one of the things that my one counselling session taught me was that i too often over book myself monday to friday and then spend weekends at home thinking i have no friends. but not doing anything about it. it is my form of being socially spastic.

but it doesn't happen every weekend.

this weekend was all highlights, all the time.

i should probably start with blackalicious.

fifteen out of ten. it was off the charts. or off the hook. or whatever the young kids say. i know i'm old cos i turned up two hours early for the show. but pay off! cos i also got to be pretty close to the front when blackalicious came on stage and - after getting caught literally in the middle of a fight - i heard opportunity knock and found a posie right at the front. close enough to get serenaded by gift of gab during some love song i didn't know. and at some point in the song we locked eyes and he pointed at me at the part in the lyrics where he says "you complete me" (this may not literally have been the words but it was the subtext). i have thought about it since, and i should have stayed for the after party. but if i did i probably would have hooked in to gift of gab. on the plus side he is tall and famous, on the down side i'm more into his home boy lyrics born, and i also plan to marry kanye west or simon le bon.

on saturday, i day dreamed about what my life would have been like if i'd succumbed to the obvious chemistry. but mostly i distracted myself with an art gallery tour of wellington. the dowse for craft 2.0 (and some stationery. have i mentioned i heart stationery?) and pataka for the patricia grace related exhibition.

i heart craft 2.0. but there seemed to be fewer people there this time. not that i ever notice the people really. only when they get in the way of me and notecards. the sun was a plus and there were even stalls OUTSIDE. just like a summer market.

i also heart pataka. they have a shantytown you know!!!! you must check it out. if only for the shop window display....

what the???

there is also an exhibition of photos by my favourite photographer ever. desiree dolron. check out the pataka website here for clues at how awesome she is. or deireee dolron dot com here.

being cultured is exhausting though so i had to have lots of pit stops for coffee, tea, berry crepes and fruit toast (the latter coming from the aunt daisy cafe in titahi bay, 8/10 for decor).

in the evening i went to 24hr pp. and it was awesome.

have i told you i'm so in to robert palmer right now? this outfit was loosely inspired by the simply irresistable girls. plus with a lime green bow how can you go wrong?

i had sore feet so was waiting for sux, or less good songs, but finding a chance to sit down was impossible. as i tried new dance moves (more twirls and footwork as well as some bgirl fusion - adapted from blackalicious the night before). hrc and i also got to dance with some of our favourite dancefloor celebrities as well as adopting a new friend for the evening who knew almost as many words as i do. almost. luckily the verve was played at some point and i had an excuse to leave. that point didn't come until after three sometime.

then this morning i went to the zoo zoo zoo with ryles. he was less interested in the animals than in pretending to be one. there was a heartbreakingly cute moment where he saw three otters lying in the sun and he demanded that he be put inside their enclosure so he could play with them. i could understand that. otters look like they would be wonderful to play with. he ws disappointed when i wouldn't lift him up. and when i said that if anyone was getting otter hugs it was me. but i handled the resulting tantrum the way any good aunt does. with ice cream.

then i spent the rest of the day watching dvds and trying to rest up for the working week. i watched the original (not harrison ford remake) of sabrina (7/10 overall, but 10/10 for the wardrobe and for audrey hepburn's eyebrows), and pillow talk with doris day (7.5 for the movie, 12/10 for rock hudson for being dreamy).

urban legend, and perhaps science, has it that change is the only constant. but i have news for you. there is a second constant. and that is oprah winfrey. because she is a CONSTANT inspiration.

like how today she is inspiring this post. i'm writing a gratitude journal before i go to bed.

1. i am grateful for sight. i nearly blinded myself taking this photo which was both too close up and too flashy. the flashiness seems to have worn off though and i've almost regained my vision.


2. people who read blogs, especially my blog. but apparently i don't post enough for some people. so this week i am posting every day.

3. babies. babies are perfect. here is an example of a new one.

4. the internets, for helping me to find the perfect muffin recipe. i find that no matter what substitutions i make the muffins turn out.

5. this song. which i have listened to on repeat for the past five or six days. i don't know anything about modest mouse. except how their name is an oxymoron. in my experience mice aren't modest. they take liberties and try and live in my house and then try and eat me. mice are something i am not grateful for.

6. flirting. i watched some classic flirting about twenty minutes ago on courtenay place. from my prime location at kenny's cafe.

7. kenny's cafe. sometimes you just need hot chips before heading home.

8. always having my camera. if i didn't i would have missed this terrible sight in newtown earlier today. boo cancer society. i mean i still hate cancer more to the power of infinity. but the cancer society had a car wash where twelve year olds dressed in bikinis holding up signs. and they were getting heaps of toots from gross old men in trucks. ps they may not have been twelve but they certainly weren't eighteen.




9. atomic. and especially men who whisper song lyrics in your ear. when you don't know them. girls on film. girls on film. about an hour after that he nearly vomited on the dance floor. crisis averted though when someone handed him another beer. sadly he didn't repeat his smooth whispering in my ear move again.

10. sleep. i am very very tired. so sleep, when it comes, will be the most awesome thing of all time, ever.

my joy yesterday was getting togs in the mail. they are the most awesome togs ever and everyone in waikiki will be jealous as i snorkel and all-i-can-drink soda with the dolphins. although i haven't yet figured out how i can swim AND wear the matching sunglasses that i just know i will find for $15 from equip if i look hard enough. but really that is a detail.

my other joy was listening to guns of brixton on my nano. it is now one of my top five songs on facebook dot com. and i know what you're thinking: didn't you just join facebook dot com on friday. and before that weren't you all like part of the bebo gang? and yes, that's true. but the bebo gang is for my teenager side. so my top rated song is lil mamma's lip gloss cos that bubble gum is poppin'. facebook dot com is where the matureds hang out. i can in express myself in full words and sentences and what not. but other than that i don't truly fit in. i mean you're reading the blog of a girl who was IDed at every bar she went in over the weekend. THAT'S RIGHT I LOOK 17. it's the oil olay.

which reminds me that a bouncer was totally trying to flirt with me on saturday. reeeow. hence the IDing i guess. and the conversation about my scarf. but then my scarf is awesome. it was my first ever crochet project. which was like a year ago when i went to adelaide and spent the afternoon in a heatwave lying on a couch in my hotel room learning to chochet with hels. that was the time when i lost my passport and had to pay through the nose for a new one and missed a plane only to find my lost passport in the drawer where i'd left it. ah memories. but just in case, i might go now and double check my passport. i want none of those mess ups with waikiki.