Giving out sweet treats

Helped a friend run an event in the park today. My job was to give out free ice cream to kids. It rocked.

Shoe per diem on the go

We may be close to ending 2011 but I feel like i’ve just entered it. This is because I have got myself a proper smartphone and I can blog righthererightnow. This wis what you cool folk have been doing for a while. So here it is, my first live from the scene spd post. Taking a break from work and sitting in a secret park with my colleague. Hi, summer!

post-running relaxation

Stacey and I ran our second half-marathon last weekend. The next day, we drove back to the city. The half-marathon was about three hours away from where we live so we took a few rest stops along the way. One of them was here, one of the coolest beaches I’ve ever come across in this country. I want to be there right now.

south pacific shoe per diem

Been MIA for a while but haven’t forgotten to snap SPD shots. These two were taken in the lovely island of Samoa two weeks ago. I did a lot of lying on the beach with my book admiring the crystal clear water. It was beyond blissful.

jetlag ftw!

if there’s an upside to jetlag, it is the ability to easily jump out of bed before the sun has even risen and head out for a run and do some sightseeing while everyone else is asleep.

Excuse the photo’s poor quality. I was out running and only had my cell phone on me. Also, it was quite dark.

at least there were daisies…

Today’s run was a sucky one. I didn’t reach the 10k goal I’d set for myself when I got out of the door and returned home 8k later with a heavy head, feeling dehydrated and sorry for myself. But at least there were daisies.

 

spring day

Took my floral shoes and happy jeans out to a market on this lovely spring day. Spring days just make like so much better!

 

welcome back, spring!

Spring has started and Saturday was a good hint at the wonderful days we have coming our way (even if the past couple of days have been a bit chilly). Stacey and I spent our morning (well, late morning) wandering around Ponsonby road checking out the market stuff, drank apple cider, pet someone else’s dog and shared a delicious pizza for lunch. It was a really good morning and the quickly snapped SPD picture doesn’t do it much justice.

 

dolce fare niente!

i’ll admit, there hasn’t been a whole lot of shoe activity going on around here. i’ve been dividing my time between the pool and the beach and feeling quite alright about neglecting footwear for a while. unfortunately, that’s about to end. as of this weekend, i’ll be back in the southern hemisphere and back to real life. but it was good to get a slice of your summer, northern folk. thanks!

oh hai, summer!

Last week, I flew about 19,000km around the world to get some of that northern hemisphere summer that our fellow SPDers from this side of the world have been posting about. It’s been awesome. So awesome I’ve only remembered to take two SDP photos so far. So here they are.

I’m loving every second of it. Being home after so long, eating good food, catching up with everyone, enjoying summer and bargain hunting. Both these sandals are new purchases from the past week. The ones on top are from Primark and cost a grand total of three euros (craziness!) and the pink ones in the second photo are H&M and cost 10 euros (yes, I totally splashed out, compared to the other ones). Shopping here is as amazing as ever! Step up your game, southern hemisphere.

13 aug 2011 // birthday boots

Took my oldest pair of boots (brown suede from aerosoles) out and about last night with friends to celebrate my birthday. We stopped by three different venues so I’m glad I went for comfort. Excuse the dark and grainy shot. Cell phone camera used late at night after a couple of drinks too many.

 

7 August 2011 // Done!

I didn’t remember to take my SPD photo until after I’d taken my shoes off because that’s just how desperate I was to get them off my feet afterwards.

 

24 july 2011 // homely sunday

yes, it’s another kitty guest appearance. there wasn’t much more to my sunday, really. and that’s not a bad thing.

 

22 july 2011 // bows

 

I hardly ever wear these boots and I think the main reason is because I don’t actually really know what colour they are (a little bit blue, a little bit green, I guess) and I don’t really have anything that matches them. I put on a boring grey outfit this morning and thought it would be a good chance to take these out. Plus, they have bows. Bows make everything better.

 

21 july 2011 // nzff ftw!

waiting for the bus after an evening of many laughs, thanks to the new zealand international film festival and a really cute french comedy. i didn’t feel like laughing so much when the bus didn’t show up and i had to sit at the bus stop in the cold for 30 minutes. still, a good night out.

 

pink shoes & scary eyes

I’ve been neglecting my SPD duties and am not even sure when this photo was taken (only that it was sometimes last week). My laptop and my camera have not been talking to each other for some reason but being able to copy this photo and a few others today is hopefully a sign that they’ve somehow solved their differences.

random

5241 was the number of the parking space where I parked my car when I went into town for a work assignment. I was going to write it down because I have a habit of losing my car inside big car parks and then wander around for what feels like hours searching for it. Instead, I thought I’d take a picture that could work as SPD shot as well. Look at me, multi-tasking and all! And what’s better, I didn’t lose the car!

 

17 june 2011 // snail mail fun!

I’ve been a lame shoe per diem-er and haven’t posted in a while – apologies! My latest coffee order has arrived in the mail (200 capsules of air-tight coffee goodness, yay!) and Zara was as happy about what the postman delivered as I was. I let her play with the box for a while and took about 20 photos of her looking cute inside her new box. Yep, we’re easily entertained.

paudecanela

6 june 2011 // new running shoes

as stacey already mentioned, we decided it was time to invest in proper running shoes so went along to the shop and had our feet filmed and analysed by all sorts of fancy gadgets before the guy decided these were the right ones for us. i guess now that we gave them a bunch of our money, we really have to be serious about this running business.

paudecanela

 

4 june 2011 // leaves

Nothing like a little bit of colour on a dark and rainy days. these old nikes are starting to show their age but did the trick anyway.

paudecanela

 

29 may 2011 // cold night in

I’m posting this from work. Work has no warm socks and fluffy PJs, no good books and no cuddly kittens. I’m glad I snapped this cell phone photo last night so I can look at it today and remind myself of what waits for me at home.

paudecanela

 

26 may 2011 // not quite sensible enough

It rained all day today and the sun didn’t even come out from behind the clouds for a quick hello. To make matters worse, I had to leave the office for interviews in the afternoon. I was smart enough to wear boots but not smart enough to wear proper water-proof footwear. Mental note: suede is no good on rainy days.

paudecanela 

24 may 2011 // learning to breathe

waiting for my swimming lesson to start. it was only my 4th ever and today we learnt how to breathe. it’s really not nearly as easy as all you adult swimmers make it look like. makes me wish i had gotten this out of the way as a kid, like pretty much the rest of the world seems to have done. oh well.

paudecanela

16 may 2011 // me & my furry nurse

went to the office early in morning only to have to drag myself back home a couple of hours later, feeling sick. lucky i’ve got my furry nurse to look after me on days like this. unfortunately, she hasn’t mastered the whole pouring of the tea from pot to cup so i had to snap this picture in a hurry and take over the situation. lovely of her trying to help but, erm, no.

paudecanela

10 may 2011 // ID

I’ve been such a lame Shoe Per Diem-er lately, it’s embarrassing, but it’s mostly due to how busy I’ve been. I snapped this quick ‘look-I’m-alive’ cell phone photo a few minutes ago, while rushing out of a conference on my way back to the office for another few hours of proofreading (which I hate doing). I’ve earned my chocolate donut today.

paudecanela

22, 23 & 24 april // easter roadtrip!

easter roadtrips are becoming a little bit of a tradition for us. maybe because it’s the last long weekend before winter really hits so, since i moved here, we’ve been trying to ensure we do something fun to say “see you later” to good weather. we didn’t exactly have brilliant weather for the entire roadtrip this year but it didn’t matter – we still enjoyed every second of it.

it started with a 3am start for a long drive to get to where we’d get on a boat… to an active marine volcano. i’d been meaning to do this for about 3 years so it was awesome to finally step on the island and see all the steaming and bubbling that constantly happens over there.

Here’s what the ground of the volcano looked like:

we then returned to safe land and made our way around the east cape – and what a bloody long way it is! we stopped at the lighthouse and climbed all the 750 steps to get to the top of it! Here I was, at step number 150, already considering going back to the car:

I’m glad I didn’t give up, though, because the view from up there was stunning. We spent a few minutes admiring the view… well, catching our breath, really.

We then walked along a really long and old pier that had lots of bits missing and didn’t exactly make me feel safe.

before returning home, i remembered that, last year, i had posted a photo of the lindt bunny i took on the roadtrip with me and, since i had another one this year, i thought i’d post the same photo. call it another little tradition, if you will.

and that’s it. we’re back home and it’s pouring down with rain outside. see you later, good weather!

paudecanela

18 april 2011 // bye bye summer

I resisted for as long as I could but I have had to get the boots out of the closet. the wintery weather is here already (even if winter actually isn’t) and it’s time I accept and just move on with it. Bye summer, see you in a few months!

paudecanela

in support of the real shoeperwoman

I’ve been following Amber’s Shoeperwoman blog for a few months now and she’s been running it (and constantly updating it) for a couple of years. Today, in my quest for pretty stuff to look at (isn’t that what the internet is all about?), I headed over to the blog, only to find that, instead of pretty shoes, Amber had been forced to post this disheartening post about how someone in the UK (where Amber lives too) is trying to steal her shoeperwoman identity and, with it, a great chunk of her livelihood.

The person in question has applied for the “shoeperwoman” trademark and, if successful, Amber will have to close her shoeperwoman blog. I’m crossing my fingers that whoever looks at this trademark stuff does a bit of research and realises that this person has no right to take ownership of a name Amber coined years ago (she registered the domain in 2008!).

Amber’s asking for support from her big community of readers, in an attempt to ensure her livelihood (and her husband and adorable dog). Here’s what she says:

Obviously this is a source of huge concern to us, so we would welcome any support our readers and friends have to offer us, in the shape of comments, re-tweets and advice. If you are a blogger, and would like to mention this issue on your site, I would be eternally grateful, not just for my sake, but because as I mentioned above, this is something that can happen to anyone, and it is devastating to work so hard on something for so long, only to see it put at risk like this. Also, any links back to Shoeperwoman.com (especially those using the word “Shoeperwoman” as the link text) would be a huge help to us right now as they will help cement our position in search engines and support our right to the trademark when we file our dispute.

Shoe-loving girls have got to stick together so do spread the word about this. I could go on and on about online identity issues and intellectual property on the internet but there’s really no point. This is wrong, no matter how you want to look at it.

P.s.: If companies such as Asos, Dorothy Perkins and Schuh knew how much money they’ve earnt from shoeperwoman advertising their shoes on her website, I’m sure they’d be backing her up too.

2 april 2011 // for the puppies!

things i learnt on saturday morning:

– you can get sunburnt in autumn

– people are good. well, some of them.

– stacey, who had done this the previous day, was right: children and old people give. people and suits – not so much.

– everyone loves puppies

– these vests/bibs/things they make you wear are really stinking hot

After only two hours outside a mall, I came back home full of warm fuzzies and a restored faith in humanity.

paudecanela

27 march 2011 // she’s not even sorry!

the kitty’s latest obsession involves unrolling toilet paper in the bathroom, dragging it all out to the lounge and then shredding it to pieces. If I was a cat, I’d probably find this heaps of fun too. But I’m the person who been picking up pieces of toilet paper off the rug pretty much all weekend long so I guess you can see how I’m failing to appreciate the fun of it.

paudecanela

23 March 2011 // in the dark

A crap cell phone photo to mark the day Stacey and I ran our first 16km! Taken by the port exactly 8km into our run when, after running for 1 hour (yeah, we’re slow), we stopped to stretch and catch our breath.

paudecanela

15 march 2011 stranger’s shoes and a novella

i think this is the third pair of abandoned shoes i post here on spd. i seem to be finding a lot of pairs randomly left in parks and streets lately. this pair of converse was left in a park near home for ages, socks and all. we were there for quite a while and the park seemed deserted and no one came to get them.

I sat on a bench near the abandoned converse for a while, reading a new book i received from a friend. i’m loving these end-of-summer afternoons and dreading the colder times when 7pm will mean dark skies and no reading outside.

paudecanela

13 march 2011 // the road was too small

for the ~70,000 other pairs of feet that entered this run. stacey and i ended up getting frustrated at all the walkers taking up the runners’ side of the road and there was a lot of pushing and shoving involved. still, the weather was gorgeous and a run is a run so we’re happy to tick this one off the list!

paudecanela

11 march 2011 // red

Some days are just weird. This was one. I attended a funeral in the afternoon and went to a birthday party in the evening. Circle of life and all that, I guess, but it still felt a bit strange.

Anyway, for the funeral, we were requested to wear red and green rather than the usual black. I didn’t really fancy the whole Christmas tree look so chose to compromise with red wedges and a dress that had black, red and some green.

paudecanela

5 march 2011 // singing in the rain

some of my friends and i had bought tickets for this outdoors music festival months in advance and had been dreaming about a nice picnic in the sun for ages… then festival day came along and it turned out to be a miserable wet one, with rain and mud everywhere. We still went along but had to crack out the good old waterproof boots for the occasion – something I never thought I’d have to do in summer. One positive thing about that day, other than seeing my friends: it was a good excuse to wear my bright pink trench coat!

paudecanela

28 February 2011 // under the australian sun

I spent three days across the Tasman sea for a conference and it was absolute madness. I ended up only taking one SPD shot in the entire three days, during the only run I managed to do while I was there.

The place we stayed at was fantastic, right in front of the beach. Sadly, the views were pretty much the only good thing about this running session, and all the rest of the conditions ticked the wrong boxes: I got more drunk than I ever had the night before, got about one hour (if that) of sleep, was wide awake at 6:15AM so decided to put my running shoes on and head out the door, forgot to take water with me and started feeling dizzy and dehydrated (especially after all the alcohol) and even got lost trying to find my way back to the hotel.

You don’t need to tell me I suck. I’ve been telling myself that since then, don’t worry.

paudecanela

21 January 2011 // before class

sitting outside with a book, waiting for the Russian teacher to arrive for the first class of the year.

paudecanela

raro, baby, raro!

pictures from three days in paradise.

just outside the room, overlooking the beach.

these are the feet of the guid that took us on our trek across the island. these feet have done that walk over 4000 times, most of them with no shoes on.

starfish! and the clearest water i’ve ever seen!

hello there!

some more lounging around on the beach.

paudecanela

10 February 2011 // networking

My job sometimes involves meeting up with people in bars for drinks in the sun, chat, drink, laugh and call it work. Needless to say, I’m okay with that.

paudecanela

8 February 2011 // sandflies

Or how it looks like I caught some sort of deadly skin disease. Three days before I’m supposed to go to a tropical island for three days, sunbathe and wear summery clothes. FML.

paudecanela

7 February 2011 // groceries

One of my new year’s resolutions was to stop getting takeaways so often and start cooking more meals at home (and therefore eating healthy while saving money). Last year, we were getting takeaways at least once a week which was not only expensive but also not all that good for us. After a slip-up on the first week of January, we have cooked all our meals at home, which hasn’t ceased to amaze me (and my bank balance is loving it too).

Last night, we *really* felt like pizza. Old me would have just ordered it online but 2011 me went to the supermarket instead and got fresh ingredients to make the homemade pizza of awesome. And yep, it was awesome!

paudecanela

5 February 2011 // another day another hike

Went for a 10.km walk on a steep track on a hot and muggy day. I blame all those adjectives for not having remembered to take my SPD shot during the hike but I did snap a couple of post-hike pics. We rewarded ourselves with cold wine and a dip in the nearby stream.

31 January 2011 // pretty fabrics!

Now if only I could think of what to do with them…

29 January 2011 // old shoes among old books

a trip to an amazing secondhand bookstore in Devonport.

paudecanela

28 January 2011 // a new trend?

Last time I posted on SPD – and I am ashamed to admit it was a few days ago now – I uploaded a photo of some abandoned shoes I had come across that day, remember?

Well it happened again. What is it with people leaving their shoes behind?

22 January 2011 // abandoned

It was raining when I went to the post office on Saturday morning but, for some reason, someone decided to leave their shoes on the bench nearby. I thought they’d make a much better SPD picture than my soaked jandals.

paudecanela

16 January 2011 // beachy sunday

I love sundays with no plans when we can just laze around during the morning and then decide to go lie on the beach and spend the afternoon there. stay away, winter, i don’t miss you at all!

paudecanela

15 January 2011 // yay us!

As Stacey has already documented, we entered our first official run on Saturday and came out of it injury-free and ready for the next one. Yay!

Here’s the before shot, near the start line, when I wasn’t sure if I’d live to take the “after shot”.

But I did live to tell the tale so here’s what I did right after crossing the finish line:

who knew healthy stuff could be so enjoyable…

paudecanela

12 January 2011 // I’ve become one of those people…

who take lots of photos of cats. I can’t help it, look at those eyes!

paudecanela

8 January 2010 // from the top of Maungatautari

Soaking up the views after a hard walk up to the top of the mountain. Totally worth the effort.

paudecanela

7 January 2011 // work time, on my last day of holidays

lack of remote access to my work email and the desperate need to send off some interview questions meant I had to make a very brief appearance at work on my final day of holidays. It was actually all my fault as, with all the excitement of my impending holidays, I completely forgot to send off an important email to which I need to get a reply by early next week. It was a 2-minute deal and I was out of there early enough to enjoy some afternoon sun. I’m going to miss being on holidays.

paudecanela

third, fourth and fifth of january, 2011 // staycationin’

Staycation is one of my least favourite “words” in English but it does describe what I’ve been doing and, I can tell you, my feelings towards the word are the exact inverse of how much I’ve been loving being part of the whole staycationing deal. It’ll all be over by the end of this week (sadface!) but, until then, I intend to continue doing as little as possible and taking SPD photos that I can look back at in a few months time when I’m dying for another holiday.

***

third of january, going for a run at the end of the afternoon, when it’s not so hot anymore

***

fourth of january, shoeless and not doing much at all

***

fifth of january, grocery shopping time

paudecanela

2 January 2010 // and here she is again…

thanks ladies for fueling my recent kitty-addiction… since i got your go-ahead, here’s another kitty SPD pic (to be honest, I probably would have posted this pic anyway, since she is the only subject of my photos recently).

I’m still on holiday and loving every second of this whole nothing I’ve been doing. My most important task today was reading a book and playing with this gorgeous girl. I wish all days were like this one!

paudecanela

31 December 2010 – 1 January 2011

waiting for fireworks and for the new year to start…

watching the fireworks and welcoming 2011!

and so we’ve entered year 2 of shoe per diem!

paudecanela

28 December 2010 // introducing…

the latest addition to the household. she is only eight weeks old and has now been with us for 3 days but we are already madly in love with her. this photo doesn’t show you her beautiful blue eyes but it was the best i could do considering she had just arrived a couple of hours before and wasn’t exactly comfortable at home yet (luckily it didn’t take her long to make this house hers).

apologies in advance if 2011 includes quite a few kitty SPD pics. I mean, seriously, who can resist this little fur ball of cuteness?

paudecanela

27 December 2010 // no man’s land

After boxing day, still in no malls land, we decided to go for a walk in the middle of nowhere. it was really windy but it was still good to get some fresh air.

paudecanela

26 December 2010 // sunshine and a whole lot of doing nothing

boxing day was spent away from malls and shops, lounging in the sun and reading one of the books i got for xmas. bliss!

paudecanela

25 December 2010 // xmas!

my absolute favourite holiday was spent quite differently this year. for one thing, i was in a different hemisphere and, on top of that, it was spent in a different cultural context which included waiting until the morning of xmas day to open the presents. it was fun and different but i am looking forward my next winter xmas with presents unwrapped at midnight.

paudecanela

24 December 2010 // wedging it up!

oh yeah!

paudecanela

23 December 2010 // nope, it makes no sense…

No matter what everyone else in the Southern Hemisphere will tell you, xmas and summer jandals don’t make sense together.

paudecanela

20 December 2010 // almost done with work for the year…

the last couple of days of work this year were incredibly busy but thankfully there were good things like pretty new skirts (this one is on a mega special now at Dorothy Perkins) and comfortable wedges (another Asos bargain) to get me through the final days.

paudecanela

15 december 2010 // such ladies…

who would have thought that cocktail parties at the hilton could lead us to laugh so hard and for so long. as stacey already told you, i was her ‘plus one’ at her university party last night – and what a fancy party it was! after eating and drinking for free, we decided it was time to leave (while we could still do it with dignity) and took our high heels for a walk along the viaduct.

We commented on how beautiful the auckland harbour is, especially on warm summer evenings like last night.

later on, after stacey scared off a taxi driver (don’t ask…), we got another friendly driver to drop us off back near her place. during our short journey there, she managed to go all spanish inquisition on him and the roll of questions included details on “taxi drivers christmas parties” because, according to our fellow shoe-per-diem-er, her idea of a taxi company christmas party involves taxi drivers driving around the streets racing each other. yep, she said that.

anyway, i may not be the queen of class but i do have my principles (once again, unlike stacey) and while her bare feet were touching the ground, i got my old faithful flats out of the bag and made my way back home. looking at my grey dress with my brown shoes, i do wonder whether barefeet would have been a better idea.

paudecanela

 

14 december 2010 // around the tree

stacey an i went for a run (slash walk but whatever…) in my hood yesterday. afterwards, we sat around drinking wine, eating chips and watching tv. we remembered to snap our SPD and the most interesting thing nearby was the christmas tree. not the best shot of the tree but at least the moment is here for posterity…

paudecanela

12 december 2010 // taking a break

It’s been a busy few days (months?). I feel guilty I haven’t been as good a Shoe Per Diem-er as I was hoping to be in December but I’m definitely going to try to make up for it in the second half of the month.

This shoeless SPD picture was snapped last sunday afternoon, during the few hours I spent lying in the sun with some wine and my book, trying to forget about the nightmare we had gone through the day before (I’ll get to it in the next sentence) and the long drive back home that morning.

As for saturday, my reason for not not taking a shoe per diem picture is as follows: we decided to return to the tongariro crossing (one of the most famous day hikes in the world, on Mount Tongariro volcano). If you remember, we’d already done it back in March and I had a SPD shot with my hiking boots and the Emerald Lakes in the background to prove it. Well not this time. Why? Because, thanks to the huge cloud that insisted on staying with us through the eight hours of the hike, we didn’t see the Emerald Lakes. In fact, we didn’t see *anything*. Nothing. Zero. Niente. In fact, we could hardly spot the track markers, which made for a few moments of panic about being lost.

The cloud wasn’t the only problem, though. There was also the rain. Eight hours of walking in the rain, freezing cold, our clothes heavy from all the rain water in them. And that wasn’t even the most annoying thing of all, no. There was also the wind. Gale force wind. MetService mentioned 85km/h but MetService lies and I’m pretty sure that, at some stages, it got to three digits. We had to crouch down and hold onto rocks at the top of the mountain and we were still scared of being blown off.

So yeah, with that in mind, I think you will excuse my lack of photo. I took maybe three or four photos of the hike before the camera lens went all foggy and wet and my fingers became too cold to even click the button.

I’ve got no excuse for any of the other days, though. On a more positive note, and despite a few days of absence, I’m so glad we’re already in December and we managed to stick to this project all year long. I plan to continue next year and hope you all continue too!

paudecanela

6 December 2010 // a sucker for bargains!

I know I should be shopping for Christmas pressies for others and not for myself but these Dorothy Perkins flats were a real bargain (something like 8 pounds, I think) so you can hardly judge me for getting them!

paudecanela

30 November 2010 // circus circus

I have to say that even I find this hard to believe but here’s the truth, plain and simple: after running together on Sunday, Stacey and I met up again on Tuesday for another run. Less than 48 hours later. And what’s even cooler? We’re running again tomorrow! I mean, if this isn’t commitment, I don’t know what is!

Of course we had to finish off our exercise session with good food so we headed to Circus Circus in Mount Eden and shared Eye Fillet and the delicious fish of the day (wish I remember what fish it was…), topped up with Raspberry Creme Brulee and a huge slice of carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Yum!

paudecanela

29 November 2010 // back to real life…

After four weeks of holiday awesomeness, it was time to go back to work (totally against my will!). At least I was matching, something that doesn’t always happen.

paudecanela

28 November 2010 // lava!

sunday started bright and early, catching the 7:30 ferry to rangitoto island (the youngest volcano in nz). we spent the morning there and walked all the way to the top, around the crater, as well as doing bits of other tracks. we thought we’d walked about 7km but after mapping it at home, it was actually close to 10km.

in the afternoon, after a glorious nap, i met up with the lovely stacey and we turned our sunday into one of the best days ever… the sun was shining so we headed to the beach and ran 10km by the beach, finishing with a walk back to the car with our feet in the water and topping it all up with takeaway curry for dinner, sitting at the top of mount eden watching the sun go down. bliss!

paudecanela

26 November 2010 // *waves hello*

stacey and i had a much overdue catch up last night. we sat on her bed for hours with a bottle of wine (one that was bought to help the victims of the christchurch earthquake so, really, we were drinking for a good cause). excuse the blurriness but we wanted to wave hello to you all so didn’t use the flash so you could see us on the window. Hello!

paudecanela

tales from the north

roadtrip season has sadly come to an end. after touring the south island, we finished up with some mandatory stops up north.

we went to the top of the sky tower and stood on the glass floor.

we went to paihia and russell (where i saw this cool mosaic at a top of a lookout).

and we even saw dolphins (no shoe in the photo but dolphins are cute so i’m including it anyway!)

we also drove all the way up to the very top of the country, to the Far North.

Where we saw the tasman ocean meet the pacific ocean and looked at how far away from home we were.

on the drive back, we came across the jandal fence. i mean, seriously, what better shoe per diem material than a whole fence full of jandals?

Now back to real life. Sadface.

paudecanela

november shoe per diem catch up

boy oh boy… so this is what two weeks without internet feel like. i have so many of your lovely ladies’ SPD posts to go through and I will do so as soon as I get a chance. I’ve had a peak at what’s been up with you all anyway and hope i can leave some comments sometime soon on your posts. anyway, november has been a busy month… an entire month of no work but way busier than work (the good kind of busy!) and it’ll continue being so. i thought i’d update you on what’s been going on anyway so here’s a bit of a summary.

the first week included fishing in lake taupo. boats scare me and it’s incredible how many times i’ve been on boats this month already considered how much i hate them but this fishing trip was really fun!

I then got to catch up with the lovely stacey and enjoy the amazing view of the city lights from the comfort of her lounge, over wine and chocolates. bliss!

the next day, it was off to the south island for a crazy 11 days of fun and adventures! me, the parents and the boy flew down to christchurch and started a roadtrip that ended nearly 4000km later.

We kept stopping for amazing views like this and ended up with over 1000 photos to sort through (ah, the joys of digital cameras).

Among other things, we visited glaciers and beautiful lakes.

and i got to visit lake tekapo again, truly one of my favourite places on earth.

and this is a great time of the year to visit the lake too, as the lupins are in full bloom and add such a great splash of colour to the whole landscape!

Three out of the four people in this roadtrip are mega coffee addicts so there were lots of caffeine stops, most of them in amazing locations like the one below, at the top of mount john (one of the best places in the world to watch the stars, or so the experts say). we didn’t see the stars, as we visited during the day, but we did have a nice coffee with amazing views!

Not long after, I was on yet another boat, this time in milford sound. i’m not even going to try to describe how absolutely stunning that place is. so stunning i didn’t mind the boat trip at all!

Not long after, we were at the bottom end of the island and starting to make our way up, after many days driving south.

And we finished with a visit to lyttelton, a little town just outside christchurch, on our last day.

another roadtrip starting in a couple of days so stay tuned!

paudecanela

28 October 2010 // mind the gap!

Decided to catch the train today instead of the usual bus. The train station is quite a bit of a walk from home but I had a ride waiting for me so it was way better than the bus (not to mention that the train is much faster!)

paudecanela

27 October 2010 // product launch

Enjoying some sunshine while waiting for a product launch to start.

paudecanela

24 October 2010 // redecoration

as I write this, all of my shoe boxes (some of them pictured above) are still sitting in the lounge instead of their usual place in the closet. we’re tiling the bedroom floor, which meant everything had to get out of there, shoe boxes included.

in the mean time, took a quick break to declare bbq season officially opened with a barbecue at friend’s house, for her birthday. I decided to wear a brand new pair of wedges to celebrate the occasion.

paudecanela

17 October 2010 // keeping nz beautiful

A quick snap during a morning of hard labour, cleaning up a beachfront area with a bunch of other people. sadly, doing our bit for the environment doesn’t involve fabulous footwear.

paudecanela

16 October 2010 // heading west

Took the new caramel wedges out for a ride west to check out my friend’s new house.

paudecanela

15 October 2010 // Work doesn’t have to be boring

The first week at the new job really ended on a high, with us journos being taken out for a fun day sponsored by another company. The “amazing race” kind of event took me all the way out of auckland for a hot lap in a V8 supercar. Now I don’t know a thing about racing cars other than they make a really loud noise… but it was still fun! And note how, even completely unintentionally, the red wedges matched my racing car!

paudecanela

12 October 2010 // green!

New wall colour and, unfortunately, the boots needed to make an unscheduled appearance on SPD today. Damn these cold snaps, bring back spring!

paudecanela

11 October 2010 // first day

Monday was my first day at the new job and it ended up being quite a long – and fun – day. After all the stress/excitement that comes with first days, I met up with the lovely Stacey for our first run together (in which she proved to me that I am not nearly as fit as she is and I really need to work on those uphills).

After that, we met up with two other friends for dinner on good old K Road, where we ate waaaay more than we needed to and chatted for a while. Not a bad way to end the day, I tell ya.

Snapped the pic above while waiting to cross the lights and while I envied Stacey’s new shoes.

paudecanela

10 October 2010 // 10101010

Relaxing day in the park along with another 100+ people who all got together to celebrate 10/10/10 (and yes we did kick start celebrations at 10am). Note we even took themed cupcakes (decorated in a bit of a hurry, just before leaving home but people ate them so fast I don’t think anyone noticed that the tens weren’t all that perfect).

paudecanela

9 October 2010 // hello, rangi!

Busy day spent on the north shore but still had time for a quick break, overlooking Rangitoto, NZ’s youngest volcano. Such a cutie.

paudecanela

4 October 2010 // longer days make me happy (and healthy-ish)

Now that days are officially longer, I had to abandon my “but it’s dark and I don’t like the dark” excuse and can go for slightly longer runs after work. In theory, that means I’ve been living a healthier life but I guess the two burgers I ate after this particular run on Monday kind of made the whole run pointless. Anyway…

paudecanela

3 October // shoeless on the white sand!

The only word that comes to mind when I look at these photos is “FINALLY!!!!!”, just like that, with all those exclamation marks and everything. Feet on white sand = bliss. I missed this feeling so much…

paudecanela

2 October 2010 // Jandals!

And, just like Stacey’s jandals, after months of absence, my jandals have finally made an appearance on SPD!

This photo was taken on Saturday morning, just outside the room where I stayed during an amazing weekend on Great Barrier Island.

Below is another SPD photo, taken near a waterfall we stopped at during one of our bush hikes.

paudecanela

29 September 2010 // two shoe per diem-ers celebrating…

On your right, wearing black Pulp shoes, you have yours truly the undersigned. On your left, wearing the cool brown boots, you have Miss Stacey Marie.

The photo was taken from the 10th floor of Stacey’s university building, right after they announced the winners of the AUT Venture Fund. She walked into that room as a finalist and left as a winner. And I couldn’t have been any prouder!

paudecanela

28 September 2010 // small steps towards spring

Last Tuesday, we had our second day of Spring in a row. And I mean more than just Spring in the calendar… we had Spring in the air. Two days in a row of sunshine and warmth.

Days like that put me instantly in a better mood but, now that I’m on my third year of living in this city, I’ve learnt to be cautious and not take the sunshine for granted. Still, my hopes of getting the sandals from the back of the closet have been increasing lately, with each ray of sunshine.

Anyway, the shoes of the day were the cheap oxford shoes I picked up from Glassons a couple of months ago. I think they cost me something like NZ$30 – bargain!

paudecanela

27 September 2010 // crossing the harbour

Snapped this picture on Sunday afternoon as we were crossing the bridge to meet up with friends for dinner. Didn’t have a chance to upload it yesterday and thought it was a cute coincidence this morning when I logged on to upload it and saw that Julie’s latest photo also includes a bridge (but a much cooler bridge).

paudecanela

25 September 2010 // museum

Spent the morning walking around the domain where the auckland museum is located. it was windy – and at times wet – but it was still an enjoyable way to start the weekend.

paudecanela

23 September 2010 // one flower

Last night was my last official Russian class for this term (with a new course to start soon). We agreed to meet at the teacher’s house next week to watch a Russian movie but one of my colleagues wasn’t aware of that and, thinking we wouldn’t see each other again, had the nice idea of bringing flowers to the ladies in the room (the ladies being me – the only girl student – and the teacher).  I love getting flowers (or flower, in this case) and only wish it had happened earlier in the day so I could have snapped my SPD pic with it using natural light. Still a pretty flower, though.

As for the boots, they have to be my oldest pair of shoes and I have worn them so much I can’t believe how they’ve survived this long. I remember buying them from Aerosoles about six years ago and I am intending to wear them for at least another couple of winters.

paudecanela

22 September 2010 // Monsoon Poon

My friend Alison and I at Monsoon Poon, celebrating her last day at her old job, her new job and her second anniversary in the country.

I’m really happy for her and you should be too! Yay!

paudecanela

18 September 2010 // Waiheke!

The whole country was under severe storm warning all weekend long but we decided that shouldn’t be enough to cancel our weekend plans and caught the ferry to waiheke island on saturday morning to go wine tasting anyway.

Waiheke must be some sort of weird micro-climate because, other than a bit of strong wind and the occasional drops of rain, there were no signs of storm – and if I hadn’t stayed at home on Friday night and hadn’t felt the full effect of the storm then, I wouldn’t believe it had happened.

This vineyard was our first stop – and what a gorgeous place it was.

The boots got a bit muddy (and were way worse than this by the end of the day) but it was a great day trip – and one that I should remember to do more often.

paudecanela

17 September 2010 // pie & slippers

And a very very blurry picture.

paudecanela

15 September 2010 // Black

Not doing so well on the SPD front this week – and I’m going to go ahead and blame it all on the flu. Still feeling pretty stink but remembered to snap this picture after arriving home from work on Wednesday. Bear with me as I get try to get rid of this stupid bug.

paudecanela

14 September 2010 // blue

Had to drag myself to work today after staying home sick yesterday. Was still feeling miserable today but managed to drag myself out of bed and head off to work. Great shoes helped, as they always do.

paudecanela

10 September // another bus stop SPD

Snapped this one last Friday after work, while waiting for the bus home.

paudecanela

9 September 2010 // After class

Waiting for my ride home after another Russian class last night.

paudecanela

7 September 2010 // Red

Dear Spring,

They say you officially started in the beginning of the month but getting rained on pretty much every morning since then is a clear sign that you’re late. As you can see, I am hoping you will arrive sooner rather than later. I’m not wearing boots anymore and I even put on jeans with flowers, hoping that’d make you come today.

Hurry up already.

Yours,

paudecanela

6 September 2010 // black & white

I love these Zara pumps so much, I don’t know why I don’t wear them more often.

paudecanela

5 September 2010 // Mud = fun

Riding a quad bike in the forest for the first time. It was fun. And yuck. But mostly fun.

paudecanela

3 September 2010 // so glad the week is over!

It was one of those weeks… Now I’m off to celebrate its end by having dinner with friends. I love weekends!

paudecanela