Sewing Project #4

For my next sewing project I had found this plaid material at Salvation Army. I thought it would make a cool jacket.
A messy heap.
Getting there.
Finished. I originally had red buttons but the store I bought them at said the company no longer made them. So I had to switch to white.

The back.
I put a cute polka dot liner on the inside.

Coming Home

Our journey in New Zealand will be coming to an end. We bought tickets last night. On Wednesday, July 30th, Dave and I will be returning to the United States

Jackpot

Today was a good day. I worked at the cinema this morning, again working on floor instead of candy but that's ok because I could then look for money. The search started off slow. I found only 10 cents in the first cinema. By the way, have I mentioned how it is oh so much fun crawling on my hands and knees inbetween rows of seats with melted ice cream, soft chocolate and squishy gummies to be careful of? Well it is. The next couple cinemas were better. I got up to $11.40 by the time I reached my last cinema, the largest one of all. I had been saving it for last. I started at the bottom and worked my way to the back . I hadn't found anything and was starting to lose hope. As I bent down in the back and last row to find even 10 cents, I saw a piece of paper. I figured it was some flyer or maybe a check someone had lost but as soon as the light hit it, the wonderful print of a $20 note came into view. I couldn't believe it! $20! My total was now $31.40. But it didn't end there. After another session of films had ended, I went inside to clean theater 2 with no intention of searching for money, but there it was, in plain daylight, another $2 coin. I also found another 20 cents in another cinema. My grand total for the day was $33.60. Not bad if I do say so myself.

In Stores Now!

Alright, Little i...remember people, that's the company I'm a graphic designer for, has a new product for the male and female audience called PURE. It's the same thing we make for Little i - mint tins with mirrors inside, but this one is black, very simple with no mention of Little i and it's cute little hearts.

It's in stores now at your local WAL-MART! Or at least it should be. And it only costs 96 CENTS. These tins usually retail from $2.99 to $3.99 in boutique stores. I know some people think Wal-Mart is evil and blah blah blah, but set that silly notion aside for one day and go get yourself some yummy mints. They are right by the checkout stand along with all the other mints and gum. Help us keep our account with Wal-Mart and get our sales up.

Thanks!

P.S. If you buy one, let me know what you think, thoughts, comments, anything. :) It's always nice to have feedback.

Holes in Your Pocket

Today I worked at the cinema and unfortunately I had to work floor, which means I had to clean the theaters and tear tickets. I usually work in the candy bar...so it goes. Anyways, it was really slow this morning and I was bored. So I decided to do a little searching. After the movies came out and I went in to clean the theater, I would grab a torch and drop on my hands and knees. I've learned that holes and short pockets are my friend. Besides finding heaps of lollies, popcorn, and napkins, I was able to rack up $6 today. I was quite excited about my findings. I work floor tomorrow and after a busy super Tuesday night I'm hoping to find heaps more.

Tara's 25th

On May 16 I turned the big 25. That's right, I'm half way to 50 years old. Dave had planned a wonderful birthday for me, all a secret of course. I woke up around 10:30 to smell a yummy aroma in the air. He had got up early and made me breakfast. He would have served it to me in bed, but I woke up too soon. Shoot. I was just too excited to start my birthday. We had fruit-filled pancakes with homemade whipped cream. After breakfast I showered and was told we needed to leave the house at least by noon. We started driving east. My presents were in the back seat, which I was allowed to open on our way to the next destination. Dave had bought me a scarf and gloves. He remembered me telling him how cold I would get riding home on the scooter from work at night. (It's winter here now and it gets quite cold at night.) He also bought me some chocolates. He knows me well. They were gone in no time. One of his coworkers, Andy, bought me a cool hat. I always let them into the movies so he thought he should get me something for that. Our next stop was the Tarawera Falls. I know, funny name right?

This waterfall is really cool because instead of flowing over the top of a cliff, it comes from an underground river and rushes through holes on the side of the cliff.

I amazingly captured a picture of bigfoot in the Tarawera Forest. Let it be known, Bigfoot is alive and well in the small country of New Zealand...and fully clothed.

...that's right, that's my husband. What a goober.

...I guess I can't talk. What a nerd.

This was a really pretty river that was so incredibly clear and beautiful.

On our way home, this little guy was crossing the road at an incredibly slow rate.

I think this is the Tarawera volcano.

After the Tarawera Falls we went back home and changed into nice dress clothes and went out to eat at a restaurant called The Lobster along the sailboat harbor. We ordered an assorted bread tray with dips for an appetizer. I had the pork flintstone which had deep fried apples and potatoe mash. Dave had chicken on top of rice with fried mushrooms. They were both oh so tasty.

We opted for no dessert in order to get to the next event on our agenda. We went home and changed into regular clothes and started on another little drive. We ended up at the Oropi Spa Pools. Dave had reserved one of the private spa rooms for an hour for us. It was so nice. I had just said how cold I was when we had got in the car. It was relaxing and the perfect way to end my birthday.

Modeling of the gifts.

White Water Rafting!!!

Tara finally let me blog! (by the way, me=Dave for anyone who hasn't discovered that whole figuring things out by the process of elimination thing) Sure, a blog about white water rafting isn't as prestigious as one about, say, Hong Kong, but it's a start. Anyways...


Tara and I went white water rafting a few days ago with a bunch of friends from church. Yes, we had only been back from Queenstown for a couple of days before doing this, but we decided to use the George Bush tax refund thing to fund this little adventure. I know we were probably supposed to spend it in the States to help the economy and all. We didn't. So, about the rafting. We went rafting on the Wairoa river with the company River Rats. Usually the river is quite docile and boring, but 26 days in the year they open up the dams and the river gets really high and crazy resulting in heaps of rapids and small water falls. Rapids and falls are rated by grades. The small ripples are grade one and the biggest ones that we went over were grade five.


We arrived at that company headquarters (a tin shack with equipment in it) and got fitted with our gear, which included water proof clothes, life jackets, and helmets. We all loaded into a bus and were driven to the starting point with our boats. There were ten of us from church, so we split up into two boats with five people per boat, plus a guide in each boat. In our boat, the guide was up front with Tara in the middle and me in the back with other people around us. When I got in the back, our guide gave me a look like I was probably going to die riding in the back. The first ten or so minutes were spent in an area of slow moving water practicing maneuvers with our guide. I can't remember his name, so I'll just call him Frank. After Frank was happy with our skills we headed down the river with our friends in the other boat following close behind. Yes, it's finally picture time. Can't you guys read anything without pictures? What are you, eight?


Just to get things started, this is what our faces looked like most of the time.



Yes, that's me smiling and Tara just hoping to live another day.



Many of the extreme rapids had clever names such as 'The Devil's Elbow' and 'Mother's Nightmare'. Very comforting.


Mother's nightmare was one of the first ones we went over. This is what it looked like. Just to recap, that's me in the back and Tara is right in front of me.











Pretty intense, but nothing we couldn't handle.



Next up, Frank told us to get ready for Double Trouble. He told us something about it being called double trouble because if you mess up early on the rapid you will be in trouble at the end. We were in trouble at the end. And I still feel like it's my fault. Before Double Trouble, there was a calm area where we stopped the boat and were briefed about what we would have to do and where to row and when to get down, etc. After this, Frank came to the back of the boat, sat really close to me, and said "I am really counting on you. When I say 'row', I need you to paddle as hard as you can so we can get the tail of the boat around". No problem. Let's do this thing.




Looking good.
Still good.


Now for a little conversation:


Frank: "Dave, what are you doing sitting down in the boat! I am counting on you to keep the boat on course!"






Dave: "Ummm, I kind of lost my paddle into the frothy rapids of death"


Frank: "This is not going to be good"




Yes, that is us going down the falls backwards.





Oops.


Oh, and this was Tara's face the entire time.


Well, it wasn't pretty but we made it and I got my paddle back a little ways downstream.

Last on the agenda, The Devil's Elbow. Just to refresh your memories, the devil is quite sinister, as is this terrifying grade 5 falls.
You call this the Devil's Elbow? More like Cinderella's elbow!



This is more like it. This is awesome!
Oh. Crap.

Tara, are you ready for this?I will take that as a yes.

AHHH!!!!Notice Tara's face. Priceless.

Dave: "Frank! I'm slipping!! I am getting destroyed back here!"

Frank: "Why did you sit in the back?!?!?"

Dave: "You made me!! No worries though, I am just going to head butt this cliff."

Tara: "Ummm, Dave? You alive?"

???

Victory!!!
What a blast!
Here a few more random action photos for you to mull over while you wait for the adrenaline to wear off...

Near the end of our two hour adventure, Frank asked us if we wanted to get out of the boat and go down the last rapids with just our bodies. We all said yes. It was about 100 meters of rushing rapids that we all went shooting down. Tara got somewhat frightened (seems odd since she was so willing to jump out of an airplane) but I was there to save her. Breathing was a little difficult and the rapids were pretty wild but we survived.

Finally we were back on land. Cold, wet and tired, but in one piece. The bus took us back to headquarters where we all had sandwiches and swapped stories. Quite an adventure.