South Island Nov. 2011 (part four)

On the morning we left Dunedin, we ran through the rain and drank coffee inside a cozy cafe. It rained and rained.

The countryside was really beautiful: hills, mountains, sheep and fog. You could see the terrain change throughout Otago.









We stopped in a small town called Alexandra.


We went to a farmers market, and it reminded me out of something in the "Elizabethtown" movie.

And more stops throughout the Otago countryside.



And then we passed through Cromwell, the landscapes became more and more majestic.
Roll on Queenstown!

Dunedin Railway Station

The architecture in Dunedin was such a beauty. When you're there, you can see how well preserved the history is kept. The Dunedin Railway Station was filled with so much charm. Luckily, we were able to sneak inside just five minutes before it closed!














We have a busy week ahead! Hope your week is filled with lots of adventures.

xo
jv

Much Love Monday: January 23, 2012

Happy sleepy Monday!

In exactly one week I'll be seeing this band at Laneway Music Festival!


This week I am loving:

long catch up emails from my pen pal L.
excitement for the long holiday weekend ahead

I also made this delicious, delicious lentil soup yesterday. Like I said! It is DELICIOUS.

I have lots to tell you later.

<3

Dunedin/South Island Nov. 2011 (part three)

After our chocolate factory tour, we went on the Speights Brewery tour! Now, we weren't loyal to the Speights brand, but we've always enjoyed Summit :) This tour converted us.

"Still on the same site it has occupied since 1876, Speight’s Brewery has become one of Dunedin and Otago’s biggest icons. Not just the “Pride of the South”, the Speight’s brand is one of New Zealand’s most loved beers."






Just up the road, a school in between a church and a brewery. HAHA! Enticing.


We learned about the history of beer and Speights beer production. My favourite part was seeing an old group photo showing hundreds of workers and ONE female, who became the first female employee hired in the late 1890's.

In the end, they let us loose on the bar, and we could play bartender and pour our own drinks. Needless to say, the whole room started drinking these glasses like shots, and the room became extremely jolly! They also had non-alcoholic drinks for those who opted out.

We were very fortunate to see that the Canon enthusiast in our brewery tour group offered to take this photo for us. YES!

Cheers! :)

Dunedin/South Island Nov. 2011 (part two)

After checking in and changing, we took a few photos of the view and headed over to the Visitors Centre to decide what we'd do for the day. They were extremely helpful and booked our last-minute tours right there on the spot!

We would have loved to see the penguins and albatrosses! But that was outside of the city limits and would have cut into the local tours we also wanted to see.

We continued to walk around the Octagon area, ate the most delicious vegan lasagna at a cafe and thrifted. In one shop, it looked like a teddy bear orphanage, and it broke my heart. :/







We decided to go to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory! This is Chris' dream. This is the half tour, and it was sweet (no pun intended!) that they kept giving us chocolate after every little stop. We ended up with a bag full and purchased more in the choco shop!

Turns out there was also an American man in our group. As soon as our guide discovered this, she yelled, "Ladies and gentleman! We have a Yankee in the house!" OMGGGGGGGGGG. She said jokingly, "Are you rich? Do you have a lot of money? I'm single." He ran out the door because he was going to miss his bus. :) I'll never forget that.


TBC...

Much Love Monday: January 16, 2012

Happy Monday! Summer is partially here, and I'm listening to summery music to prepare for the transition ahead. As freedom summer approaches, we have a few trips planned. I'm very excited for my old Vegas friend to visit, and we'll be seeing The Pains of Being Pure At Heart & Wu Lyf at Laneway.





Check out this extremely clever flyer my old blogger friend Tim McCready made :)

We actually did meet via livejournal and so did a majority of my friends. They're truly some of the most solid people I've ever met! All of my close friends are still connected with me on there.

Tim dj's an EMO NIGHT in Toronto w/ late 90′s/early 2000′s emo, screamo and pop punk. Here's a recent playlist:

TEXAS IS THE REASON -Johnny on the Spot
NEW FOUND GLORY – Hit or Miss
BRAND NEW -Gloria
JIMMY EAT WORLD -Your New Aesthetic
KNAPSACK -Separate the Spine
DASHBOARD -Screaming Infidelities
PROMISE RING -Happiness is all the Rage
GET UP KIDS -10 minutes
SEAWEED -Kid Candy
TAKING BACK SUNDAY -You Know How I Do


THIS SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH FUN! I would probably lose it at a party like this.
<3

Dunedin/South Island Nov. 2011 (part one)

I'll be mixing in these backdated updates from our trip in November. This was my first time to the South Island and the furthest South I have ever been in the world! Dunedin is the second largest city in the South Island.


These were my first impressions of Mosgiel, Dunedin and the surrounding area.


These guys were so cool sitting on their hotel window. The Bob Dylan-esque man was playing harmonica, and he waved to me. I tried to envision what the Flying Nun days were like in this old music scene.



We walked around the Octagon area (centre city), and took photos in front of St. Paul's Cathedral.



There is a strong Scottish influence in Dunedin's history and architecture.




House of Vintage cape | Cotton On cardigan | Valleygirl blouse | F21 leggings | Tommy Hilfiger bag | thrifted boots

I wore my vintage cape, which was basically a nice warm blanket. It was perfect to travel in.

And this was only the beginning...beer and chocolate were to be had! We've become loyal to these iconic NZ/Dunedin brands.

More to come!

Much Love Monday: January 9, 2012

Happy (belated) Monday :)

I can't stop listening to these dreamy indie pop, stargaze, shoegaze albums:


Junica, Over The Atlantic, Psychic Powers (Wellington musician Nik Brinkman's musical projects) have become the soundtrack to my life living overseas for the last three years. It's my Kevin Shields in Lost In Translation.














I'm absolutely thrilled frontman Nik is pumping out all of these new songs, and I don't care if I sound like a nerdy fangirl. :) I miss being excited about music and seeing live bands.



And hell yes to an At The Drive In reunion! When I was 18, Jade put this song on a mixed tape for me. Classic. The first time I hung out with Ash we listened to Relationship of Command driving around Vegas at about 2 in the morning. It was the year 2001.

Esme you would have loved this. <3

2011 Recap

Well, I haven't written an official Year In Review blog entry since moving to New Zealand three years ago! I really should write one for the rest of 2008, 2009 and 2010 as well!

Let's talk about the last 12 months. I'll try to keep it brief.

JANUARY:
This was a HUGE month for me.

I spent New Year's Eve at a costume party in the North Shore with all our friends!
We drove back to the city just in time to see the fireworks. We introduced LSL to the city of Auckland. We went hiking and went to the beach.

My long-time dream of showing my family around New Zealand finally came true. I selfishly wanted them to come out here for our wedding AND to FINALLY see New Zealand. I'm so happy it happened.
I had a hens night/bachelorette party.


I married my best friend, and we went on a honeymoon to Singapore & Philippines where I introduced him to my family :)



FEBRUARY:

We saw Jeff's band! We went to the Lantern Festival at Albert Park. I surprised Chris for his birthday inviting our good friends out! We went to Hawke's Bay for a beautiful wedding. We hung out inside an old high society mansion. Stopped through Taupo on the way back.


MARCH:

We partcipated in the Relay For Life, and the proceeds went to the New Zealand Cancer Society. We were able to reach our fundraising goal! We caught up with friends, started the breakfast/brunch club with Gabby in Silverdale, went to Mike & Kel's housewarming and went to places we've never been to before. Matt & Jess had a costume party.




APRIL:

Celebrated Matt's birthday, went to the Waikato for Easter, visited Taupo
Chris & I took some of my most favourite photos ever at Albert Park.


MAY/JUNE:

We watched so much Mad Men! Hung out at the Library Bar for the first time ever, brunched, welcomed the grey weather, went on a scavenger hunt set up like "The Amazing Race". We won! I had minor surgery. We saw The Debutantes. We went to Matamata.


JULY:

We went to Wellington and caught up with some old friends. We watched the play that Rey directed! Hung out in Tirau with Chris' mum, hung out with Hayley and Adrian :)


AUGUST:

I went back home to Las Vegas and had the most amazing time catching up with old friends and family <3. I also showed Colette around Vegas, Los Angeles, Seattle and we visited Portland. Caught up with LSL, Lady C & P. We had a dinner party at our flat where I recreated In N' Out grilled cheese/animal fries!


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER:

We caught some serious Rugby World Cup fever AND dressed up for it. I went to the Fanzone 3 nights a week! We befriended international supporters. New Zealand scored a major victory and we celebrated in the streets. Inbetween that, we went to the Diwali Festival.


NOVEMBER:

Chris threw a surprise birthday dinner for me with our crew of awesome friends. We went to the South Island hanging out in Dunedin, the small towns of Otago and then Queenstown. We had a Thanksgiving dinner at Mike & Kel's place. Ryler moved to New Zealand!

DECEMBER:

We showed Ryler around Auckland and the Coromandel, LSL came to visit, we went back to the beach, threw a birthday party for Jerry, went dancing at DOC w/ Jeff, Nancy and Ryler, hung out with some friends on NYE, took goofy pictures and rang in the New Year drinking champagne with my love.

2011 you were a big shock to my system! Living so far away from everything and everybody I know polarises my feelings. I'll try to focus on the positive. I'm looking forward to some new goals and challenges in 2012. FOR SERIOUS!

ALSO-- I'll be impressed if you made it through this monster entry! Thanks for reading and supporting my blog! I started this blog as a creative outlet, and I've met some really, really awesome people on here.

I sincerely hope 2012 treats you well! We only live once!

PS. I was a bit ambitious creating all these collages for each month. I've been working on it for the last week! I'm a bit worn out now with Photoshop, but I'll appreciate this later when I look back.