So we return from Wellington a few kilos heavier (who can blame us?!), slightly more tanned, slightly more sleepy and ridiculously in-love because we are now officially engaged!

Ivan proposed to me in a little cottage by the ocean with the most beautiful coast line. Wild, beautiful, ferocious and free, just like our little family.

Why does marriage sound more grownup to me than having a baby? Maybe because we have our baby and it just feels so natural, I dunno. I know that being married will feel natural also, but now that we are officially engaged I just want to start planning our beautiful party with all our family and friends. I am so excited to have all the people I love in one city to celebrate our love for each other and our life together.

We had some family photos taken yesterday that I am excited to share with you, but in the meantime here’s an overwhelming number of photos from our trip to Wellington. It was the most wonderful trip: from the 12 hour train ride with our dream baby, our downtown apartment with the most amazing bath, long walks, silly photo shoots, best friends, ginormous brunches and delicious dinners, free bottles of wine, dancing til early morning and sweating in a hot yoga room to quiet peaceful cottages, BBQs, coastal walks, mountain hiking, beautiful photo shoots, games of hearts and cribbage and perfect quiet moments with my best friend and husband to be. We’ll never forget this trip.

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After 6AM yoga this morning I was sitting at One2One Cafe in Ponsonby burning through the pages of my latest book obsession (Water for Elephants) as fast as I could in the short 30min I had between Yoga and work.

As I was reading I suddenly re-realized how much of a sacrifice children are, especially for the parent that stays at home. The more I think about it the more I appreciate what Pamela does for our wee little baby.

I mean sure I provide financially for the family, but I love my job, so (usually) going to work isn’t a dread at all. Sure I have good days and bad like anyone else, but I am fortunate enough to love what I do for a living.

On the other hand, Pamela put everything she loved doing on hold. Exercising went first throughout the first few months of pregnancy, then work. Then Mika came into this world and exercise slowly came back but full-time work hasn’t and it’ll be on hold for a while. And the longer she stays at home caring for our little girl, the harder it will be to get back to the working world.

(However, Pamela is one of the few people I know that won’t stop doing stuff no matter how sleep deprived she gets. So instead of full-time work, she’s managed to get started with her photography business alongside another new mama (and hair & make-up artist) Julia O’Neil.)

I can see how a sudden change like this can be scary for a new family. Especially if the communication between mama & papa is poor – both could be left feeling like they are missing out on something. It shows me what a product of love and dedication a happy family is and I feel so lucky that we are working hard to make it work. And I feel even luckier that it doesn’t feel like hard work.

Just some thoughts I had this AM.

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I find it incredible the way that some people just absolutely love the city they live in. They’ve often spent their childhood years there and then just…never left. And they can talk about their city (or town) with such passion and pride. Don’t get me wrong, I love New Zealand. I love Auckland. But I also loved Melbourne. And I loved Wellington. And I loved Vancouver. And I know that there will always be more cities and more countries that I love.

Every time we move cities (or countries) I don’t want it to be because we have started to take our city for granted. I want to know that I fully acknowledged, experienced and relished every little thing that I loved about the city. And to know that the next city will not be the same or better – but different. With new things to experience and to love and to relish.

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Dear Auckland,

Right now I love the following things about you:

• We can live with my parents. This is probably the best thing and the worst thing about you right now.
• We have so many friends here. There is always someone to play boardgames or eat dinner with.
• We can both practice Bikram Yoga and there are 2 studios within 15 minutes drive of where we live.
• We can visit the beach on the weekends or after work in the summer. Not just ‘the’ beach, but any beach. Any beautiful beach on any coast.
• Farmer’s Markets are so hot right now and you are totally on the bandwagon. We are spoilt for choice every weekend in every direction. And it’s even more fun to visit markets with a new baby to show off.
• We’ve lived here for 8 months now and we still haven’t run out of good cafes that serve good coffee. And there are no queues for a better-than-decent-but-quite-overpriced brunch.
• With a new baby we are never at a loss for things to do. From SPACE program, coffee group, Wriggle & Rhyme, beer group, paddle tots, Plunket groups, family ukulele lessons – there is always something to keep us busy.
• It’s not hard to find a social sports team. Touch rugby, casual basketball, indoor netball… all easy to find and play.
• Organic, gluten-free, dairy-free and other specialty foods are pretty easy to come by. We have 3 specialty organic stores within 10 minutes drive from us. And cafes are pretty well-stocked.
• I feel safe walking with our baby through the various parks and reserves that you offer. We also feel safe running the sidewalks after dark. This is comforting.

Obviously there are quite a few things you could do better. Public transport is dismal, food prices are through the roof (probably not your fault so much) and the layout of the city means that having a car is essential and this just kinda sucks.

But overall you are a pretty clean, healthy and enjoyable place to live.

Warm regards,

Pamela

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Hopefully this got you thinking about your current city and why you love living there. Please tell me one thing that you love about your city. Don’t be shy! It’s anonymous and I want to share all your positive comments with the world

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It’s hard not to love Tess when you first meet her. And it’s hard not to love Tess after you’ve known her for five years.

I got lots to say, but I just dropped Tess at the airport and my beautiful baby is sleeping and my wonderful Ivan is waiting for me in bed. I’m so in love with life right at this moment.

MY LENS ARRIVED AND I AM SO EXCITED!

More soon x

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I met Anita in 2004 whilst living in Christchurch, NZ.

I was doing some outdoor adventure training and was staying in student housing (the YMCA). I paid for a double room but my roommate hadn’t arrived yet and the staff could give me no indication of when she would be arriving. So I did what any good person would do and I offered the spare bed to friends from my course. At the back of my mind I was always thinking that I should clean up ‘just in case’ my new roommate arrived, but somehow this thought never eventuated into action. Meh.

So I was returning home from a weekend in the bush and as I climbed the stairs to my double room on level 2 I had a gut feeling that today would be the day. And it was. I entered my room to find ALL OF MY STUFF jammed squashed pushed DUMPED into my half of the room. The other half was spotlessly clean. An imaginary line ran down the middle of the room and Anita was sitting on her bed in her clean half. I felt a bit ill. I realised she must have been furious.

But we started talking. She told me she was shocked to arrive to such a mess, with BOTH beds slept in and clothes flung carelessly around the room. I told her I was sorry and we laughed about it a little and then we kept talking. And we didn’t stop until well into the night, each lying in our little single beds on opposite sides of the room chatting away in the dark with our eyes closed until we couldn’t stay awake a moment longer. She became my best friend in Christchurch. I ended up moving in with my boyfriend and his mum and Anita got a new roommate (called ‘Pammy’). Anita soon moved back to Dunedin and then to Vietnam and then to Queenstown and then to Banff and then to Vancouver. I moved back to Auckland and then to Wellington and then to Melbourne and then to Vancouver. We lived together in Vancouver and then she got deported back to Queenstown and I moved back to Auckland with Ivan. And now seven years later, Anita is still a hand friend. She is a beautiful human who I can laugh with, cry with, be completely silent with, be completely crazy with, trust, love and admire.

This weekend Anita flew to Auckland from Queenstown to visit with me and my little family. It was the first time she met Mika. The four of us hung out, the three of us hung out and Anita and I also got some lovely time for just the two of us – notably the 90 minutes we spent doing Bikram Yoga together, a first for me in a year!

I love introducing Mika to the wonderful people in my life. I’m so pleased Anita made the journey and I can’t wait to take Mika and Ivan to the South Island to visit her at the end of the year.

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I can’t get enough of this song. Marques Toliver is quite beautiful. He plays the violin and he sings and I hope he does more solo stuff because it is just delightful to listen to. The original song is here, but I like this drum beat version:

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Mika met her Uncle Vinny for the first time on Tuesday. This happened to coincide with her first visit to a pub. We watched the Canucks get thrashed by the Bruins and Mika watched the game in her little fan outfit that her Oma and Grandpa bought her. We’ll be watching again tomorrow… for the win.

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