Waikuku Welcome

 

 

 

 

What a welcome home I received on Tuesday. The sun was BLAZING and the beach was perfect.

The weeds hadn't stopped growing or pulled themselves out though. A bit rude, I thought.

 

 

 

 

It was a great day to come home to because as much as I loved Auckland and was insanely jealous of all the cool restaurants, flower markets and shops. They do not have Waikuku Beach on Ponsonby Road.

Talk about our happy place. I mean, this was Guy's lunch break!!! I got up to my knees while frolicking in the waves and it was actually quite warm. If I had a cossie I would have dived straight in....up to my waist, because I'm not a huge fan of the ocean. I know, gasp! Am I even a kiwi? I promise I am, don't get me wrong, I LOVE sand....I could lie on that all day. But the ocean... As soon as something touches my foot I can't get out fast enough (it makes surfing hard, which is why I don't do it), some may call me paranoid, bit I ask you....why are so many scary movies based on the sea? Jaws 1-100, Open Water, which also had a sequel...because 2 people being eaten by sharks just wasn't enough and then there was Deep Blue Sea.... The one where a shark eats Samuel L. Jackson like he's a French fry.

It's because there are scary things in the ocean that can eat you. I'm a river girl, give me a river to swim in any day! The only scary river movie I can think of is River Wild, which means I only need to fear Kevin Bacon while swimming.... And seeing as Kev lives in Hollywood, I think I'm in the clear.

OK, see how my brain works...wildly off topic in milliseconds. No wonder my report cards always said 'easily distracted'. Back to the wonders of Waikuku, which only has happy vegetarian sharks with full bellies swimming near it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn't all play mind you, I did pull out a trailer full of weeds from our front mound and help finish off a fence and some irrigation. I also did some drop saw cavity batten cutting the other day, which I forgot to tell you all about. It was very exciting and made me feel like a real builder. That's what's been happening on the house lately, cavity battens and flashings....they don't exactly make for great photos and reading.... But I took a photo anyway.

 

 

 

Whenever I look at this photo all I can think about is the future decking..... how great it will be to sit on and look out at the native bush that we planted (at my feet) and all the happy birds tweeting away their thank you's for their bushy retreat. I will cheers them with a pimms and wish them a good day eating worms and berries and pooping on people's heads for luck. Truly the only living thing that could get away with such a thing, I'm pretty sure a bird started that rumour.

 

 

Happy Friday X

 

Go and type Marcus Foster into your spotify search and listen to him. So good. Apart from that strange woods song....it's a bit strange. So to be fair he did warn us.

 

The school loves NZ

 

 

And NZ loves the school.

Well, I did it, I got brave, I became my alter ego (the love and ginger ninja) and I went to Megan Morton's science of styling course in Auckland.

Ok, so my friend Caroline will tell you that I almost didn't get out of the car when she dropped me off in the morning, and I may have fantasised about her coming in and standing at the back of the class until she saw me settle in and make a friend. But then I remembered that in a few short days I will be 30 and that I was being ridiculous, I didn't need Mama Caroline to look after me.... I just had to go in there and hope that everyone wasn't so cool that I would be rendered mute and weird.

Result, everyone was very cool but also very nice!! The first girl I met was Hayley of HHD Event Styling, we realised quickly that we attended the same high school, she recognised me and I quickly remembered her as the 5th former with the bananas in pajamas backpack who I thought was super cool (in case you weren't a 90's teenager...they were the business, I had a matching b's in pj's watch with my best friend) and coincidentally that friend had her unbelievably beautiful wedding styled by Hayley earlier this year. Small world. Hayley really has an amazing eye and I can't think of anyone quite like her in the (03) area, so I thought it worth mentioning to all of you Canterbury brides.

 

 

 

Enter Megan Morton, this super tall, gorgeous woman with ridiculous blue eyes (sorry do I sound like I have a crush on her, ok I'm not sorry, I do) she is such a warm and approachable person (not that I was brave enough to approach her all on my own) and actually kind of hilarious. You know how you watch interviews with Cameron Diaz and you think "yea, I wanna be her best friend" she's like that!!!!! She was full of shiny pearls of wisdom when it came to making spaces look like they just fell into a house looking amazing. Actually some tips included just actually letting things fall. But that's all I'm going to say because next time she is in town, you must go.

 

 

 

I also went to Stephanie Stamatis's (aka IG user Stephanie_somebody) class on instagram, that girl just captures things so beautifully and makes every corner of the world look amazing through her iPhone. We were very lucky and were given some photos of hers. Which I love! Again, a very inspiring woman, who is letting her creativity and natural talent cut it's own path for her to follow. Note to self: be more like that. Stephanie and her fiancé have taken off for a quick trip around the south of the South Island, I'm looking forward to seeing the photos she captures of that area and if you are too, follow her on instagram

I so wished I could have gone to Kara Rosenlund's vignette class (damn, regret!) it would have been awesome to do some hands on styling and it looked so great on everyone else's instagram feeds. Check them out on #theschoollovesNZ

 

 

Image by Gemma from www.blackbirdgem.blogspot.co.nz

 

 

Auckland in General was also just incredibly good fun. It helped that I was swamped with freakin gorgeous friends to catch up and hang with. But honestly, the food. THE FOOD. I pretty much ate my way through Auckland and Holy Cronut! It was good. So here is my list of where you should eat.....

 

 

Late night Diner - because mac cheese and chilli con carne at 12am is ALWAYS a good idea

Mexico - the guac and corn chips and the beef tacos....just, YES.

The Food Truck Garage - you probably saw him on tv, going here is so much better than licking the tv screen

Depot - we ate tapa after tapa and had red wine after red wine in tumblers like cool kids. Delish

Federal Deli - the Banoffie Pie, I just... Have no words. But there is a little drool in the corner of my mouth. Ew

Petit Bocal - the best breakfast with the most delicious bacon. And they are all French and beautiful! Legit.

Zomer - best juice in town surely. It was like drinking raw liquid energy. And some damn good Guac.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yea, I had my first Cronut. Endangering waist lines everywhere. And I'm the rebellious type.

 

 

 

 

I also got to Junk and disorderly which was at the top of my list. My heaven on earth. I found a few treasures to bring home with me. I also found many treasures that I couldn't logistically bring home with me. stupid baggage allowance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So in Summary, l do love the School I also love Auckland. It was good to me.... Better than good. And for those of you that have a 'Jafa' attitude towards AKL. I will leave you with this short story.

 

On Saturday night after gorging myself on tapa's and banoffie pie, my friend Cecil dropped me off at our friend Caroline's house where I was staying. Caroline was out babysitting and her flatmates were either out or asleep. I tried my key, I heard a lock turn and I tried to open it. Nope. Something was wrong, a deadlock had come into play (*more on that soon) and I was locked out. I checked my phone, flat as a pancake... No surprises there. I knocked for awhile, no one heard. I was outside, phoneless, with no idea where I actually was because I have absolutely no sense of direction. Usually I just follow Guy while I look at everything....yes, kind of like a toddler. There was no other option (in my eye's) I needed to charge my phone and coming from Waikuku where all the neighbours are amazing. It seemed the best thing to do at 11:30pm was to go and ask the neighbours if I could charge my phone. So I wandered next door and a man named Roger answered.

 

 

I know what you're thinking. She was murdered. Well..... I wasn't.

 

 

I put my phone on one of their chargers and popped upstairs to polish off a bottle of his Syrah with him while we chatted away about not much really. He was so lovely....I didn't meet his boyfriend Jason, he was already in bed and probably pretending to be asleep while listening to the crazy girl in his living room thinking "what the?!??". I was having such a good time I actually totally forgot that I was stuck for awhile. Eventually I went down and grabbed my now charged phone to call Caroline who thought I was mental. And who decided to return home to get me immediately (in case of murdering). I bid Roger farewell and went next door to bed, where my room looked directly into the living room I was just in, I gave him a big wave and hit the hay.

A testament to humans, Aucklanders and computer software programmers everywhere. I made sure to leave them a card and a replacement bottle of Syrah before I came home. Thank you Roger, for not murdering me and for giving me wine.

 

*turns out I was just unlocking and locking the deadlock! not the actually handle lock. I know this because I did it again the next night after my class with Stephanie, but this time Caroline was there to wake up (you should never wake Caroline up) stare angrily at me, and tell me. "ITS NOT THE DEADLOCK, ITS YOU!"

 

 

 

X

 

Builders block

 

Oh hey, it's been a while. Things have felt incredibly slow going lately. Most of the work we're doing has no visual impact....super frustrating and not very blog worthy. BUT we did get our concrete floors polished over the weekend!!!! So exciting! Our fantastic neighbour Chris Hendricks from Not Just Coatings did it for us and we are seriously so lucky that he lives next door otherwise we may not have found him!!! He is a proper perfectionist and 'hard worker' doesn't even scratch the surface of his commitment to his work and doing a great job! The concrete looks exactly as we'd hoped. Super natural with just a little aggregate showing in some areas and we actually couldn't be happier!

I tried my best to get some good photos but it turns out photographing concrete and getting it to live up to its 'in real life' potential is a little difficult.

 

There we go, one is in the sun....the other is not. Oh and I forgot to mention, they're not even done yet! This is only stage one, we have to cover the floor with boards to protect them until we're pretty much done with everything and then they're taken off and have two more polishing grits and a sealant buffed in..... Or something like that.

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend marked our first weekend spent staying over in the shed so we could rise nice and early to start work....which also meant Guy could get early morning and dusk surf sessions in and I could sneak away to the brick mill for some vintage goods foraging....Living the dream.

 

 

 

Oh and we threw a BBQ for some of our closest neighbours who have made an effort to visit, help, give and be awesomely neighbourly in general. It was a super fun night and it turns out when we are all together....the drinks flow like a raging river. I had the hugest hangover on Monday, I was thanking my lucky stars it was my day off and I was thinking of my fellow neighbours who weren't quite so lucky while I ate hot chips for breakfast...living the dream? Not so much. All I can say is that the lane would have been harbouring a few sore heads on Monday and it was the Nurse's fault. Welcome to the neighborhood. Eek!!!

In other news, more dramz with the windows but I'll get to that another time. Ugh.

 

The School in New Zealand

 

 

 

I've gone and done it.... The girl that says "no way, we can't afford a holiday to Samoa with some of our most awesome friends, we're building a house!" has dropped some decent cash on a course and is flying to Auckland to do it.

Seems crazy... A course over Samoa... EXCEPT this is a course like no other. First of all, Megan Morton is the teacher, umm say no more... amazing. Secondly, Kara Rosenlund, creator of all things beautiful (including the amazing vignette above) and owner of the gorgeous Frankie caravan is also amongst the team of women behind The School. I love Kara's style and would so love to go to her course on vignettes, yes there is a course solely on vignettes and yes, this is the school of my dreams (math, schmath) but unfortunately I can't do them all!!! So my one present to myself is The Science of Styling course. I am so excited.

BUT I am also a little nervous... Many of my friends and family who know me well (and you readers as well, seeing as here I am completely comfotable in my own little blog space) can never believe it but I get SO shy in certain situations. The word course or seminar make my face flush (s'pose that's not so hard, stupid flushy face) but I am so keen to go that I have just toughened up and done it, all by myself, booked it, going to it, red face and all.

A supplier of mine who has witnessed the awkward shyness bought on by course situations once coined me 'The Love and Ginger Ninja'... Yep it turned out she was a word genius. I loved it.

So I'm gonna make like Sasha Fierce and do it. The love and ginger ninja is going to get over her little fear, Hiiiiyah!

But if anyone else is going, let me know!!!! I mean every ninja needs a partner in ninja crime right.... it's not cheating. It's still kinda brave.

 

Waikuku.....wow

 

 

 

 

 

I had to post some photos of our quick trip to Waikuku after a small house job at the end of the day yesterday... It was pretty brisk outside so I wrapped up in the grey moose (our affectionate name for our favourite rug - a wedding gift from Guy's Aunty and Uncle in Canada) and as soon as we walked over the dunes our jaw's hit the sand, it was just so beautiful..... Natures pastels. Hope the iPhone shots do it justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A sight I won't soon forget and I hope I get to see again.

 

Oh, hi

It would seem I pretty much forgot I had a blog... In the last 2 weeks we have been to an amazing wedding in Wellington then we got home and we have been swallowed up by work and house stuff.... This house stuff is kicking our butts this week. I've barely seen Guy at all with him leaving at 6am for work and then driving straight to the building site when he knocks off, just to start working all over again until 10pm..... Unfortunately I'm not welcome to climb the roof and help with purlins...too dangerous for a lady and all that. Hmpf! So, I've played dutiful housewife and made sure there is a good dinner/cake/cold beer waiting for him at 10:30pm. He's had a bit of help from a family friends son, thank gawd! Bring on tomorrow when I can get out there and put in a good 8 hours work in daylight.

 

It's times like these that I love Instagram even more (is that even possible? apparently) according to IG this photo of when we scraped the site was taken 16weeks ago....and now we are almost putting the roof on. Not bad for a weekend project I reckon.

 

 

 

Next week is a big one.... All going well, we have edge protection scaffolding going up on Monday, safety nets filling the entire ceiling space on Tuesday, inspection on Wednesday and then as I mentioned before.....a roof going up on Wednesday or Thursday!!!! A freakin roof over our heads!!!!!!

 

Speaking of my roof, I'm pretty anxious to see it... I have chosen a commercial roof profile, a profile that steel and tube have never used on a residential property before, in fact the sales rep said "No, that will look bloody awful!", he's old school and straight up. I like him.

So, I said "hmmmmm yea I don't think I'm gong to take your advice... I'm going for the bloody awful one" full of confidence and a 'you just watch me old fella' swag. Now, I'm hoping I've done the right thing. Please look good bloody awful roof, pretty, pretty please.

Lots to report next week, so stay tuned and I promise I'll be good at this blogging thing one day.

 

First splash of colour

 

 

 

 

 

We actually got to stain some cedar in the weekend! Both Mum's came armed with paint brushes to give me a hand. It was awesome. We got them all stained (front and back!! To help with warping etc) and the first few boards are already up. I felt like a bit of a genius deciding to pre-stain them like that, until we started putting them up last night.... Just when I thought I had rid my skin of black stain, it came back with a vengeance. What? You don't think black scummy nails are ladylike? Well, you're right. I look like a dirty bogan.

 

 

 

Next up, I need to source some giant safety nets to fill up the entire ceiling space so that I can play in them the roofers can safely put on the roof without fear of falling. All these new rules that probably have Builders' Wives at home taking a deep sigh of relief, are on the other hand enraging my Father. What's to become of these young guns that don't have to keep their wits about them while waltzing about on roof purlins and the like. Well, in my opinion they'll probably be just fine and have fewer head injuries, but no, apparently it just "turns them into idiots". So, Idiot nets it is. Hook us up.

 

Speaking of these necessary things you have to source during a build. I've had some fantastic people provide awesome services so far in this process and I figure it would helpful if I started to share my contacts. Keep your eyes peeled for a 'Who and what we used' page in the very near future

 

 

 

It was a gorgeous night last night, perfect for getting the purlins up and the fascia on....spot Guy and the tiny light coming from his head torch. We got the floodlights on soon after this of course. Another late one for the boys last night 9pm! Hardest working fellas I know.

 

 

Oh and remember this wee cutie? Hudson has come a long way since you saw him last. He visited Guy on the building site the other day and gave him some serious love and smiles. We love him!

 

 

 

 

Glass all the way

 

I've long been teased by a certain 'pack' of cousins about my intolerance for plastic drinking bottles. I swear "I CAN taste the plastic!!!!!". It's meant I've always drunk from my antipodes water bottle, they are the perfect water bottle/vase/candlestick and I will always have a few lying around and a compulsive "must buy one" reflex when I see them in a cafe.

But since I've been drinking my morning smoothies enroute to the building site most weekends I've been looking for a glass takeaway option. Well, three cheers to me because I found one!!!!! The Mason Bar Company have a gorgeous range of mason jars with screw tops and BPA free lids and straws.....ummm winning. Not to mention its a good 600mls worth, no more having to fill two glasses on the go.... Foooor goodness sake, would you just look at my pre-masonbarcompany-find self... I don't know what she's smirking for, she looks ridiculous.

 

 

 

Go and have a looksy for yourself HERE

 

Slabless

 

 

I haven't written a post for awhile, not since our concrete dreams were shattered.

 

Last Saturday morning at 6:30am and a frosty -4°c, we arrived at the section full of adrenaline/excitement/pure joy, we were finally pouring our slab. Seriously, such an amazing feeling to be getting out of the ground and to start building. Foundation work is the Devil. We turned into the driveway to see the pump truck driver had already arrived...early, how good of him.

Well, instead of driving his weighty truck up the gravel driveway, he thought it was a far better idea to veer off and drive through the paddock which had just had 2 weeks of flooding rain on it. A genius with a J.

He got stuck (obviously) so we pulled him out with the tractor and pointed out the route that he should taken.... Which he did with ease. Crisis averted, right? Wrong. He told us it was too late, the job had been called off. Called off before it was even scheduled to begin, by a dude who drove into a wet paddock instead of up a driveway.... I could have cried. Ok, I did cry...just a little one.

Guy cursed, Dad cursed, Dad apologized and reminded me that this was a building site.....clearly forgetting I am his daughter and I am prone to the more than the occasional f-bomb myself. (My Father is not OK with men swearing aggressively in front of Women, just ask the obnoxious drunk fella from the Ikamatua pub in 1975). My Uncle, who was there to help with the concrete, poured himself a stiff drink....Yep, at 7am. My Father in law who had just arrived to help, pointed his car back to Christchurch.

 

Deflated isn't even the word...

 

But, you can't change these things, instead we are going for 'take two' this Saturday. With a different pump driver...... Keep your fingers crossed for us.

The silver lining was that we got to have a rare weekend off... We made the most of Waikuku beach....that place is the shiz. Bonus

 

 

 

Weekend jobs

 

 

 

This weekend we were raking and leveling the sand on top of the compacted fill for the slab. It was just my Mum and Dad out there with me on Saturday because Guy had work commitments....although come Sunday when the rain REALLY started to fall, Guy was back in his gumboots with Dad and they worked the whole day in the pouring rain. Gotta love them.

I actually thought I'd add this little video my Mum took of Dad and I working....it's super boring....ha! But this is what our weekends are like these days.

Party on, Guy. Party on, Katrina.

 

Oh and yes, you heard right....only Guy and Dad were working out at the section on Sunday. Because I was tending to Rufus who we will now refer to as Frankenkitty. He had an emergency trip to the vet due to a nasty abscess on his noggin! It was horrible, there was blood and gag reflexes (not his), a very angry Frankenkitty and a slight misunderstanding on my part that my cat was indeed pregnant and having an emergency caeserean....slightly ridiculous, he is a tomcat.... Obviously what the vet assistant meant was that they had to perform an emergency caeserean on a different lady-animal and Rufus would be a little late. Of course. That aside, he is recovering well all thanks to Dr Thea Sweeney...aka Angel Face, from Total Vets.

 

 

Baby showering 2.0

 

Last Saturday I had the absolute PRIVILEGE of throwing my Sister and Brother in law a baby shower. After 15 years of a gorgeous marriage and good times they are finally becoming a family of three after adopting their beautiful daughter who will be home with them in September!! Woohoo

I flew over to Melbourne with my Mum and I only lost my passport twice once.... Thank goodness for the lady in 20e who found it on her seat and tracked me down. I am useless when it comes to traveling without Guy, next time I am off away on my own I have asked him to put me in a straight jacket of sorts and draw a diagram on my front which points out little pockets containing my passport, boarding pass etc and I'll just be quiet and let the straight jacket diagram carry me through.

I wanted to make a special gift for the baby shower (kinda like Hudson's book) that Gracie could hold on to and something that everyone who loves her and her parents had contributed to. I took further inspiration from Hudson and his intense love for his blankie and decided a blanket was going to be it.

 

 

 

 

We bought a gorgeous cotton/cashmere blanket and then I took a trip to spotlight and picked up some wool and pompom makers. We set up a pompom making area and after everyone left I trimmed all the pompoms and attached them around the edges of the blankie with some wool and a wool needle. Actually Homestyle mag had a great 'how to' recently which featured pompoms which is worth a squiz!

 

 

 

A pic of the two new parents holding it up and a quick run through the Over app and it made a super sweet thank you card for them to send to their friends.

 

P.S I solemnly swear to stop being lazy and using my camera for my photos....

Out of the build

We actually do have a life out of the build, I just wanted to prove it to you. We went to an incredible wedding on the 20th and Guy was a handsome groomsman... I apparently started to blush when I saw him.....real smooth.

Such a massively fun party complete with swing band, flash mob, singing wedding party and a roomful of hat wearing heads! I love our possum tail backdrop...

 

Ok, deep breaths

 

Yes, those are pegs in the ground in the shape of a house. Yes, that is a digger waiting to get to work. Yes, that is Guy walking away with a push mower, and No, he didn't mow the 240sqm about to be dug up, I did! Annnnnd my body was sore the next day.......yep, from mowing grass. I need to get to a gym.

How exciting is this though, we are expecting our consent to come through this week so that we can start digging the perimeter foundations, but until then.... There were a few things we were able to do. We scraped the site ready for digging, built up another mound which we will plant in the next month or so. We also set up the profiles (seriously, I am learning a lot with this build...... Just don't ask me about the profiles) and my poor Dad managed to really hurt his back, seeing my Dad wince in pain is a rarity...This is the man that once accidentally shot a nail into his thigh with a nail gun then pulled it out with the tail of his hammer like it was a piece of wood. He has since been to the chiro and is feeling a little better but he needs to take it easy. Taking it easy is not something my Father does well so I'll be watching him.

 

 

This was probably my most exciting day to date. It was the first day we have done any physical work on the house and talk about a giant exhale.....ummm except there is actually still a lot of breath being held until this consent comes through....then it will be a super giant exhale that sends me flying around the room like a deflating balloon and landing in a wrinkly heap around my glass of Dolbel bubbly! Yeeha!

 

 

 

So this is the start of the big one, I'm so excited and anxious at the same time. Bring it on.