and 2 different cities in North Dakota. We had rented a gorgeous cabin for 3 nights, and spent all of our time relaxing, skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, and definitely lounging around in the hot tub on our deck! Our American friends were held up a bit on the way there because the highways out of Fargo were closed for a few days, so they ended up missing our first night at the cabin, but we made up for lost time once they got there. :o) It was an action-packed and yet relaxing 3 days... beautiful scenery, loads of laughs, and great friends!



I came back from MB on New Year's Eve and spent a quiet night in with my boyfriend Jeff. I had driven for 8 hours that day, and I didn't start my trip home until 1pm so I drove most of the way in the dark (ahh, yes, Canadian winters.... sun sets at 4:30pm these days)... but Jeff brought over a pizza and we watched a movie, and it was glorious. In fact, it was so relaxing that we actually fell asleep before midnight, and woke up at about 12:10 to say "Happy New Year!" How anti-climactic! Haha. But in reality, it was exactly what I needed. A great start to 2010 indeed!

So yes, in case you haven't done a double take yet, I did say "boyfriend" in that last paragraph. It's the first time I've said that since the summer of 2008 so the term feels a bit strange, but to be honest it's pretty good. Jeff and I have been together for a month now so it's still very new, but so far things are going really well and we're just enjoying spending time with each other. He's really a great guy, very easy to talk to, quick-witted, thoughtful, etc. etc. (insert swoony commentary here). He's also not a big fan of pictures/Internet social networking, etc. so there won't be much on here about him.... but there you have it. He has at least been introduced. :o)

So I go back to work on Wednesday. The school year is flying by, and before you know it, I will be making my return to New Zealand! It's absolutely crazy to think about how quickly my countdown is diminishing... it has been 26 months since I left NZ, and now only 6 months left until I'm back there! Amazing. I am currently plodding away at a Kiwi Experience competition entry as well, hoping to win a huge prize package for 2 including flights, travel passes, accommodations, activities, etc. I made a video set to "Jump Around" by House of Pain, which promptly had the audio removed upon uploading to www.kiwiexperience.com/YouTube because of potential copyright infringement, so I've been trying to work around that (by posting to Facebook and sending on the link to the people at Kiwi Ex, burning my project to DVD and mailing it to NZ, etc.) but just in case I've created another video for the contest, this time on www.animoto.com. That site is INCREDIBLE, and if you're into iMovie/photo and video montage type things, you should definitely check it out! Stay tuned for more info on the competition... I could really use your help to win the prize (even though I only blog once every 3 months!). :oD

Enough blabbering for now. Catch you fine folks soon! Love!

Picniking just for fun

Yes, I'm still here, I'm still alive, and life is still grand. I have become an incredible blog slacker, but at least I keep up on Facebook (to say the least!)!

Work is fabulous again this year, and my newest project is acting as the Musical Director for our school's production of "Alice in Wonderland" - the cast list was posted yesterday and I'm excited about a lot of the roles we cast! It will be an awesome challenge with what I predict to be just as awesome rewards at the end. :o)

Thanksgiving weekend is coming up (but never soon enough! Hurry, Friday!), and so in the spirit of the holiday, I will list a few things that I am thankful for today:

1. My parents and my sister. They are amazing.

2. My health. It's here, it's strong, and it's allowing me to continue my fitness regime that I had started in the spring (but abandoned over the summer due to being out of town for nearly 2 months and allowing my gym membership to expire).

3. My friends who treat me wonderfully and make me feel special and important.

4. My dog who keeps me feeling like a 10-year-old inside.

5. My students who make me laugh every day.

6. My comfy bed (although I think I need to spend more time sleeping in it... I'm exhausted today!).

7. Music in every sense of the word. Being able to create is one of the most important things in my life.

8. Meeting new people to spend time with.

9. Technology, which allows me to do cool things like create and burn DVDs of my students' computer assignments so that we can have a "movie night" (during class time), complete with popcorn, to watch everyone's presentations.

10. The gorgeous fall colours in Saskatchewan, and the great friends who will explore it with you, camera in hand.

Life is good.

Have some Picniked photos (www.picnik.com). :o) Happy Tuesday!

Back after a 3 month hiatus... with pictures!

My goodness. This has been the worst blog slack to date! It has been nearly 3 months, and I'm back. A lot has happened in that time, and life has been chugging along as usual! I finished up the school year on a positive note with a visit from my dear friend Heath from New Zealand (yay!), then I packed up and headed down to International Music Camp for 3 weeks. After IMC I spent 2 weeks in Saskatoon teaching at band camps there, then I sang at my friends Kirby and Adam's wedding... then, after spending a week at the lake with my mom, I packed up and did a 4-day back country hike in Banff, Alberta. Gorgeous!!!

Now I'm back and am ready(ish) to start a new school year. Here are just a few photo highlights from the past 3 months (out of order because I forgot how the blogger upload thing worked!):

Kirby and Adam's wedding - July 31st, 2009

Twin Lakes, Banff, AB

Shadow Lake, Banff, AB

Haiduk Peak - we camped under this peak on our 2nd night on the trail

Whistling Pass, Banff, AB - full of whistling, screaming marmots! Cool.

Haiduk Lake, Banff, AB - we stopped here for lunch on hiking day 2.

The complete picture - poles, pack, mountains, trees...

Catching up with my old roommate Scott in Saskatoon - Aug 2009

Meeting my friend Jessica's daughter Madelyn - Aug 2009

Canoeing on Brightsand Lake with mom - Aug 3, 2009

Heath's SK visit - June 21st, 2009 :oD

1... 2... 3... JUMP! IMC 2009

Dressed up for Tim and Christine's IMC wedding reception - July 2009

With the girls at IMC - July 16th, 2009

With Ginger and Savannah @ IMC - July 2009

I'm not sure I have the time or energy to update on everything from the past 3 months, nor do I think you'd all like to read every detail... so I'll let the pictures do the talking. :o)

Aside from the more impending "back-to-school" time, the next big thing that I'm getting really excited about is my trip back to New Zealand in less than a year now. Can you believe it has been 2 years since I was there last?! Time flies. I haven't booked any flights yet, but will do that at some point throughout the year when I (hopefully) find a really great seat sale. I can't wait to see all of you! I might be bringing my friend Hannah with me, if all things go according to plan. Nothing is certain yet.

Well, there you have it. A random smattering of updates. Students come back to school on Wednesday, I'm singing at my brother-in-law's sister's wedding on the 29th, my friend Quenton is being ordained on Sept. 1st, my friend Danny is coming home from Calgary for the September long weekend.... there's always something going on! Life certainly hasn't slowed down any, and that's just the way I like it. :o)

Until next time... let's not leave 3 months in between!