A great day, all round

The day started with Cycling S and I heading to the National Gallery for lunch and to check out the new extension.

I was excited to see the return of the pears at the front and a brand new round thing.

James Turrell's skyscape was intriguing and full of

lovely

photo

opportunities.

Then it was off to work for me, followed by the second half of Björn Again which had my 11 year old inner ABBA fan very very excited. Especially as the lovely Di bought me my first Glo stick.

It was odd, though to hear the "original" of Voulez Vous as I've got rather used to the Erasure cover from Abba-esque (and look! Another round thing in the video!)

The evening finished with a chocolate affogato just before midnight. Yes, we found a cafe in Civic which is open for post theatre coffees! In fact, when I told them how happy it made me they said they stayed open until the last customers left. A round of applause for The Mill Cafe.

A flop

A stack of new cupcake wrappers from New Zealand. Morning tea with a friend. The perfect time to whip up some black and white polka dot cupcakes.

Not.

I think it'll be ginger kisses (bought) for morning tea. And trifle for pudding.

And an annotation on the recipe in question to make 12 cupcakes, not 10 as stated...

Getting things sorted...

I return to Australia and start sorting out the backlogs.

And realise I forgot to draw a winner for the Poco Profile giveaway

I'm a bad bad blogger.

Random.org announces comment number 9. The Old Flame (or was that TOF pretending to be Taph?!)

Never fear: if you missed out and are still hankering after a Poco Profile refill, simply enter the code "Shopping Sherpa" (without the quotes) at checkout and you'll magically receive 20% discount for all organiser refills (valid until the end of November)

Who was that masked man?

(Spotted at Gotham Cafe in Wellington)

Today: mainly grey, with scattered colour...

My last day at Te Papa in pictures

(When I realise all the things I haven't done yet and want to do before I leave)

Lolly cake for breakfast at Joe's Garage

Two-for-one blue cheese wontons for lunch at Chow Tory Street, followed by a race around the museum visiting all the exhibitions I hadn't managed to see yet.

After work I popped into Nancy's Embroidery's new shop, after admiring their front window display

(I'm proud to say I left empty handed)

Finally, this random road sign proves what a lovely friendly country New Zealand is:

Ko The Shopping Sherpa ahau*

and I can't believe tomorrow is my last day with Te Papa.

Which I can now pronounce properly because today I had my very first Te Reo lesson.

(*I am The Shopping Sherpa)

The BarTab at BarCamp

was great.

(I think...)

(Please note I didn't use the title "This one time at BarCamp...")

Was that Tuesday that just whizzed past?

Blessing (and sneaky peek) of the fabulous Brian Brake: Lens on the world exhibition which opens at Te Papa on Saturday.

Day two of the National Digital Forum, which lots more food for thought and a meeting with a key player about the project I'm working on as part of my internship.

An invite to the friends' preview of the next Craft 2.0. Which alas, I won't be here for.

A quick scamper down the waterfront to The Museum of Wellington City & Sea to see their exhibition on the American troops in Wellington during World War Two (alas not worth the effort, in my opinion)

Followed by a behind the scenes tour of the Te Papa Imaging Department (where they take and improve photos and images) where I had a discussion with one of the photographers about a dolls house he made many years ago.

The usual crawl home along the motorway, a trip to the beach with Topsy then dinner with The Parental Units and I fell into bed, completely buggered.

(Oh, and no photos)

Today...

One conference.

Spotting two ex boyfriends. (Not at the same time)

Lots of wine.

We* were going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

But the weather was

poo,

poo,

poo!

So what did we do? (do, do)

Well let me tell you (you, you)

At Sweet Mother's kitchen we were eat eat eating

Then at Games Workshop the other boys we were beating





The movie that we went to had very plush seating

And some poetry ended the day...

(*Me and my favorite 12 year old)

Saturday morning garage sales

This morning I went garage saleing

but soon noticed there was something odd going on

and realised I'd stumbled across the filming of the movie Second Hand Wedding.

(They don't call it Wellywood for nothing...)

I was lucky enough to be given a full behind the scenes tour and have loaded the photos to FLICKR.

(Thanks to The Lower Hutt Miniature Makers for letting me leak their club project for the 2010 NZAME Convention which happens next weekend in Auckland)

A bush walk at lunchtime

It was another grey and drizzly day in Wellington today: perfect weather for a bush walk!

Luckily for me there's one not more than 2 minutes from my desk at work*...

which comes complete with friendly locals.

Speaking of friendly locals, as I wandered down to the sea I met this pair:

and this chap:

(who looks like he really needs someone to knit him a little something to keep him warm. Luckily I didn't bring any stash or needles with me...)

The rest of the 45 photos I took today can be found here, including this one:

which proves that New Zealand bush is best viewed in the rain.

(*I'm still not sure if this is defined as still being within Te Papa and therefore covered by the photography policy but I decided not)

And the days keep whizzing past...

The highlights of yesterday:

A lunchtime shopping trip with the girls from work.

The delivery of a large bunch of flowers for the boss, who is overseas so we got to keep them.

A behind the scenes tour of our Works on Paper store and close encounters with some original E Mervyn Taylor wood engravings which took my breath away (and made me very frustrated that I couldn't take photos). This was followed by a viewing of some Norman Lindsay engravings to add an Australian perspective.

(As a reminder to myself that I'm in Wellington, I drove home past The Beehive)

Dinner with The Parental Units and an evening spent updating and polishing my resume with my Dad. Who may or may not have been waving around a copy of Weasel Words at some stage during the evening while I glared at him and tried not to laugh.

A powhiri, a garage sale, a trip to Kirkaldies and a large iced chocolate

Today was an excellent day, starting with a quick journey into the city, followed by a powhiri at Te Papa's marae to welcome a new board member.

At lunchtime there was a garage sale of excess items collected for the Slice of Heaven exhibition, where I managed to scoop up some ephemera treasure. Then my supervisor and I had an unofficial walking meeting to Kirkaldies

and, later in the afternoon, a large iced chocolate complete with Sante bar stirrer.

In between I did work which felt like play but was received with great excitement. And I got signed up for The National Digital Forum BarCamp next week. Which filled me with great excitement.

Just another day at work

Yesterday flew past, but highlights included a talk across at City Gallery at lunchtime (Making IT in a digital world by Edinburgh-based contemporary craft curator Amanda Game) and the debate currently raging in the media about an advisory regarding menstruating and pregnant woman and a back-of-house tour at Te Papa.

Then there was the (now) usual commute to and from work, dog walking, supermarket visiting, dinner making and dishwasher loading and suddenly the day was over. With not a single photo having been taken...

And then the weather reverted to its usual habits...

Wellington has been trying its hardest to impress me, trying to make me think it's the most wonderful place in the world to live.

Last week was glorious, with blue skies and gentle breezes wherever I went. (Well, wherever I went assuming it wasn't dark)

And then on Sunday night there was a sound I remember from years ago: the thundering of rain against a corrugated iron roof and the wind rattling the windows.

And school was back, so the commute into town became 6 kph most of the way, or almost an hour in total.

The colours were lovely, though so I was happy to sit and stare at the sea while I waited for things to move...