Upclose with the Macro Lens

Mom and Dad's desert paradise

I just love what they've done with the the backyard...Love it! Can't wait to bask in it's glory.

BIG NEWS!

The time has come that I have been missing for months now....we are getting internet!!! So soon there will be more posts, more pictures, more fun times to share with the world. We got an affordable plan and decided it would be such a bonus for my work and to keep in contact with my family as we all coordinate the big move. I was so into blogging there for a while and learning all the code so I'll have to reteach myself. We've been taking lots of pictures with our new camera and lenses so I can share some of those as well.

All is well down here with us. Mike is in the thick of getting his essays written. I think he has 3 essays and 4 short answers due in the next 2.5 weeks and then another month to get his Honours thesis in. He feels like he's started much earlier than he normally does so hey, to each their own.

I am in my third week of an internship with The New Embassy (Design Company) here in Christchurch so I have been working here and not going to school. It's been fantastic. The bosses, Carl and Kara, are very chill, very funny, and very good designers. I've mostly been working on logo work but it's been better than sitting in school which was getting a bit stale. It's great to be around creative energy. Last weekend I was able to be part of their team in the 48 hr film festival. I will post a couple pictures and I think we are getting a website up that will have the film and some outtakes. There were 200 teams in all of NZ and the Christchurch heats are this weekend. Every team is given a genre and you have 48 hrs. to make a 7 minute film. Everyone has to use the character Jerry Reid (a hypochondriac), a rope, and the line 'What do you call that?". It was quite the experience. In fact, it was fantastic. I had so much fun. I didn't star in the movie, but my hand makes an appearance holding the sound boom. Our genre was "Educational" and we made a movie on Super Cabbages...I'll explain more later.

Well I have to get to work...soon there will be many pictures and more superfluous information on our lives and my thoughts.

Wyatt

What's the deal with my nephews and these goggles. I love it though!

LOVE THIS KID

Brig and Chelle's son, Anders. I think we'd be good friends.

Visiting the Hafens!

Mom and Dad drove up to Normal, Illinois to visit the Hafens and see Alanah and Shannon's dance recital. I think their new house looks awesome, the girls outfits looks cool, and mom and dad look great. I can't believe how big the girls are. I can't wait to see them all again!

MACK, this is for you

So Mack, this is for you. Since I don't have any recent photos, this is all I can do. So, this is Mack, Mike's brother who is serving a mission in Malaysia and this is to celebrate is 1 year out!
You go Mack!

Day out

The other day, on my way home from school I walked passed a salon and got my hair cut. It was about 4 inches longer and although i would like some more color, maybe when we have more money but for now i think this is part of my winter look...darker.
Very cool picture Mike took on our camera. He's getting good.

Final Portfolio in!

Yes, it is in, my final Portfolio! Now the drive is off and I don't feel very motivated but am amazed what I've learned in this course. Wow. I am also very excited to do some work, real work. And now that our tickets are booked we need to make some SERIOUS moola so if you want and graphic job done, I am the one for you!My magazine...I did a Lifestyle magazine, etre is french for 'to be', cool eh?
My fashion brochure.
My children's book
the cover...I had aspirations of something much better, but was tired and burnt out so this is what I got. It works.

Miss Miranda

And my niece Miranda in her Easter Dress...I love the lip gloss of Joy's that she put on...so cute.

"Angry Face" Max

Funny Boy. Max, my nephew age almost 4

Adios Rosie!

We just dropped Rosie off at the airport and it was great to have her down. She is so lovely and funny. Yesterday we took a drive up the Port Hills to take some pictures. I love it up there. I love getting up. ChCh is quite a flat city the occasional drive up the hills is a must. The road overlooks Banks Peninsula. We stayed in one of those little bays a few weeks ago. Just lovely. Mike was playing around with the selective colour feature on Lucy's camera (which he sold her) on that one picture with the orange hilites. Looking for a camera??? Check out the Cannon G7, it's fantastic! I am going to try and take more pix and get over to internet to post more as well. Here's hoping.

The cool girls...

View at Littleton...long exposure.

More

Okay so here are some new pictures. Actually today was meant to be a work day to get some school work done while Mike was at work but I left around 3PM to go to the library and the breaks stuck on or something and I flipped over the handle bars on my bike. Nothing is broken but my elbow got banged up and I have a few scrapes and bruises. Nevertheless, I am going to get nothing done today but my friends Tom and Jonelle took me in and gave me pain killers and a laptop to use...ahhh, internet. So all is well. Yesterday on our Good Friday off, we took a drive to a town called Akaroa that is nestled in a bay about an hour from ChCh. So there are some pictures of the drive and some other randoms.

A friend of the family's is renovating a house that is down in this beautiful little bay. We stopped by to take some pictures in the grounds of this estate that he's staying at. This one is funny

All the girls...
I love the way I am holding Rose's wrist...
Chris, Rosie, and Lucy
Alice and Lucy driving into Akaroa down in those bays. Isn't it beautiful!!! Love it.

More Akaroa pictures

View driving into Akaroa.
Cool little seagull.
Chris and Mike in Akaroa.
Chris in the nice sunsetting light of Akaroa.
Gorgeous clouds. Love our new camera

Smattering of Pictures

Mike, Mark, and Tom biked through this Valley. It was meant to be like 30kms but ended up
being double. I think they had quite a trip.
Tom and Mark in one of their river crossings.
A beautiful pictures of a Rose Mike took on the new camera.
Liz graduated from her counseling course the other week. She was the first in her family to graduate to this level so it was quite exciting. She also went to the States for a workshop in relationship counseling so she's feeling excited about the future. It was a beautiful day.

Post

Yes, well I am here still alive. Let me say, once again, that I can't wait to have the internet back someday. I am at school and don't have any interesting pictures of family or friends so I am restricted to whatever is on my petition here at school...so clouds it is for today. I missed school on Friday to attend Liz's graduation ceremony so I am putting in time this Saturday to get my Annual General Report for the Christchurch Airport finished...yes, fun times. I have one more brief left (a magazine) before final portfolios are due in. Insane stuff. Mike is clipping along with his courses and working a couple days a week to help pay for things. It is now 3:02 PM and I told myself I would get off the internet at 3:00 and get in gear but I'm not and my eyes are feeling droopy. It's autumn here, well just on the cusp of it so leaves are falling and scraping along the ground as they do but the days and nights (when the weather is good) are still warm and cozy. It was a late summer and I will be sad to see it go. There really isn't much ground-breaking news. We are very busy with school and making plans for the future days. Looks like we are in for a definite move to the US of A this year, Vermont, but aren't entirely sure when. That will come as well. So there could be a bit of travel in between or not, we'll see. So anyone out there who was hoping to come to NZ...better come quick!

Baby Eddie

Eddie was getting into my b-day celebrations as well. Yo Eddie!

Baby Eddie

Eddie was getting into my b-day celebrations as well. Yo Eddie!

Chris is 26

BIRTHDAY

Here are a couple pix from the big birthday fest at Mark and Sara's. My chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Mike so lovingly put the candles in a smiley face...no need to have an accurate count, it's a party right?
Lucy and Maya Berg. My buddies. They added fun times to the par-tey.
As far as prezzies go...Mike went part-time at the camera store and so for my birthday he got a Cannon 400D Digital SLR...I know more than I was expecting. We had talked about it but I didn't think he'd get it now...but we used the insurance money from my stolen bike. So he got the camera, a really nice lens, and a monopod (hence the parts). We also just got back from a weekend away with the family where we rented a beach house. It was just about an hour out of the city in a beautiful little bay. I spent the weekend getting used to the new camera. Hot stuff. MOre pix to come.

Trip to Cave Stream

Well this was about a month ago when we took a trip to this stream that runs through a cave "hence Cavestream". It was lots of fun. We all had torches (flashlights) and wandered through a limestone cave for 30 minutes. It was a gorgeous summer day...summer was a bit late and short this year. In fact, today was gorgeous and it's meant to be coming into Autumn. This is me, Mike (Liz's Bro), Jonelle, Lucy(with Harriet), Pete, Alice, Liz(holding McGregor). oh and Mike's son, Sam. Mike had to work that day but he is now officially one day a week and back in school. He's got lots going on with school so we will both be busy bees. It was nice having a little extra money but we are used to the student life and going without and I am happy to have Mike around more to enjoy lovely afternoons like today's. I'll post some pix of my big birthday celebrations tommorrow...whatever they may be.