swimworkbeachteethfriendsfoodsurf

Wow! I can't believe it's been a month since I last wrote anything! Since our amazing camping adventure, I've been working a lot. 5 day weeks alternating with 6 day weeks and i think this is the first weekend i actually get 2 days off in a row instead of a Friday and Sunday or whatever. I am working today but doin't start til 3 so I have been taking it real easy - didn't get out of bed til after 11 then wandered down to the bottom of the street and had a swim - the tide was so high there was no sand! It was lovely. Had some lunch and now i'm sitting here writing this - I was going to go to the gym but my car has a flat battery and I don't think I'll have time now. I was going to get it jump started today but i figured then I would have to drive it around and around until it charged up and i have no aircon and it's muggyhot today. I think the battery went flat cos one of the doors wasn't shut properly the other night. No biggie.
Work at YWCA has been incredibly boring and involving lots of data entry for an evaluation i am working on but luckily it has all started picking upo the pace again now that school's nearly back and i've got an abseiling and beach trip organised for Feb 11. I have been enjoying working at the detox too - I finally feel like I know what i'm doing there - it's taken a while. But, I have to say, some of the staff there are 100times harder to deal with than the clients. So, I've had my say to management and I gotta leave it at that and just get on with my work. The detox has asked me numerous times now to go fulltime there and when I said my other job pays better, they said we could talk about that! I have thought about it though and I don't want to work there full time, I think it would get boring after a while and would be nowhere near as diverse as the YWCA job so I said thanks but no thanks. I am looking at signing a contract committing to one day per week and maybe and extra one here and there. THey seem ok with that. It's amazing to feel like I'm in demand! Very rewarding. Still not sure what i want to do career wise in the long term but it feels like i'm in the right place for now.
I have been hanging out with some wonderful women - a girl called Emma who is hilariously funny - I went to her plkace and we made dinner together the other night. Also, Wendy - who has just broken up with the father of her youngest child and we been hanging out heaps - she's awesome - my closest friend here for sure. And I been hanging out with this Irish chic I met, Niamh (pronounced Neeve) who is into folk singing and really interesting - oh, and Jodie a bit too...So, not so lonely anymore!
I have started working on a new painting - well, I haven't touched the canvas yet because for once I am doing some prep work - I am incorporating stencils into this one. I have made a stencil of a dragonfly with a rope hanging off it in a noose which is strapped around a nudie lady who is arched backwards. I think it's gonna work well...we'll see. Haven't had a whole lot of time to work on it becuase I have been at the beach a lot.
Last weekend we went to Omaha (80km north of Auckland) for a surf cos there are good learning waves there - not as small as Tolaga's where I first surfed but not as fast and big as at Piha - where we went a couple of weeks ago (west coast) and every wave i caught i just got pitched to the bottom and thrown around. Anyways, at Omaha, I caught heaps of waves and got on my knees a lot and a couple of times let go with my hands so i was surfing on my knees but not holding on with anything and then Dave told me to try and start standing up....and, I almost did it. I managed to get the soles of my feet on the board twice but didn't quite push my body up in time! So close, hopefully this weekend we'll get up to Omaha again and I'll stand up. We went swimming after work yesterday and there were actually some waves in this spot where there usually isn't but I didn't have my board with me. Dave has bought me a long sleeved rashy - Rip Curl, white sleeves, black body, magenta logo - very professional! It's great. I'm loving it - I just really wanna stand up and then start learning to turn and all...
Life is good here - most days! We have been planning the wedding and I am meeting with 3 dress designers/ dress makers Friday next week to start looking at who i'll get to make the wedding dress I want. I have seeen some really cool ones on different websites - my favourite site is www.cultureshock.com.au - a Sydney designer and I think I want something like the stuff she does but a bit toned down. It will be interesting getting something to cover my tattoos without looking too virginal and covered up! But I got lots of ideas. It's heaps of fun.
Oh yeah, I've also been having some dental work done which has been making me sore and a tad unhappy each time I have to go to the dentist but only 2 more appointments to go, one root canal and 2 filllings later, and me $1400 poorer and all will be well!
I am coming over in April and looking forward to seeing you all.
Much love....