It’s a chilly one here in Wellington, a perfect time to post these pictures and remember what fun my friends and I had on our new years bach holiday at Waitarere, and think longingly about the fun we’ll have this coming summer.

All photos by Jason.

On new years eve we put on our glad rags (I wore a dress I bought from an op shop that very day), drank bubbles or gin, and had a fancy dinner before dancing into the night.  I’m hoping for the same again this year, and some sort of pagan picnic (barefoot frolicking! red wine! crown of foliage in our hair!) on new years day.

Jason just developed a roll of film from ten months ago, with no idea what was on it. Turns out, all sorts of summery goodness! These pictures are from our friend’s wedding in Opotiki, my family Christmas in Auckland, and the Festival of the Lights at Pukikura Park in New Plymouth.

Via Katherineisawesome, who has some choice party pics from the event up.

I always look forward to seeing the new Ruby collections. I must have missed this lookbook coming out as some of this is already in store, but a nice suprise, especially since it’s only a month to wait for another new collection at their NZFW show.

More here.

Dear Twenty-Seven Names, I love you so. I blogged about the sneak peek of their SS11 collection, but couldn’t resist showing you some of my favs now the full lookbook is out. You can find it at Katherine is Awesome.

I must confess that like many people I know, I’m still very upset by the situation in Christchurch, and also (guiltily) what it would mean for Wellington if we had a quake of comparable size (as we are likely to). I tried to write a bit more about it, but I can’t get my thoughts together enough to make sense and not be entirely melodramatic and self indulgent. All I will say is, please donate, put together a disaster kit, and tell those you care about how much you love them. I’m so glad I have some work coming in so I’ll be able to contribute more, as well as set up our disaster kit properly.

Image from an old post about visiting Christchurch and Lyttelton.

My heart is breaking for the people of Christchurch right now, and for everyone who has lost somebody or are still looking for their missing loved ones. My family and friends are okay, but that’s not the case for many.

Donations can be made at the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Grab One, and lots of banks.
You can search for missing people with this person finder.
How you can help.

In case you wanted to know, my nail polish perfectly matched the hydrangeas.

Jason set up the photobooth, he is a clever one.

While we were in Opotiki we slept in a caravan by the sea, ate a lot of brunch and drank glasses of wine filled right to the brim at the local pub. A few more pictures tomorrow maybe.

Hope your weekend was as good as mine!

Photos by me & Jason.

Last Saturday (I’m a bit behind!) we had a visit from our friend Sahita who’d just returned from India, where she’d been bitten by a monkey, of course! We had lunch at Maranui Cafe, which I hadn’t been to since it had been rebuilt after the fire. I had an enormous, messy and delicious quesadilla. We went out to Makara for a walk, it looks lovely and quite serene in the photos but was rugged and blustery in reality. Sitting near the edge of a cliff, looking out to the sea and what we think was the South Island, we talked about the important things in life. Like animals and weird fruit.

Sahita is one of my favourite people to hang out with, she had so much energy, does so much and makes you feel like you’re surrounded with possibilities. Of course I was completely exhausted after that and had a fun evening at home, being a bit grumpy, baking cookies and scaring my flatmates with ghost talk.