Seven Snippets for Sunday

A quick run-down of 7 things that stood out in the last fortnight.

1. Rugby is the talk of the fortnight. Rugby fever is everywhere. Watched the semi finals of the Rugby
   World cup and now look forward to the finals tonight France vs New Zealand. Go the NZ All Blacks.
   I guess you wonder why there are so many rugby posts lately. It is New Zealand's national game and
   the NZ All Blacks are the world's number 1 team for many years. NZ is hosting the Rugby World Cup
   such a thrill for us and we feel so privileged to be part of such a large event.
   From Wikipedia Rugby World Cup
   The tournament (rugby world cup) is one of the largest international sporting events in the world,
   surpassed in scale only by the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics and the Tour de France.

2.  Walked around my city with a camera. Quite amazing what you see in your own city when you go
     looking for interesting things to photograph. Will post the pics on my Photos are Fun blog.

3.  Watched an interesting documentary on TV on the History Channel - 101 gadgets of the century -
     things that have changed the way we do things. Here are the top five:
         1. Smartphone   2. Short wave Radio   3. Television   4.  Hypodermic needle   5. Personal Computer
    Quite amazing that 4 of the 5 are communication / media related.

4.  Had to go to the hospital for an emergency eye check for a suspected retina detachment or as my GP
     put it to me, to rule it out. Thank God that we could rule it out. My eye is healthy and normal.
     I had a nervous week. So relieved now.

5.  Went to the movies and dinner with some girlfriends last night. We watched Johnny English Reborn.
     It was a laugh a minute. Rowan Atkinson did a great job of acting silly.  I think it must be so hard
     to act silly with a straight face. After the movie we had a Thai meal. I'm not a fan of Thai food but
     it was a pretty good meal. The meal was very large ... next time I'll skip the mains and do the entrees.
     They sounded yummier anyway!

6.  Organised a party for my mother's 75th birthday. We're celebrating next week. I wanted it to be a
     surprise party but knowing my mother, she'll probably organise to go out and she'll be too stressed
     with a surprise party so thought it would be best to tell her.  She's happy and looking forward to it.
     We're also going to celebrate my daughter's birthday - but she doesn't know that yet so a big surprise
     for her.

7.  I've been doing a lot of reading this fortnight - mostly blogs. Found so many blog parties - I didn't
     even know such things existed. Amazing what you learn everyday. Check out the blog parties I
     currently link to on the Blog Parties tab.

Hope all of you had an awesome fortnight. Please share your 7 snippets.

Warm Regards

Seven Snippets for Sunday

Thought I would change the format of my "Snapshot of my Week" and instead list 7 things that I did during the fortnight.

Sometimes less is more so keeping the list as short and simple as I can. Here are my seven things in the last fortnight (in no particular order):

1.  Watched the quarter final games in the Rugby World Cup 

2.  Had lunch on my own at Gloria Jeans (something I've been wanting to do for a long time)

3.  Started reading my new book "Steering by Starlight" by Martha Beck

4.  Went for 3 interviews with Recruitment Agencies

5.  Had lunch with 2 friends - catching up after months

6.  Had Yum Cha lunch with my mother

7.  Went shopping to buy a birthday gift for my mother and my kids.

Check some of my other posts:  

Steering by Starlight - That Gut Feel

Rugby World Cup - New Zealand All Blacks      

Wellington Regional Stadium - Rugby World Cup 2011

Yum Cha - yum yum yum

Have an awesome Sunday and please share your "Sevens" too.

Warm Regards

Snapshot of my week - Take my breath away

click on pic to enlarge

What an awesome start to the week.

Three days of snow that changed the city completely. Of course my city is not geared for snow so it pretty much created havoc - couldn't get to work, schools closed, no transport where I live, lights flickering, flaky internet etc. But tons of fun!

And the views - absolutely spectacular and breathtaking.  I have never seen my city look so beautiful.

Always knew it was the best place on earth but now that's pretty much confirmed.

The kid in me came out too and had to build a snowman. So much fun but my hands froze.

And then the snow melted and the icy winds from the Antarctic took over - that was not fun.

Two jackets and I was still cold. The temperature here is so deceptive. It is hugely colder than the temperature suggests when the icy cold Southerlies from the Antarctic sweep the city.

Might have to add thermals to the wardrobe and a proper pair of snow boots if snow is going to be an annual event from now on. Oh how exciting.

check out my snowy pics on my Photos are Fun blog  

Frosty the snowman   Snow Snow Snow - Unbelievable

This quote by Maya Angelou sums it up nicely for me

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Hope you all had a week that took your breath away and may we all have them again and again. 

This one will be etched in my memory forever.

Snapshot of my week - Tough to Zen

I am mentally drained this week. I had to remind myself constantly to be persistent and flexible.

It's been a week that really tested my ability to stay Zen.

I had to use a variety of techniques to do that.

Most effective this week:

• change the scenery
• karate
• breathe
• ho'oponopono
• new way of dealing with situations
• using circumstances to my advantage

Check out my posts  From Chaos to Zen  and Karate - what it means to me for a description of the techniques above.  

I guess we need some difficult days with "mental drain" to appreciate being in a state of "Zen". 

Hope your week was infinitely better than mine.

Snapshot of my week - Pink and other things

I am finally all colour coordinated.

Maybe a little too pink but I love pink and I can see my friend Fi nodding. Pink is her favourite colour too.

Christmas 2009 I got a pink woolly scarf from my kids and found a pair of pink gloves to match.

Last year I bought myself a pink jacket (thanks to Fi) and then the only thing missing was a pink woolly hat.

My mum is a great knitter and had promised to make me one. She finally finished it on Friday.

Scarf - Gloves - Jacket - Hat. I'm all set for next week.



It's Rugby every week - watched the All Blacks (NZ Rugby team) thrash the Wallabies (Aussie Rugby team) for the Bledisloe Cup in Auckland last night. Not that I understand Rugby completely but I enjoy watching the game.

Eden Park looks pretty snazzy and all set for the Rugby World Cup starting 9 September 2011. Can't wait.

More babies in the family. I'm now a grand aunt again (though I don't feel old at all).

This week's theme on my "Photos are Fun" blog has been Italy.  And looking through my photos, I wish I was there again. Italy is such a beautiful country. Check out my photos of  Florence

Hope you had a fun week too or a pink one (lol).

Snapshot of my week - Exciting

It snowed! I was so excited it snowed.

It rarely snows in my city. In fact in the last 23 years this is the second time it has snowed.

We get a lot of hail but not snow.

The picture on the left was taken when it had just started snowing (Monday, 25 July 2011)


Unfortunately we aren't high enough for the snowfall to be heavy and settle. But snow is snow and it was fun to watch. But it was so c-o-l-d.  The coldest day in the last 16 years, and we felt it.

Got to know this week that I am an aunt again to a totally adorable niece. And she has a facebook page!

Watched the All Blacks (New Zealand rugby team) thrash South Africa last night. The ABs should be called something else now as their jerseys are no longer "all black".

Went window shopping with my friend Fi. I have my eye on a few clothes but will wait for the sales.

It was an exciting week.

Check out these pics of snow in the Wellington region Snow pics 1  Snow pics 2

Hope you had an exciting and awesome week too.

Other July snapshots:   Hallelujah     Fun     A Great Week

Snapshot of my week - a great week

Saw the Harry Potter movie The Deathly Hallows part 2 in 3D.

There were many posts on Facebook raving about the movie so I think I expected a bit more. And the 3D wasn't as effective as Avatar.

I should've gone without any expectations. But I still enjoyed it heaps.

It's quite sad though that it is the last HP movie.


Walked from work to the cinema with a friend and went window shopping for boots. Saw some really nice ones but way too expensive even on sale.

This week I did a lot of catching up with ex colleagues from different workplaces. I love meeting up with all of them.

It was cold again this week, particularly on Friday.  The winter is starting to get quite bitter. The weather was absolutely miserable yesterday. Miserable today too and there is a possibility of snow!

And in yesterday's miserable weather, I went off to get my haircut.  It's been nearly 2 months since my last one and it was getting quite unruly. Finally it's tidy again.

Went for my yearly check to the doctor - blood pressure perfect, bloods taken and hope that those come out normal *crosses fingers and toes*. The nurse was great, she got my bloods the very first time. Usually they torture me. But my hand is quite bruised.

Faith must be the topic of the week or else the Universe is giving me a message. So many "faith" posts on twitter and blogs.

Hope your week has been a good one too. Please share the highlights of your week, I'd love to know.


Previous Snapshot posts:
17 July 2011 - a fun filled week
10 July 2011 - Hallelujah

Snapshot of my week - fun filled

A fun filled week even though the electricity went off each morning at work just as I was in the middle of an important document - many wt.. moments. You have to laugh at times like that.

Met up with ex colleagues from another time and place. Always love meeting up with them. It's like the years just melt away.

Shopping for clothes with my friend Fi is always great fun. Nothing really caught my eye but it was fun. Friday night I watched the Trinny and Susannah show. Not sure about some of their clothes but loved Susannah's "Blondes have fun, but Brunettes turn heads".


On Friday we had a mini golf tournament at work. Check out my post Eye of the Tiger on my blog Photos are fun

Weather wise, a bit up and down this week - either way it's been c o l d.


Previous Snapshot of my week posts
July 10 2011

Snapshot of my week - Hallelujah

A weekly post on the highs and lows (and everything else in between) of my week. A nice journal for the future.




I'm back into my regular gym routine again so a big :D  there. Couldn't escape it before - it was on my way to the bus stop but since we moved into a new building at work, it's now further away. But I tell myself, the walk is a good warm-up. Though it's not fun on a cold, wet and windy day.

Last Saturday I went to see the Ten Tenors in concert. They were awesome and their rendition of Hallelujah was a m a z i n g.

The Hallelujah prompted me to watch the movie "King David" so I've been watching that on youtube. Richard Gere is one of my favourite actors. Not sure though about his King David role.

There must be something about Crystals this week - so many "crystal" posts on FB.

And there must be a lot of love going on in the world, so many "in a relationship" and "engaged" posts on FB too.

The weather was wild yesterday and there was a Tornado in Waikanae. I have a friend who lives there. Haven't heard from him, hope he is safe. It's pretty blustery today too. But the sun is shining and it's not too cold either.

Lots of happy skyping lately - my cutie-pie grand nephew in Florida, my 85 year old aunt I haven't seen for nearly 5 years now (so thrilled to see and speak to her), my cousins. Great fun. Thank God for skype.

I am convinced the buses eat my scarves - I've dropped 2 on the bus in the last month - 1 this week. My first one was a pinky-red pashmina - so gorgeous. But no one handed it in :( and the other was a cheap $2 shop midnight blue scarf. No tears there and won't be chasing that one. Scarf shopping is on my to-do list.

Watched the last episode of Roots (a re-run) this week. The kid enjoyed it too and is now asking to read the book - ordered online and should arrive soon. The kid does not like reading so this is a great blessing.

                                                                            ~