I Suck at updates lately!

Well it's been busy over here for sure! Got all moved in to Our schweet new diggs, and we are for sure happy here. Roomies are great, and Kyle and I seem to be getting along just fine so far. Getting used to living together. It's different but good. I just bought a road bike over the weekend too with my Christmas money (thanks aunt Mary / uncle Steve / Nana!), and I am thrilled to have a bike again. Mom is going to send me my shoes and pedals and I'll have to look for a helmet, but it means I can definitely start ridin out here! Join a group or something, and go to some morning rides. I've gotta check into some local Tri teams too....didn't find much before I left the states but there's gotta be something with all the groups I see out!

Anyway, we threw a house warming get together over the weekend too and had some friends over. That was a good time. I was running around a lot, jut busy. Between trying to entertain and wrangle the people (not that many), and then organize to look at this road bike (in the pouring rain I might add) it was a little crazy. Had a blast tho. Next time we'll do it differently I think. The "bring food /BYOB" thing doesn't always seem to work out. We had a ton of snacks and drinks there, but couldn't afford to feed everyone substantial food, so we said to just bring whatever you wanted to eat. Worked out ok in the end by next time it's probably easier for us to just buy it all and then have people contribute. Ah well, live and learn :-)

OH, big new today too: we have finally found a car!! Kyle has been scouring TradeMe for cars for weeks, askin questions and doing research, talking to people....been busy! So grateful for it. He's been paying to rent cars too just to drive around to look at cars! The one weekend it was really nice to have when we were moving, that's for sure. He's learned his way around really well too better than me now. Well his radius is at least a lot bigger. Very excited to have something our own! It'll make things easier for sure.

We got a 1993 Toyota Sceptor, 7 seater wagon. Maroon Red in color, brand new engine, new stereo, leather seats, sun roof, etc. Awesome! We wanted a wagon so that we can travel on weekends and be able to sleep in he back if we just feel like going off randomly. No worries about accommodations then. :-). Cheaper! Very excited. Sounds like the sellers are really awesome too, Kyle met them today when I was at work, and we may have some new friends! They sound cool, and really really nice. Good deal! So the search is Over. At least on that front.

So a bike and car in the span of 3 days! Now, if only the next phase of good luck would be a jib coming through for Kyle. REALLY hoping this Blue Barn company hires him. Sounds like he'd get along with them really well. We'll see.

On the work front, work is good but busy. I feel overloaded, though I'm not. I have a full quota now though which honestly I don't think j have had before. Hard to keep up. Having trouble getting through these shots wig the snake in any kind if quick manor as well. Just time consuming really. And it takes some planning and figuring out as I go often to get things to move correctly. Ah well. I love some of the shots (the snake ones) even if hey are hard. Really do like working with him, whether it's frustrating or not. If I pull off a couple of these well, they will definitely be some substantial shots on my reel! I have about 44 seconds of straight animation, back to back on the show in one section, which is really cool! A musical number too, so that should be interesting. Can't say I've done much of that before! :). Otherwise things are good. I've decided that I'm going to try not to work much over time like I was before kyle came, and it's working for me. Well, in a personal life sense anyways. I'm not getting as much work done as I could, but I am still working over my required 90 hrs every two weeks. Seems to be about 100 in two weeks about. Just a lot of work, and I feel like I'm still slow at it. I duno, I want things to loom good, and they just seem to take me longer so far. I can't rush through them. I'll get faster people keep telling me, and I'm sure j will

I did kind of screw myself last week, not being as productive as I should have been. It's hard coming off of a long break AND working with your friends. Everyone wants to catch up and socialize after being away. Which is GREAT, but not at work ;). I'm just now starting to get back into a groove. Sucks that it took me a little while. Oh well. it will get done eventually.

Alright well, enough for now, should get to bed soon. Hoping it doesn't rain AGAIN in the morning so I can go run we've had some insane rain and wind the past week or so. Kinda cool, but no good for working out. :)

G'night

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch

Location:Auckland, NZ

Moving!

Well I am behind! It's finally long awaited moving day, and I can't wait! Ready to go. We start in a couple hours. :). So excited!

Things have been good here but busy. Getting back into the swing of things at work is hard after 2 weeks off! Glad to be back though. Next week is when the fun starts: my most complex Savio shot, 237 frames, gets into primary. Not to mention the 7 other characters with him. It'll g
Be ok tho, just have to be good about my pre-planning. Constraints and IKs and all that jazz. We'll see how it goes!

Wow so much to catch up on! I just installed this mobile blogger app on my new touch, so this should be much easier to keep up now. Not to Mention we will finally have stable Internet at home! He wireless at work doesn't work in our room anymore, so aside from email (which I can access on my work station) I've been a tad out of the loop. FINALLY I'll have regular access tho! :) Not to mention a desk large enough that Kyle and I can probably both use at the same time. Haha.

Ann good things.

Ok, actual updates after the move. WAHOOOOO!!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Scanlan st to Marston st

Happy New Year!

Talk about ringing in the New Year the right way!  I wanted to do something... ANYTHING... to get us out of this house for the New Year... even though all of our flatmates were out of town.  I just thought it would be nice not to be stuck at home.  So I went online to BookaBach.co.nz and started looking for little vacation houses to rent for 1 or 2 nights.  Luckily, one of the first ones I found, out in Piha, had an opening!  Its a bed and breakfast called the Piha Exquisite, and I was able to work with one of the guys that runs the place, Aaron, to find ourselves a room.  We were going to be in one room, but a big group of people (Korean we think?) came and had taken all of the rooms in the main house, but one.  So we ended up with that one... but the room is attached to a SEPARATE bach, which we also got to take over!  So its like, we had our own private kitchen, private bedroom / bathroom, living room, and deck all to ourselves!  Not all of it was furnished, but thats alright.  We ended up spending most of our time over in the main house anyway.  We rented a car, and thankfully Kyle drove over to Piha (talk about some narrow roads out there!  Hes a lot more confident than I am, though I will be learning soon when we buy a car).

This was one of the craziest, LARGEST homes I have ever seen.  Well, ever been staying in at least.  I mean the place was just nuts.  And the view was to die for.  RIGHT over Piha staring at Lion Rock.  We felt like celebrities for a night!  There was a pool table, and all of the walls slid open to these MASSIVE decks that you could go out and sit on.  Could not have asked for more. 

 Kyle, enjoying the view

 Attempting to prepare our dinner on the malfunctioned grill to the Left..

 That WHOLE glass wall on the R side opens up..

 This is the view out the back of the house.

 Literally facing Lion Rock.

 Our room!  Again, with a view of the beach

 This was the separate private kitchen / bathroom down in the bach that we had to ourselves

 Other side of the bach.  Those stairs go up to our room, and then through our room, you get into the main house. 

 That big house there at the top of the photo?  Yea, thats where we stayed!!

There were a couple little flubs when making dinner, which was the only down side.  We had gotten steaks to grill for dinner, but the grill didn't really work, so we ended up having to finish them off in a pan, couldnt get our tomato sauce open cause there was no can opener... ah well.  In the end we ended up with steak and pasta for dinner either way.  We JUST barely caught the sunset too with our dinner.  It was so sweet, we sat out, the two of us, on this little table with our dinner and wine, right on this MASSIVE deck watching the sunset over the beach.  Perfect.  :-)

 Beautiful!

Later on we hung out with the two guys that run the place, who was SUPER friendly, and really young.  Seriously, these guys were like, mid-20's and running a B&B whose RENT alone cost them like, $6,000 a month.  Insanity.  And they were great.  Both of them were like, half Swiss, half Kiwi.  Funny combo :)

So right before midnight, the guys suited up with guitars, and led a few of us (me and Kyle, and another couple of a Russian guy and his Kiwi girlfriend), down to the beach to countdown to the new year.  It was DARK as hell too!  No lights out at Piha!  Haha.  So we headed down by the light of the "torch" (flashlight) on the one guy's phone.  It was stellar.  Standing down under the stars on the beach at midnight.  :-)  SO cool.  They played some nice music for us too!  And heres the crazy part... there was a HUGE fire going on at the top of the ridge down from our house!!!!!  No worries, it was pretty far down from where we were, but I mean a RAGING fire!  The alarms were going off and all that.  Luckily it didn't spread, and the firemen were able to get it out pretty quickly.  We felt terrible thinking it was someone's house.  Turns out, some people lit off fireworks at one of the scenic outlooks along the road, and one misfired out into the bushes, lighting them on fire.  Fortunately, nothing was damaged but the brush, but man it was crazy to watch! 

So, Happy 2011 everyone!  We were some of the first in the world to see the New Year come in.  Cool!!!!  Then, off to bed with us.  Wanted to get up and explore the beaches the next morning. 

We got to hike down to Kitekite falls the next morning, after a stellar breakfast made by the B&B guys with REGULAR DRIP COFFEE (which made Kyle very very happy since Espresso is the caffeinated drink of choice over here).  The falls were awesome, bigger than I thought too!  So we took lots of photos there, and then headed back over to Piha Beach to climb Lion Rock. 

Awesome!!!!

Onward up Lion Rock:

 pretty sweet panoramic that came out of Piha!

 Top of Lion Rock!  Well, at least as high as you can get :-)

 Awesome Maori Statue hanging out up at the top, looking out over the land.

Ahhh Piha.

Then, we headed out to a new beach called Karekare, just further down the road.  That was pretty epic.  Now THAT beach could have been in the Lord of the Rings for sure (no, it wasn't).  haha.  And you can fish for green lipped mussels there too!!!!!!!  Just in the sand!  We saw a nice Asian couple searching for them and decided to join them for a little bit.  We found out you don't need a license or anything, all you need is to not take more than 50 per person home at any one time.  I will be returning to collect some :-D.  Especially if we have guests come to visit!!!  (Mom!)

 Karekare

Pretty sweet!

We will be back for sure, even though the drive is a bit treacherous!  hahahahaha.  :-P

Happy 2011 everyone!

The friendliness of Kiwis.... and our insane adventure on Waiheke.

Ok, so yesterday we did the most insane / epic / stupid / beautiful thing yesterday.

We want to Waiheke to spend the day.  Took the ferry over, and decided instead of taking a wine tour (since they were expensive and we wanted to see more of the island), that we would tour the island ourselves by Mountain Bike.  We had been warned by the guy at te ferry terminal, who when Kyle asked him where to rent bikes, turned with a funny look and said "you know Waiheke is really hilly, right?"  We didn't think much of it, because people had suggested we rent bikes.  Haha, unfortunately it cost us more to rent two mountain bikes than it would have to rent a car (only about $10), but more on that later.

 On the ferry on the way over.  Wow, apparently I am getting tan!  (dont worry, I wear sunblock every day, especially with that whole "hole in the ozone layer" thing...)

 Our trusty bikes...this is right after our first climb.  Getting our bearings.

So we head out with our maps and the vineyards selected that we wanted to stop at eventually, and Kyle was determined to get all the way to the far reaches of the island, where the most beautiful areas were.  This place was called Man 'O War.  Im thinking "awesome, we'll bike out and see it, and then have a leisurely time back.  We had been told that the trail out there was the most difficult, but we didn't think much of it since we're both relatively experienced riders.  We got this, right?  And, we didnt believe the lady when she said "oh, it'll take around 8 hours to get out and back."  Hah, no it won't.  Maybe for amateurs!

On that note, off we go.  Experiencing some serious climbs early on in the heat of the sun, we weren't worried cause we were covered in our SPF70, and had our backpacks stuffed with lunches, as well as waterbottles.  Stopped off at a place called Palm Beach for lunch, which was pretty crowded, but beautiful.  And let me tell you:  That guy at the Ferry Terminal was NOT JOKING when he said Waiheke was hilly.  Reminded me of biking in the Shenandoah MOUNTAINS.  haha.  I mean seriously.

Anyway, we were having a great time, enjoying the gorgeous scenery and happy to be out on such a beautiful day.  We have some amazing photographs.  Bright green grass sprawling out everywhere, and clear Sapphire blue water in between.  Breathtaking to be sure.

 on View Road.  Appropriate name, don't you think?

 Sprawling green pastures as we continued along.  Yea, we left civilization...

 SHEEEEEEP!  (Kyle has the rest of the photos from the trip on his camera)

We continued on, realizing we still had quite a long ways to go.  Im starting to think, this is going to end up as a bit less of a wine / beach tour, and more of a "lets see how extreme we can be" tour.  It sure did.  But thats ok too!  We found our first vineyard as well, Obsideon.  That was quite nice!  We had 5 wines for $5 each, and the woman was really friendly.  It was great to have a breather too. 

We hopped back on, and quickly ended up in the middle of nowhere, sprawling green grassy hills everywhere, tons of sheep (yes, lots of sheep, and the babies were so cute!), and miles left to go to the end of the track.  Just past the sheep, we end up on some dirt / gravel roads.  Well, now this is a tad more challenging!  But let me tell you, mountain bikes are AWESOME, and this is the first time I've been on one as an adult.

Onward, and we're getting pretty tired... and running out of food and water... but we're ALMOST THERE!  2.8 miles to go... and then we finally make it.  Free wine tasting there too!  And omg the most beautiful scenery.  Absolutely gorgeous.  So we stopped and enjoyed the wine at Man 'O War vineyard, and were searching for food, since we thought there was BBQ there.  Nope, no food unfortunately.  So by now its around 4:45pm or so, and we have 4 hours before sunset... well crap, we gotta get back!  

We continue along the track, heading around the end of the loop and back toward town.  OMG we were so shot.  SOOOO shot.  Our legs were just done...we had been biking since 11:30am.  But we had to keep going!  We get up to the top of this ridge which was just absolutely gorgeous, but we stopped to take a break at the top of the hill.  We're realizing we're pretty low on water and randomly, a really really nice older man stopped on the road to talk with us, and sure enough had a huge water jug, and offered us water!!!!  What a nice man!  They were staying just down the road, and were from Auckland.  Haha, oh the friendly nature of Kiwis.  Then we kept on, and we ran into a vineyard that we thought was still open (around 6pm), and headed down there to see if they still had anything.  Sadly, they were closed, but a really nice man walked out, I assume either the owner or someone who works / lives there, and talked with us.  Told us that unfortunately their restaurant was closed and all packed up, so we chatted with him for a bit.  Really nice guy.  He said his brother was a cyclist who had done the same trek, only on a road bike, so he knew what we were into.  Nicest guy ever.. he said "wait a minute, let me see if I have any food I can give you guys to head off with, you will probably need it."  So a couple of minutes later, he walks out with some buiscuts (cookies), strawberries, and two apples!  WOW.  He also gave us some insight on what we had coming... and a doozie it was.

Talk about the two largest and longest hills we had seen all day.. AT THE END OF THE RIDE.  We biked as far as we could, and then hopped off and were walking the bikes up the rest of the way, just for a change in muscle usage.  Insanity.  The first one of the two was absolutely ridiculous.  We're getting a bit worried on time and daylight and all that, but we keep going.  Made it through both thankfully, and then it was not nearly as bad the rest of the way.  We stopped to take a break at a bus stop, and this really nice man who lived right behind the bus stop named Tim, came down cause he saw us.  Asked if we needed help, but we said we were just taking a break, explained where we had come from and whatnot.  He was impressed, and we were joking about how next time.. whatever we rent will come with a MOTOR!  He gave us some more water, and then offered us a couple of beers!  Sat and chatted with us for a while.  Haha, what a friendly guy.  So there, that is THREE times we have been helped by random complete strangers throughout the day.  Wow.  So impressed.  Just nice friendly folk, offering to help out some strangers.  Immensely impressed.

From there, we had 11K to go... and my God was that the longest 11k ever!  Kyle's hip was killing him, our butts were sore, our legs were tired... oh man.  But... by the time 8pm came along...WE MADE IT.  We made it ALL the way back!  a total of 32.5 miles roughly is what we biked throughout the day.  Now... that doesn't sound all that far...but with the hills thrown in like they were, omg it was flippin far.  We literally couldnt have biked any farther.  Haha.  OH what a day!

Here's our route!

Like I said, Insanity is our middle name.  haha.

It was definitely an experience though, thats for sure.  And once we get all the photos loaded, trust me, I will post some.  They are spectacular.  Absolutely nuts.  So finally, around 8 / 8:30pm, the bikes were turned in, we said "good riddance," and headed to wait for the ferry.  All sunburnt (just the back of my hands and a little on my back if you can believe it!  Thank YOU SPF 70!), and absolutely spent.  Ready for food and sleep for sure.

 the last of the sunset, waiting for the Ferry. 

 Rangitoto in the background.  Kyle got some better photos with his camera, but I got something at least!


Oh what a day!  Next time, we're renting motor bikes, and spending a little more time at the wineries and beaches, then pedaling up the mountains.  As Kyle said earlier today "the sight of a hill makes me sick!"   Hahahahahahaha.

Good times.  Next time, we'll try to be a bit smarter about it (don't worry).  :-)

SO much happening!!! HOLIDAYS!

So Kyle has been here about 6 days now, and things are great.  Learning to live together (not that we arent used to spending long periods of time together or anything), and exploring the city.  Getting things set up for him over here too.  Hes applied to A LOT of jobs, and I am REALLY hoping he finds one.  Theres one company, Blue Barn, that sounds amazing, and I think he would be perfect to work there.  Heres hoping! 

Sorry I havent been on top of this by the way, work got really busy before the holidays, and then I got two days off before holidays, and spent that time running around getting ready for Kyle to come.  Organizing, etc.  Now we're planning some trips!  Well, starting anyway.

Just a breif update.  I'll start at Christmas: 

We had a nice Christmas.  Kyle got in on Christmas Day around 6am.  I got myself to the airport bus that morning to go and meet him.  I was SO anxious!  His flight wasn't stellar, Delta were total asses and charged him a ton of money for stupid things, but at least he got here safe.  We hopped a shuttle home, which took us to our doorstep (awesome!), and got Kyle settled a bit.  Then, off we went!  Walked down into town, stopped by my office to see some people and show him my office (since I had the day off and some people were working just til lunch).  Then headed downtown for a little bit to give him an idea of the city.  It was a nice day!  Went to the grocery store with Nia and Terry to get some food and whatnot as well.  He was able to stay up too until around 9pm that night.  I was pretty impressed! 

Christmas turned out nicely.  WAY different than home, and I got a bit emotional because we weren't home... I missed my family a lot.  But we got to web cam chat with them on their Christmas! 

Kyle and I woke up on our Christmas Day, and had the house to ourselves for a couple hours while everyone else was sleeping.  Sat around the tree and opened presents from one another (yes, I got a 5ft tree and decorated it before he came :-D), and that was really nice.  Kyle...I swear... he ordered me ALL the McDonald's toys from the Penguins of Madagascar SHOW!!!  They dont sell merchandise for the show yet because it hasnt been on all that long yet, but I swear, he got me two of each penguin!!!!!  Omg.  Who would have thought of that!  Made me so happy!  Im the first person in the office to have any official stuff from the show!  SO COOL!  He also got me the Vibram 5fingers shoes, so I can start walking around town in those, and hopefully start running with them.  We took them on a quick jog the other day in the rain (which was awesome) and they feel great to be honest.  Walked around town in them too and I really like them.  Take some getting used to, but excited to use them. 

I got Kyle tickets to Nitro Circus for the two of us in February, Track side seats, and some other knicknacks from New Zealand.  Candy and whatnot too.  :-D  We had a really nice morning.  His family gave me some great gifts too!

Then we Skyped with my Family on their Christmas Eve, and it was sooo great.  Made me happy to see everyone, and sad of course that I wasn't there.  But definitely made the day better!  We opened the gifts from Mom and Gary that they had sent too, and let me tell you, we got some good stuff!  I got some DVDs, a new ipod touch that I can SKYPE ON, some cute shirts, and my Animation Mentor Timbuk2 bag that I had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN about!!  Omg the thing is great, and I got signed thank you cards (3 of them) for each friend of mine that I recommended to the school, and that had finished class 1!  So neat :-D  So that was nice.  It was so great to open presents with everyone together, and just SO cool that you can DO that over the internet from so far away!

After all the excitement, and some tears, we made breakfast and just kind of hung around.  We had gotten a big ham and some veggies / potatoes to make the day before, so we went on a search for some brown sugar to make a glaze.  EVERYTHING is closed here on Christmas though, and the place was like a ghost town.  But we were able to find a little mini mart that had some things we needed.  So we came home, Christmas DVDs in hand as well, and started cooking.  Kyle and I made a glaze for the ham and I made the mashed potatoes just like mom does (sour cream and milk... yum!).  Nia made the veggies, and Terry made dessert.  Got some wine too.  And then once food was ready, Everyone sat down to eat!  Nia, Terry, Ernesto, Alvaro, me, and Kyle.  It was nice.  The food was great, and it was a pretty nice alternative to Christmas at home.  Better than nothing!  The Christmas tree was on in the background and all that.

After dinner and dessert, we watched A Christmas Carol.  Awesome looking movie, but unfortunately Kyle and I just CRASHED during it.  So we headed to bed before everone else.  Probably still late though.  Next day we were hanging around the house and then Skyped with Kyle's Family.   It was harder to talk to them because of our internet connection failures,  but still nice that we could see them.  Saw Zoey too, and it sounds like she is doing ok.  I feel bad, we miss having pets over here. 

So, that was Christmas! 

Over the past couple days its been wandering the city, running some errands, and trying to figure out what to do for the New Year.  I want SO BADLY not to be here for the New Year (in our house).  SO luckily after much debate and research, we have rented a room in a Bed and Breakfast at Piha Beach to spend the night and celebrate the New Year.  We rented a car, so we will be learning to drive on the other side of the road as of tomorrow morning *eek!*, and hopefully having a nice dinner and enjoying the beach. 

So far so good in New Zealand!  We can't WAIT to move though!  SO looking forward to that new place!!!!!!!!

Dec 20th

Ok...So this is just a quick post....  I know I've been slacking.

So today I bought a Christmas tree downtown.  And ornaments and all that.  Its gorgeous!  Set it up in the living room, and it made me really happy just to have that.  But... I set it up by myself.  Which is fine, I just wanted to have it... but Ive always set up a Christmas tree with someone else....Nia and Josie were there, but it was me doing the setting up.  It was weird not doing it with family... and without there being... I duno... a bigger deal made out of it.  I was SO excited just to have a tree!  its pretty big too! 

And then, later tonight, Nia and I rented the movie "Fred Claus."  I thought it was going to just be a cute, funny movie about Christmas, and it was.  But what I didn't realize......... was just how homesick it would make me.  It actually made me cry at the end.. and I just couldn't hold it back.  Seeing all the scenes of families on Christmas Day spending time together and all so happy... made me really miss home on Christmas.  I know its just one year, and that everything is fine, and that Kyle will be here soon.  And I'm sure I'll get to talk to my family.  But... it really does make me sad that I wont be there.  I love Christmas.  Even when theres drama on Christmas... I still love it.  I love seeing everyone happy.  And enjoying their company.  Getting the house all clean and decorated for Christmas and family to come over.  I will always love that.  It made me a little sad today... telling Nia and Josie (who was hanging out with us too, shes from Germany, and heading back there tomorrow) about how Mom and I used to set up the Santa House every Christmas together.  Spending the afternoon bringing things up from the basement and spending the time to fix up the house... put everything where it should be.  Listening to Chrismas music... and just spending time TOGETHER.  I love that.  ANd I always look forward to it.  it's a lot of work..... but man do I love it. 

So yes, I am sad that I don't get to do any of that this year.  I know that in the past I havent celebrated Christmas at home the whole time... but I still got to be part of it every year.  Its different being so far away, and knowing that I can't be home this time.  And that I wont be for a while. 

Sorry to be a bit of a sap... but it made me kind of sad tonight when I realized just how much it meant to me every year to be with my family during the holidays.  Even just Mom and Gary and Evan.. spending the time shopping, setting up...

Yea, I miss home right now.  :-(

Woops, its been a while...

Well then, sorry its been a while!  Ive gotten quite behind.  Been trying to keep up at work, and I have just been exhausted lately.  Keeping myself WAY busy too, which is fantastic.

Kyle comes in just a few days (just over a week!!!!!!!), so I have been trying to get things around here organized for him to come.  Cleaning out the closet and whatnot.  This past Friday was the Christmas in the Park performance as well, and that was a blast.  I went to that initially with Matt and Carla, and had planned to meet up with Ngaire and Chris and Ngaire's Aunt and Uncle when they got there.  So I hung out with the two of them, and then right around when the show was starting, met up with Ngaire.  That was a blast!  had a great time with them, her Aunt and Uncle are awesome too.  Lots of fun.  Musical performances galore, fireworks at the end and all!  Even Santa!  haha.  Not to mention TONS AND TONS of people!  It was in the Auckland Domain, which is a huge park, and the park was absolutely full.  Insane.  Really fun.  Then after the show was over, I headed back to Meadowbank actually with everyone to play some cards.  They let me crash there for the night too, which was really nice.  Meadowbank is beautiful, and quiet.  Not to mention their house is AMAZING.  Love it.  Really modern, clean, beautiful.  Nice backyard / deck area for entertaining as well.  It was great.  They made me breakfast, and then dropped me home.  They even invited Kyle and I to come by for Christmas!  What a nice family.  Seriously, I feel very lucky to have met them. 

That day as well, once I got home, Amnon picked up me, Matt and Carla and took us out to Miruai beach.  Very cool beach.  Amnon, Deb, and their friend went surfing, while Matt, Carla and I went exploring a bit and laid on the beach.  LOVE the beach.  So nice to have somewhat of a tan too!  Dont worry, Ive been COVERING myself in sunscreen every time I go out, and so far so good on not getting burned!  Awesome.  So we had a nice little afternoon, and then Amnon dropped us home.  I love Amnon and Deb, they are great.  Looking forward to spending more time with them.  (Amnon is a co worker of mine if I didnt mention that before). 

Then I came home, went and got a pizza with Nia and Terry, and chilled out at the house the rest of the night.  Good times. 


Got all my Christmas shopping this weekend too, and was able to mail everything home on Monday morning.  Yay!  Can't wait for everyone to get their gifts.  Looking forward to that.  I love Christmas :-). 

So this week is going to be a doozey I think.  Busy busy.  Trying to catch up from last week, but man, I feel like some of my shots just get harder and harder.  I guess thats a good thing really, they trust me with a lot more, but still... it takes a lot of time!  Im re-animating someone else's Primary shot too right now.  Savio..oooh Savio the snake.  How difficult he can be when you dont know how to use him.  Whoever did the Primary pass on the snake, didn't quite use the right controllers, so I was forced to re-do the whole thing, and then throw it into Primary.  So it took me ALL day.  Literally.  I was able to work a bit on another one of my Julien shots toward the end of the day since I stayed late, so i think I will be able to submit that tomorrow.  Who knows.  Its been a hard week, getting a lot of crits back.  Not to say that Im not doing as well as I was, I am, but the shots I have are more challenging, and every once in a while Myke changes his mind from what was set out originally.  Totally allowed to do that, it just makes it a bit frustrating for me when I can't get a shot approved the first or even third try.  haha.  Still, its ok.  Always small changes, thank goodness. 

And GOOD NEWS:  I now have a new place to live!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  OMG Im so excited!

This place is GORGEOUS.  And now...Kyle and I initially didn't want to live with other room mates.. but Kate and I found this absolutely to-die-for townhouse that is none other than epic.  Seriously.  The nicest thing I have seen since I have been here, hands down. 

I think I wrote about it before, but in case I didn't......  3 stories, balcony on every floor, FULLY furnished, leather couches, wood floors, big screen plasma tv, dvd player, 3 bedrooms, comes with a grill and every possible kitchen appliance we could ever need / want.  Beautifully decorated, two car parking spaces... and not to mention...the Master Suite, the room Kyle and I will be in.. is awesome.  private bathroom, large room, King bed, our own tv, a desk built in, closet, our own balcony... I mean its just great.  Its about the top of what we can afford (with utilities included), but man is it worth it.  And its closer to work than I am now.  And outside of the downtown area.  SO quiet back there!  My goodness.  The view from the balconies is amazing too!  And the woman who is renting it to us is sooooooooo nice.  She is going to have us over for some drinks after Christmas to solidify everything, sign papers, get instructions and keys and whatnot.  its amazing.  I cant wait for Kyle to see it.  We can't move in until January 15th, but thats perfect really because thats just the right amount of time to give notice, for the holidays to be wrapped up, and to get things settled.  YAY!!!  Stoked.  And we're going to put a hammock on the balcony!  I CANT WAIT!  So yes, that made my day.  The other person moving in with us as well is Juan from work.  he's really nice.  He is a compositor over at Oktobor, and seems really sweet / chill.  We talked quite a bit on the bus, and I think this is going to be a fantastic scenario.  Great people too.  So yea.  YAY!!!

So yea, things are going really well.  Im still trying to lose weight though.  I found out that I am walking just about 5 miles a day!  Its awesome.  And Im trying to eat better.  I need to not eat out so often (which will help), not to mention the fact that Christmas shopping will help to deter me from doing that so often ;-).  Had a nice little chat with Heather today, and that made me feel better.  When Kyle gets here we can train together, and I think that we are going to look into buyin bikes over here used so that we dont pay so much extra to have them shipped.  Just not worth it. 

Ahhhh.  Good things.  Now, I just cant wait for Christmas!!!!!!

OH, get this. Another reason why I love my job:  I am hearing rumors that within the construction going on in the office (theres a ton cause of expanding), they are building a SLIDE to go from the top floor (third floor) to the animation floor!!!!!!  HAHAHA, omg epic.  I love my job and my industry.  And we have our Christmas party Thursday night.  Really excited about that too.  Wish Kyle could be here for it, but thats alright, at least he is coming.  Man, I cant wait.  Good things are happening.

I guess the best of things really are worth waiting for :-D