A Chocolate Fish

Hard to believe that another year has arrived already!  I’m still trying to figure out where 2011 went.  It flew past pretty damn quick.  It wasn’t the greatest of years, with all the natural disasters occuring, the horrific Christmas road toll  and other bits and pieces, but we survived.
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Wowee wowee I’m so excited right now!!!  I have the most exciting trip planned for next year with one of my favourite friends  After many years of saving and dreaming, I can finally say I’m going to Europe.  The part I’m most excited about?  The possibility that I’ll be able to go to King’s Cross Station in London and visit Platform 9 & 3/4.  Actually, I’m super excited about going to London in general.  Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Tower of London . . . ooohhhhh, I can’t wait!
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I haven’t blogged in a while, but I guess I haven’t really had too much to blog about.  Life is ticking along nicely, there’s a couple of things that I’m less than happy with, but they’re beyond my control so meh.  I’ll just deal with things as they come.  I’m happy to report that I’m very close to achieving one of the goals I set myself earlier this year – losing 7kg.  I did originally have a deadline of my birthday, but better late than never!

I have found, though, that there’s been some good music coming out lately.  Well, what I think of as good music.  I would say (with my wealth of industry knowledge ha ha ha :p) that we’ll start seeing a lot more summer type songs coming out from Kiwi artists as we get closer to summer.  Yay!  And I will go on record to say my least anticipated album ever is Justin Beiber’s Christmas album.  I love Christmas songs and everything about Christmas, but I could not think of anything worse than a whole album of Justin Beiber Christmas songs.  Kill.  Me.  Now.

Anyway, here’s what I’m loving at the moment:

Sara Barellies – Gonna Get Over You

I came across this little gem by accident while surfing on YouTube the other day.  It’s so cheery, and the slightly awkward dancing makes it just that little bit better

Rihanna – Cheers (Drink to That)

Normally I cannot stand Rihanna.  But the more I hear this song, the more I like it.

Six60 – Don’t Forget Your Roots

Good Kiwi music from a group of guys from Dunedin, think this is about to become one of my summer songs

Gotye feat Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know

When I first heard this song, I wasn’t all that keen on it.  But it’s grown and grown on me.  And the video is amazing.

This dude

I LOVE Queen.  I have been known to belt out their songs whilst showering, washing dishes, ironing and driving.  Most Freddie Mercury impersonators usually don’t quite make the grade.  But this dude, awesome.  He’s even got a bit of a Freddie Mercury look going on!

I think it goes without saying that music forms a big part of my life.  Music to me is one of those things that can fit virtually any space, it can change your emotions in a instant.  And it’s something that will be around for years to come.

As part of my birthday present, my sister gave me a bag of mini chocolate fish (I’m so easy to please!).  Now this was almost 1kg of mini chocolate fish, so I wasn’t quite sure how to make the best use of them.  So I decided to modify a recipe that I’ve used before – Alison Holst’s recipe for Moro Muffins, from her book More Marvellous Muffins.  (I’d share the recipe here, but I don’t want to breach copyright or anything)
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My new job involves me returning to daily public transport use after a year out of it.  Over the last few weeks, I have come to the following conclusions about how not to be a dick on the bus:

• If you have to stand, please face forward.  Having your crotch (or your ass) right by someone’s face is just so disconcerting.  And wrong.
• Unless you bag has a dog, cat or child in it, it doesn’t need a seat all on it’s own.
• The bus is not your office.  No else really cares what you do in your job.  And does your work really need to call you at 7.30 in the morning?
• Have a shower.  Or wear some deodorant.
• Try and hold in your fart if at all possible.  Some buses don’t have windows.
• The person beside you is right beside you.  Not at the other end of the bus.
• Get your money or your ticket out before you get on the bus.  Duh.
• The whole bus doesn’t really want to hear what you’re listening to.  That’s why they’re called headphones.
• Offer your seat to an elderly or disabled person, or a pregnant woman.

Most people that use public transport are pretty awesome.  But there always has to be one . . .

I figure you can never have enough happiness in your life.  So when I saw this, I thought it would be awesome to sign up and take up the challenge. The Happiness Challenge.

Each month a there is a new theme and each week there is a new challenge. It sounds like it will be quite interesting to do, and I always need a challenge!

If you want to join me, you can sign up here:

I’ll keep you updated on how I’m going! It’s never too late to start!

Yeah, I’ve been lazy with my blogging.  I know.  But hey, shit happens.

Anyway, here’s a quick update of what’s been happening in the last few months:
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My cat is a determined creature.  If she wants something, she will go out of her way to get it.

If she wants to come inside, she’ll let us know.  To the point where once the neighbour called us because our cat sounded so pathetic.
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So as I was walking to work the other day, I had a wee bit of an epiphany.

My tag line for this site is “Making Life a Little Bit Sweeter”.  But a lot of my posts lately have been just the opposite – they’ve been a little bitter.

So today I decided to change that.  
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Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.
- Blaise Pascal

There is a poster that I have on my bedroom wall and above my desk at work that I read everyday. It is this (click on the image to make it bigger):

My favourite line from it is the last one: “live your dream and wear your passion”.  It’s something that I aspire to do every day.  But herein lies the problem.
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I don’t know what happened lately, but I seem to have had a bit of a bad run with purchasing things.  (Bear with me, there is a point to this  )

First up, I purchased a pair of shoes when I was on a trip to Wellington in February – the size I need wasn’t in stock, but I was assured by the person serving me that more pairs were coming on  a shipment that was due in March, so if I wanted to pay there and then, they would courier them to me when I arrived.  Sounded good to me, so I happily handed over the card and my details and wandered off, quite content not to have to take them home with me that day (I was already pushing my luggage limits . . . ).  
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It’s the little things in life that make it awesome.

It’s patting your cat every morning and every night.

It’s picking up the phone and call your friends to say hi.

It’s standing on your deck and watch the stars at night.

It’s walking down the road without fear.
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For so many years, I have struggled with myself.  Or moreso, my perception of myself.

Me in Year 13. (Yes, I was a prefect)

It took me years to be comfortable in my own skin.  And even now, I’m still not fully comfortable in it.  I was never one of the popular girls at school – I wasn’t blonde, blue eyed and skinny (and I’m still not, as a matter of fact!).  Probably didn’t help that I was kind of odd – I would much rather have my nose in a book than be doing something else and, *shock, horror*, I actually liked school.  Stone the flaming crows.
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Isn’t it funny how through the day you can get all these awesome ideas, but then when you sit down to actually carry them out, they all suddenly disappear out the window?  I had a few ideas for some blog posts today, but now that I’ve actually sat down to write my blog, they seem to have taken off at high speed out the door.

One of the things that I can remember what I was going to write about was the law of attraction.  I’ve heard some pretty crappy news over the last couple of weeks, people dying, pets dying etc., and quite frankly I’m getting over it.  Where is all the happy news in the world?  
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Happy New Year all!  Holy schmolys, where did 2010 go?   One moment it seemed like there was still ages to go, the next thing you know I’m standing in a campground at Kerikeri with friends rocking out to the Final Countdown by Europe.

2010 was certainly an interesting year for me – it started out like absolute rubbish, but it ended in a most awesome way.  It’s amazing, looking back, how far you can come in one year.  I would never have guessed that I would go from being at the bottom of a very deep black hole to being on top of the world in 12 months.
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