Monday 15 April 2013

Meet the Family

How rude of me. I realised that I haven't even introduced you all to our new home and family. In January, Kevin and I moved into a new flat literally steps away from the equivalent of Granville Street for all you Vancouverites or 17th Ave for all you Calgarians (or whatever the equivalent of the main downtown street in the city you live in, for all you global readers). This isn't even the best part. We decided, after living just the two of us for a number of years, to acquire some roomflatmates. Meet Paul and Natalie! He works as an engineer with Kevin and she is a former teacher turned NZ government employee from Michigan. The four of us make up the fam-jam in the North American Scum flat.


And it would also be quite inconsiderate if I didn't give you a photo-tour of our fantastic new abode. We live in a two-storey-warehouse-turned-offices/residences. It is tucked away down a creepy alleyway that provides us with a bit of privacy from the 5am bar-hoppers. While we have no yard, we have a lovely communal patio space for relaxing and BBQ-ing. Come inside!


This is our main living space, which includes the entrance way, dining room, lounge, spare bedroom, and kitchen. We don't have any windows other than on the front door, but we get ample natural lighting from a few electronically powered skylights overhead. This is a perfect setting for hosting parties! 





Down the hallway is a coat closet, laundry room, and two bedrooms with ensuites. I'll allow Paul and Natalie some privacy from all my nosy family and friends, but I'm happy to show you around our bedroom. We've got a big living space, a GIANT closet opposite the photo-filled wall, which leads up to a second-floor mezzanine. We've turned this space into a yoga/meditation/art sanctuary that doubles as a great place to dry our laundry.







I feel so lucky to have nabbed such an incredible place to live and wonderful people to live with. Family dinner night has to be one of my favourite nights of the week!

Sunday 7 April 2013

Filling in the Gaps

Alright. I've sifted through the 700+ photos taken by both sets of parents and pulled out the best ones to help fill in the gaps from our trip together. The chronology looks like this: Elaine and Dean arrive in Wellington for five days prior to us flying out to the Cook Islands to meet up with my dad and Juanita. We spend eight days in paradise and all fly back in New Zealand. Kevin and I fly home while Elaine and Dean spend a few days in Auckland before going back to Canada. My dad and Juanita take a few days to take a bus tour down to Wellington where we spend a few days showing them around before moseying down to the South Island. You with me? Enjoy!
















































Phewf! Did you get through them all? And I'm actually in a few!

I've got a few good blog posts up my sleeve for the near future. I hope not to be as neglectful to this as I have been in recent weeks. But the weather is cooling off, we have one less hour of sunlight each day, and we are hunkering down for another Wellington winter. Until next time...