A long waited things we've been loving....

So what have the MNM’s been up to lately? Have you been wondering? Somehow the first two months of the year have flown by already and it’s autumn already – nooooooooooo! Although the later sunrises in the morning are making for some incredible views from our bedroom window now so it’s not all doom and gloom!

First ever family cricket match 

We enjoyed a lovely family day out at the Sri Lanka v England cricket world cup game and managed to stay till within the last hour of the game. Noah and I arrived a little late as he’d had a hangout at church with other Year 4 boys after the morning service – and it was a great family atmosphere and we ended up sitting with our neighbours and friends from school which helped keep any boredom at bay for the boys – that and the technology we brought along as a back-up too I am sure – LOL! Nothing like back in the day when we were kids and we just had to sit and watch the whole game…ahem!

Embracing the curls

I’ve officially gone three months without straightening my hair – shock horror – who knew that was even possible? I was waiting for some kindly gifted GHD straighteners (such a kind offer by Nikki) to arrive but they went AWOL somewhere between here and the UK and I’ve been hoping against hope they could still turn up. One of these days I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and get some more but even more surprising to me is that I have managed to go SO long without straightening my hair after 11 years of doing so at least weekly if not twice a week!

Monster slide.....ah....then again maybe not!

We didn’t end up riding the Monster Slide and we’re hoping to get a refund sometime soon after they postponed the Wellington venue and which may still get cancelled altogether. I think this was probably a blessing in disguise in the end after hearing some horror stories of injuries and long wait times at other locations around NZ! Our little home water slide investment also met a short watery grave after it sprung a large unfixable tear when we took it up to my gran’s to have a blast on Waitangi weekend – ah well it was super fun while it lasted hey!

A run in with a white tail spider

Mylo had a wee run in with a white-tail spider bite which made his wrist swell up rather large – thankfully the antihistamine and antibiotics did the trick and he was back to normal within a day or two.

Fun at Te Papa

We took the boys to Te Papa to see both the Dinosaur exhibit and the 75^th Air NZ anniversary exhibits which helped pass away a lovely afternoon while the rain poured down outside.

Everyday deliciousness with Chelsea

We went crazy trying out a few new Chelsea Winter recipes within the space of a week – her Perfectly Pretty Hotcakes, a mushroom spinach and herb quiche as well as the Sticky Pork ribs – all from her Everyday Delicious recipe book I reviewed last year. I thought the ribs were SENSATIONAL – high praise from someone who doesn’t enjoy eating meat off the bone most of the time!

Thorndon Summer Pool

We also tried out the Thorndon Summer Pool for the first time ever one Sunday evening – it was particularly refreshing for Mark who’d just endured the hottest 4-hour Akatarawa Attack mountain bike orienteering race he’s done in all his years of competing. We took down our Chelsea Winter quiche and ate at a picnic table in the warm sunshine in our wet togs before going back in for another dip to complete a lovely end to the weekend.

The boy who (willingly reads)

Noah has been busily reading Harry Potter – he’s managed to finish books 1-4 in the past two months. After some real hard graft trying to get him on board to consistently read, it gives my heart such happy butterflies to see him willingly grab his current book and sit down on the couch or in his room to read a chapter in one go. He’s even taking Harry Potter to school to read during their sustained silent reading times. Both the boys have a personal reading challenge at school for the next few weeks – and with the amount Noah’s reading at the moment he will have no trouble achieving this goal!

Famous Five - our newest family tradition

We are four books down in the Famous Five series which we started reading to the boys each night at bedtime at the beginning of the year – they love it so much and especially Mylo who we thought it might still be too grown up for – he’s usually the first to beg for another chapter when we finish the first one – could be something to do with procrastinating at bedtime too I’m sure.

Modern Family - oh how we laugh!

We have been making our way through Modern Family at a rate of knots and are almost caught up with the current 6th season on TV now and I’m happy to report we are enjoying it just as much as when we started way back in season one – I just can’t believe it took us this long to get into it!

Clocking up the kilometres

Now that I seem to have made some progress with the chiropractor getting all my various aches and pains a bit more under control I’ve been able to gradually increasing my pace and distance with running – although occasionally forgetting to start Strava again when I stop for a stretch mid-run which is wildly frustrating when I get to the end and realised I’ve missed a whole part of the run …….grrrr! This week though I was stoked that I managed my best 5k effort yet since I started tracking it and it's not a flat run either!

Then last weekend I also went for an awesome combination bush/road run of 6.8km around our local area and I've decided I so enjoy the bush running in particular as it is so much more interesting than plodding along on the pavement for kilometre after kilometre – I really feel as if my mind has had just as much of a workout as my body having to concentrate on each step. And you might ask how am I going with my goal of 1,000 km walked or run by the end of the year – pretty good I’d say given I’ve already clocked up 233km in just 7 weeks as well as 9 hours on the cycle trainer - unfortunately it's not that easy to track distance on that activity! I did have to invest in some new running pants – my other ones had clearly done their dash as I found myself having to pull them up about 20 times on my bush run on the weekend – and some new trainers are imminently on the cards now too!

Most of all, I'm enjoying feeling like my body is physically capable again of doing all this - last year was a bit of a write-off so this year so far has been a blessed change!

Eleven years of wedded bliss

If you missed it – we celebrated 11 years of marriage a couple of weeks back – and I decided to surprise hubby and came up with the idea of an Amazing Anniversary race for him to do as part of our evening out – the only thing is I realise I have probably shot myself in the foot now by raising the bar so high for future years!

The end of an era

Last month I also had to farewell my amazing Nan at age 97 and 10 months – you can read about her extraordinary life and our wonderful extended family farewell celebrating her life here.

Photo ops galore!

We had an amazing long Waitangi weekend away and I was lucky enough to have good weather and time to get for three different photo sessions – one on Back Beach in near gale force winds with long suffering hubby along for company where I captured one of the most incredible examples of heavenly sun rays I've ever seen, then a polar opposite experience just the next morning with incredible clear dawn skies at Lake Rotomanu and the Whale Bridge. We also trekked up the Tarankai coast that evening for the most magical sunset encounter with The Three Sisters as well – man I love exploring these amazing new-to-us places in NZ!

Adventures just around the corner

We are also counting down the weeks to our next MNM's adventure – this time we are heading up to Gisborne and the East Coast over Easter – it’s another part of NZ we’ve never explored before and I’ve heard it’s incredibly beautiful – if your stomach can cope with the very slow windy roads along the coast though!

Watch this space.....

In other news there are quite a few other things happening behind the scenes which are keeping us super busy on the home front - I can’t say too much more than that until we have more concrete news to report but we do hope to be able to share with you our exciting plans for the next season of the MNM’s adventures within the next six weeks – so watch this space!

Things I'm Loving: end of an era

There may be a very small number of you wondering where the usual Things I'm Loving posts have gone to lately. But then again maybe no-one has even missed it (which is probably the more likely scenario!). Either way, I've decided it's time for Things I'm Loving to head into retirement in its current weekly linky form.

 

Like many others who've noticed comments and interaction dropping on their blogs in recent months, I've also noticed there's been a big drop-off in people joining in each week. The last weekly link got only one post linked up (thanks Nikki from Life's wonderful happenings!) compared to 6-8 each week this time last year and about 15 a week the year before.

As much as I love finding fun and interesting things from far and wide to bring you each week, some weeks it can be a massive rush to get a post out in time by Friday. Most of that pressure is self-imposed I know, and it's a bit silly thinking this but I always feel I don't want to let anyone down who might have a post ready and want to join in.

This year I've also committed to a weekly post in Project 52 and have really been enjoying being more intentional in capturing moments in the boys' lives and for now that feels like enough and where I would rather focus my efforts. Oh that and my current rekindled love affair with photography that I'm wanting to devote a bit more time and energy and therefore more blog posts to as well.

I have over the years managed to crank out near on 200 Things I'm Loving posts, firstly joining up with the gorgeous Kristy at Paisley Jade as the original creator and host of Things I'm Loving back in the day and then taking it on myself over 2 years ago. But life is full of different seasons, and this is the merely the end of a wonderful season with many other equally lovely things to look forward to ahead instead.

That's not to say I won't still write a Things I'm Loving post from time to time because there is always much to love that I'll want to share. But it just won't be week in, week out like it has been.

And so...lastly, thank you.

Thank you, all you lovely people out there who have dug deep to find things that you've loved in good times and bad. Every time you've joined in you've chosen gratitude over grumpiness, and thankfulness in spite of tiredness and trials going on in your life.

It has been my greatest pleasure to have you along with me on this journey and without sounding completely corny (but I know it does anyway, and it's too bad!) it is the thing I've loved the most.

Things I'm Loving: welcoming the dawn at Seatoun Pier with long exposure photography

It was a big effort getting out of bed at 6am on a crisp 3 degree morning on a chance and possibility. The chance to practice my night photography with long exposure shots in a Wellington location that I hoped would do my efforts justice.

It was a whim I was willing to indulge. So in spite of the stinking head cold I'd been fighting all week, I donned 47 layers of clothing, puffer jacket, warm hat and mittens and hit the road at 6.10am.

I'd seen the long range forecast and knew that the forecast for all three days of the long weekend was for fine, frosty weather and no wind. That's unheard of in these parts.

To start with it was just me and the pier. Until I had to share it with some fishermen who were very dedicated to the cause (or crazy like me) being out this early in the freezing cold.

The curve of the bay made for wonderful reflections of street lights in water.

Call me slow to the party but this is really the first time I'd tried out long exposures with this light (or lack of). I think somewhere along the way I'd convinced myself that either my equipment wasn't up to scratch (not true) or I didn't have it in me. Either way I hoped I was wrong.

Setting up a long exposure shot isn't just about pointing and shooting so it does take a little more effort. And shooting in manual mode is something I'm only just now getting the hang of which makes me a bit of a slow learner I know since I've actually had a DSLR for 3 years now (ahem!). Better late than never I suppose.

As well as setting up all the long exposure shots, I had to quickly tweak some dials to catch the first ferry of the day chug her way out of the harbour leaving a trail of smoke billowing behind her as she went.

The pier proved itself more than worthy a photo subject during the time I was there.

After an hour with stiff and frozen finger tips that no amount of blowing or rubbing would fix, I was more than ready to call it a day.

But just at that moment the sun rose.

And I couldn't bring myself to leave.

Not yet anyway.

My fingers would just have to hold on for a while longer.

They managed to tweak a few dials and set up a few more shots which I think were worth the extra wait.

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something you can be thankful for..no matter how simple it is. 

Here's how you can join in this week:

Link up below with your blog post telling us what you're loving, and grab the Things I'm Loving button below for your post too. Don't forget to share the love by visiting all the other lovelies who have joined in - the linky is open till same time next week!


<br /> <a href="http://meghanandmark.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/Things%20Im%20Loving"><img src="http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa455/meghankf/Buttons/ThingsImLoving.png " height="160" width="160" /></a></center>

Things I'm Loving: Early one morning, late one night

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something you can be thankful for..no matter how simple it is.

I love photography. And some days I also hate it.

I know the shots I want to take. And I get frustrated when they don't turn out quite as I imagine them to be.  

And yet I know the only way I'll change that is by investing. Time. And lots of it. 

Starting by overcoming the urge to stay in bed on one of the only two days a week I'm not already up at 5.30am.

Choosing the potential to create an amazing opportunity over the desire to just stay a while longer with eyes closed. 

And so on this morning, I took a chance.

And fell in love all over again with this city.

I saw her opening herself up to the new day.

Opening her sleepy eyelids to greet the dawn.

I watched her allowing the day to caress and warm her cheeks.

This city, she opened her arms wide.

Embracing the possibility of the day.

And much much later, when the day is nearly done, I saw her exhale.

I saw the city allowing herself a moment, this moment, to simply enjoy the bokeh dancing before her eyes.

And the cars with their lights streaming all over the city providing an incredible all over body massage for her.

And when the moon rises, it's like a candle being lit over a romantic dinner for two, just me and her.

We linger over our meal, and sip the most delicious dessert wine signalling the stars to come out to play.

I learnt so much from this one day armed with patience and tripod and allowing the city to enamour and wrap herself around me with loving arms.

Here's how you can join in this week:

Link up below with your blog post telling us what you're loving, and grab the Things I'm Loving button below for your post too. Don't forget to share the love by visiting all the other lovelies who have joined in - the linky is open till same time next week!


<br /> <a href="http://meghanandmark.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/Things%20Im%20Loving"><img src="http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa455/meghankf/Buttons/ThingsImLoving.png " height="160" width="160" /></a></center>