An Evening out

Last week I had the pleasure of going out with my dear daughter for an evening out.
We were invited to a Chanel event which was a lovely thing to do, to celebrate Mothers Day.
Who could resist a glass of champagne and canapes?

At the pedestrian crossing we were waiting for the lights to change to green, when opposite were some Television cameras pointing directly in our direction.
It wasn't until some of my family and friends texted us to say they had seen us on the evening news and that was the screenshot above.
The Newshub reporters had been doing a story at the Britomart Train station after one of the trains had derailed, not far from where we were.
After we stopped off for dinner at a little Restaurant XuXu  for dumplings.
We had such a fun evening and was great to spend time with my beautiful daughter.

Hope you are all enjoying a lovely weekend
hugs
Carolyn

Our stay in the City

The historic apartment building, Westminster Court  is where we are staying for our little sojourn.
Located on Parliament street, which is lined with normally leafy oak trees, but with it been winter the trees are bare. We found this apartment via Air Bnb which is a good way to find a home away from home.
The gorgeous grand old Art Deco place was built in the 1930's and upon entering the apartment you are transported back with the decor and retreat to how life may have been back in the day.
 With big old sofas, stained lead light windows and even an old bakerlite phone that is connected and rings in the hallway.

We are loving City life and makes such a change from living on our quiet little Island. It is just a short walk down to the supermarket and the bustling streets of Auckland.

DD and I have been able to catch up for morning coffee on Saturday, lunch's  and go shopping together which is great. We have been for long walks and have taken many photos around our beautiful City of Auckland, and will share them with you soon.

Kitchen is coming along and yesterday we bought the subway tiles to line the walls behind the sink and the oven.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods and that you are enjoying the weekend.
Wishing you a happy new week ahead.
hugs
Carolyn

Celebrating our Anniversary

My roses are blooming again

We had the loveliest dinner out on the 25th, to celebrate 31 great years of being married to my wonderful husband.
Kazyua Restaurant, was the place we booked, as have always wanted to dine here after hearing lots of great reviews.

We chose the Chef's Degustation menu which had 12 amazing courses. The philosophy for this place - Our mission is very simple, 'Make our guests smile'... and that they did! here are a few of the meals

This Restaurant was voted Number 1 in Auckland and I can see why - the presentation of the absolutely delectable food, the wine, service and atmosphere, was amazing.

This was a salad which had 30 vegetables and had wonderful fresh flavours, textures and a real feast for the eyes and taste.
I read a review and the writer said, "that if there's a Michelin guide in New Zealand, this place should definitely be in it", I agree with this. 

At the end of the night they surprised us with a special Anniversary dessert of petite choux buns and kindly took a photo, with an Instax camera, something to take home and remind us of our fun night out.

Do hope you are enjoying your weekend. We are happy to have a long weekend, Auckland Anniversary day is on Monday and the weather is simply beautiful. Must now get out and enjoy the day
hugs
Carolyn

On my walk today

Hi dear friends,

Hope all is well with you and your week is off to a great start.

These sweet little baby ducklings and their Mama, were standing outside the dairy when I passed by. Often when we have been out driving we have had to stop the car and let them pass safely across the road. There are many signs around the Island telling people to take care and watch out for the little ducklings.

DD made this outfit to wear to an event recently - she looked lovely

 We went out to lunch at 'Soul' in the viaduct and had a table out on the deck. This is a great place to look out over the boats and watch people walking around enjoying the spring day

and lastly the flowers blooming in the hanging baskets, always put on a pretty show.

'Savour the moments that make you the happiest '

Enjoy the rest of the week and many thanks for the kind visits to my blog and I look forward to coming to visit you soon.
hugs
Carolyn

Cruise ship at the Port of Auckland

Carolyn has asked me to write something for her blog - so here are my thoughts.
Well it is officially summer - not that you would know it, given the cool breezes and rain clouds.
(in the Southern Hemisphere, Southern winds = cold!!) that continue to afflict us.
 But a sign that the seasons have or are about to change is the start of the Cruise ship season.
Suddenly they are here... these monstrous carriers of people from everywhere, but mostly Americans and Australian tourists.
 
We see them staggering around in matching track pants and wearing their blue blocker
sunnies as they clutch their maps and look a little bewildered.

Today in Port was a really huge boat that we haven't had the pleasure of before - subtlety named "Celestial Soltice" that appears to have disgorged thousands of travellers to wander around and see the sights of the City of Auckland.

I was staggered by the size of the vessel and took a couple of snaps as I ran for the ferry.
It seems out of scale - over 500 metres long and perhaps 11-12 stories high.
 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/ships/celebrity-solstice#Photo_Gallery/ships/celebrity-solstice/photo-gallery 

 The promos show the boat  with youthful folk all having fun but I sensed the average age of those 
on board was probably more like the retired and older age bracket.
 Anyway it gives the City a bit of vibrancy and a change from the usual workers rushing off to their jobs and work for the day.
Hope you are all well and having a great wind down to Christmas xx

Thank you Martin, for taking the photos and writing this post today

xo

The Big Egg Hunt

Out and about last weekend, we went in search for some of the Whittaker's Big Eggs, that were dotted around Auckland City.
We stumbled upon a few of them, so will share my photos.

Some of New Zealand's leading and emerging Artists, have been working hard to create these giant eggs that will raise funds for the Starship Foundation,  Children's Hospital.

Talented people from all kinds of creative fields have joined in with this great cause. Hopefully they will fetch 'Faberge' prices.

The colours were vibrant and designs  eye catching ... the artists have turned the eggs into works of art. 

Happy Easter and enjoy the weekend
Carolyn

The Queen Mary

A few favourites from my week.

On Monday, the Queen Mary 2 docked in Auckland, sailing, on her worldwide cruise.
A great photo opportunity and can see why she is claimed to be, the most magnificent ocean liner ever built. 

I love, how cut hydrangeas I had in a vase, have formed  a root formation and now I will be able to plant this in a pot - do you ever propagate plants this way?

 Our home is still currently under renovation. Today I did some more painting.  It has really been too hot, but just ploughed on and hopefully we will get the job finished soon.

Thank you so much for stopping by and hope you are all enjoying your week
A big welcome to new friends to my blog,  I appreciate each and every one of you and grateful for your friendship

hugs
Carolyn

The Santa Parade

Well yesterday was Sunday.  Normally for us we lounge in bed, watching Spongebob Squarepants and drinking tea but today my Husband (the wonderful one) had booked tickets to the new James Bond movie 'Skyfall".  We of course had to catch a ferry to town to see it (those of you who don't remember the story - we live 35 minutes from town by boat so everything has to be planned in advance).  Today was no different as we ate breakfast (cooked by my DH ) and ran to catch the 11:00 boat.

As  husband pointed out the next two boats would be packed to the teeth with families lurching in to town to watch the city's annual 'Santa Parade' and were to be avoided at all cost.

We got into town about 11:30 and wandered up the main street watching as clusters of families started to congregate and settle in the street equipped with deck chairs and plastic inflatable hammers  waiting to see the Big red Guy and the floats drift by.

We walked into one of the town's new trendy restaurants 'The Depot" - where I enjoyed a scrumptious white bait fritter, petite bread roll and a glass of Bolinger Champagne before leaving to see our children in their nearby 9th floor apartment.

We just managed to get across the street, already closed off by the council and littered with people riding unicycles and stilts and enormous 'Buzzy Bees'.  The noise was amazing.  The kids were surprised to see us as we hadn't told them we were in town and it was nice to catch up.
Looking out the window of our children's  apartment,  we had the best view, looking down at the floats all preparing to get going on the parade. It was one of those magical days where it  makes you feel happy to be out and about and caught up in all the excitement.

Christmas seems to be not far away when the Santa Parade comes to town and always great to get into the spirit of Christmas - although as usual, I am dreading the shopping.

Kiwiana float with the buzzy bee

Rachel Hunter was sitting on this float

Down below the 'Santa Parade' shifted into high gear with the usual house size inflated characters and all in all,... pretty impressive, all things being considered.

Green eggs and ham anyone?

Always great seeing the sweet, happy faces of cute children  who were really excited, laughing and glad to be out in the sunshine.

We watched for a while before making our way down the hill to the movie theatre, where we finished the afternoon off watching James Bond kill about a million people in the most improbable but entertaining way.  If you get the chance go - it's a lot of suspended belief fun.  Home to pizza and a glass of wine - a great weekend.  Summer feels like it is just around the corner.

Wish you all, a perfect week
hugs
Carolyn

 .