Outdoor leisure

Surprisingly enough, this post does not contain photos of boxes - despite the fact that I am quite well aquainted with them at the moment. I'm glad I have spread my moving out over 2 weekends, it has meant I can still do other things, like...go to another of the concerts in the Botanic Garden for Adrianne's birthday in my new amazing Recycle Boutique 1950/60s dress!






And in keeping with the retro theme, I babysat on Saturday night at a house filled with art and NZ memorabilia.


I also loved their dinner set. I think Mad Men is really getting to me.

And no, it's not Crown Lynn. I checked.

Then on Sunday we didn't exactly have classic movie Sunday. But we did watch a cult classic...OUTSIDE!


We started off with a couple of short films, including Six Dollar Fifty Man, from which you can see a still. Then the main feature was Withnail and I. I took a while to warm to it - a few minutes in I said to Alex, 'Is this a dumb movie?' and she said, 'No, it's funny' and I said, 'Good.' But it didn't really get that funny for quite some time. But then it did get very funny. And I liked it. So there you go. A couple of people said that it was the second time they'd seen it and they'd enjoyed it much more than they did the first time. I don't know if I'll rush to give it a second viewing. But Richard E. Grant is pretty great in it.

I didn't go to knitting tonight. I had to pack up my wardrobe. Which has grown considerably. Woops.

Crowning glory

Yesterday my super speedy Wikipedia skills won me this poster:

It will go very nicely in my new room.

I am really looking forward to the Crown Lynn: Crockery of Distinction exhibition at the City Gallery, Crown Lynn is such a New Zealand institution and I love that the range of crockery they produced is so wide – from functional every day dinner sets to funky modern pieces that are more like works of art. And those swans, just screaming to be put on a mantelpiece in all their pristine glory.

I’m moving house over the next week which is exciting, but with rehearsals for our show’s Auckland Fringe season now in full (hysterical) swing, pilates, funding applications (also for the show), friends’ birthday picnics, babysitting, outdoor movies (as well as indoor movies) and theatre to see, I don’t know when I’m actually going to get time to pack. Plus that thing called work I have to go to five days a week. If only sleep was optional. Needless to say not much progress has been made on the second sock.

On Sunday we watched Arsenic and Old Lace for classic movie Sunday. It was referred to in a review of the original season of our show so I’d wanted to see it for a while. Unfortunately I was so tired after a bit of night out dancing that I had trouble keeping my eyes open at some points but I managed to keep up with the plot. Which basically revolves around two old women, poison, dead bodies, a newly married nephew and an estranged nephew, and a man who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt. It was crazy, but enjoyable. And it did have some similarities to our show – well as far as the two old ladies and poison are concerned. Cary Grant was really irritating though. I’d be interested to see him in a serious/romantic role because the way he played his comedic character was just too much for me. Still, I’m glad I saw the movie.

Let's do The Time Warp again

On Friday night my sister had her 21st birthday party. It was very different to the dinner I had for my 21st a few years ago, but then Megan and I are very different. Except for the bossiness. We are both very bossy.

Highlights included a massive family Macarena, followed by The Time Warp and the YMCA. Who knew synchronised dancing could bring a very disparate, large family together so effectively?


I was extremely delighted to see my little cousin wearing a dress my Mum and I bought her in Melbourne a few years ago, when she was just a baby. The didn't have any smaller sizes but it was so pretty we decided we had to buy it for her to fit into when she was old enough. And now she is! We can't take credit for the shoes though, even though they're so awesome I'd like to.


She loved dancing around in the dress (my friend Lauren and I taught her how to shimmy - even though I am probably the worst shimmy-er in the entire world) and a box of sparklers were a hit with her and everyone under the age of 12. If only they realised how much I burned my fingers trying to light them all!

Speaking of Lauren and I, here we are! This photo is mainly to document my dress - I bought it from Frutti for the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards back in December (that feels like such a long time ago) and I was glad to have an excuse to wear it again. It's very fitted and goes down just past the knee. Actually quite Mad Men-ish as well...

Red and Green

Inspired by my recent introduction to Mad Men, I bought this skirt for $15 on Sunday at the Recycle Boutique on Cuba Street. I LOVE it. It is the brightest thing I have in my wardrobe...it's even brighter than my sunburn. Sigh.

Monday night Knitting Circle at the Southern Cross was pretty quiet in the weeks before Christmas and it hasn't exactly been crowded since I've been back. But a friend from my old work came along this week and has made excellent progress on socks she is knitting for her girlfriend. Apparently her girlfriend doesn't like the colour but likes the pattern. I like both! The colour makes me think of green apples - although the photos don't do the colour justice at all. It's much brighter in real life.

Lovely lovely

If you look closely, those are bubbles floating in the sky on a perfect Wellington evening at the Botanic Garden during one of the ASB Summer Magic concerts. The concerts continue until the 30th of January so I am planning to attend a few more, hopefully on nights equally as still and warm.


After the Friday evening concert we went to a friend's friend's super cute courtyard garden, full of candles, fairy lights, and roses. Some very, very secretly strong punch may have meant I left the courtyard a little less idyllic by the end of the night, but we won't discuss that further. Some things are best forgotten to avoid having to lock yourself in your room forever out of shame.

Hydrangeas are out in force at the moment. For some reason they seem old time-y and dainty and quaint, but also wildly cheerful and bursting to be out and proud. Does that even make sense? Well it does to me.

Devon Street hydrangeas

Botanic Garden (I want to say 'Botanical Gardens' but apparently that is not actually correct) hydrangeas

On Sunday Janet and I went to high tea at Mojo on the waterfront (Kumutoto Plaza). It was delicious! The tiny slices of scone with lemon curd and cream were especially good.

Spotted

On my way to work last week. Sadly it was removed a day or two later - the little dog looks naked now and far less jaunty!

View from my window

But not for much longer. I am currently undertaking the joyless task of finding a new flat. I'm looking for a room in an established flat which is like a mix of speed dating and a job interview - because even if I really like a place, there's no guarantee they'll like me.

Until this summer I had never noticed how many Pohutakawa trees there are in Wellington (there's one in the foreground of the above view, to the left). For some reason I always think of them growing by the sea, like this scene from my visit to Ngawi:


But actually they're everywhere. Outside my apartment:


And on my way to work:


There's a particularly impressive one in the grounds of the Beehive. But I don't have a photo of that.

Currently I am addicted to Mad Men. I got season one on DVD for Christmas and I. Love. It. The scandal! The decor! The hair! THE DRESSES.


I do love Christina Hendricks and her character Joan Holloway. Even though Miss Hendricks isn't really a redhead. Which is disappointing.


There are also some excellent dresses in Funny Face (not that you'd know it from the poster) - our choice for the first classic movie Sunday of 2011.


Because the opening sequence of the film is set in the offices of a fashion magazine it reminded me of The Devil Wears Prada and in both movies they go to Paris, so there are a number of similarities, but of course Funny Face came first. And it has Audrey Hepburn in it. I enjoyed the film - particularly Audrey's interpretive dance in an underground bohemian Paris club (the poster is depicting stills of her dance) - but overall I was too distracted by the fact that Fred Astaire looked old enough to be Audrey's father. The relationship between their characters wasn't romantic, it was just weird. I guess they thought they could get away with it because it was Fred Astaire.