More pics

This will be our new home for a while until we can break into owning property again :).

Caroling with the Zealanders

It's Christmas- what a weird feeling for it to be summer! Not that the temperature is much different from home right now ;). So here's some images of Kyle's ridiculously sporty car. I really do still squeal when we round the clifftop corners in it. Also, there's a shot of the *double* rainbow (hard to tell in the bad pic) that we saw the other day- it was a full horizon to horizon 180 deg. circle with another one to the left of it. Still looking for the pot of gold, unfortunately.

Also here's two pics of the house on Glenelg that we're staying in until the 15th. We totally lucked out on this one. Not only is it an amazing house, but Audrey and Robert have basically adopted us. They invited us upstairs last night for dessert (baked Alaska, yummy pavlova things, fresh berries...) and prezzie opening. We felt so welcomed by their family and had a really wonderful time. Carolling by candlelight was really a treat. They have two daughters our age, who have two interesting husbands, so we had plenty of ridiculously interesting people to chat with.

I got the job! Iain and Helen have invited me to work with them! I can't wait.

We found a house to rent long-term! It's an impossibly tiny two story garage apartment that's probably no bigger than the 20' container we shipped all our stuff in. Aack, now what do we do with it all? But in this rental market it's a total gem, relatively affordable, and close to the beach, shops, etc. The owners are great- South African immigrants themselves, and it's so much better than renting from an agency. My commute in to Auckland is only an hour (ha- imagine me saying that in Austin), but I'll probably ride the bus, so I can get some good reading in...

Ta ta, hugs, and Merry Christmas!

Job! Money!

It's a glorious day here in Paradise. Our house sale money finally hit our bank account, good thing cuz we were running on fumes. We picked up Kyle's new car- pic soon- a silver Subaru WRX.

I stopped in at one of the places that I had emailed from Austin- Iain Stephens Floral Design, and they asked me back for an interview today! I had a lovely chat with Iain and his wife Helen, and they just might be the nicest people I've ever met (but then again I say that about everybody here). They had me make a few arrangements and meet the rest of the staff- wish I'd been a little less nervous, I dont' feel like I did my best on the arrangements. Anyway, the pay and benefits are good, the work would be exactly what I'm looking for- taking on as much responsibility as I want- maybe buying at auction, etc. Their employees tend to stick with them, which is always a good sign. If they offer me the job I would start on January 8th- my birthday (and get 4 weeks paid vacation almost immediately!).

We've had another offer of Christmas hospitality- our friend Jason who sold me my car invited us up to his house for a Christmas BBQ. Who said it's hard to make friends here??

Pics- yeah!

We finally got a little USB flash storage thingy so I can transfer photos from my computer to the Internet cafe one. The images are a little mixed up, but there's a bunch of the beaches that we've visited and surfed at. There's a shot of Kyle at the Auckland airport after about 24 hours of travel (looks good doesn't he?). Also one of him the next morning with bed head, which looks just like the cartoon on the CocoPops cereal. And my new car!

Did I mention that we had some awesome Mexican food at Hola the other night? A guy from Florida/California really is doing it right. We've pretty much found everything we were used to in US- tons of good shopping, good food, etc.

We spent the day in Auckland- I visited Flowers After Hours and another floral studio. I've still got to get to the rest of them soon.

We shopped for Kyle a car today, too, and it looks like he might be leaning toward a Subaru (pronounced Sbarro like the cinnamon fried sticks), probably an Impreza. The car names here are a running joke with us, don't get me started on the cereal names (Scroggin flakes, anyone?)

We're getting a little testy after being together 24/7, but it's not like we could individually get around right now. As it is, one person has to drive and the other has to bark orders and curse while looking at our $30 Mapsco.

We'll probably be in a holding pattern around Christmas- most places will probably be closed. Wish we had our kitties with us. They cried when we left them today.

Yep, still paradise

So while I was posting last time Kyle had wandered over to the local surf shop and befriended the super-nice manager, Blair. We ended up meeting him at Maori Bay at Muriwai Beach, which is the most amazing beach ever, for a surf session today. I walked on the black sand beach and gawked at the waterfall, gannets and view while Kyle thrashed around in the waves. Pics soon, hopefully.

I'm totally in love with my car- couldn't be happier, but I've left Kyle a measely sum of money with which to purchase his car, so he's a little pouty when we go to the car lots now. Also, everything here is automatic and he wants a manual.

So after the dip in the ocean we drove around West Auckland to get a feel for some more neighborhoods, and we've pretty much decided that we want to live out in the country up north here (not that we can afford that :). While driving around I spied a model home by a company called G. J. Gardner. Super modern, 1200 sf shed style with lots of glass and everything we want. And they will build it for you for $200K, which seems like an impossibly good deal. Only hitch is you've got to provide the land, which can be the expensive bit. So I'm on the hunt for a way to get a sliver of land off a lamb farm on which to build. Kyle thinks I'm crazy.

We've met up with a few friends so far, and have more to still meet... Looks like we might spend an 'orphans Christmas' with Blair and some other surf friends- BBQ at the beach sounds just great. Hopefully we'll meet Jeff and Jo soon, who have been so supportive, Christi Nelson from move2nz.com and American Kiwis and some other Americans. I guess we feel like it's been pretty easy to make friends so far, and I'm sure getting jobs will help.

Put off job hunting today, but will be back at it tomorrow- can't figure if this is a good week for it or not, what with Christmas. Can't hurt to turn up and see if they need an extra hand. Just hope I don't have to do the deliveries!! Actually I'm getting quite good at driving here now. Navigating is another story.

Cheers!

From Controlling the Panic to Wow, This is Amazing

We've finally arrived! Actually it's been a few days, but it's bloody difficult to find an internet connection. The only Wi-Fi we've found is in downtown Auckland at Starbucks, and it crashed when we tried to email some pictures.

Anyway, we arrived ridiculously tired on Friday the 15th here, and stumbled around setting up bank accounts and cell phone service. Everything seemed really overwhelming and confusing. We visited the kitties in kittyjail and I totally broke down crying. Tino was really freaked out and didn't look like the same cat, Billy was agitated and kept hissing at him. It really seemed like we had done the worst possible thing to our cats and come to a place that felt far from home.

Luckily we found an amazing place to stay (again, I'll post some pics as soon as possible) at the top of a cliff at Red Beach which is 30 minutes north of Auckland. We can walk down to the beach, have our own swimming pool, and the nicest couple runs it. Actually they live in the house just up the hill, and we're going to stay with them for the next 3 weeks until we can locate an unfurnished house that accepts cats. Oh, did I mention that their neighbor has connections in the surfboard shaping industry and has given Kyle 2 shapers to contact? Also, free use of kayak while we're there. We just love this area, but it's probably too expensive to purchase in.

Tomorrow we'll drive back in to Auckland and I'll try to find a job. Hope it's not too hard.

I bought a really sweet 2001 Honda Fit (Jazz?). It's red with the sporty ground effects and tinted windows. A real cream puff from Japan. Guess I'll have to learn to read Japanese to read the manual. I've actually driven two times now, and aside from a small curb, I haven't killed anything (yet). Luckily I got full coverage insurance before I left the dealer.

Still learning how to relax with most of our lives yet to be sorted. I wake up at 5am (gets light about then) and start thinking about all the things still to be done. It's a good thing we're living in paradise or it might jsut be overwhelming.

We still feel we made the right decision in moving here. If everything else falls into place like it has in the last few days we'll be soooo happy here. Oh, yeah- when was the last time you made good friends with your used car salesman, and he gave you a bottle of wine? Everyone here is too good to be true.

More posting later, when we're on the internet on our own computers.
Cheers,
Brooke

Home again, home again jiggity jog

Well, it was a pretty emotional departure from Austin yesterday. We tied up most of our loose ends and said goodbye to Kyle's family. It still doesn't seem real that we are leaving for good, or at least for a while. We drove up to Weatherford to stay with my parents until our flight out tomorrow. There's a good bit of low level anxiety going on, but it really hit when we realized that we needed to be in Austin to transfer our gobs of money to NZ. Luckily Joanne will be able to do it for us, but it made me feel totally ridiculous that I didn't closely attend to the most important aspect of actually *moving* to a new place.

I just spoke with my Aunt Karen and Uncle Doodle, who have an amazing place in Louisiana. They grow their own food, plane their own wood, and are in general the most self-reliant people I know (who do *you* know that can build a large sailboat from scratch??). If the world erupts in chaos I hope some of their pluck gets beamed to me and Kyle.

I'll try to keep you posted as we hit the ground there, but who knows if my brain will actually be working after that long in the air.

Lefty Update

Looks like Lefty will have a permanent indoor home with our neighbor Barbara. Yea! One less thing to pine away about in the next week.

Still feeling a little queasy/carsick. Not sure if it's all the take-out food, or that my life is now going 100mph.

I went through all our wedding pics today- gosh I was thin last year. It's amazing how stress can make one plump.

Moving Day come and gone

After many blurry days of packing, and one last late-night session, we finally got everything into boxes (well, almost everything, looks like we'll be sending ourselves an extra box of pool cues, a forgotten pot and various other odd items). Joanne and Nolan helped us more than they know with inventory and breakdown of Ikea furniture. Lack of sleep due to cats and anxiety, waaaay too much coffee, and too many meals of greasy "comfort" food left us both feeling queasy this morning. I kind of stared off into space while 3 very nice moving dudes sealed our boxes and wrapped up furniture with what looked like huge paper diapers. Luckily they didn't have to *repack* all the things we had already packed, so it didn't take that long. Then we ate some more, and crashed out on our twin mattresses in a house that seems achingly empty. A cold front arrived last night, so it really feels like winter and the holidays around here. Visiting Julie, Phil and Cooper's warm and lively house tonight made us realize just how much we're going to miss little Cooper growing up.

Another of the hard things for me to leave behind is the outside kitty, Lefty. She's really become a part of my daily life for the last year- a constant companion during my stay-at-home floral design days, providing us with entertainment and companionship during the renovations, acting as the ambassador for meeting some of our neighbors. She's come to rely on me for food and water, and because it's cold tonight, a warm pillow and blanket to sleep on in the shop. I'm going to cry like a little baby when we drive away and I see the look in her eyes. Luckily she'll be well cared for by Barbara down the street, but I feel so guilty that I didn't try to find her a permanent, indoor home.

Hoarding experiences

Well, we've started to make the rounds of all our favorite places (and people). My heart was filled with joy at a visit from my bestest friend Lauren. We had a few hours to visit some Austin institutions- Azul, Uncommon Objects, P&K grocery (pictured above, right before we devoured an amazing hot dog and lemonade feast), the Art Building at UT where we spent many a torturous hour. Visiting all these places with Lala, who's lived in Boston for several years now, makes me realize that 'you never step in the same river twice' as they say. All the places are changing, or maybe it's us that has changed, and while Uncommon Objects once felt like home to me, I now feel very much removed from it like it wasn't me at all that sold antiques there. Tim and Lauren have changed, too, traveling all over the world, influencing the architecture of China and Brazil, managing photo shoots in New York and beyond... We are becoming adults, making a mark. So far from the wide-eyed, caffeine-infused kids who sat in a New Orleans coffee shop trembling with excitement about taking on the world.

Kyle and I have also been making the rounds of eateries- The Omelettry shown here.

So the boxes are piling up, but not fast enough. 4 days left to get all the chaos shoehorned into cardboard. Still much left to do with the cat situation, but I'm trying to be Zen and hope that it all falls into place at the last minute.

We fly out of LA on the 13th. At least it's not a Friday. I'm praying for no worker strikes or terrorist-induced security snafus.

Bureaucratic snafus

The preparations have really kicked into high gear at this point. I keep finding myself in the situation of, "Oh, yeah, I forgot to figure out -----". Fill in the blank with a major, life-affecting situation. Setting up banking in the The New World (TNW). Transferring gobs of money to TNW. Getting our cats shipped to TNW. Which is, By doG, the most amazingly frustrating part of it right now! We can't book *our* flights until we get their flights secured, which means basically going back in time to get an Import Permit that takes 6 weeks. Hopefully I can bribe the Minister of Ag to expedite it.

We have exactly 13 days to pack up all our belongings (making sure they fit in a 20'container) and buy all necessary supplies, Ikea items and shoes ;). Then a few more days to ship a motorcycle, say goodbye to our loved ones, make preparations for paying our taxes for the year, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure it seems boring from the outside, but raw and harried from the inside.

On the upside we may get to stay in a friend's beach house north of Auckland over Christmas, assuming we make it there by then. I'm pretty sure we can still get Air New Zealand Premium Economy (like Business class, top floor of the plane, suede reclining seats and free champagne) tix, which is so preferable for that long of a journey. I almost can't bear thinking about going economy for 12 hours. That must sound ridiculously posh.

Off to sort out ... everything.

SOLD!

In less than 24 hours our house has a contract on it for $4K over asking price. Closing is set for Dec. 15th. Wow, it's really happening, and very close to the timeframe that we thought.

Now, how do we pack all our stuff into a 20' container?

So tired.

We've been burning the midnight oil, and it's finally showing. Both on the house and on our faces. We're *finally* listing the property, and the photographer said she thought it would be snapped up within the week. More later, out agent is on the way with the For Sale sign!!

On the ephemeral nature of life

So we decided to take another trip down to Port Aransas since the surf was 'epic' as they say. The whole trip was really wonderful, one of those rare times in life when everything seems somewhat magical. On the trip down, we drove through a snowstorm of butterflies. Not just a few times, but almost the *whole* way. As we walked out on the pier that night they landed on our hands and heads, and fluttered softly past as we walked in the misty dusk. We stayed at the Tarpon Inn, an ancient and cool former Civil War barracks, and walked to dinner across the street (grilled scallops and salad with blue cheese and sundried tomatoes, yum). Our room had no TV, and extra soft and fluffy bedding on a 1700's wood bed. It seemed luxurious to just lay there and read the new copy of Dwell. The next morning at 7, we headed to the beach and it was littered with the dying bodies of countless flutterbies. In vain I picked a few off the wet sand to 'set them free' in the wind, until I realized that their time on earth was almost over.

Kyle had a great time in the waves, getting good ride after good ride. I like pier surfing because I can walk out and talk to him as he paddles out, and see exactly what's going on. I got some good shots and video, and had a great time in the cloudy morning.

Luckily our house is nearing completion! Wait, maybe I spoke too soon- we've still got a couple weeks of hard work left. Although we're pretty pleased that the bathroom turned out so well. You probably can't tell from the picture, but the woven vinyl Chilewich flooring looks great with the metal sink stand and tile. We love the tiny tiles above the sink, and it was so easy!! Tino obviously loves it too :). We learned some things about reinstalling toilets, and overall are feeling full of pride in our reno talents. Our neighbor Peter is finishing up the new privacy fence tomorrow, and Nolan and Joanne are helping us install new drywall in the dining area, and a new ipe deck in front of the front door. My p's are coming down again to help with the rest of the exterior work. At this point we're hoping Halloween sees us with a For Sale sign in the yard. Maybe a trick-or-treater will want more than mini Snickers.

Hey! I just realized I should check on the comments made to this blog! Oops, can you tell I'm not so web-savvy? Thanks for all the encouragement Jeff, Christi and Chris!! I really can't explain how weird and wonderful it is to be meeting people over the internet who are zillions of miles away. And reading you guys' blogs has been a really great way to get prepared for the move. As soon as I figure out how to put your links in the sidebar, I'll add 'em (if you want). Can't wait to land and really meet all you guys :). Strangely enough Kyle and I ran into our friend Amy yesterday at the local sandwich shop- she and her family are moving to NZ as well. The world is getting so small....

We started packing some boxes today and moving them to our storage unit. Weird. It's starting to sink in that we won't be living in this house any more. I really thought I'd live here for the next 30 years- ha!

I guess I'm already beginning to feel like a citizen of the world instead of a resident of Texas. We'll see how long it takes me to get gut-wrenchingly homesick, like I did as a kid when someone other than my mom would take me to school, and again when I went away to college in Boston. This time I'm taking my family unit (husband) with me, so will that make it any better? We'd better have some chitlins fast, or adopt a kiwi orphan.

Tile, tile, more tile

Wow! What a difference a day makes! Joanne and Nolan helped get the bathroom tile in (still waiting to put the little glass tiles in the band- we've got a pro-tiler friend who's stopping by later to do that tricky bit). And the hearth is done. Looks so holiday-like with all the lit candles that I'm getting nostalgic already for the big American holiday season. Too bad we'll miss Christmas here :).

We got another skip (Kiwi for dumpster) and started filling it with tons of bathroom debris etc. We're taking down the drywall on the north wall of the living room due to major cracking, and replacing that, so it won't be too hard to max out the skip quick. We're so glad to have Kyle's parents here to really light a fire under our tushes.

Next major hurdle is figuring out the vent hood over the stove. Whew.

Progress is always preceeded by toxic dust

Lots has been happening this week. We demo'd the bathroom and built a new storage and laundry area. Got the tub all buffed out (looks like new!), the new window in (second one, first one was ordered wrong, then broke) and the new hardibacker in place for tile. Some of the walls have been prepped for texture, which is the next step (Kyle dry sanded the walls, which coated everything with an inch of dust, including his eyebrows and hair- now I know what he'll look like at 70 :) I think we'll be wet sanding the remaining ones).

Good thing the tile experts Nolan and Joanne are finally arriving in Austin this weekend to help!! My parents came up last weekend, and we really got a lot done in a day and a half. Gary singlehandedly finished up the exterior paint while Kyle patched the carport roof. Sibyl potted and planted til she was pooped. And she made the best blueberry cobbler ever from my aunt and uncle's blueberries. Yum.

Today the wonderful kitchen counter went in, which I thought would be a relatively dustless process- wrong. They cut the hole for the sink in the driveway, and did some drilling in the house, too, which made it look like a bad day in Los Angeles in here. Mix that with the polyester resin adhesive fumes and you've got a wonderful cocktail that leaves your mouth gritty and your throat burning, not that I stuck around long. We love the result, though, thanks Denise!

I thought about posting several days ago when I was in a horrible mood, but decided against it. I recently read a post about someone who has already moved to NZ, and they said that the emotional ups and downs were killing them. Mostly it was losing the self-esteem boost of having a job and feeling like a competent member of society. That feeling, mixed with being absolutely *sick* of renovating was really washing over me. Somehow it seems like this phase of our lives will go on forever, and I can't really seem to find the motivation... all my get-up-and-go got up and went. I honestly don't think I could do it without Kyle and I's parents help at this point. Which really scares me that we're moving so far away, and we've still got plenty of hard challenges ahead of us- possibly building another home, having a child?!? Luckily Kyle can usually bouy me up when I feel down and vise versa. And we've met so many wonderful people who are actually *also* moving from Austin to NZ! Just yesterday in line at Central Market I met another young woman seriously looking into it. Maybe it'll be easier than I think....

Same ol', same old

This week has basically been a Groundhog Day (movie with Bill Murray) of last week- more kitchen work, more surfing. We headed down to Port A with our friend Tim to catch some more waves. While there we stuffed ourselves with crab-stuffed flounder, made some wonderful new friends (Joe and Jill), and generally wore ourselves out with surf and sun. Wow, imagine if life could be like this all the time- oh, wait, we're not actually working right now. Spending 8 hours a day at a job really cuts down on this type of activity.

Looks like our passports with NZ visa stickers have finally arrived. It's still a strange thing to think that we'll have a whole new... everything... by Christmas.