soap opera Sunday

Every Sunday, I look forward to catching up on Home and Away, a wildly popular soap opera from Australia, where lots of Australian actors get their start.  The show is on daily, for a half an hour, but on Sunday, they run the omnibus, with the week's episodes back-to-back with no commercials!  It's nice that I've been able to get into a show that's almost local.  It's not the best show in the world, but it's one of the few non-American shows I like to keep tabs on!

cotton-headed ninny-muggins

Last night we watched Elf, one of our new traditions for the Christmas season, watching one Christmas movie per week.  We've also watched Love Actually, and have several more on the list, including It's A Wonderful Life, Home Alone, and (if we can find it) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!

I was delighted to receive a Christmas care package from my parents today in the mail!  It was jam packed with Christmas goodies, peanut clusters and peanut brittle, and some foods I've been craving, kettle corn and Cholula (finally!!!).  My mom created cute gift baskets for Bret and I with candies, tea, and 'stockings' of Dr. Pepper jelly beans.  There were a few Christmas decorations and a candle, and our home certainly feels more prepared for the holidays!  It's been a wonderful and relaxing Saturday, and an overall enjoyable weekend!!!

National Jandal Day!

Across New Zealand, today is National Jandal Day!  Jandal=flip-flops!  So in honor, I think I am going to sport the sandals today!

Typical Thursday...

Thursday nights are my favorite.  They've been affectionately deemed TV THURSDAY!  Like I've mentioned before, we are without cable and barely get the 3 local stations.  And usually there is nothing good on.  Most of the shows are far behind the actual seasons in the states, and lots of them are some I never watched before, but find myself looking forward to here:  House, Law and Order, Rachael Ray, etc.  Back in Omaha, where I sought supreme comfort in my investment of a DVR, I often found myself in a rut with nothing to watch on the 100 channels and recorded programs.  But Thursday in New Zealand is a whole other story.

The night starts with Survivor Gabon.  I haven't watched Survivor since the first season, when it was all the rage, and I distinctly remember the catchphrase 'You have been voted off the island".  In fact, I was voted off a trip to Grandma's by my friend Rachel and her brother and friend that same year, total Survivor-style...for talking too much, imagine that!  I have been on the edge of my seat week to week wrapped up in the drama of Survivor Gabon, even though I know Google could instantaneously tell me the winner since it's so far behind (please don't spoil it for me)!  After Survivor, CSI Miami is on.  Again, I never watched any show even remotely like the CSI series, and if I were going to, the Miami version would not be the one.  All I can remember is a stupid YouTube video that Bret showed me of all of Horatio's one-liners in the show, accompanied with the trademark, glamourous way of putting on his shades, with excerpts of that annoying Who theme song.  Therefore, I cannot take the show seriously and think of it more of a comedy with drawn out music-videoesque sequences analyzing DNA.  And when good ol' Horatio comes on the screen, I can't wait to hear what his next ridiculously profound discovery will be.  It's a riot.  Lastly, to wrap up the evening, is Girls of the Playboy Mansion.  A few seasons behind, it's comforting to chill with Bridget, Holly, and Kendra, although, they too, are a little hard to take serious.

Overall, I relish in TV THURSDAY because it is an escape from the kiwi shenanigans and accent, and I can find myself surrounded by American television, as bad as it may be. 

When 4-year-olds style hair...

...you get 44 clips and a blurry picture.

creativity

Remember Hama beads from when we were kids?  You put the tubular, short beads on a grid of pokey things in whatever pattern you want.  Then, with adult supervision, you put a special piece of paper over it and iron away until the beads melt together.  I loved the beads then and I still do now.  I've been doing them nearly everyday at work for two weeks with the 4-year-old and was seriously running out of ideas.  However, I remembered our nearly naked Christmas tree at home, and decided to get creative by making an ornament.

NZ 08 (I know it's almost impossible to see without thinking it's one of those colorblind tests, but humor me)!

hello December!

What?!  Already?  Sometimes I can't believe we're here at all!  And that it's December, how did that happen?  Recovering from yesterday's severe food coma has proved definitely challenging today as I headed straight back to work for 8 hours and then off to the gym to teach yoga.  My body is screaming for some attention in the form of sleep.  A month ago, I was complaining about not having enough to do, and now I am back to my old ways, working like crazy!  When it rains, it pours, I guess, but I am certainly thankful!!!