Lots of Holiday Cheer

Last week was a pretty standard week in our household with some fun Christmas bits thrown in!

Monday, my sweet friend, Tally, took me out to lunch for an early birthday treat and since it was so nice out we got to lay out on the beach for the afternoon--definitely a first for me since I've always been used to having a cold birthday! We did find a really decent Mexican restaurant and even splurged on some margaritas for an extra treat!

 

We also got to see all of the Pohutukawa trees in full bloom!

To start off the week, I got a BEAUTIFUL birthday gift of flowers and chocolate cake delivered to me from my parents! They are so good to me and so thoughtful to send them to me a week ahead of time so I can enjoy them before we leave!

Then, I finally finished my first Christmas embroidery project--and I have to say I was quite pleased with the result! I think a lot of people will be getting handmade tea towels for Christmas next year!

Wednesday I went with my friends Tally & Kacee to one of the biggest malls in Auckland called Sylvia Park. We got to do lots of Christmas shopping, had lunch and even stopped by the American store!



Thursday I got to have lunch at a delicious little cafe with Joan--she took me out for an early birthday celebration! We got to drive around and run some errands and enjoy the bright, gorgeous New Zealand sunshine!

After that, I got a phone call from my lovely friend, Amy, who wanted me to stop by her place to try on the new bridesmaids dresses she had designed. She has started an amazing company where girls in Australia and New Zealand can order their bridesmaids' dresses directly online in beautiful designs and colors...and you know how much I love weddings, so you can guess that I was more than happy to go help her!

That night, Drew went to the PwC Christmas party which was different than Christmas parties back in the States. The funniest part about it is that the theme for the party was 'Jungle Fever' or 'Welcome to the Jungle'...something along those lines...and Drew's team was required to dress up as butterfly catchers. Don't ask...I have no explanation for that. But he said the food was great, the drinks were great and they had a good time. Since I wasn't invited to join in the festivities, I had a girls' night out with Erin and we had a wonderful time catching up! We had wine and tapas at a restaurant down in Wynyard Quarter then came back home for homemade brownies (and by 'homemade' I mean a box mix!)

Friday night, Drew and I treated ourselves to Sal's Pizza and a movie and then drove around the corner to see what everyone here calls the 'best Christmas lights in the city.' I'm not sure I'd go quite that far...but it was at least a good experience to see once while we're here.

Saturday we enjoyed spending lots of time outside walking around and finally got our radio fixed so now we have more than one station!! We drove around to some new spots jamming out to our radiio before trying out a new spot for dinner called Sale St. where we got to sit outside in the summer sunshine and enjoy drinks and yummy food. Afterwards, we met up with some of our friends at a bar in Wynyard Quarter for a last little gathering before everyone goes their separate ways.


Yesterday we did some errands, Skyped with family back home, went out to the mall for some last-minute things and then headed over to Will & Tally's place for a bit. We went with them to GLOW which has so much to talk about that I will do another post ASAP to tell you all about that!

Last night, we watched a Christmas movie and got ready for the last 4 days in NZ before we head home for Christmas!!! I honestly can't believe that tomorrow is my birthday already and that we're leaving in 3 days!

Cheers!