In Loving Memory || Nana

Well this post has certainly been a long time coming! I was hoping to get it up for Nana's first anniversary on January 19th but unfortunately ended up sick that week and barely did anything; much less contend with tech issues standing in the way of this post! So at long last, here it is.

It has now been over a year since Nana's passing on the morning of January 19, 2016. It's hard to believe she's been gone that long already. When I scroll through the messages on my phone, her name is still there. When I finally found a job, and then a second one, soon after her passing, I thought I would call and tell her; then realised I couldn't. I bought the complete set of a series of movies we had been watching together, but she wasn't there to see the last ones with me. When I'm cooking ad run into a problem, she isn't there to call quickly for a solution. When the year was just about over, it seemed strange not to make her a new photo calendar of the Auckland grandchildren. 

I don't know anyone else who could knit as fast or as well as Nana. Admittedly she didn't fix the odd mistake -- she would undo the whole piece and re-knit it correctly within the evening. My dad tells stories of ripping jumpers she made on the fences he jumped as a boy, and saying it was fine because she would just fix it that night! All of us have worn cardigans she made for us; and the length of some indicates the patterns were adjusted to fit me ;P haha. She made me a knitted version of Po, the red teletubby. Until her arthritis became too painful, it seemed like she always had her knitting bag with her. I remember her being somewhat put out when she wasn't allowed to take her scissors on a flight to visit us. Thankfully they were easy enough to replace. ;)

I love that someone thought to get the above photo (bottom left) of Nana with her scones. It seems she was well known for them; at her funeral a number of people mentioned memories of them. I remember gatherings around the fireplace; tea, coffee, and scones all around, with more extended family or friends than I could remember names for. (I was young guys, come on!) Dad has talked a fair bit about her scones, and encouraged us to try our hands at them and continue the legacy; but it seems no matter how hard we try ours will never be as good as "Nana's Scones"! 

When I was little we visited Nana and Grandad in Wellington fairly regularly I think. I remember arriving at their house late in the afternoon and getting fish and chips for dinner, or arriving much later and trying to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when we couldn't keep our eyes open. Or visiting at Easter, and eating chocolate until we felt sick. Or exchanging gifts with everyone on Christmas morning. Or "riding" Simpson, their golden retriever, when we were *very* little. Watching movies and talking with Nana late into the night. Trying to navigate her new phone for her. Admiring her jewellery collection. Planting her new rosebushes for her. Preparing dinner with her . . . and wondering how to cook for only two people when I was visiting her alone. ;P Shopping and eating lunch out together. (The origin of my coffee shop addiction *cough*) 

I remember when I was really little Nana, Grandad, and I would all go down to the mall together to get lunch. It seemed like Grandad new people EVERYWHERE he went, and inevitably it took a while to actually get to the cafe after leaving the car; Nana and I would slowly ease towards the cafe while Grandad was still in conversation, hoping we wouldn't have to stay hungry for too much longer! In later years Nana's friend Yvonne would take us, or Aunty Melissa, or on Nana's last visit to Auckland just the two of us, since I had my full license by then. 

For the last couple of months Nana was in hospital; preparations were being made to move her to a rest home once she was up to it. Through this time she wasn't able to keep in touch. I was actually home alone while my family was on holiday for the last couple weeks, and I remembered back to the last time I had stayed home from a family trip--Nana had called me every day: to chat, to make sure everything was okay, or just so I heard from someone. It seemed a little strange at times not to be expecting a call from her this time. 

I flew to Wellington the day prior to her funeral and spent the morning and afternoon with family and went for a walk, then dinner with all the extended family in the evening before going for a viewing. The funeral itself brought back so many memories from Grandad's one a little over 10 years earlier. To be honest it felt to me like reliving the same day again, only without Nana.

This post has been a long time in the making, and honestly it's still hard to know what to say. A lot of people loved Nana and made good memories with her. She is and will continue to be greatly missed.

TWENTY || Years of Birthdays {and the conclusion of this series}

So I had this brilliant idea to find a photo of me on every single one of my birthdays, and scan and post them on {for} my 20th this year. I think I actually started uploading late last year. For more recent years it wasn't too hard to find the photos (although some years there aren't any very good ones :P), but for the years before we had a digital camera, I haven't managed to find everything I was looking for. Apparently we've lost a lot of photos because they were stored in the garage which had a leaky roof for a long time :'( We may have a couple more in albums, which I'll consider uploading and adding to this post if we find them soonish. In the meantime, though, I'm not going to abandon the whole post because of the years I'm missing.

This will be my last post for this month, so it is also the conclusion to my series TWENTY. My birthday month is coming to an end; the celebrations are over; I no longer have to think about my response when someone asks my age. 

I didn't feel any different as a 20-year-old on July 2nd than I did the day before when I was 19 (surprise, surprise), but I know I've grown since this time last year. No doubt the coming year will present new experiences and challenges, and this time next year I'll look back and see how much I've changed. 

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent me cards, gifts, and wishes, or followed along for this series! :) July is just about over, but stick around in August for more posts on the blog -- my work schedule is pretty busy but hopefully I can make time to carry out my plans for this spot on the web ;)

: : Day 1 : :

: : 1st birthday : :

Jump a few years since we're missing the photos between here . . .

: : 8th birthday : :
{Yes, I scanned this out of an old journal}

: : 9th birthday : :

: : 10th birthday : :

: : 11th birthday : :

: : 12th birthday : :

: : 13th Birthday : :

: : 14th Birthday : :

: : 15th Birthday : :

: : 16th Birthday : :

: : 17th Birthday : :

: : 18th Birthday : :

: : 19th Birthday : :

: : 20th Birthday : :

TWENTY Years Ago || This Day In 1996

Nana with me

Recently

I'm sure the summer holidays get shorter every year! At least, that's what it feels like. I guess it's more general than that though, all of life just seems to speed up as we grow older. 

My laptop adapter finally did arrive, so the technical difficulties have been overcome and I just need to find {ahem, make) the time to edit my mountains of images and then post them here. (Cheer me on guys ;) :P)

Over the past few months I have accomplished a fair bit of walking; an hour plus most days. (Xj why am I applying French pronunciation to English words now?! *insert 2015's word of the year* The above image was taken on one of said walks, on my iPhone admittedly, since I haven't been taking the camera with me.

In January the rest of the fam abandoned me (kidding) for a couple weeks and went on holiday to the Taranaki. I did have several good study days, but somehow I didn't manage to catch up on sleep like I planned lol. Ate plenty of good food though!! ;P Got in some good catch-ups with friends and finally went to a couple of services at a friends' church. It was different than I'm used to lol but I won't complain. And being in a church that didn't feel like it was trying to give Antarctica a run for it's money was a very welcome change. (I'm not telling the time I'm writing this, and yes I am sarcastic normally, but this is probably worse.)

Life took a sad turn midway through my time home alone when my nana in Wellington passed away. My family drove straight down from the Taranaki and I flew day on the Monday, in time for the Tuesday funeral. Hopefully a post in the near future will feature a number of photos from Nana's life. It was a pretty short trip for me, as we all left on Wednesday, with the others dropping me in Marton at the ATI Student Conference, and then driving back to Auckland. I spent a day and a half-ish with my awesome friend Susannah (first time seeing each other since we swapped numbers back in July last year lol), talking heaps,  drinking way too much coffee, and not sleeping a lot (paid for it when I got back :P) before I came back on Friday. (That bus driver had no de Bruin blood in him. Or the trip would have taken half the time. Just saying.)

Now that school has gone back I'm into teaching again (privately) -- and at this stage I've managed to get all my classes in just one afternoon!! *clapping emoji* This term half my students are returning from last year, and the other half are new students, learning the basics of how to hold a recorder and such. Putting students through exams is exciting, and it's amazing to reflect back over how far they've come, but it's pretty special as well to see new students grasp the basic concepts!

I finally have managed to make a start on job hunting, so to speak; I expect to have an interview pretty soon to discuss details, and then I should be picking up some part time work. I've made a second enquiry somewhere else so we'll see what comes of these two and take it from there. I'm half thinking about joining Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator too. (Anyone interested in a party?!)

And that's my update for now. If it changes it's because I changed my mind about how much I wanted to share once I had more sleep. Lol. 

Mum's Birthday

: : Cards : :

: : Samsung Galaxy Ace Style : :
Pretty exciting upgrade from her old brick with intermittent sound :P

: : Another of my creations : :

Nana's Visit

: : Bedtime snuggles. Pretty sure we have similar photos somewhere of me when I was this young! : :

: : Aww : :

: : Watching movies {Little House on the Prairie} . . . super exciting for the little ones who aren't normally allowed much screen time! : :

: : The new use for camping-stretcher bags ;) : :

: : Auckland Town Hall Organ : :
One Friday night a free concert was offered so Nana, Mum, Monique, Diana and I headed in to the City for it.
{Dad, Jarrod, Danielle, and Bryce were on an overnight camp and Maria & Laura got to spend a few hours with Aunty Yvonne and Maddie!}

: : At the concert. Sorry, borrowing Monique's camera and not used to it so I look seriously awkward :P : :

When I was little, Nana and Grandad often took me out for lunch when we were in Wellington (or they were visiting Auckland), and now that I've got my licence it was my turn to take Nana out. :) Hooray for The Coffee Club ;) haha

: : Starting my own hashtag #awkwardselfies haha : :

Diana's Birthday Party || 9yrs || Part 3

Several of us have had Stampin' Up! parties in the last several years, and Diana wanted to have one as well. {Trying to remember now} I think she checked with our favourite demonstrator, who wasn't available, so asked me to demonstrate instead. In the end I managed to design two cards and prepare all the materials (with Mum's help) the night (aka early am ;)) before the party. I went with a pink design and a purple one to match the them colours for the party (picked by guess who).

: : All set up for the second card : :

: : Busy crafters : :

: : Cake time . . . : : 

: : Umm . . . scary : :

: : For dinner I made pizza (hooray for breadmakers that prepare the dough) : :
Monique and Katie made a salad (and I threw a dressing together)
Mum made chicken nuggets, and we bought a couple bags of potato wedges.