Hi De Hi Campers…the lucky last month of the year and it does feel lucky to me.
^^My handmade present from Robyn for Christmas…wonderful right!?!
Warning: this blog post contains a lot of selfies and mobile photos which aren’t great quality…and guess what, I don’t care! <insert evil laugh>
^^The Christmas Cake that Robyn also made…mama won’t allow us to eat it as yet!
Happy New Year…less than an hour to go here in New Zealand! I can’t wait to see in the new year.
Two lovely people that entered my life in the latter part of this year sent me these photos of the sun setting on 2019.
Places I’ve Visited and Things I’ve Done this Month
I started my new job this month which I’ve found rather interesting as it’s the first time I’ve worked for a medium sized company for a long time…and one where I see cash rather than just playing with numbers on a spreadsheet…
…vegan ice cream on Friday has become my thing.
I’m now a qualified Pilates instructor…
…and I’m not afraid to use my balls!
It was the 100 year anniversary of the death of my mama’s Croatian grandfather (my great grandfather) so we went to the cemetery…
…the tui’s were playing in the Pohutukawa trees and we had a tipple for Michael who is on the left (Mijo).
Happy to see the beginning of summer with beautiful dahlia blooms…
…what is even better is that it’s beach weather…
..the novelty was lost on me last year but definitely not this year…
….yes I have a t-shirt tan and wearing my first bikini in over a decade! I don’t possess a perfect body but then neither do supermodels…that’s why they airbrush them folks!
Feeling rather tired from working a three day week, I slapped on a lot of warpaint to go out to a birthday party…
…definitely a tad too much make up…the views on the way home were lovely as I drove around the coast; it’s view like this that made me realise that I have made the right move.
Strawberry picking with Lisa…
…walking…I love walking when you have views like this!
Someone did have to give me a kick up the bottom to get me started walking again though over the festive period…I appreciate now that I have the ability to drive to a Regional Park unlike a lot of people…including one person stuck at anchorage for weeks.
Christine I think I’ve found the dress that I’m going to buy with the voucher you gave me for Christmas…
…what do you think? Mind the summer holiday hair!
On the lucky last day of the year…I had an Indian cooking lesson from some family friends which I just loved…
…I learnt the basics and can’t wait to whip up some creations.
New Zealand Life
Obviously it was Christmas and mama went a little crazy…
…as per normal but we love it…
…Lisa is the Dessert Queen…as per normal…
…I do a last minute Christmas wrapping session…as per normal.
…and Pappy does all the Christmas cooking…as per normal!
I may have jumped into my pjs before dessert was served to fit everything in…
…no shame…and yes mama has her tongue in my ear.
^^My Christmas dress, a Monsoon special from eBay never worn with tags on…crazy right?!? The belt is 1970’s vintage.
Christmas may be over for mama but Easter is just around the corner!
I think the big update here is that I’ve started dating again…it’s weird and great at the same time…it’s taken a long time to get to this point but I finally feel at peace with myself and am ready to move on.
This month is also my one year anniversary of arriving home from the UK after close to 15 years of living abroad…and I finally have started to find my groove with certain things, mainly around opening myself up to new friendships.
I’ve made some really amazing friends over the past 6 months and I have a great friend that I met through blogging many years ago who has spent some time in Auckland recently which was a total blessing and I love her to pieces for giving me the kick up the bottom that I needed to get back out there.
Health Update
My body is gaining in strength day by day…and since Boxing Day I’ve made an effort to cut out my snacking and eating healthy and the scales have seen a massive result already.
I’m also trying to go for more walks outside to clear my mind. I think it would be right in saying that my mind has had a lot to cope with over this month emotionally however I’ve proven to myself that I am strong even though at times I didn’t feel that way.
Plans for January 2020
I’m back at work from the 6th, I find it so weird not to be in the office on the 2nd working like they do in the UK but I’m not complaining…hello New Zealand Summer holidays and no year end till April!
Every month I’m going to find a new walk to conquer…I’m loving the word conquer at the moment and I know which one it will be.
Make some plans for my birthday in February…still undecided but would just like to get away for the weekend to celebrate my 40th…no party, just relaxing and enjoying the moment. Last year I went on this walk and I loved doing something simple to celebrate, no fuss wanted or required.
xx
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