woah nelly! where have the days gone?!

hola! :)

it is beginning to get chillier here in calgs, in fact apparently it's officially autumn on the 21st. dang. but last weekend was divinely hot :) (you never can tell here). we took advantage of the blue blue sky and went floating down elbow river on our big blow-up bed! using our jandals to paddle around the trecherous rocks and branches, it was a very exciting ride! it was so incredibly rad. we drifted down-river for about an hour then tied ourselves to a tree so we could just float there soaking up the rays. aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. then we clambered out onto the bank, deflated our bed, rolled it up and walked all the way back to the car. sunday was just as gorgeous, so we went to glenmore reserve - a big lake surrounded in beautiful reserve land, right here in the city. we biked around 16km around the lake, keeping our eyes peeled for the bear that the signs warned of.

last wednesday it was pori's 30th! (despite his protests). we invited some of his friends around after work for pizza, beer, red wine and chocolate birthday cake smothered in m&ms. it was a really good evening and we were finally able to 'christen' the apartment with a little party :). i think he had a rad time even considering there were 30 candles on the cake ;).

the weekend before that we headed out to boundary ranch in kananaskis country and went horseriding for a couple of hours at the foot of the rockies. it was pori's first time ever on a horse and he was a total natural - next time we'll have to bring his cowboy hat coz dang he looks good on a horse :). my horse, nugget, was a little crazy and required a bit of concentration to keep in check, but that just makes things a bit more fun :)

and now i better go make dinner. g'night! xx

oh yeah, i added a couple of albums to my gallery that illustrate the above :)
http://dabunj.spaces.live.com

crowded house rock my world

last night after work pori and i took ourselves off to the theatre FOR THE CROWDED HOUSE CONCERT!! it totally exceeded my expectations - and i expected it to be damn good - it blew my mind! they sound absolutely amazing live, neil has a truly beautiful voice, and they had so much fun on stage. pori loved how 'happy' they were. they cracked the whole audience up too, lots. i felt a warm pride well up... it was like seeing the whanau. it's funny how kiwi kiwis seem when you're away from home, i think there's a definate down-on-the-farm 'simplicity' and charm that comes through ;). the theatre was completely packed and it seemed the canadian audience knew the words way better than me (shame on me i know). they sang a lot of stuff from their brand new album (which i hadn't heard) and a lot of the classics too. i just couldn't stop smiling and bopping. it was an incredibly rad night. all the way home, and in fact, right up until bed-time, we sang the chorus of 'better be home soon' to death.

today at work was a bit of a struggle though after the reasonably late night. i really struggled at times to keep my eyes open and focused, and my back is not liking the new sitting-all-day-at-a-desk position. i like my new job so far though, and it gives me a little buzz to see my listings published on the big fancy website :). i think i'll be getting my first proper article assignment next week! yeah!

it's funny though how after 6 months of holiday i was desperately wanting to work, and now after just 3 days at work i'm desperately awaiting the weekend! not sure what we'll get up to this weekend but as long as sleeping in is on the agenda i'll be happy. last weekend pori bought us mountain bikes! i'm a very lucky girl! and so last sunday we went for our first mountain trail ride. oh. my. god. we went with thomas and wense (a couple of very sporty argentinians) and they informed us that the trail wouldn't be too bad. we will never believe anything they say again. a 40 km loop over a mountain pass with the roughest terrain i have EVER tried to bike (in fact, if i had been hiking it i would've had to be extremely careful not to trip and fall). while i crawled down the hills at a semi-controlled pace over rocks and tree roots pori went full speed ahead so it's not really surprising that we had to make a visit to A&E when we got back to calgs. poor loco pori had a sharp rock riccochet out from under his tyre as he was flying down a slope and it hit him in the shin leaving behind a horrifically deep cut and nasty graze. my brave boy didn't even faint when they stitched him up! :) but what a ride - it took us just over 7 hours, and i think i experienced every possible emotion during that time including fear, desperation, frustration, exhaustion, depression, relief, excitement, satisfaction and elation! i am very proud of myself for not falling off my bike and we are both looking forward to the next one :)

check it out :) http://dabunj.spaces.live.com/

so, the sun is still shining here in calgs, but right now a part of me wishes i was home. pa, am thinking about you constantly. please make a speedy recovery.