Day: December 16, 2012

Tragedy and Rebirth

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Yesterday I woke up to a text from my friend informing me of the Connecticut shooting. A 20 year old shot and killed his mother and then went to Sandy Hook Elementary school killing 20 children and  countless adults. I immediately texted her back saying this world is too intense for me. It is becoming such a scary place! Neither of us are mothers but we could NOT imagine a world without our babies. My heart aches for the innocent angels that lost their lives. The pain those families and community must be going through… events like this really shake me. Throughout the day the New Zealand media kept the public informed. Feelings of such strong gratitude for all the heroes who helped protect the children and sacrificed their own lives. Faculty members lost their lives for the sake of their children. Through this devastation stories of strength and heroism are coming to light. I watched Barack Obama’s heartfelt speech and I, like him, feel my heart is broken! I posted on my Facebook wall that I have so much to be thankful for. I must continue to not lose faith in humanity.

With that said — I am so thrilled to welcome Charley Juilet Glass to the world. My best friend’s sister delivered her precious baby girl in Nanaimo, British Columbia today! Charley shares her birthday with my Daddy- o. December 15 is a great day to have been born!!! Happy Birthday xox

My New Zealand update this week isn’t too meaty. Emma and I got together during the week to buy the last of our Christmas presents. We are both officially done shopping! Feels good to have all my presents bought and wrapped before December 15th. We also mailed all our Christmas cards back to Canada (weeks  back) and know that most of them have already arrived!

family Xmas tree

family Xmas tree

bedroom tree!

bedroom tree!

We spent Saturday lounging in the sun on the porch enjoying spritzers. We had to put the umbrella up because the sun was becoming unbearably hot. We had our books and portable speakers and made a day of lounging. When we found ourselves to be way too hot and sticky we went inside and watched The Fast and The Furious….I know we lead a hard life!!!

Emma was able to successfully pick up the Whitley clan from the airport this morning. It will be nice to have more Whitleys here for the holidays!

My boys have school on Monday and then just a half day Tuesday before they are off on Summer Holidays until the second week of February. LOTS of summer activities planned and I am looking forward to lots of summer fun. The countdown for Ana and Kristy to arrive on January 3rd is getting closer and closer too.

Life is good for me but my heart feels heavy for all those in Connecticut. What happened was ‘unimaginable’ and I will continue to be thankful and blessed for all that I have.

Buddha Blessings to all
xox

Amanda

Weekend of December 8th – 9th

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I figured I better post this before I fall too far behind…

IMG_1428We had both had a pretty busy week and decided to treat ourselves to a relaxing afternoon inside an air-conditioned movie theater. It was the first time either of us had been in a Kiwi theater and we were thrilled by the experience. The theater was in fantastic condition with large comfy seats. They were so wide and deep we felt we were almost able to recline in them. The movie wasn’t my pick… Twilight the last one in the series. Besides seeing Dakota Fanning and Taylor Lautner it wasn’t amazing..but then again I haven’t read the books or seen any of the previous movies.

After the movie we decided to get our Christmas cheer on and attend Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park.
We packed a picnic dinner and went to the Auckland Domain to enjoy their annual outdoor concert. The turnout was impressive and they had a huge stage for the acts to perform. There were also lots of food vendors and some (sketchy looking) carnival rides. The concert was pretty decent but we didn’t really recognize many of the acts. Instead of staying for the whole concert we walked around downtown Auckland for awhile before heading home.
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The next morning we decided to skip the Santa Clause parade and instead go for a walk. We tried the Le Roys Bush and Little Shoal Bay bush walk. It was a gorgeous walk! It is about 15 minutes away from Emma’s house and was a scenic walk. The paths are well maintained and still gave off a very naturalistic feel to them. It took us around an hour to complete and we were beyond ready to be done once we finished. The sun was so hot that day and we were still both exhausted from the night before. So glad we chose the walk instead of standing and watching all the floats go by.

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I was excited that we finally made it to the night market! It is from 5:30-11pm every Sundayat Westfields Shopping Centre in Glenfield North Shore.We made a smart decision to not eat dinner before arriving as there were so many choices of fresh authentic food! We did not find many things we wanted to buy at the stands but they were fun to shop around and look at all the homemade stuff. We found that some of the stands felt like garage sales while others felt like serious businesses. It was a great experience and I will definitely go back again.

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Sorry I fell behind. I will post this weekends blog now so I can be all caught up 🙂
Thanks for reading. Can’t believe Christmas is right around the corner!!!

Buddha Blessings
xox Amanda