Chlo-lo.

This is my Mum’s dog Chloe. I call her Chlo-lo sometimes cause it sounds cuter. She’s a wee bit spoilt by Mum. Whenever her and my stepdad leave Chloe at home while they go out she waits by the door for them and always looks devastated when they’re gone. Such a silly one. But I love her. She’s pretty good at cuddles.

Christmas in Bethlehem.

I always love Christmas at my Mum’s place in Bethlehem (convenient name for Christmas time). So much food. Actually it doesn’t have to be Christmas time for that. She always makes way too much food for us whenever we go stay. She’s just like her mother, constantly offering food and trying to make us have another plate full. Love her!

That second photo is my Mum’s awesome whipped cream. I don’t even like whipped cream but I love her one. She adds pure vanilla extract to it with the little black biddy bits in it (I should know what that is actually called right?). Hook won’t eat pancakes without whipped cream so I had to get Mum to make some up. Nom nom nom.

Nearly every single photo that was taken that day that had me in it, I was on my phone. Not cool. Sometimes I just don’t know when to ‘un-plug’.

Also, check out that awesome old tree. For some reason Mum refuses to buy a new one even though that one is falling to bits and malts everywhere. As much as I think it’s awful, I will miss it when she gets rid of it.

Those bright lights.

Some of the snaps that Hook got while we were at Temple View in Hamilton over the Christmas break. Pretty lights.

Instagram Christmas: Part Three

HAMILTON / RAGLAN

Hook and I went to see the lights at Temple View on Christmas Day. So pretty.

Boxing Day was spent in Raglan at the camping grounds with my Dad’s side of the family. It was a beautiful day, even with some grey clouds lingering. We ate food, swapped gifts, wandered around the air strip, watched my brother climb a tree, found a lost dog and returned it to it’s owner and then headed back to Hamilton.

That wraps up my Instagram Christmas shots (see Part One and Part Two). Hopefully I’ll have some nicer photos from the 5D to show you all soon too.

Instagram Christmas: Part Two

MOUNT MAUNGANUI {AKA THE MOUNT}

Hook and I are making it a tradition to walk up The Mount every time we visit the Bay of Plenty. This time didn’t work out so well. I’m so unfit that I literally couldn’t make it past a third of the way up. MUST do something about my fitness levels asap. It’s ridiculous. I’m such a weakling. Hook did manage to get some good photos of me, the views and a sheep though which I will post later. Since I was feeling down about my fitness I decided to cheer myself up with a Copenhagen Cone – gold rush (the best ice cream ever), whipped cream and chocolate sauce in a waffle cone. YUM!

Instagram Christmas: Part One

TAURANGA

Fireworks at the local shops by my Mums house. Probably should have thought about the fact there was even going to be fireworks there before bringing Chloe (my Mum’s dog) with us. Poor thing was not happy the whole situation.

It was ridiculously hot in the sun in Tauranga. It buuuurned. I ended up getting into my bikini and doing some sunbathing whilst blogging. Didn’t last too long in the sun though – too hot, too quickly. Got back under the umbrella and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon.

I showed my Mum my new iPhone 4S. She was pretty impressed. Particularly with Siri, even if Siri didn’t understand my New Zealand accent and didn’t recognize my mothers name at all.

I ate SO much. Which I guess is what you’re meant to do at Christmas time right? Two days before Christmas I had two helpings of pavlova for dessert, and then a third helping for breakfast. That was silly. We had pancakes for breakfast on Christmas Day and then had amazing crayfish and turkey for lunch. My aunty made a pumpkin pie which I had never tried before. First bite and I was totally hooked. Pumpkin pie is AMAZING. I don’t like pumpkin so it was a good thing that’s not what it tasted like. And the texture was to die for. Must get the recipe off her!

This is Chloe. She really did not appreciate the Christmas crackers that we opened. The bang really freaked her out. And then one of the little toys that came in it was what I would call a ‘clacker’. You flick it around with your wrist and it makes very loud ‘clacking’ sounds. She HATED that. She ran as far as she could get in the house away from the noise. Chloe hid in the bathroom and did not want to get out. I coaxed her out after a while and then my silly brother thought it would be funny to use the clacker again. Chloe bolted to my bedroom and hid under my dresser. She stared at the door in anticipation of more horrible sounds. I left her there so that she would settle herself down. Poor thing!

Home bound.

Today is my last day of work for 2011. And by day I mean half day. Woo!  We have our team’s Christmas lunch today and after I eat far too much food I am heading back to the apartment to pack and then Hook and I will be driving down to Tauranga. Home. I grew up in the Bay of Plenty and I really miss seeing my family and the beach (an actual beach, not a bay that people try to palm off as a beach) every day.

I will be staying at my Mum’s until Christmas Day and then will head to Hamilton that evening to see Hook’s Mum and then spend Boxing Day with my Dad’s side of the family in Raglan. So much travelling!

I’m both looking forward to and dreading walking up the Mount again. It just reminds me of how terribly unfit I am. But at the same time it has the most stunning views (like the photo above that we took last Christmas) around it that in the end makes it worth it.

Holiday time. Bring it on!

Counting down the days.

Just one and a half days of work to go before my holidays begin. Three and a bit weeks of freedom! I won’t even know what to do with myself and I’m sure it will go way too quickly. Crazy looking forward to heading to Tauranga, The Mount and Raglan to see my family. I hope to play a lot of board games, have a lot of chats, eat far too much food and soak up the sun.

Above is an advent calendar that my flatmate’s mother made before she was born. So it’s OVER 20 years old. It’s still in such good condition. I’ve never really liked chocolate advent calendars – not the bought ones anyway because the chocolate is always so budget and yuck tasting. We don’t have enough room in our small apartment for a Christmas tree so this works so well for us! Every day we add a new ornament to the tree and count down till Christmas day.