Our Life....Month to Date

Well once again it has been too long since our last post, and lots has happened.

We have been busy working, trying to save money, but also found some time to take another short trip to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. We decided to head North this go around and booked a few nights in this amazing B&B in Kerikeri called the Bed of Roses, I know romantic right!!!! So we rented a tiny hatch back and hit the road towards the Bay of Islands. We drove through some beautiful scenic drives and saw so many breath taking views (pictures posted on FaceBook). The second day we woke up and had the best breakfast at the B&B and headed to Paihia, here we caught the car ferry across the bay to the little town of Russell (the first capital of New Zealand). We wondered around the town center had some great Fish and Chips, went to the top of Flagstaff Hill and looked over the entire city and bay. We decided to drive back, which was considerably longer than the ferry. I should have known when the GPS asked if unsurfaced roads were ok, that we should have reconsidered. The drive was long and very very very curvy!! I thought I was going to get sick, not to mention the curves were on a "dirt road" hugging the side of a mountain. I am not sure if it was from the worrisome drive or just too much fun for one day but when we made it back to The Bed of Roses we both needed a nap! After waking up refreshed from our naps, we went for our anniversary dinner at the Pear Tree. It was great food and drinks and was the perfect way to celebrate our first year married! On day three we planned a long drive to Cape Reinga, which is the most northern point in New Zealand. This drive was long but absolutely the best. The views were indescribable, as you get closer to the Cape out of no where you see these huge mountains of sand to the west, as far as you can see. The large sand dunes disappear into the Tasman Sea, and at the Cape you can see this distinct line in the ocean where the Tasman meets the Pacific. This experience was almost spiritual it is surely a moment I will never forget. The next day we started our journey home, that's right back to the real world!

Now fast forward a couple of weeks. As we began the anticipation of Thanksgiving Holidays, we received word from home that my Grandmother had suffered from a heart attack. Of course this put Lindsey and I both in a state of suspense, not knowing what the coming days and weeks would bring we prayed and hoped for the best. Unfortunately what we thought was best was not what happened, and on our Monday November 21st my sweet Mama Mazie was called home. Always having been the person to get our family together for Thanksgiving, this year was no different. With exception of Lindsey and myself everyone came home to celebrate her life and all the love and joy she brought with it! She was like no other and will forever be missed by so many.

Even with the sad news of Mama Mazie's passing, Lindsey never stopped planning our first Solo Thanksgiving. I knew she wanted it to be special but given the week we had just been through made her want to make it the best. She spent the entire day Wednesday cooking away in our TINY kitchen, with 2 electric eyes for a stove and a miniature microwave size oven. She cooked dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cream corn, and picked up some sliced turkey from the deli (whole turkeys are WAY to expensive here). She also cooked 2 deserts: a pumpkin spice bar/cake, and some Mississippi mud brownies. The food was amazing and not sure if it was the circumstances that made it one of the most meaningful Holidays I have ever had or if it was just because it was our first one alone, but regardless it was one of the best and most humbling Thanksgivings I have ever had! That pretty much brings us up to date, and now I am just lying here trying to let my food settle before I go get some dessert!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving From Down Under!! Love You All!!!!!!!!

Ray 

Halfway Gone!....Halfway Home?

Well, we made it!  Just over six months ago we packed all our clothes and headed out on what we were sure would be one of our biggest adventures.  So here we are halfway through our initial commitment to this journey; which, just so everyone knows, our parents thought we would be home by now.  It seems like only yesterday that we left everyone behind and now just six months out I can say we have truly learned so much.  We quickly realized that, much to our dismay, the parents were in fact correct when they told us money does not grow on trees!  We now fully understand why you turn the light off when you leave the room and also no need to turn a faucet on and walk away while it is running; yes, we are growing up.  We live in a one room apartment that cost as much as a luxury monthly car payment, yet it is a weekly expense.  We both have been able to maintain jobs, mine a temp position that is still going strong; Lindsey’s a more permanent part time roll.  We have for the most part, made a little life for ourselves and are enjoying it to the fullest.  We have been on several adventures, with more in the works.  We have been through our first ever Rugby World Cup, and even managed to squeeze in a couple of games.

 The seasons are finally starting to change here for the better.  We are trading in the cold damp days of winter for the dry and warm days of summer.  Everything is so green and beautiful, the weather is warm but not hot and no humidity, comparable to Mississippi.  Even better than the weather, I am even more thankful for the leaves on the trees.  I say this because our neighbor across the street is rather large and refuses to wear pants or close his blinds, and now thanks to Mother Nature we now have natural window coverings.

All in all, it truly is shaping up to be the best decision we could have ever made; having said that we do miss our family and friends more than we can say.  We are slowly coming to terms with not being home for Thanksgiving or Christmas; a first for both Lindsey and I. The only thing I think that will help make it easier is the fact that it will be the middle of summer here, so maybe we will not even know we missed it!

It is also hard to believe it will soon be one year since I married my best friend!  Time truly does fly when you are having fun and we are having a ball!!  We are truly blessed to have found each other and equally as blessed to have such amazing families.  Not everyone’s family would have been so supportive of a move around the world, but thankfully we both come from families that are not afraid to let us make our own mistakes!

So after six months we are still alive and well, and still dreaming big.  We greet each new day with a passion for what it could become.  Along with our dreams we continually look to the future and how we see our life going. Where do we want to live?  What do we want to do?  How can we make sure that we always keep this passion we have for life?  So with that said, we have a few options to decide on.  One of my dreams has all ways been to learn how to sail, and maybe even one day own my own sail boat and  sail around the world, well not literally, just from place to place. This dream may be closer than we realized; I will soon be enrolled in sailing classes here in The City of Sails, Auckland, New Zealand!  So with a passion and plenty of ignorance this is sure to be a fun journey.  Another option we are playing with is not coming home in April…… Pause for reflection.  Rather than coming home we may hop across the ditch and spend 12 months or so in Australia!  Oh by the way, we have not told our parents about this option so…. SURPRISE!!!!!

These are all options and decisions we will be making over the next few months, but all the while enjoying and living in the moment.  My parents always told me, don’t worry about it, you have the rest of your life to work!  Unfortunately for them, I actually listened to this bit of advice. While most of you probably think we are crazy and do not know what the hell we are doing; I have to say it is one of the best times of our lives. 

Ray 

   

Our "New" Dog

Well, as all of you know...I love animals!! This is probably the hardest thing for me here. Our visa requirements will not allow you to travel with pets. Somehow I got away with bringing Ray!! Not only will our visa not allow pets, neither will our apartment! Darn!

So Ray decided that he would surprise me the other night with our new dog, "Shadow!" He has always wanted a Great Dane and now we have one. He is the perfect dog!!

I know we are crazy and apparentlly easily amused!

Enjoy! L

Martha's Backyard

We recently visited the "American" store everyone keeps telling us about. We heard about it when we first moved because they stock lots of American products you can't buy at the supermarket! I was so shocked at all the items they had...didn't realize we missed them until we saw them.

We really didn't need anything, but since we made the trip we picked up a few things. We got a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese, Kraft Tuscan Italian Salad dressing, Quaker Cinnamon and Spice Instant Oatmeal, and of course a Twinkie!! We had to throw in the Twinkie because they were so popular at the store. All the kiwis there were buying one!

I know these items were random!! We had so much fun rummaging through all the products. The prices were double if not more then if you were to buy in the States...this is probably why we didn't buy much more! Crazy!!

Ta!

Lindsey

Pancake Disaster

So I decided to get up on Saturday and make pancakes! Not such a good idea, they turned out to be terrible...or at least looked terrible.  Thank goodness they didn't taste as bad as they looked. I was practicing for a new souffle' pancake recipe I found. I at least thought I should try the pancake part first. I am not sure that I will ever master a perfect pancake, but I will continue to make them from time to time. I never could get the right temperature or timing, not sure which!  I was going to make them for Ray before he left for work, but he decided he was going to leave early. 

I know he is glad that he did not stay! Hope this makes you laugh! 

I saw this medal at a store here and that I thought I deserved for my cooking skills Saturday morning! Perfect! 

Lindsey

Life at the Grand Chancellor

To start our first week off we saw Porn Stars, Ron Jeremy, and Michelle "Bombshell" McGee in the elevators. Crazy to see them in person. It was definitely one of those "double take" moments! I guess they were staying at the hotel for an event here in town.

As I mentioned in the previous post I have been doing some cooking lately. We had our friends over for dinner this past week as a "Thank You" for helping us to move. I made homemade lasagna and raspberry brownies. My mom gave me her recipes for the lasagna and I spent quite some time at the supermarket trying to decide exactly what to get.  The cheeses here are a little different so I did some experimenting with the recipe.  The lasagna noodles were also very interesting.  They were "no cook" noodles and they looked like paper.  I was a little hesitant, but this all I could find. Ray and I pondered as it was cooking if it would taste any good....and they did! I had never seen these before but apparently they are pretty common. The brownies were something I saw on My Kitchen Rules, an Australian competitive cooking show. It was so much fun! The kitchen is a little small so I had to compromise and clean up while cooking. It was not as much fun without all the mess! I didn't feel like a real cook!

 

We also purchased a picture from them as the apartment was bare and not welcoming.  We are starting to hang things which makes it look much better.  Melody took this picture here in NZ! We love our new piece of art!

I will try and continue to post about my adventures in the kitchen! Until then I hope that my journey will inspire you to try new things!

Good o!

Lindsey 

Routine

Ray and I both have been working lots lately, which is great in many ways.  We are learning heaps about our jobs and are enjoying them and are also saving money towards our adventures around New Zealand!  We have Sundays off together twice a month.  Last Sunday we took a ride with our neighbors to the North parts of Auckland to see some of the beautiful beaches along the Hauraki Gulf as well as to the West to see some of the black beaches along the Tasman Sea. Very fun! They planned a picnic lunch for us which was great...a little chilly but such a great view of Snells Beach!

Red Beach

Snells Beach

Murawai Beach Domain....So windy sea foam was blowing everywhere and looked like snow!

As we noted previously we would be moving into a new apartment...and we have! With the preparation of the move came cleaning and packing up our apartment. Thanks to Melody and Cole we didn't have to lug 7 suitcases and lots of accumulated stuff across the city. They offered to help us since they have a car. I do have one funny with this I must share. I was over at there apt visiting the night before we moved and I managed to fall down there stairs.  I had socks on and slipped on the carpet and slid down about 8 steps trying to catch myself....so embarrassing. They didn't laugh, but I know they wanted too and I am sure they did when I left. I am still finding bruises from my clumsiness!

View of the Sky Tower from our apartment

We are excited about the new apartment not only because of the location, but most of all more storage!  It is located in the Hotel Grand Chancellor so we have use of all the amenities including a gym and a pool! 

Our new set of wheels!! Thats right we finally have our own mode of transportation....for our groceries and other findings, that is!  Melody and Cole gave this to us since we will be trekking to the supermarket each time as we moved about 10 blocks from the nearest store.  We are very fortunate to have this because we always wait until we have nothing left to eat before we go....I hate grocery shopping!

Many of you may find this next topic pretty funny! I am having to prepare and cook about 90% of the meals we are eating for dinner. I get home from work around 6 and Ray doesn't get off until 8:30 so that leaves me to make the meals at night. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to be in the kitchen by myself.  I have always disliked cooking, but I am getting better and more comfortable.  Ray has been really supportive of what I have made.  He says things like, "that is the best pork we have had since we got here!" I am learning how to cook things other than chicken!! Yay for me! I'm sure he is just trying to boost my confidence. I am hoping to try some fun recipes on my days off so I will let you know how they go.

We are looking forward to the Rugby World Cup coming up in about a month.  Our new apartment is very close to lots of the entertainment.  Hoping to catch some of the games at some of the local pubs nearby.  We are studying up to try and better understand the game. It's serious business around here!

Cheerio!

Lindsey