Good times in Taho. Well, Newlands mostly, but still good times

Well it's been a while since I last posted so I thought I'd better update.
I can't remember details of things gone by so I'll start with this weekend and if I can recall anything else, all the better.

So this weekend Miss C and I had her flat all to ourselves, it was great :D
No annoying flatmate's with their shocking taste in music, bad personal hygiene and annoying habits. Just her and me.
So Friday night Miss C picked me after work and we drove back to her flat. Shortly after we went and got me some dinner and then shortly after I went and got her some dinner. We had Burger King and it was good :D
We watched some tv and then retired for the evening.
It was lovely waking up next to my love in the morning :)
Miss C had to go up the coast to help her Mum with some scrap booking (no her mum's not odd at all, it's just some of her other family that thought a scrapbook of their life would be a nice thing for her grandparent's anniversary). So she went off and did that and I stayed at hers playing Katamari, only this time I had bought her a memory card so I was able to save the progress, YAY :D
That's a crazy addictive game and anyone who owns a ps2 and doesn't have it should go out and buy it.
Seriously!
Go!
Now!
I'll wait...






Ok good.
Miss C came back in the early afternoon and we headed into town to have a look at the pre-carnival antics. It was pretty busy in town, closed off streets, body painting, stalls, the whole 9 yards. Miss C went to help do the makeup for the carnival peoples and I went home to chill.
When she was finished I picked her up and we picked up some things for dinner, well naughty things like peanut m&m's really, to go with out chicken nibbles that Miss C had procured :D
We got some eagle eye shoe string fries to go with it too, they're sooo goooood :D
We had some yummy dinner and watched Saw (which Miss C STILL hadn't seen, now that's sorted).
Sunday we had a very lazy morning, a VERY nice lazy morning. We eventually got out and went round to my sisters place for her birthday celebration, my birthday celebration and Aston, my nephew's birthday celebration.
Aston was such a hoot opening the presents, he was almost screaming with delight.
The definite winner was an electric drill. He was trying to drill holes in EVERYTHING.
We had a lovely dinner and I got some nice pressies.
We left at about 9.20 and by the time we got back to my place we were both had it. Miss C left shortly after and we both got an early night.

IT was a great weekend.

All those who had a great Valentines day put your hand up.

Can I put my hand down now? I think it'll get sore if I walk around with one hand permanently sticking up in the air...

Man am I tired today. I think I'm still in a half awake kind of daze.

So anyway

Last night Miss C came round to my place after she'd prettied herself up so we could open our valentines day presents. She was looking really pretty I might add.
My girl really spoilt me, I got tickets to the cinelounge at reading, a bunch of mini moros, some pocky (mmmm, loves the pocky), and 6 new CD's! and they're all great too! (we have very similar tastes in that department you see :)
And for my girl I got an assortment of chocolates, some bath confetti in the shape of little hearts, some little bottles of wine (those were just an extra freebie though ;) and a cool chic shoe box with a latch to put them all in. As an extra thoughtful gift I got her a picture of us enlarged and framed.
On top of all that I took her out to Logan Brown for dinner :D I wanted her to have a great valentines day 'cause she said she's never really had a good one.

So Logan Brown!
I wanted to go to see if all the hype was founded and as it turns out, it is.
The place itself is really neat with a huge wooden chandler hanging from the ceeling with dozens of tea light candles suspended in glass holders, very much a focal point of the room. There's a bar with a ladder, the kind you'd expect to find in a library of some old mansion which is used to get access to the vintage bottles of wine housed along the wall (all the cheap stuff was down low in easy reach ;)
We were shown to our table and given a glass of champagne each, that's pronounced sham-pag-knee for those of you not in the know. It was a very nice drop.
We had some crusty bread with butter and oil for dipping to being with. Now when I say crusty bread I really do mean crusty bread. I managed to cut mine with great difficulty and Miss C did the European thing and pulled it apart, as did everyone else.
For our starter we both had the "Seared Scampi Tails with NZ Wasabi Panna Cotta & Green Olive Lime Salsa" which was divine. Very succulent, beautiful creamy texture, just great. The wasabi and other 'stuff' that came with it were nice but the scampi was just so nice on it's own :)
For the main I had the "Duck Three Ways with Saute Parsnip Mousse, Cherry Relish & Mandarin Oil" and Miss C had the "Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Corn & Scallion Mash, Oyster Mushrooms & Duck Liver Parfait ". Again they were both beautiful. The fillet was cooked beautifully and was so tender, just wonderful stuff. The duck was beautiful, flavorsome and so succulent it literally fell off the bone.
For desert we both had the sorbet selection which really was the finishing touch.
There were 4 different sorbets, BEAUTIFULLY presented on a long white tray. The first was green apple sorbet with a thin slive of candied granny smith apple delicately placed on top. It was WONDERFUL and made us doubt that the others could be of the same wonderful flavour.
The second was watermelon and was almost a bit like shaved ice. It was beautiful too. Wonderful rich flavors.
The third was a small ball of lychee sorbet sitting on a thin wafer of brandy snap, resting on the top of a small shot glass of pineapple juice which tasted like it had been infused with manuka honey. That again was just beautiful.
The last was a slice of mango sorbet (almost like a paradiso except nicer) resting on small pieces of fresh diced mango.
It was the perfect way to finish the meal off, just wonderful.

After our first experience at Logan Brown we're both adamant that we'll be returning, not on a regular basis, unless one of us wins Lotto or Big Wednesday that is ;)

We then went back to my place where we were both quite tired and shortly after my Sweetness left to drive home.
I was out like a light and slept like a log but still managed to wake up tired.
Never mind, I had a wonderful time out with my girl and even though I didn't win any prizes on the radio, it was the best valentines day yet :)


Oh yea, there was a bit of a story about the picture I had framed for Miss C.
It's the only real picture we have of us as a couple and that's the reason I chose it, thinking it was a thoughtful present and that Miss C would really appreciate it. Turns out I did it again you know. She was waiting for a copy of the SAME picture to return from the chemist and she was planning on doing the SAME thing for me.
You know some times it's a great thing that we are so alike but I hate ruining her plans all the time. I've done it so lately I feel bad that I make her have to come up with new gift ideas all the time :S

Well that was a blog and a half, I just wanted to commit it all before the memory starts fading. It was a wonderful evening and i don't want to forget a thing :)
(I'll no doubt be adding to it later on in the day as I remember little things but you at least get the gist of it)

Hope you all had as good a Valentines Day as I did.

Love is in the air, everywhere I look around...

Happy Valentines day one and all :D
And we get another lovely warm sunny day in Wellington too, a real bonus.
So today started off well, I got a message from my sweetness saying that her first Valentines day gift was already waiting for her at work this morning. A box that contained a bunch of flowers, a magazine, and a special little Chocolate Whiskey cake. She loved it and shared the cake around, even bought me a piece when we met up at lunch time mmmm :)
I have a couple more surprises for her as well as one that hasn't worked out in time so it will either be a birthday present or a 'just because' present ;)



So we met up at lunchtime, went into Country Road to look at the home wears, not that badly priced, well when compared to the clothing when it's not on special that is ;)

We also went looking for a new pair of jeans for Miss C but that wasn't to be. Never mind, we'll keep an eye out.

Tonight we're going for dinner at Logan Brown, thought we'd see what all the fuss is about. I don't think we'll be making it a regular haunt at $115 per person but I am interested to see if their reputation is deserved :)

I think I might stop in at Gordon Harris on the way home and see if I can't find a textile marker as well as grabbing another couple of colours of the fabric paint I use. I have a few good ideas now for Miss C's t-shirt that I'm going to paint on.

Well that's all for now, I have work to get done before I go home :)

TAFNR, stay tuned for a good posting tomorrow where I will regale you all with the evenings events :D

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Well I don't know about u but I had a good weekend.
Friday I met up with Jo, one of my old flatmates who was back visiting from Japan. It was great to catch up over a beer or two. She's decided not to stay after her year is up though, the teaching job isn't fulfilling enough to keep going but she's still enjoying it there anyway. After that she's going to see a bit of Europe and live in Ireland for a year, sounds like lots of fun.

On Saturday me and Miss C went out for a bit of retail therapy and it worked a treat. We got her a couple of new tops as well as a birthday present which has now been safely stashed away ;)
We also got me a couple of things, shirts, shorts, shoes and a cool marble chopping board (very solid). We had a great time out, even got us a tank juice while we were out in Lower Hutt :)
On the way home we picked up a couple of movies, 'Kenny' and 'Talledega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
We ended up watching Talledega Nights and it was a little random but still quite funny. In saying that, the funniest part was the bloopers while the credits were rolling hehe.
Kenny on the other hand was very hard to get into. It was weird. We didn't finish watching it, in fact we only just started watching it but it was weird. There were bits that were 'almost funny' but never got further than that. Rather disappointing.

On Sunday we went round to my sisters place and I gave them a hand (well only for about an hour) with some work they were doing on the house, installing flashing and sanding down the exterior for painting.
It was nice to see my nephew again and Miss C read him books and stuff so it was a bit of fun :)
After that things slowed down, Miss C went home to do some washing so I worked on part of her Valentines Day present. I got most of it done last night, pleased with that :)

And now today, it's a little cooler than it has been, makes you appreciate the lovely weather we've been having. I can't believe it's only another month or so till daylight savings is upon us again :(

And with that I leave you to go about your day...


Oooh! I just got reminded of something! Lookie at what I got on Friday :D



My very own Gir! :D and he talks!
He says the following catch phrases:

"I wanna be a mongoose"
"Lets go to my room piggie"
"Yes my master!"
and "I love this show"

Pretty sweet huh. I bet you wish you had one too ;)

TGI Fridays

I decided to start the day off right by sleeping in for an extra hour. It was gooood.
You see, yesterday I stayed at work an hour later so that I could get picked up by Miss C and go out to Lower Hutt for some shopping. She had an appointment to get her nails done so I walked the mall, looking at 'stuff' :)
Poor Miss C was a bit annoyed, she had to wait for several people who went into the nail salon after her, who didn't even have appointments, and for some reason they got dealt to before her! not very good.
Those weird little asian ladies talk to each other in whatever dialect they speak, leaving the customers sitting there with literally nothing to do. I think it's kind of rude that they talk in a different language in front of the customers. Makes you wonder what they're actually saying...

It was such a hot night again last night, was hard getting to sleep that's for sure.

Today has been an ok day, it's a friday so I can't really complain. I've been fairly busy on and off all day which helps to pass the time. I'm getting to the last 30 or so pages of 'The Face' by Dean Kootz, it's all coming together now and it's quite a good book. I hadn't read any Dean Kootz before but might hunt out some of his other works now.

"Where's your head aa-aa-aaaaaat"

I really don't know where my head's at, at the moment. I keep doing random and stupid things.
Like buying things when I've said I won't buy anything till after my birthday, like going into a store with a gift voucher and paying cash, really stupid things.
I wonder if it's just the heat, perhaps dehydration? I'm hoping it's one of those two things 'cause otherwise I'm just plain stupid and even worse, thoughtless.
I knew before lunch that I inadvertently make things difficult for others some times but after doing it to MYSELF at lunch time, well lets just say I know what a dick I can be.

It is a sad fact that, regardless of effort or talent, second place only means that you are first in a long line of losers.

Hello my name is Scott and I'm an eBay addict

I'm fast becoming an eBay addict. I've probably trawled it's pages for over an hour today, on and off.
It's bad I know.
I received some gamecube games today from Merry Olde England. Yay :D
Again, it's bad, I know ;)
There are all these figurines and things that I'm really tempted to buy, cool stuff like little PVC figurines of the Gorillaz characters. Very cool.



So a catch up...
Friday me and Miss C went and baby sat for my sister.
My nephew Aston is cool. A very on-to-it kid for a 2 year old (well a soon to be 2 year old).
My poor sweetness got all gunked up 'cause of the cat though and had to go home early. Poor girl, I'm a bit that way myself today so I knows how she was feeling.
I ended up being there till about 2am and caught a taxi home. I didn't sleep well at all and was wasted on Saturday. A guy came round in the morning to pick up my weight bench that I had sold on trademe, yay for getting rid of crap I no longer use!
Later on, on Saturday, Miss C came round and we did some cooking. First we made a double batch of pate and then we made a couple of banana cakes as I had some ripe bananas that needed using. I think I've converted my Sweetness. She never used to like Banana cake but she likes mine :D.
Later on we had nachos for tea while we watched Garden State. Miss C hadn't seen it before and I think she quite liked it too. It's a favourite of mine.

Sunday, sunday I didn't do much of anything. I tidied up my room some more, put some more stuff into boxes etc. I also did some more work with my fabric paints. That was about it for Sunday actually. Uneventful and mildly productive.

And that brings us to today. Most people took today off but Miss C wasn't going to so I decided not to either. I would have just ended up sleeping in and then wasting the day away anyhow.
So I came into work and have been having another mildly productive day. I've had my package from England, Made an online order for 'something' and offloaded some more stuff from trademe.

Looking forward to seeing my sweetness some time tonight hopefully. Chances are I won't see her at all tomorrow as she's catering for her parent's 25th wedding anniversary. I gaves her some banana cake and pate for her and her parents, apparently her mum rather liked my pate last time :)

And that pretty much brings us up to 2.58pm, or 'now' as is commonly referred to. Or actually 'then' as it's now 2.59.

TAFNR

Who needs terrorists when you can bring down a 15 story building with burnt toast

The fire alarm just went off, 15 floors of people were evacuated for fear of fire. Thankfully everyone was safely evacuated and there were no casualties. The cause of the fire alarm? the visique optomitrist downstairs burnt their toast. Yep, burnt toast. FFS.
So my theory is, you could wipe out a small town with nothing more than a half dozen loafs of bread.
Oh the humanity!

Anyway, the sevens start tomorrow and they had the parade down Lambton Quay at lunchtime.
Here are a few pics.
They were taken from the 15th floor so I had to zoom in a bit...

Unfair odds

Well my girl told me that she'd found my valentines day gift yesterday and that it was an auction on trademe that finished at 9. Cool I thought. I then started looking for something for her too.
I did a search on trademe with the words 'valentines day' and came across a digital picture frame and I thought, hey, that's cool, I could load it up with pictures of her and me and our trip down south.
I was happy so I told her I had an auction finishing around 9 too. I asked her what time hers finished exactly and turns out hers was 9.17.
Mine was 9.17 too.
We both started getting suspicious at that point.
We asked each other a few cryptic questions and found out we were looking at exactly the same thing.
Now at this point I'm thinking "no way!" but my poor girl was thinking "oh ffs what the hell do I do now!"

Ok, not such a great start really but these things happen, I mean if both of us do a search for "valentines day" we're both going to be looking at the same stuff and when 90% of it is crap, either naff jewelry or flowers (and she's specifically asked for no roses) there's not a lot let on trademe at that point.

So I had a backup item on ebay, and Miss C didn't really like eBay all that much so I thought I'd be safe with what I'd picked, it was really rather cool. I figured for a girl who likes Invader Zim as much as I do, a talking Gir would be pretty sweet.
So I put the auction in my watchlist and asked the seller what the postage would be to New Zealand.
That evening I get a text from Miss C saying she's found something for me on eBay, so everything is good. She also says that someone else from New Zealand had asked about the postage too, crazy huh.
Yea, I wont go into the details but you guessed it, we were looking at the exact same thing.
Now I can understand the trademe thing, we were using the exact same search words and trademe is 'only SO big'. But eBay? There has to be 10's of MILLIONS of auctions up at any one time. For us to pick the same thing, that's just CRAZY!
I don't know what the odds are but I'm sure they're pretty out there.

So last night my poor girl was in a bit of a state. There was the whole valentines present saga as well as her crappy work situation AS WELL AS the fact that she's gotten a bit upset that last year I had a good valentines day and she doesn't think she can top it.
The truth is, I got some DeSpa chocolates that I didn't like, I didn't even end up eating them and I won a skydiving trip on the radio (which we didn't take till half way thru the next month anyway.
I really don't think she's got anything to compete with.
She's also doesn't think she can top my birthday present from last year, dinner at the Whitehouse and 'my favourite cologne.
For starters, it wasn't actually my favourite cologne, it was the ex's favourite cologne, it was pure luck that I liked it too.
And as for the Whitehouse, yes it was a nice dinner but it's most definitely overpriced and even so it was less than a $100 dinner for two (I know because the ex had a voucher, that's the whole reason we were going there for dinner) , otherwise I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been Big Mac combos at McDonald's "Go on, upsize it, you're worth it". No actually it wouldn't have been Big Mac combos, it would have been chicken nugget combos, she had a thing for that god awful processed chicken, the stuff that they make out of all the undesirable parts of the chicken, assholes and giblets.

She's slowly coming round to the idea that I'm much happier with her than I've ever been and that I have a past but I live in the present and she means so much more to me than any present she could buy me.
If she wore nice underwear and put a bow on her head I'd be more than happy with that!

So the weather's a bit naff today, looks like it's going to rain. A good day to be stuck at work.