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| Christian Louboutin |
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| Givenchy |
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| Dolce and Gabbana |
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| Jimmy Choo |
I know that purists will say that the decade isn’t over until the end of 2010 but it’s my blog and I say now’s the right time for a review of the first decade of the 21st century.
Here are some of the highlights according to Louise.
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2000: I started the year in between jobs but with definite prospects so no real concerns. I had a 7 year old son, no man (some things never change) and I had my eye on a house that I coveted for my very first ownership experience. At one stage that year Rory got airlifted off his dad’s yacht after getting hit in the head by the boom – scary stuff, he didn’t know anyone for hours afterwards. The year ended with me and Rory settled into the new house, a promotion at work, a boyfriend of sorts and a brand new nephew. A perplexing choice (in my opinion) was made made by the American electorate but it was a very good year all in all.
2001: My best friend moved to Australia and the boyfriend became an ex. Horrible happenings in the US. The only bright side was that a lovely puppy, later named Bonnie, was born and adopted by yours truly. I quit smoking that year and lasted 8 months before falling off the wagon. Rory racked up over 40,000 kilometres in flights between Auckland and his dad’s place in Perth, Western Australia. I went nowhere.
2002: Met another cheating jerk. Swore off men forever.
2003: Menopause. At 37 years old. Rory turned 10 and to celebrate his dad took him to Africa to explore for 3 months. I cried myself to sleep every night from missing him though the grief did great things for my career as I worked 15 hours a day and earned another promotion. The US declared war on Iraq – I remember something about WMD? My older sister was very ill but thankfully recovered fully. I got away briefly at the end of the year to spend time (and money) with my friend in Victoria, Australia.
2004: Got to Thailand again this year – one of my very fave places to escape the kiwi winter. Also got in another visit to Victoria. Another nephew born – that made four but still no nieces. Everything else was bad that year - horrible happenings, this time in Spain and atrocities continued in Darfur. And then that catastrophic tsunami on Boxing Day to finish the year.
2005: Finally quit chewing my nails to mark my 40th birthday. Katrina struck. It was 10 years since we lost my sister so we had a party to remember her by. Rory spent Christmas snowboarding in Japan with his dad – it was my first Christmas without him and it was hard.
2006: Rory started high school. Saddam Hussein was hanged and Steve Irwin got stabbed by a stingray. Crikey.
2007: Sinn Fein and the DUP hammered out an agreement for a power-sharing government in northern Ireland. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Rory’s dad moved back to NZ and for the first time ever we did the every second weekend part time dad thing – I started to remember what a real social life was like. I drank too much.
2008: Quit smoking again (18 months now and still going strong). Got addicted to Facebook. The Kiwis won the Rugby League World Cup and the hottest tennis player ever, Rafael Nadal, is ranked #1. Somali entrepreneurs found their niche in the piracy business. I met a man with real potential until the day he slammed Rory against a wall for looking at him sideways. Got a couple of long weekends away in Australia. Started new role managing projects at work and commuting to Wellington city twice a week. Rory had a tumour removed from inside his jaw – it was benign. I spent most of the year exhausted. Bought new house and moved in just before Christmas. Whew, what a year!
2009: Started the year with a new pastime – blogging. Met lots of wonderful new friends. There were terrible bushfires in Victoria so I went to console my friend. Witnessed a terrible car accident. Started reading about Tao Buddhism. Centre-right government elected in NZ for the first time in many years. I bought a lovely new car. A never ending cycle of study. Rory turned 16 and attended his first school ball, my mum and dad both turned 70, dad retired finally and my youngest nephew started school – still no nieces, have given up on that ever happening now.
…and here we are nearly at the very end of 2009. That was my decade in brief; how about sharing yours?
Happy Christmas everyone.
It’s been announced today that Kylie Minogue has won the Best Ever Celebrity Viral Ad award, after netting over 350 million hits on YouTube of the 2001 banned ad for Agent Provocateur.
If you’ve never seen the video consider yourself warned, this is practically porn. Funny ad though and damn girl she looks good.
Top 10 Best Ever Celebrity Viral Ads according to GoViral:
1. Agent Provocateur - Kylie Minogue
2. Nike Crossbar Challenge - Ronaldinho
3. Yes We Can - Obama Song
4. Nike Car Jump - Kobe Bryant
5. T-Mobile Life's for Sharing - Pink
6. "I'm f***ing Matt Damon" - Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon
7. EA Games - Tiger Woods
8. Chanel No.5 - Nicole Kidman
9. Samsung - Ozzy Osbourne
10. Apple Mac - Ellen Feiss
Ignore the dodgy ‘video’ – just listen if you will. Her voice takes a little getting used to but I’m hooked. She’s quirky and original.
It was The Plashing Vole post of yesterday that reminded me of this song. I went hunting for a recording of it and the result is this post and me pre-ordering her debut album, Holy Smoke, on iTunes.
I hope you enjoy as much as I do.
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I imagine that this row of cottages face out to the Atlantic ocean. The stony path meanders down to the sea where the grey waves crash upon the thin strip of beach. The fishing boats are tied at the old wooden pier and disgorge the days catch while the big black back gulls squawk and dive bomb in the hunt for scraps.
It’s a 2004 Nissan Avenir. I even found one in a colour I like, it’s a pearly silvery pale blue. I get to collect it on Wednesday the 12th which is my birthday so that’s kind of extra cool. Thank goodness that process is over with and hopefully I won’t need to do it again for another few years.
After Rory’s football game this morning I did look at dozens and test drive a couple plus I am going looking again tomorrow with the same friend. I’m pretty bored with it all already as cars have gotten so bland, so blah. In fairness I must report less unpleasant salespeople experience than I expected, in three different places today I dealt with two men then a woman all of whom happily backed off and left us to browse.
Probably will end up with something like below. 2002 Nissan Primera - not exactly an exciting vehicle but it is what it is. Very economical but large enough to be comfortable and with plenty of room for our Bonnie dog.
In my post of last weekend (see here) I talked about how I am trying to buy myself a new car but that I’m struggling with the actual process of stepping onto a used car lot to start looking at what’s available. I am car-sales-yard-a-phobic. 
I’ve done some poking around on the net and now have a bit more clue about what my money should buy me and I also have a clearer picture of what I want.
As Moko suggested, my available funds should be able to buy me a non-fancy Japanese 5 or 6 year old station wagon with mileage (what’s the metric of that word - is it kilometage?) a bit on the high side or alternatively something a year or two older but with a little less on the clock. I’ll have to weigh that one up. I like a wagon for carting the dog around but am not a fan of the ubiquitous SUV.
Another thing I’ve found is that most of the wagons for sale in NZ these days have an automatic transmission so that’s given me some pause – I’ve never owned anything other than a manual.
Next step is to co-opt someone to come looking with me.
I drive a car that’s practically a classic and family, friends and colleagues have been giving me heaps for years about it. They can’t understand how I’m not embarrassed to be driving such an old car.
I just don’t care actually. As long as it starts when I need it (I have a work vehicle for to and from work each day so I only need my car for personal use), and is straight, tidy and economical to run then I don’t care whether it’s 1 year old or 30 years old.
I see people spending huge amounts of money on a car and I can’t understand what it is that makes them need to have the newest flashest thing available. Even if I was rich I can’t imagine spending a great deal of money on a pile of metal that drops significantly in value the second you drive it off the lot. It’s a status thing I guess.
Anyway my brother/mechanic now advises me to take the plunge and get something newer as it is becoming increasingly uneconomic to keep my wee motor on the road.
I’ve looked around and figure I need to spend about NZ$10k to get something reasonably modern (i.e less than 10 years old) and tidy and with a decent warranty.
OK then I start looking and this is where the problems start. I just can’t bring myself to walk onto car sales lot and run the gauntlet of potentially aggressive and increasingly desperate used car salespeople. I know times are tight but c’mon guys…
I have to find a way to steel myself against any overly pushy sales types so I don’t get pressured into something I don’t want. I’m not saying I am a push over but as a car is so relatively unimportant to me, there is a risk that I take the path of least resistance and hand over my hard earned cash on the first thing I see just to get the hell out of there and get the process over with.
Advice anyone?
It’s a 1984 corolla station wagon.
Interesting story on Campbell Live here tonight for any Australian readers.
Sounds like you guys are getting totally ripped off on food prices. We’re somehow paying significantly less here in NZ for your Australian products and this is despite our extra 12.5% GST which is payable on all goods.
Click on the todaytonight logo for the full story from Craig Kelly of the Southern Sydney Retailers Association. Sorry I can’t find the actual video anywhere online to link to.
Prepare to be plenty pissed off.
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As promised earlier here is a photo of Cathedral Square, Christchurch at night with the lights on.
Awww pretty.
After saying I was struggling earlier, here’s my second post of the evening… I’m making quite a liar of myself.
The handle on my lap top bag gave up on me a few weeks ago so since then I’ve been on the look out for a more stylish replacement.
…and t’ da, this is it.
I wore a brand new charcoal grey fine wool suit to work today for the first time. I matched it with the beautiful black pumps I bought in Melbourne a couple of months back and a black silk top. I felt like a million dollars.
I was in the cafeteria making a coffee when a good friend and colleague came in. We chatted and she noticed my new suit. I did a twirl for her and casually asked “ Ya like it?”
Big mistake.
“Hmmm dunno – I’m not sure about the colour. Is it wool? It’s not my kind of thing I guess. Too formal. Too tailored.”
I felt deflated.
I know that I asked the question and some no doubt would say that if I didn’t want an honest answer I shouldn’t have asked. But hang on a minute, when did tact become a thing of the past? It’s not like I was asking her in the shop fitting room before I bought it - I had already shelled out the big bucks. It must have been obvious to her that I felt great wearing it so why would she feel like it was necessary to be so brutal?
We all get asked questions every day where a completely honest answer is not the best course of action.
Isn’t she the most beautiful baby you’ve ever seen?
What do you think of my new sofa?
Do you like my new hair cut?
Wasn’t that the best lasagne you’ve ever tasted?
Selective honesty has it’s place – telling a white lie in response to these types of questions means that no-one gets hurt. There’s almost always something positive we can come up with to save hard feelings.
Do you agree or do you believe there is not any excuse for any degree of dishonesty?
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I got e-mailed this today.
Cute.
1) What is your current obsession? Statistics. Not an easy choice of study when one is mathematically challenged but I had to take the plunge for my careers sake.
2) What are you wearing today? I am having a day off work and it’s freezing. I’ve just got out of bed so I am wearing baby blue pyjamas with tiny little cartoon elephants on them – I am a big fan of elephants.
3) What's for dinner? No idea yet. Nothing imaginative I can guarantee you that.
4) What would you eat for your last meal? It would involve pasta and red wine and fresh fish and bread. 
And pavlova and cream with strawberries to finish. It’s a last meal for goodness sake, who cares about calories?
5) What's the last thing you bought? A DVD copy of the movie Trainspotting. I loved that movie when I saw it years ago so I re-watched it last night. It’s shocking but entertaining.
6) What are you listening to right now? The local rock flavoured radio station. Pearl Jam classic Better Man is playing right now. Love this song!
7) What do you think of the person who tagged you? sas from sas’ magical mystery tour is a thoughtful and intelligent kiwi chick. She’s cool.
8) If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be? On a huge Montana ranch. Not that I have ever been to Montana but in the movies it looks like somewhere I’d want to live.
9) If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? London to catch up with a couple of good friends or maybe New York for a quick peek. Or perhaps Fiji for a swim in the sun in tropical clear waters mmmmmm.
10) Which language do you want to learn? Spanish
11) What's your favourite quote (for now)? Sorry I can’t limit it to one. A couple of nights ago I re-watched a few episodes on DVD of a kiwi TV series called Outrageous Fortune and I’m still chuckling;
Grandpa: "Life is shit."
Wolf: "What's pushed your button?"
Grandpa: "Being old and useless."
Wolf: "Yeah, well, you get that."
Grandpa: "That's pretty fucking profound son."
"Is texting someone eighteen times and getting nothing back - is that stalking?" – Munter
I'm going to be like a nun - except better dressed. And no church crap." – Pascalle
Van: "What does ironic mean?"
Munter: "It means how come the guy with the job has never got any money for any piss?"
12) What is your favourite colour? Plum right now I think with winter here. I seem to be wearing a lot of deep reds this season, though by no particular design. More to do perhaps with the beautiful maroon 3 inch courts I succumbed to a couple of weeks ago. Italian.
I was too ashamed to post about them at the time seeing as how I am meant to be on an economy drive *sigh*
13) What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? My winter swing coat. It’s a double breasted, hip length, tiny grey and white checked pure wool number and I feel like Audrey Hepburn when I wear it.
14) What is your dream job? It makes me sad to think about it as I have no idea what my dream job would me. Perhaps a children's author or maybe a teacher? Maybe a travel writer or a professional foodie? All I know is that right now I have to be challenged. One day perhaps I could run my own small business combining my loves of people and food and books and coffee?
15) What's your favourite magazine? Don’t have one. The only time I pick up a magazine is in a doctor or dentist waiting room. Perhaps NZ House and Garden? It’s very stylish and glossy but it’s also about NZ$16 a copy. I’d never spend that much on a magazine.
16) If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on? That’s about NZ$256 right now. Heaps. Don’t even have to think about it. Boots.
17) What are you going to do after this? It’s scheduled maintenance day today. Hair cut, manicure and eyebrows. Am considering adding a facial to the usual mix as am holding a wee soiree tomorrow night.
18) What are your favourite films? See my profile, they’re all listed.
19) What's your favourite fruit? I pretty much only eat seasonal fruit so I need two favourites: oranges in winter, I love the smell. Peaches in summer.
20) What inspires you? A great book. A fantastic sunset. Italian renaissance art. Snorkelling in clear water. A million things inspire me. 
21) Your favourite books? See my profile, they’re all listed.
22) Do you collect anything? Architectural drawings of old houses. The pure lines are fabulous.
23) What are you currently reading? I just started re-reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. I adore this book.
24) Go to your book shelf and take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first line: “…the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing.” from an 1889 Clarendon Press edition of The Tempest that I bought a couple of years ago at a fair.
25) By what criteria do you judge a person? Tough question. Language I suppose, openness, integrity and let’s not forget that grooming and hygiene are also important.
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1. Answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention.
2. Tag eight other people. Tagging, with love: Du Pree, Uamada, Xanadu, edder, Kate, Bob, Lermontov and Tim. Anyone though please feel free to participate (or not) just as you desire.
Following Kate’s post of Friday, I have finally figured out how to get my picture out of the ‘Simpsonising’ machine and into a jpeg format. Actually I didn’t figure it out at all, I sought and received the necessary advice from Kate about how she’d managed it (FYI we used the snipping tool in Vista).
…and here it is for what it’s worth. 
I like that this exercise was ‘interpretative’ and as a result both Bonnie (aka Santa’s Little Helper) and I look somewhat trimmer than we actually do in real life. I am definitely not happy with the ugly shoe and clothing choices but I do think my new hair do looks pretty flash. 
I think I look like I could be Mrs Krabappel’s younger, less yellow and way hotter sister and that’s why I’m in front of Springfield Elementary School. When schools out for the day Edna and I are going to talk to the doctor about her jaundice and about her giving up the smokes before they kill her. I also think she needs a new outfit and some new shoes so she doesn’t have to wear her green slippers everywhere.
Thanks Kate, that was fun.
so wonderful in my bedroom. I can just imagine myself sitting, reading in this chair under the window trying to maximise exposure to the watery winter sunshine that’s on its way. I was absent mindedly googling using the key words “beautiful things” because I am feeling so deprived lately and I happened across a woman of spectacular taste. She’s a Brisbanite (did I just make that up or is that what those of you from Brisbane call yourselves?) and an interior designer. Her name is Anna Spiro. She’s also a blogger and her site is called ‘Absolutely Beautiful Things’ and it certainly is full to the brim with gorgeous photos of fantastic things. The chair in the picture is from Anna’s blog.
Interestingly Anna has apparently just been in Auckland for Easter and has posted some lovely photos of my town that those of you in the northern hemisphere may find worth browsing. She’s very kind to Auckland.
This is a site I’ll be visiting regularly to satisfy my need to see pretty things. One day hopefully I’ll be in a position to have a fabulous home myself *sigh* and I’ll fill it with beautiful things like this chair.
Today I came across a site called gizmodude.com and it’s full of consumables to satisfy even the quirkiest taste.
Check out these few examples that amused me.
I love this – different but cool!
When you’re trying hard to impress your trailer park neighbours
Wee bit hard to see but it’s a tape dispenser – cute!
When total camouflage is critical even when you’re wiping your arse
When a naked picture on your coffee mug is probably the closest you’ll get
When you just can’t last without your tunes even when you’re scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef
Kinda cool staple ‘puller-out-thingy’
Nike prosthetic leg anyone??
Sometimes I’m very glad I’m not wealthy.
There is far too much rubbish to be bought in this world.
I met two friends after work and we shared a couple of bottles of sauv blanc. It was a lovely sunny autumn evening so we moved outside and by glass number three I was seriously craving a cigarette. Neither of my friends are smokers but a girl at the table behind me was smoking. Lots. 
After an hour of hanging out, I had to leave. There is no way I am going to throw away nine months of nicotine deprived torture and if I had stayed any longer I might have hit the girl up for one.
Speaking of wine, look at these groovy glasses from a site called freshome.com – check out the site for some cool tips and inspiration for your place.
Have a great Monday
and Tuesday!
Here’s a few pics of some fabulous fashion for anyone who’s interested. None of these are, or ever will be, owned by me. I do not buy designer shoes, bags or clothes but that doesn’t stop me appreciating their beauty.
Intelliwench suggested in a comment earlier today, that I may have replaced my smoking habit with another habit and I suspect she may be right.
After some thought I am now officially putting the shopping and fashion lust focus to rest, if for no other reason that I am dirt poor and frankly my recent rampant materialism is becoming distasteful even to me.
It would be great if others out there in cyber land could help me make it through the bleak NZ winter by sharing their own shopping stories while I curb my spending over the next few months.
I am back in NZ after a flying visit to Victoria to catch up with my girlfriend who’s still freaked about the fire getting so close to her place. She still refuses to unpack her car despite the reasonable amount of rain they’ve had there and the subsequent reduction in the fire risk.
To help her relax, we decided that a spot of shopping was the order of the day so we headed down to Melbourne for some serious retail therapy.
We started with pedicures as it’s just not fair to i
I needed a new pair of black courts with winter on the way and there was one pair I particularly loved (see picture) but at AUS$895 there was no way in hell. Man they looked gorgeous on my feet though.
Not one to be daunted so easily, I went looking for something similar but at about the necessary 15-20% of the cost…and I found t
Please excuse my less that professional shoe photography.
These were much more in my price range and I absolutely love them. The Italian leather is so supple and soft, its a minor miracle and they’re a perfect height heel for me to wear to work – 3 inches which means I can wear them all day without too much foot angst.
My next purchase was a beautiful leather overnight bag as my current one is looking rather scruffy and needed replacing. This photo makes it look quite navy but it’s actually a midnight blue – so dark it almost looks black except when the light hits it. It’s the perfect size for overnight necessities and I feel like Audrey Hepburn when I carry it :-)
That was my shopping budget totally blown but then I saw a handbag that I just couldn’t resist.
The whole ‘alligator skin’ leather is starting to sound somewhat like a fetish (and if I am honest it probably is lately) but I have been looking for a red bag to match some
Anyway here it is!
Photographed along side my overnight bag so you get a feel for the size of them both.
Ahhh life is good!
After dinner and 2 bottles of wine in Lygon Street and a great days shopping, I really felt that BFF was finally relaxing and feeling more in control of her life again.
She’s now rethinking where she’s chosen to live and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a move out of the bush on the horizon for her. I know I’d feel much happier if she wasn’t living there by next summer though I’ll miss the place.
It’s good to be home – am much poorer after shopping, eating and drinking and flights but I’m glad I went for her sake. Back to work tomorrow to pay for it all.
I was shopping with my mum earlier this evening and I was surprised to see her reach for non-recycled paper toilet tissue. She always used to have an earth friendly brand in the bathroom but she says she’s gone back to buying a luxury brand as she likes how soft it is and that it’s too scratchy when the 
paper is recycled. I proceeded to rip open a pack of recycled non-bleached tissue like we use in our house to show her that it’s not that bad – it’s not like sand paper like it used to be years ago when they first started selling it.
End result, she’s taken some home to try again.
After our conversation I stood there and scanned the shelf in the supermarket and was surprised to see that nearly a quarter of the brands on offer had only a small (or even worse, zero) percentage of recycled paper used in the manufacture. I was embarrassed. I came home and googled the issue thinking how awful that there’s still obviously a quarter of people in NZ using virgin wood pulp to wipe their arse (please excuse my coarse language). Surely the rest of the world would be 
horrified when we’re supposed to be all ‘clean and green’ here in NZ. Yeah, right!
Well……this is an article that I found. 98% of toilet tissue sold in the US today is from non-recycled paper.
Don’t worry I’m not going to deliver a lecture but I just thought I’d bring it to your attention. Do what you will with the information :-)
Canadian readers though, might be interested to know where some of the 200 year old trees come from to make this fluffy, multi-ply luxury so favoured in North American bathrooms.
…would smell as sweet. William Shakespeare
Following on from Kate’s post, I searched my name in Urban Dictionary. I started with Lou but most entries were truly revolting so went to Louise. There were pretty meagre offerings there too unfortunately but the least lame (or plain offensive) is below.
Louise is a popular feminine form of the name Louis; it is used in all English-speaking and French-speaking countries, and is commonly found across Europe.
Rhymes with most of the English dictionary: cheese, peas, keys, please, knees, wheeze, jeez, bees, ease, tease, sneeze, these, fees and so on..................
Also in a famous saying: "Jeez Louise!" __________________________________________________________
Well that was enlightening, not! Why didn’t I get a cool one like Kate?
My elbows are healing nicely, starting to get a bit itchy (hehe that looks like bitchy) but I am determined not to scratch and interfere with the healing. Got my new glasses today and it’s fabulous being able to read again.
