short term plans

here is an update on my world. 

i got accepted into Graduate School at SDSU. so i will be in America for a while yet...and I will graduate a Doctor..of sorts...after being a student once again :) 

i'm going home in 50 days for 2 whole entire (wintery) months. can't wait to see my family, friends and my beautiful country again! 

did i say beautiful country?? i actually meant beautiful sister. but the country is a close second.

rosie modelled in Dunedin ID Fashion week just the other day..here are some pics my Mum snapped!

look forward to the chaos we're going to create together again!

xx

to the mountains

i haven't snowboarded in four years.
one: my board and gear is still in nz
two: oklahoma has no ski resorts
three: theres this thing called running..i couldn't risk injury
four: i prefer to live through my brother
just kidding

have you heard of a place called Mammoth? I heard it was beautiful and thought i should probably go check it out..being this close and all. Plus i was tired of living through my brother.

destination. the mountains. 

pitstop for a run in Bishop. i hadnt packed for 80degrees!!??

i had packed for this though. another half an hour up the road and we were in snow! We stayed at Karey's house on June Lake just around the corner from Mammoth.

house...

view...

wine...

open fire and a relaxing evening in.

mammoth township

we stopped for lunch and beers at The Mill at the bottom of one of the runs. A great place with an awsome deck looking up the mountain.

ending the day with a beer back at The Mill by the outdoor fire

a much deserved beer after 28 runs, 21, 911 vertical feet and 26.3 miles of snowboarding. my body was beat.

and so sunday i took the morning off to get in some altitude training and enjoy a weights session at the spa resort. really i just wanted the spa. 

goodbye mountains. for now. im guna let my brother live through me for a while. 

raining on the irish parade

on friday i made 250 green jelly shots for the restaurant. on saturday i ate more than my fair share. on sunday i floated in the flood on my pirate ship and cast my sails in the hurricane winds. 

its been a whirl wind three days of storms in san diego. lets re-wind back to saturday. we woke up to winds of 50mph and rain..which i proceeded to go out in and do a workout. i returned drenched to a house where i spied a bottle of Jameson..sneakily waiting for the start of St Patty's day celebrations. our plans were unfortunately altered due to the storm and instead of biking on our pub crawl, we took a taxi. lame, i know. 

we started the day per tradition at laguna beach with bionic beavers. then made our way to Bare Back Grill in Pacific Beach. jelly shot number 1. 

game faces

in due time we started getting irish fever and thought it time to head back to Ocean Beach to The Harp. A local irish bar around the corner from Raglan Public House. we spent the rest of the day and evening hopping between the two bars. and eating the rest of the jelly shots. jelly shots which i blame for me not having ANY photo footage of the most exciting part of the whole weekend....seeing one of my dearest kiwi companion's whom i shared time with at Tulsa, Ashley Aiken. she was in town for a track meet and made her way to hang out with us and get a touch of kiwi by way of a lamb burger and some nz vino. and more jelly shots. it was much too short, but seeing her and catching up was awsome. can't wait to visit her in hawaii ;)

truth be told sunday was a rough one. winds continued to blow, hail came and went..twice..rain fell and my little pirate ship got rocked. literally. on my run i saw some serious damage, tree's were down everywhere! thankfully i only got hit by a tree once. lucky escape. upon wakening and venturing outside the house, PJ discovered that "one of our plants just committed suicide". yip it was that kind of storm.

 

outside our front gate. total destruction. 

but don't worry guys. we are all okay. thankfully the sun has now returned again. whew. 

jimmy buffet

saturday was a beautiful beach day. and nothing goes better with the beach than a good bit of jimmy buffet and a margherita (or three). being a florida boy, PJ was in his element..and i work in a pirate ship so that means i qualify as 'fitting in' right!? we walked from home along the beach trail to the restaurant with Kate and BJ..it was such a nice way to start our day!

we started tailgating after a few brews at Raglan Public House before the concert. the tailgating came complete with one fake beach, plenty of jandels, hawaiian shirts and drinks! oh and a parrot. can't have a jimmy buffet tailgate without a parrot. 

we then rocked out all night at the concert..with our flamingo. only thing i wish for is that i could have arrived in my pirate ship. next time. cause i shall return.

Jimmy Buffet - MargaritaVille

the kiwi is still here

it's been forever since i posted. truth be told iv been busy doing other things. one of which includes sunbathing in winter...yes it is true. san diego does get that hot in winter, and children frolic to the beach in anticipation of jumping in the waves..only to realize it really is winter and the water is ICE COLD! ill be waiting until the real summer is here.
another of the things iv been doing is delving in some seriously missed past times..number one on the list = watching rugby. last weekend be watched the local boys play here in OB, needless to say the kiwi's on the team were the stars of the game. hands down. it was a great win!!

half time was spent throwing around a rugby ball and touching up on my drop kicking skills..aghhh it has been far too long! such a great day!

another thing that has been far too long since i have done is watch the sunset down by the ocean. due to the shorter winter days we are usually working still or out and about when the sun has set..but now that the days are getting longer the sun sets later and once again we can stand by he ocean and take in this beauty...every night :) 

because im missing home i decided yesterday to make an afternoon snack right from childhood..the best after school snack ever...pikelets!! i introduced the orchard complex to these amazing little treats that are super easy to whip up in a jiffy..only wish i had the whipped cream for the top but homemade jam and melted butter sure was good anyway! 

so there you go...the kiwi is still in me, im still making nz food, watching rugby, drinking steinlager at the new restaurant and eating lamb burgers. all i need now is some more marmite and someone to send over a crate of speights. 

cheers.

one last thing. a new tune for you to enjoy.

Grimes - Oblivion

xx