February at Home

 Another selection of photos that has appeared on my camera that I can't take credit for :)

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. 

Warren & Suzanne's Wedding || Part 2 {Reception}

Apologies for these first images; tbh I didn't think of getting the camera out until speeches, and the camera threw a fit with the lighting (a.k.a. lack thereof). Oh and I basically stayed where I was so you get to see everyone's heads :P lol

: : Speeches : :
Groom + one groomsman gave speeches
All bridesmaids spoke
Nice job you guys! :)

: : Cutting the cake : :
{Ruffles + burlap}

: : Wedding Favours : :

: : Handwritten signs everywhere #love : :
{FYI, sparkler sendoff ran on homeschool time ;)}

: : Burlap : :

: : Above the bridal table : :

: : Table arrangements : :
I baked 200 brownies for the afternoon tea and got to take one of these beauties home. #score

: : Bouquet : :
Lovin' those beads!

: : Photo booth : :
Call me weird, but the hay everywhere smelt so good . . . #countrygirlatheart

: : Pinecones + glitter : :

: : Another table arrangement : :

: : The best table there ;) : :

And because I'm so awesome I completely forgot to get photos of us at our table etc. #fail But our table was fun. You'll just have to take my word for it. Caught up with some old friends too which was awesome. Stuck around to help with the clean up, then headed home. Except I was giving a friend a ride home and McDonald's is distracting. #midnightsnackandconvo

Auckland Zoo || Part 4 {Seals & Waterfalls}

 : : Seals : :

: : Couldn't find a way to slow the shutter speed so the water would go smooth and creamy :/ : :
Will have to go back when I get my camera ;) haha

: : Eww! : :

: : Reflection : :

: : A door. That I'm too tall for. :P : :

Auckland Zoo || Part 3 {Seals}

: : Eww... : :

: : Reflection : :

: : Love the contrast of those red flowers! : : 

 : : Yay the netting isn't so visible here! : :

: : Why did the camera have to focus on the background instead of the subject?! : :
Love those shells though!

: : Okay this came out so much better than it looked on the camera's screen! : :

Auckland Zoo || Part 1 {The Pridelands}

Amazing how I've only had my full [driver's license] for a couple months, it feels like forever; I can't imagine life without it! Several weeks after I got it, my friend Anne Roos and I made use of it and headed over to Auckland Zoo together. Since I took nearly 150 photos {146 to be exact ;)} I'm going to spread the good ones between a few posts! :)

: : Love giraffes! : :

: : Same pic, but landscape, which do you prefer? : :

: : Zebras . . . : :

: : Sorry about the quality, this is a small piece from the top of an image that didn't really turn out otherwise : :

: : Aww : :

Diana's Birthday || Presents

:: Chocolate's always good!  : :
And dimensional stickers for card-making

: : Knitting's exciting! : :

: : So she can read at night without the main light on : :

: : I saw a cake like this on Pinterest a while back, and finally made it! : :

: : Her collection! : :