The friday letter....D....

Does anyone else find it hard to remember what day of the week it is at this time of year? I know I do, especially as I finished work a good 7 (or is it 8?) weeks ago. But, having checked, I found out that today is Friday and therefore it's time to post this week's Friday letter!This lovely 'd' was on a butcher's window. Being vegetarian (or more accurately, a vegaquarian), I haven't been into a butchers shop in years, but had the misfortune of doing so last week. My god, I don't know how you meateating types handle that smell!

Having said that, the smell of a roasting turkey yesterday was enough to make my mouth water - I felt so guilty! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day with family and friends and over indulged to just the right amount. Pop on over to Jen's blog to see her Friday letter! (Not up yet, but I'm sure it won't be long).

Oh, this is my last firday letter from NZ! It's so strange to think that this time next week we will have relocated to Australia. I still don't think it's quite sunk in....

Closed for business....

But only temporarily!Yes, my boxes were collected for shipping this morning. They're going by sea so they won't arrive in Perth until mid-February or so. All my stock had to go in the boxes as we already have so much to take on the plane (including 2 bikes! eek! excess baggage!).

I thought I'd take the opportunity to say a big thank you to those of you who have admired (and bought!) my things. In the 3 months my shop was up and running, I made 12 sales to happy customers, which isn't too bad a start for a complete beginner I think.

For those of you who have admired my plate set, don't fret! I intend to re-release the collection once I am settled and have played around with firing. Oh, and I have some exciting new ceramic designs for next year so be sure to stay tuned!

If I don't find a moment to blog again before Christmas, have a wonderful day! :)
a. x.

The friday letter....U....

Ooh, look at me! Posting on time for a change!I'd been spending the week scouting for a 'U' and when I saw this one, I knew my search was over. It's the sign for a cafe called Circus Circus which is in Mt Eden, Auckland. We've been enjoying the cafes that a city has to offer (though truth be told, we were sitting across the road in a bar when I spotted this letter).

Be sure to pop over to painted fish studio to check out Jen's letter!

Thank you Aotearoa....Queenstown....

Oh, Queenstown. This was my first time in proper snow. Sure, I'd seen the stuff when living in London, and I've seen photos of me playing in snow as a kid, but this was taking things to a whole new level! This photo just doesn't quite capture what it was really like....

I was determined to give snowboarding a go, and lo and behold, I was actually pretty good at it! It is highly addictive and I can't wait to give it a go again, though with the imminent move to Perth (west coast Australia), that's not going to happen in a hurry.

So thank you Queenstown, for a totally radical holiday, dude!! (Ok, my snowboarding lingo could use some work).

The friday letter....T....

Late again, yes. How many times can I beg your forgiveness?
What I like about this 't' is that it is undeniably a 't'. Does that make sense? It's not mucking about with some fancy font. But more beautiful is Jen's 'o'! Be sure to check it out.

Things are slowly getting organised here for the move from Aotearoa to Western Australia. With any luck I'll finish packing boxes today so I can forget about them, and I'm hoping we sell the car before Christmas. Flights are booked for New Year's Eve so things are falling into place!

This is my 3rd country relocation, so I guess I'm getting good at it!

Finally the friday letter....S....

Finally, here's my Friday letter. Late, but better late than never, right? Be sure to head over to painted fish studio to check out Jen's letter from last Friday!

No NZ report today, as I'm really snowed under with making arrangements to move to Australia in about 3 weeks. Between packing, shipping, selling cars, booking flights, etc, etc, things are pretty hectic so bear with me for the coming weeks. Things should be back to normal in 2009 - which isn't far away at all!

Sorry....

My friday letter is on its way.... Honestly!
I'm frantically in the midst of moving country so I'm hoping you'll cut me some slack.

Thank you Aotearoa....Whangamata....

Sorry for my absence (and hence the late 'Thank you Aotearoa' post). An impromptu trip up to Whangamata was in order. We're lucky enough to have a family bach (kiwi for holiday house) in the Coromandel, and after the stress of my partner's exams it was brilliant to get away. This photo is from Whangamata, but taken a couple of years ago. At the time, the cows on the property could come up and say hi to us on the deck. It was pretty cool as they're such beautiful beasts. We nicknamed this one 'Fiddy'.

For interest's sake, the town is pronounces 'fong-ah-mah-TAH' which makes sense in NZ but not to me when I first arrived from Australia.

Thank you Whangamata, for the memories to date, and those to come in the future.