Sunday, 30 September 2012

A Family Portrait...

So... I decided that I wanted some family photos...
I wanted a gorgeous photo ready for my new desk at my new job...
 
Now I can't decide which one it will be...
We had a bit of fun with Miss Parnz taking these picts, and it was such a beautiful afternoon here, the lake was simply stunning... here are a few of my favourites...
 

 

 



The kids wanted to have some singles done...
 
 


 
 
 
 
And of course Mrc C and I had to have a couple...
 
 

 
 
And a couple of fun ones...
 
 
 
 
A beautiful day...
 
Mrs C
xox


Friday, 28 September 2012

Ifie Lifey...

I gave my iPhone4s a nickname, 'Ifie', this is my life this week according to Ifie and 'Instagram'...
 

SATURDAY: Skipping ropes from a garage sale
 

SUNDAY: poetic licence, my new shoes...


MONDAY: wearing my beautiful farewell gift...
beautiful red sandals from Mrs H...



 
TUESDAY: we finally opened Utah-Beth's box of
Salt Water taffy... YUM! we thought my last week at work
was a good reason to sit around eating taffy...
 
Wednesday: the mini ball finals... our team got
second place, woohoo!
...playing with lights after mini ball

Thursday: A bus trip to the kapahaka festival...



FRIDAY: Miss M... a teenager today!!! 13 years old.


Well this was my last week at school.
It was crazy, awesome, sad, great, terrible and teary.
But thats a whole other blog post...
Watch this space
 
Mrs C
xox

Monday, 24 September 2012

A farewell package...

I arrived to work today to a special delivery. 
 
Mrs H had ordered me the most gorgeous farewell gift
that I have ever received.... 
EVERRRR!!!


 
A beautiful pair of red sandals, made in Portugal...
 
She already has a pair in yellow...
 
I am in shoe heaven right now...
 
My best friend ROCKS!!!
 
Mrs C
xox

Friday, 21 September 2012

To laugh or to cry... that is the question...

So... I think I've been quite subtle in letting on that something pretty big is happening in my life right now... I'm about to share that with you now....

I have a new job!

How do I feel about this?

Well to be honest I'm torn between ecstatic joy and depression....

 
Haha!  Well really, not quite so dramatic but... although I am really grateful to be given this new opportunity its pretty sad. I've been working at my kid's school as the office administrator for almost 7 years!!!



I will miss alot of things about being here... I will certainly miss my dear BFF Mrs H!  We have definitely been lucky as close friends to be able to see each other everyday... she's a rock!  I'm so glad for mate-dates... we'll squeeze them in as often as we can... we have promised each other not to bawl and howl in my last week... well to try very hard at least...




The people I work with here have become awesome friends and they are all amazing in their fields, great people, great friends...




BUT MOSTLY....In this job, I have been absolutely spoilt as a mum!  You know, I've been able to bring my kids to work... everyday!  See them everyday! keep an eye on them... everyday!  Its pretty daunting that to know that I won't be able to do that anymore.  And this is the worst thing about leaving this job... my babies...

(Big sigh...)


So my new job is in Wellington, I'll be commuting by train everyday.  I'm not going to lie the money is awesome, but I've decided it's not just about that...

As a person and a woman, I feel its time for me to progress... I've never really been big on having a "career"... I was always happy to just have a good "job." 

As a family, this job will present more opportunities to all of us!  More about that later...

But remember when I put my back out here and the spunky Mr C fully stepped up to take care of me and our kids?  When I think about that time... I know that we are going to be fine.  I'm dedicated to spending the small amount of time I'll have with my family as quality time - nothing less than quality!  While Mr C takes over as full time caregiver and parent-in-charge... And of course Nanna will always be there to lend a helping hand or some sound advice...

We never planned for me to be the main breadwinner, that's just the way its turned out and we're pretty easy to roll like that because I know that Mr C can handle it in his awesome Mr C way...

So... I have one week left on official duty at school, another week of training and one precious week on my very last school holiday with my kids (tear)... 



 
So what is the question?

To laugh or to cry?

I guess I'll be doing quite a lot of both in this coming week... granted people might start to think I'm lookin' just a little bit cuckoo!!! I'll know in my own mind that I'm fine... we're fine.

Mrs C
xox

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Shoe Lust...

Sometimes, just sometimes... 
...I go online window shopping...
...mostly I surf shoes...
...the aesthetic pleasure I get from looking at beautifully designed, gorgeously made, quality designed shoes fills my heart with joy haha! Its true!
This week though, I'm not just looking, I need to buy some new shoes, for something exciting...
These beautie's have certainly caught my attention...






Now I just have to see which ones I can afford...
I'll let you know which shoes I buy and why soon
Mrs C
xox

CRAFTY CURVES...

I love these step ladder stools, I love them even more now that I've recovered them... I did it the easy way, but I'm loving how they turned out, its super cute...

Take a beautiful vintage stool...

Some beautiful fabric, this is a lovely teatowel...

Unscrew the padded seat from off the stool and fit the fabric enough
to fold over and use a stapel gun to fix in place...

pull it in nice and tight...

Voilaaaa!!!!!

I love projects that don't take much time...
 
What quick crafty projects have you done lately?
 
Mrs C
xox







Saturday, 15 September 2012

A few of my favourite things...

I have a problem... according to Mr C, its a big problem... you see I have something of a 'Garage Sale' fetish, yes, I do!  So, I've been trying to stop buying stuff just for the sake of just buying stuff... new rule "I must, I must stop buying crap!"  Now here is the problem... what constitutes crap???  Because today I found a couple of great things that I just couldn't pass up... and today they have become two of our favourite things, 'our' meaning me, the kids and Mr C!!! so I guess I must be getting good at not buying crap... check it out...
 
Have you ever had a game of Fooz-Ball with your kids? You MUST try it!!! FUN!!!  My boy brought this for $15! We all love it!

Try playing 'around the world' darts with the family... Start by aiming for number 1 and work your way up, everyone taking turns... this heavy duty vintage dart board including darts, chalk and duster was only $20!!!!
 
 
You have got to agree with me... these 2nd hand bargains are amazing non-crap purchases right?  Not only were they cheap, but they encourage us to spend more time as a family actually interacting with each other in a fun non-T.V-watching way... The son is turning the garage into a bonified games room! 

Do you have a crap-buying problem???
 
...Well lets just wait and see what I bring home next week.
 
I've had an extra amazing week, I feel quite blessed in all parts of my life... My week started with this strange little sign of love and luck... Mrs H pointed this out to me on Monday morning...
 
 
I have a heart on my cheek!!! Can you see it?  It's just a random act of loveliness that exposed itself, of all places, on my right cheek...  Love it!  The outcome of my week is a whole other post though and I will certainly fill you in, but not today... have a lovely weekend...
 
Mrs C
xox

Sunday, 9 September 2012

Belle's of the Ball...

So... in the last post I had mentioned how super busy I have been... this is one of those things that had kept me busy. 
 
My 3 sisters and I have been singing together for-like-ever... on Friday night we had our first big gig as a foursome. 
 
 

Three of us performed at a few weddings and smaller gigs throughout last year... we were super excited to actually be able to do this gig altogether...
 
The gig was for the L.D.S Church Ball 2012 for our region, there seemed to be a few hundred people there so it was also our biggest gig to date...
 
So you would think that just preparing for the gig would be enough work in itself right?  But... on top of that, we (or I) decided that we should make our  own dresses... SO... we did! In one day... the day before the ball! Lol!

 
 I designed an easy to make dress that would be flattering on each of our own curves (similar to my striped dress here...) and guess what the theme for the Ball was?  VINTAGE! Perfect right?
 
My twin sissy flew back from Sydney for the Ball and brought with her all our beautiful satin which she scored for only $2 a metre! Bargain! 
 
 And check out our beautiful fur stoles... aren't they just gorgeous!  Yes! they are!  #1. belongs to our mummy which has been handed down from her mummy... #2. I scored for $1 at a garage sale, and two others, #3. & #4., were lovingly loaned to us by Mrs H and Ms Grace, thank you ladies...  to top off the look, mummy's pearls and vintage hairdo's. 
 
Love this look! 
 
Miss Parnz and my twin sissy, Mrs K, weaing
Furr stole's #1. and #4.
 
Miss Waireka, 5 months pregnant and
wearing fur stole #3.
 
... and ME... wearing fur stole #2...
YES! I really did find it at a
garage sale for $1!!! Amazing huh?
 
 
Anyway... we call ourselves
 
'Tuahine'
 
which is the maori word for
'Sister's'...
 
We performed for 2 and a half hours... I was so pleased with how our outfits turned out...

Then we got to dance the night away to the D.J...

We are all Dancing Queens...

Sharing the night with our mumma, our brother (who performed a couple of numbers with us as well) and Mr C... Oh and we met our little niece, Awatea, for the first time this week, and she was such a beautifully behaved baby for her singing mummy at the Ball...

The spunky Mr C and I enjoying the night...


Along with all these wonderful people...
 So... as you can see we had the BEST night!!! My twin Sissy has gone back to Sydney, and my two younger sissy's are back over the hill (that's how we refer to the Wellington region...) And it's back to work for me tomorrow...
 
You know, sometimes life can seem like a monotonous daily grind of just churning the mill...
But then amazing moment's come along and create amazingly beautiful memories that will last forever...
 
Singing with all my sisters in our first big gig?
Priceless!
 
Mrs C
xox