I have returned!

It has been a completely crazy week. Thank goodness, however, that the worst of it is behind me. I was so nervous about my thesis defence, and I had a huge job to complete for a client that had to be finished by Thursday. Now I can collapse in a heap.

The viva on Wednesday went well. No thanks to me - I blathered on like an idiot and waved my arms about so much that I knocked things off my examiner's desk. I am definitely better at written communication, as blog readers who have met me in 'real' life will no doubt attest. It must have made sense overall, however, because I have been awarded the MFA with High Distinction. Hooray! BestFriendAlly has some suggestions over here as to what that might mean. (While I'm on the subject of BestFriendAlly, I'd also like to direct you to the post where she converted my cat Mink into a fearsome Transformer robot).

I went thrifting today to celebrate, but held back a little as I'm going to be spending the day with visiting blogger Scribbles on Monday, and I need to save some pennies! Also need to save for our trip, which is only three weeks away. Equal parts terrifying and exciting. I can't believe I'm going to be meeting with my publisher in London - it still seems unreal.

I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask you all, if you don't mind:

1) Are there any bloggers in the UK who would like to meet up for a coffee or the like? I'm staying in Christchurch, Dorset (and yes, that is why my family decided to move to Christchurch, NZ out of all the possible cities. Very logical reasoning there), but I'll be in London as well, and I'm sure I'll be venturing further afield.
2) LOML and I have decided to hop over to Berlin for a few days. We've never been, and we would love some recommendations of places to go and things to see.

Thank you!

Have a relaxing Easter Weekend!

Christmas photos!

There wasn't much time for taking photos on Christmas Day, but LOML whipped out his camera before lunch and took some shots of me, my sister and my Mum's cat and dog. And some psychotic Christmas ornaments.

Santa army!

Don't jump! There are some things worth living for.

This is Lucy. She likes to lick things.

But she's so cute!

She also likes to open her own presents.

A necklace from my lovely sister.

This is Sandie, playing with her new catnip mouse.

And here is my aforesaid lovely sister.

Something to look forward to

I am excited! LOML has taken some time off work, and we're going to Nelson in the first week of October to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I can't wait. I haven't been on holiday since our honeymoon, and I have hugely itchy feet (metaphorically). I want to see new places, experience new things, get out of this city. And it will be really nice to spend some extended time with LOML when neither of us is working or (hopefully) thinking about work.

Also, I get to pack! Packing is one of my favourite things to do. It combines my love of organisation with my love of clothes.

I've never been to Nelson - apparently it's the arts and crafts capital of New Zealand, and the thrift and vintage shopping is meant to be great. I don't suppose there's anyone out there from Nelson who can make some recommendations?

Here comes the sun (I wish)

I know you're probably heartily sick of hearing me complain about the dreadful weather and saying how I want to go on holiday, but ... the weather is really dreadful and I want to go on holiday! It's particularly grim today - cold winds, lashing rain, sky grey-blue like a bruise. Every night this week, before I fall asleep, I have been mentally packing a suitcase for a holiday somewhere warm. I may be getting slightly obsessive.

I do love packing, though - it satisfies both my love of clothes and my love of organising. There's something about choosing a distilled, concentrated version of yourself that is just so much fun - you can leave all the dross behind and present your most essential self to the world. Perhaps I'm overthinking it.

Anyway, these two posts on packing have satisfied my cravings for this morning: Wendy from Hand It Over shows us what she's taking to Mexico, and the_kitten from Picked Pics gives us packing tips inspired by her upcoming trip to Viet Nam.

Sigh

I want to go on holiday! These pictures are from our trip to Daydream Island last year. I have hugely itchy feet at the moment, in the metaphorical travelling sense rather than the literal sense (thank goodness). I need heat! Light! I want to be somewhere new.

Stir-crazy

I keep having dreams about packing for a holiday (I also keep having dreams about living in a post-apocalyptic world where we have returned to riding on horseback and fighting with swords, but that's another story). I dream for hours about folding summery clothes and packing them away, then driving to an airport filled with anticipation (I'm filled with anticipation, not the airport). It's not too hard to interpret this. I am sick sick sick of winter and longing for heat and light again. Every year I think I have adjusted from Zimbabwean weather to New Zealand weather, but this is in summer when everything seems bright and optimistic. When winter rolls round, I realise that no, I have not adjusted. So I am looking at photos from last year's holidays to cheer myself up.



These are of Cathedral Cove, taken on our honeymoon. You may recognise it as the spot where the four Pevensie children land when they are called to Narnia in Prince Caspian. Kind of ruined the movie-magic for me because I know the place so well - it's hard to think of it as Cair Paravel!