Life Lately - Day 14 of Blogtember

Well, you know what.. Life is good.

Happy Monday everyone!

Friday Fail

On Friday night we watched World War Z.

I made us a cup of tea.

All the lights were out. Only the glow of the tv gave me an outline of the kitchen.

We drank our tea.

And when we finished we realized, there was were no tea bags in the mugs.

That's how good the movie was I guess.

Nice one Sarah.

Comfort... Day 13 of Blogtember

Better late than never...

Here are some things that mean "comfort" to me.

Hot tea.

Cuddles.

Laughing.

Warm blankets.

Walking through the gates at Auckland International Airport and seeing my parents.

White sheets and matching robes.

Getting photos and videos of my nephew on viber.

A hot shower after a day in the field.

Looking into the eyes of my meow.

Having a hot cup of Bell tea and some toast with Marmite.

A glass of Chandon with a bestie. Hearing another bestie laugh.

Walking outside and smelling fresh air. Feeling grass under my toes. Feeling rain drip down my neck. 

Reading my favorite Barry Crump book.

Watching an old movie.

Little things bring me comfort. Because its the little things that count. 

The prompt for Blogtember day 12 - react to "comfort". To see more about Blogtember you can check out Jenni's blog, Story of My Life. 

Wait.... No Fall?

So I learned a sad thing yesterday.. 

As the blogging world goes crazy for Fall, with photos of golden leaves, pumpkins and cardigans, I am sitting here sweating in Houston. A friend told me that there isn't really Fall in Houston, just a kind of humid, cloudy month or two and then one day you notice it's cooler and then it's winter. 

Bugger.

So, I have taken this as a challenge to seek out Fall (or Autumn) as we call it in Kiwi land. I am on the look out for any sign and will be letting y'all know in a series affectionately named, "Fall, where are you?".

If any of you know places in Houston that I might find evidence of Fall, please let me know. It seems that in going to need all the help I can get. 

This is what I am looking for.. We shall see. Source.

 

Throwback Thursday - Happy Birthday Child-o!

This week I am thinking about a fellow badger lover, whose birthday is this week...

Renee I wrote you a poem. Cos Im pretty talented. A word smith if you will. If I wrote a book about you it would be with all the words in this poem.

R ad and Riccadona drinker
E ntertaining and good at Soduku
N utty
E ater of cheese. Like really, cheese monger
E asily the best laugh ever

S uper sweet and goofy
C reative and smart
H appiest when with her family and friends
I ntelligent. Like, majorly smart
c ooker of cakes and yum things. Especially cinnamon pinwheel scones
K arate kicking kid
E nthusiastic badger fanatic 
R eader of many books. Mostly ones with words in them



Happy birthday poppet, I love you and miss your face xox 

Turn Around Bright Eyes - Day 6 of Blogtember

Or how I ended up licking rocks, hunting fossils and peeing in a cave.


So, my first word was "water".
My favorite animal as a child was an Orca. And I would inform people quite quickly that "Actually, I think you will find than an Orca is a mammal". Cos I totally rated myself as the ultimate fountain of knowledge on Whales and/or Dolphins.
My birthday and christmas present requests were generally Cetacean related.
I could pronouce "Marine Biologist" before I could count to 50.

I was that kid. Yep. My whole life I wanted to be a Marine Biologist. I mean like, every class in school was based on that and it was just my ultimate dream. So, when the time came, I packed up and moved away to University in order to fulfill this dream.

Nek Minnit (as they say), I took a class on it.

And you know what? I just didn't really like it. Go figure.

At the same time as I was not really loving the class, I turned up to a class that I hadn't really read the description of (yep, nice future planning Sarah).  In the first lecture we were told there would be a week long field trip, mapping the geology in a Valley near Port Waikato. At that point, I nearly left class. Honestly, at that point in my "personality" or life I guess, it just didn't interest me. But I stayed.

And thank goodness for that.

I took the class. Went on the field trip. And absolutely LOVED the geology. It just made sense to me. And, it seemed like a discipline where I could take my passion for all the other sciences, and combine them to enjoy this exciting and interesting field of knowledge. It explained all the processes occurring around me, shaping the earth. I was hooked. On that first mapping trip we found fossils, saw waterfalls, climbed up hills, climbed down hills, rocked around the paddocks, got charged at by bulls, fell in a stream, saw some absolutely stunning parts of New Zealand, laughed our arses off and just really had fun.

That was that. I got my first A+ at University and for the first time, more importantly, I really enjoyed the class and field work. But that field trip was when, in my own mind, I became a geologist - my turning point, well and truly. And, as cheesy as it sounds, I have never looked back. 

Wading through a Lahar on Ruapehu.

Often my role on a field trip was being a lumpy kind of scale.

Fi and I on Ngauruhoe.

At the smallest outcrop in history. I look pretty impressed.

Rob and I taking a break from the mighty climb, Ngauruhoe.

Rob and I at my Masters field site. Safety glasses and beanies. Hot stuff.

This is my post for Day 6 of Blogtember. Today's prompt is to discuss a turning point in your life. To read more about Blogtember you can check out my posts from the first week, or head over to the "Story of My Life blog" here.

Thanks to Fiona for the shot of Rob and I on Ngauruhoe. But other than that....
Please note, since these photos were before the age of the selfie, If I am in the shot, I honestly don't know who took them. They were in my folder of random field photos, so an amazing field buddy must have taken each one. If you see it, and you took it, holla at me. And thanks for the pics! xox

Etsy Love - Vintage Embroidery

Hey my fellow Etsy lovers,
This week I am stalking Etsy looking for beautiful vintage embroidery to add to my new collection!

These are my favorite 10 pieces.. Aren't they so cute! So much work in each one. The store names are under each pic, take a look at all their goodies!

Tessie May

Wichtel Werkstatt

Lightning Bugz

Lindie Kayes

Alderbrook Antiques

Lightning Bugz

Vintage Cornucopia

Queenies Vintage Finds

Austin Metro Retro

Pherds Finds

ENFJ WTF LOL - Day 5 of Blogtember.

Personality tests. Well, yep. I'm not generally a big fan of them. But, I do get a kick out of the results.
If you would like to take the test, you can click here.
I thought it would be a fun activity to go through mine together. Let's do it!

I am, according to Mr C Jung, Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging. Or an ENFJer.

Here is a summary of who I am, as defined by being an ENFJ.

The very first line says that, I am a "benevolent 'pedagogue' of humanity". Yes, ladies and gentleman. A benevolent pedagogue. Not a normal pedagogue, but a benevolent one. I can honestly say that is the first time I have ever been labelled a benevolent pedagogue. Oh no, wait. I think I was called it once in a rousing game of, "I know you are, I said you are, but what am I?".

The second line states that I have tremendous charisma, which is obviously true. Charisma being a word that I learned from Pauly Shore in "Son in Law" when I was 8, along with "ming'i'ling", "yeah buddy" and "cruuusty".

On the plus side it says I am a global learner, can see the bigger picture and am good at juggling. Unfortunately, it also says that I may try and draw people into my "nurturant tutelage" and/or "grand schemes" (something Rob is always telling me off for), and that  sometimes my unique salesmanship leads to me manipulating people. Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Reading further into this profile, I feel like it is starting to get personal (get it. Ba doom boom). It says I may have "thinner psychological boundaries than most....". Thanks man. I thought I was hiding my veiled psychosis quite well. I think it is also saying I don't have many friends. But that I am good with people.


So that's me. A charismatic, benevolent pedagogue, who can learn and juggle, with minimal friends but who understands people. Now you know a bit more about me, wanna be my friend?

For your reference it says I share this personality with John Cusack (yay) and Randy Quaid (eek).


This is my fifth post as part of Blogtember challenge. You can read up about it here.

Snap Happy

Some shots from our weekend... xo

We had a such a great anniversary! Thanks for all the kind words and messages, we are feeling very happy : )
Thanks for stopping by.. How was your weekend?