It's Autumn in Atown!

Surpriseeee I'm back!!! We have had such amazing weather I haven't been spending too much time on my computer, but here are some beautiful photos of what the leaves look like around here at the moment!

Family Reunion....around the world

So my grandmothers brother, my dad's uncle and my great uncle....(all the same person)....and his wife just so happened to be in NZ the same time as my parents. We were able to meet them for a coffee on my parents second day here. It was such a cool thing to do. They have been on a trip where they go to lectures and such while they travel. Like my dads post said, they are overachievers, just like my grandmother, my dad and ummmm me? or maybe Russ? Or maybe neither of us? Sorry, Grammie, to inform you that gene didn't get passed down! My dads whole family is from California, so with us being in Alabama we really have never gotten to see them, spend time with them or get to know them. In October of 2011 we all went out to Cali for my grandfathers 80th birthday. I have to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to going that far to hang out with family I didn't know and my grandparents 80 year old friends :) In return, I had THE greatest trip. Not only did we all get to hang out, we sat around one night looking at old pictures...like from the first camera days. I had the best time visiting and story telling with everyone. I saw my grandparents with friends they have had for the last 70 years and it was such a treat. My grandmother is a laugher and is rarely ever unhappy, but I saw her laugh more than I have ever seen her laugh in one weekend. It was very evident that both of their hearts were still in California with their friends and their past. It sounded bizarre when a few months back they said they were moving from Atlanta back to California. What 80 year olds say that? Only cool ones!

Needless to say, spending time with Uncle Scotty and Aunt Kitty was just as much of a treat. They have lived a super interesting life and I admire anyone that has done the travel they have. I think my parents felt it was as exciting to hang out with them as I did, especially all the way around the world!

I love presents!

After uploading the 613 pictures I took on my parents trip, I realized it was going to take me a great deal of time to upload some of my favorite ones. However, the trip started with some excellent surprise courtesy of my parents and my great friends!!

Genny sent me "herself". She now is with me everyday! I had just been saying that now that I have a side table I needed to add some pictures from home. JLO, aka Jason, Laura and Owen sent me their Christmas card, so I now have Owen hanging out with Genny and me next to my bed. They sent me some fabulous chap stick, hand lotion called '27 wishes' with a little philosophy on it that describes my life, and my FAVORITE, Justin's peanut butter spreads. Buy yourself some and thank me. Allison sent a true taste of home: Mardi Gras gear! I made everyone at work taste a moonpie. I'm not really sure they understood how excited I was to introduce them to Mardi Gras. On Sunday Funday I made Gareth wear Mardi Gras beads all day and made my friend Connah drink from a tervis tumbler that explains that the real Mardi Gras started in Mobile. Booyah! I of course used the hugger for my own adult beverage! Thanks friends, you really brightened my day!!


A few other things that made my eyes go wide were dads selections of drinks and moms selections of food! I made buffalo wings last night and felt like I was at For Pete's Sake again. They have "buffalo wings" on the menus everywhere here. Problem is, they are just cooked wings with a side of bbq sauce. There is nothing buffalo about them. Silly kiwis. Tonight I made myself some french onion dip, bought kettle chips and acted like I was eating my appetizer at Callaghan's. Only problem was I didn't have a massive burger to follow. That's probably a good thing though considering my lack of physical activities these days. Anyways, thanks Mom and Dad, you too/two are the bomb. Two, because there's two of you and too because I meant in addition to my other gifts!


Pictures of our travels are to come! I am getting motivated again to blog, so please keep reading!

The Mackey's do NZ!

After an incredible 2.5 weeks with my parents visiting, I asked my dad to write about his thoughts on NZ. There are so many things that have become routine to me and I no longer realize how different they are from home. My dad is a great writer, so I hope you enjoy his random thoughts as much as I did! I will upload some pictures over the next few days.

"I know that bucket lists are popular these days, but Carol and I find it easier to just follow our kids. Doing so is more exciting than anything we could come up with. NZ is an incredible country. We took a lot of pictures, but seeing it in person gives one so much more - like live music. The people are wonderful, as well.

Catherine is doing great. She manages a small hotel/restaurant/bar in Arrowtown on South Island. The owner is onsite, but she pretty much has the run of the house (imagine that). His name is Peter. I know how he feels.

She rents a room from a Kiwi who's a little older than she is. He is a very nice, very low key guy. That is, until he got a few adult beverages under his belt and teamed up with his long time friend Fraser (that's Frasser, not Frazier). We hooked up with them last Sunday. Gareth and Fraser had a head start on the alcohol and their running commentary had Carol and I in tears. Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey would have come in a distant second in the duo category. Another friend of hers, Benny the cab driver, took us into the back country in his 4 wheel drive. He refers to his wife as "the old trout." Browns and Rainbows are venerated species around Arrowtown, so we heard that as a high compliment. All in all, Catherine runs with a good group of friends.

Kiwis are unfailingly happy and polite. Nothing gets them down. We are so used seeing folks put out for one reason or another that I began jonesing for some boorish behavior to make me feel at home. I twisted a few noses, spit on the sidewalk and even intoned in a crowd that perhaps I saw the Queen wearing army boots. All I got was "no wawries" and "sweet as, bro." The closest we saw a Kiwi given to anger was Fraser last Sunday. The bartender at the outdoor pub we were enjoying had the temerity to advise him that he could only drink his beer sitting at the table ("what's it come to when a man can't stand up in his own country and drink beer?"). Perhaps it was the 10 or 11 that preceded that one … Actually, I was with Fraser on that one.

If you read the local papers, you would assume that rugby and cricket are the national sports. If you get out on the road, however, you understand that the real national pastime is camping - yes, camping. Kiwis and tourists both rent full sized vans equipped with shower/toilet, frig and stove and hit the countryside. Every town has hiking paths that are marked and maintained, as well as areas to camp. It was really amazing though, given the landscapes, it makes perfect sense. If we are lucky enough to get back here, we're all over one of those vans (with some nice digs sprinkled in every once in a while).

Driving on the left side is like driving on the right side, only different. It took us a while to notice it, but people walk on the left side of the path or sidewalk, as well. Other cool things that the Kiwis have going for them:

the metric system - we have missed the boat on this one - Celsius, not so much;
anything nicer than shorts and a t-shirt is Sunday go to meeting wear;
blue Cod and Rock Lobster (or Crayfish, as they call them);
their wonderment at how little vacation time Americans take; and
tobacco is so expensive that you don't run into many smokers.

We had our small world moment when we hooked up with my mother's brother and his wife in Queenstown for a few hours one afternoon. They were in week two of a three week tour that included lectures every day and even homework. When these academic overachievers went through their schedule, it made me want to take a nap. Since they live in SF and we don't see them much, if any, though, it was a cool visit.

We took a lot of pictures and some video. When Zeb figures it out, I'll send a link for you to check the pics out, if you are so inclined."

Can't sleep...

So I'll blog! Here are a few great reasons why I've fallen in love with shopping at the Salvation Army...aka the Salvos or the Sallies.

I've gotten plenty more, but those are my only pictures for now.

I would like to start blogging more regular and just having quick random posts. I have a problem with wanting to tell a whole story so I wait, it never gets done, then the moment is lost and I'm over it!

My parents will be here in 12 hours!!! This is serious business! Get excited for photos and stories to come!

Isn't she a beaut?!

These are my new wheels! She's a 2000 Subaru Legacy. Having a wagon is so fun!!

Livin the Dream!

Over the last few weeks I have come to LOVE where I live. Don’t get me wrong, I have always enjoyed it, but there have been so many things recently that have made me really appreciate it and be 100% in love with the fact that I’m here, have a great job and have met some of the greatest people. I go to the Salvation Army every day (and find incredible buys), work in a place that should be the set of a soap, have friends of all nationalities and ages, drive on the wrong side of the road and most importantly have friends and family at home that fully support me. Yeah I took a huge leap of faith to pick up and move around the world shortly after buying a house, landing a wonderful job and having the worlds greatest roommate and pup. It does make me a bit sad when I talk to my dad and he mentions how funny Brinley is and how much he loves her, but I truly can’t imagine a better scenario. I can’t imagine better guardians for my sweet little angel. I just hope he knows that one day he has to return her because he didn’t sign adoption papers!

Random thoughts for 1000:

-I made a list of things for my mom to bring and it consisted solely of food, other than a couple jackets: buffalo sauce, ranch packets, French onion dip packets…..story of my life

-On a ‘light rock’ radio station I hear the full 14 minute version of Mark Knopfler’s ‘Telegraph Road’ and then I hear the Backstreet Boys, Seal, Britney Spears or Boyz II Men and it makes my skin crawl. We hear Sweet Home Alabama a minimum of 4 times a day, so don't every be offended if I ever mention how much I hate the song.

-We don’t have coffee pots and if you ask someone about them you will more than likely get an odd look. You get an espresso coffee and that's it. When I first got here I always felt Americans pain when they asked for the most "American" coffee they could get, now I just find it highly amusing and think "poor you". Espresso coffee is amazing....just don't ever try to give it up! It's so much harder that drip pot coffee.

-I plan to make a King Cake for my friends at Mardi Gras, but then again I had my mom send over pecans (Pronounced Pee-kans) for a Pecan Pie and I have still yet to make one. Sorry mom. I even considered hiding them so you would never know when you got here.

-You don't realize how much you say ya'll until you come to a place where they don't say it and every time you do they laugh and say "yall". Then you get to the point where you enjoy saying yall and you use it as much as possible. Kiwi's would say "you's", like you guysssss. Yeah, not near as cool as yall!

-Cider is a HUGE thing here. Like alcoholic beverage cider. They have every NZ fruit possible as a cider. They have cider on tap and cider in bottles. To me it's just carbonated apple juice, with alcohol, and I find it truly disgusting. Then again people add cordial to everything. Do we have cordial? I can't even remember. Put it this way....kids in America drink Shirley Temples, which means it has grenadine in the sprite. Here EVERYONE drinks raspberry coke/sprite, or they add lemon or lime cordial....it's straight syrup. I hate to boast about how gross it is since I have truly never tried it, but I can pretty much imagine what they taste like and I'd prefer to avoid them!

-I have plenty other random thoughts, but I will save those for another day....

LAST and MOST IMPORTANTLY.....if I can get every single person following my blog (I know who you are) to comment on this post then I have decided Carol and Pete will skydive while they are here, on my dime, whether they like it or not!!!

Oh and happy happy birthday to my incredible friend Val!!! I am so thankful to have you as a friend and can't imagine my life without you! (I will now probably be in trouble for not giving anyone else birthday shout outs, including my own family....sorry love yall.)