Last weekend, the weather was actually really nice after quite a drizzly week so Josh and I figured we may as well venture out and check out the surrounding area while we had a nice day on a weekend. Who knows when it was ever going to happen again anytime soon, right? We figured after all of the crappy weather that maybe all of these people really did have a point about buying some gumboots.

We headed to a place not too far out of town – it’s only about a 10 minute drive. It was beautiful by the water although Josh reckons it’s not as beautiful as where we were living before we moved and that the visibility isn’t as good as it should be. He really did love that place and I don’t blame him. I loved it too.

I told him that we have become a bit spoiled lately with all of this beautiful New Zealand scenery. I bet most people would give quite a lot to see all the things we see on a regular basis and even though he liked where we moved from a tad bit better, this place isn’t too shabby either.

Josh agrees, of course.

Plus, we’ve got our whole lives ahead of us. Who knows what will happen?

When we were back at the parking lot, there was this little weka (a flightless bird) who started following us. They are usually quite wary of humans but this one came right up to us and it was the cutest thing ever. I started to worry that he was hurt or something but I think perhaps he was just hungry. We had nothing to feed it, though.

Wekas are my favourite bird. I get so excited whenever I see them!

I wish I wasn’t so excited because then maybe I would have gotten a better photograph! He was just sitting there posing for me and I was just freaking out instead of taking a really good picture. Oh well. There’s always next time.

I got here a day before Josh. I brought as much as I could carry in my car and then he and his dad brought the trailer and the rest of our things.

They were running late that day, but everything had seemed to be going well by the texts that I had been getting from Josh. I was still at work, though, so I couldn’t keep in full contact. Plus, they were driving in and out of cell phone reception on their way here.

Finally, they got here. I was so excited to see them. Josh stepped out of the truck and I gave him a big hug.

“I have some bad news,” he said.

I backed away from him. I probably shouldn’t have but I guess it’s just instinct to go in the opposite direction of bad news. Also, I suppose it didn’t feel right to be hugging the bearer of bad news even if it wasn’t his fault.

That’s when I started looking for Reirei.

“Reirei ran away when we were packing up. It was in the last five minutes. She ran out the door. There was nothing we could do. We looked for her for a half hour and we just had to leave.”

He looked really upset and I knew he was probably just as upset as I was but I didn’t care. I ran away and hid behind the curtains in my house since that’s all there existed so far to hide behind – there was no furniture in the house yet – and I cried.

I cried all night.

Josh told me that he had all of our old neighbors looking for Reirei and that they would send him a text if they found her and he’d drive right back to get her.

We didn’t get a text that night. I was really upset because I knew that her chances of surviving would get lower and lower as time went on since she was so small. I was hoping that one of the neighbors who didn’t know us had found her and taken her in not knowing and that when Josh’s dad went back the next day he could somehow sort everything out and find her. Our chances seemed slimmer and slimmer, though.

The next day I went back to my second day at work, downtrodden and heartbroken. All my new coworkers were so nice and supportive about it and hoped that she would turn up. Some offered me cat carriers for when Josh would go back to get Reirei because they were confident he would have to because she’d be found.

Later that day, Josh texted me to let me know that Reirei was indeed safe and sound. I couldn’t believe it! Apparently she had NEVER left our little cottage. She was hidden behind the stove – the only thing left there. Josh didn’t think she was small enough to hide behind it but apparently she had wedged herself behind it and our other neighbor found her in there when he looked for her. Josh was true to his word and drove right back and got her. Over three hours each way. He opened up the cottage door and Reirei was sitting there on some blankets that our next door neighbor had brought over from their cat. She looked at him calmly as if nothing had happened and came up to him and started purring.

There’s never a dull moment. I’m glad she’s safe now. Well, she was actually always safe but I’m glad that we have her here with us now where she belongs. I don’t think my heart could have handled losing Reirei after moving and starting a new job this week as well as having to leave Moko in New York too. Maybe one day I’ll finally be able to get Moko over here too and the four of us can be one happy family!

We are almost all packed. At least we don’t have as many things as we did when we lived over in America in our apartment. We didn’t bring much with us when we moved over here to New Zealand so we only have what we have accumulated since living over here.

Packing made me think a lot about how, when we were packing last time, Moko was freaking out and climbing all over everything because she could really sense what was going on. It made me feel really bad again about leaving her back in New York especially now that we have Reirei. I don’t want to feel like we’re just replacing Moko because that’s not what we’re doing. I still can’t wait to have Moko back again so we can be one big happy family.

As much as I can’t wait for this whole move to be over with since I’m super stressed out and anxious about this entire week, another part of me wants to slow down and enjoy my time left here because I’ll really miss this place. It’s beautiful and I have really enjoyed it here more than anyplace I’ve ever lived since I’ve been out on my own in my short adult life so far. I know this time I’m not moving too far away – only 4 hours instead of across the world like last time – but I am pretty melancholy about leaving.

I’ll miss you, little cottage. You were good to us.

The view wasn’t bad either.

I can’t wait to see what else lies ahead, though. I bet it has the potential to be even better and that makes me so excited.

Long story short, at the end of last week, we decided that we had to have one of those kittens.

We just couldn’t help ourselves. Plus, when we are able to get Moko over to New Zealand (which we hope to do as soon as we can, still – this hasn’t changed anything in that respect) then she’ll have a new playmate!

So, we’d like you to meet Reirei. Rhymes with “Whee! Whee!” Which is probably appropriate because of how much energy this little kitten has.

Seriously. She’s CRAZY!
Ahem. Anyway.

We just love her to bits and we are so happy that we chose to get little Reirei.

Josh and I have a big week ahead of us. We are moving this week and I start my brand new teaching job. I’m all kinds of excited, anxious, and stressed. Not all stress is bad, though. Basically, it’s another big adventure and I just can’t wait for it to start! Now little Reirei can come, too! What a big adventure for a tiny little kitty!

My Facebook is going to explode this week:
GOT A NEW CAT NAMED REIREI
MOVED TO A NEW TOWN
MOVED INTO A NEW HOUSE
ENDED JOB AT SUPERMARKET DAIRY
STARTED A NEW JOB AS HIGH SCHOOL MATH TEACHER
CAITY IS FRIENDS WITH ALL HER NEW COWORKERS AND PEOPLE SHE JUST MET AHHHHHHH

Well, this time I was already off to a better start. I now had my own blood donor card which skips half the paperwork and the fuss and I also decided that I was going to drink loads of water before I went. I drank 2 and a half liters of water (that’s about 10 8oz glasses of water). Unfortunately, I didn’t think through the fact that I’d probably have to use the toilet quite frequently which I did. I’d rather have to run to the toilet a bunch of times instead of have someone play with the needle in my arm, though. Just because I’m giving blood doesn’t mean I enjoy having needles in my arm.

Being that it was my second donation, I earned a keychain that says my blood type on it and that I was a donor. Josh earned a t-shirt since he has donated over 10 times. Josh was upset because he is sure that he has donated way more times than 10 – he thinks he’s up to nearly 20 times. The lady said that this was quite possible since they had a problem with their databases a couple years ago and a bunch of people lost all their donation counts. I still think it’s nice that he donated 10 times and got a t-shirt, though!

When I finally got stuck with the needle, my blood actually squirted all over my arm and even onto my clothes. The nurse apologized but I was almost happy because I told her how much water I drank since I had so many problems last time so I was excited that my blood pressure was so high even if I did get a drop or two of blood on my clothes.

My excitement was short lived, though. The machine started beeping a couple minutes in to say that the pressure wasn’t good enough. Every couple minutes the lady was coming over trying to adjust the needle in my arm (which started to HURT – just leave the needle alone please, lady). In the end I was almost done so she just let the machine beep all the way until the end which meant my blood was draining slowly and the whole process was taking WAY longer than it should. It was very frustrating. Josh was done way before me and we started at the same time! He just got to eat more mints and cookies than me!

I guess it’s a small price to pay to be able to give some blood and help someone. They told me that this blood is going to be headed to Christchurch and will be there by tomorrow.

Josh and I went to get meat pies afterward (when there’s an excuse for meat pies, Josh always finds it) and we “argued” with each other about whose blood was better. Josh was joking that his blood is better since it’s more rare and only 2% of the population have B- blood. Mine is A+ which is the second most common blood type after O+. My little retort was that since more people have my blood type, it is more in need and more people need it so mine is the better blood! In the end we know that it it all important because even though 2% of the population may need his type of blood, only 2% of the donations will probably be that type and the same thing with mine so that it all evens out and works so long as a good portion of the population donates. So as long as we all always donate blood, we’re good. We have the weirdest conversations, don’t we?

When was the last time you donated blood? I’m going to try and do it more frequently now that I am able to do so here! I need to get up to 10 donations to get my t-shirt too!

Behind me, I heard a small child exclaim loudly yet politely, “Excuse me! Excuse me!”

As I usually do upon when hearing these words being that I work in a customer service environment, I turn around. Who knows, maybe the kid needed help finding a yogurt and her mother sent her over to ask me.

“Yes?”

The most adorable little girl in a frilly little sundress beamed back up at me. It looked like she dressed herself and did her own hair and she had sparkly stickers on her face.

She looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I love your headband!”

I didn’t know what to say. This little girl who couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 years old had decided to compliment me all on her own. It was one of the nicest, sweetest things I had seen or heard in the longest time.

“Thank you SO much for telling me that. That was so nice of you!” I said kindly back to her.

She smiled at me again and skipped back to her mother who was halfway down the aisle.

What this little girl did made me realize how the small things that we do for people or say to people that only take mere seconds out of our day can mean so much. The next time I like someone’s headband, or hairstyle, or shoes, or skirt, or smile, I’m definitely going to tell them. I hope it brightens their day as much as this random little stranger brightened mine.

I wandered up and to my surprise it was the boss of my upcoming job at the school (which is 3 hours away), the head of the math department. I remembered then that she said she was planning on vacationing around here at some point and I had told her where I was working until the school year started so if she was in the are she should stop in and say hello. I had totally forgotten about it, though, and it was a pleasant surprise to actually see her! Well, it was pleasant until I noticed the panicked look on her face. Apparently she didn’t have anywhere for her dog to stay while she was on her vacation and it was about to ruin her entire holiday.

She explained how the kennel they had booked couldn’t take their dog because the dog’s immunizations had JUST run out and now their entire trip would be ruined if they didn’t have a place to put their dog since the hotel wouldn’t take pets or give back their money. I was the only person they knew around here so they thought they would take a long shot and ask me.

Duh! Of course I wanted to help!

I should probably at this point also mention that my boss is also awesome and is taking me in the night before school starts because my house won’t be ready and I’ll have nowhere to live. Did I also mention that she’s awesome?

Dylan is a great dog, too. He is old and half deaf but also house trained and a good old dog. He had his bed and they gave us a chain post to tie up in our yard for when he wanted to be outside. We put it in a place so he could sit inside the little shed we had in our backyard in case the weather was bad or he wanted to be out in the sun. Most of the time we just let him sit inside on his bed by us because he seemed to like being by people and it made him happy.

I think Josh was happy most of all to have a dog around for a while. Josh is a real dog person and I think it really was a good thing for both of them.

Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed it too. I fed Dylan in the mornings before I left for work and let him outside and he was always waiting for me when I got home which made me really happy. I wasn’t home when Dylan got picked up because I had to work and when I got home and Dylan wasn’t there it made me a little bit sad not to see him there, I have to admit.

We were given a huge bottle of wine as well as an extremely generous gift card to Bunnings Warehouse (which is like the Home Depot). I was shocked because I didn’t expect anything for doing something I enjoyed. They even gave us the food and everything else. I think they were so happy that their holiday wasn’t ruined (and also I guess that they didn’t have to pay the kennel either) that they went a bit nuts with thanking us. I feel a bit bad but at the same time I guess I won’t feel so bad for needing to stay with them for a night now.

Now I also want a dog! Ahh!

So we thought.

I got home from work and Josh told me that he got a text earlier that day from Matt who he worked with on the orchards for a while inviting us to a BBQ and asked me if I was up to going. Of course I was! I was so happy to be able to actually have something to do on New Years even though a quiet night in would have been lovely, as well. Josh and I each made a token dish – I made a cous cous salad and Josh made his epic tossed salad and we bought some beers and ice cream and we were on our way!

When we pulled up, the first thing I saw was this tiny kitten! I knew that the night was going to be epic when I saw her.

She was the cutest, most playful little kitten that I have seen in a long time and she reminded me of Moko, my cat back in New York, so much. She filled my kitty void that I didn’t even know was so deep and hurting!

She had so much life in her and was such a friendly little cat. She went from climbing a cactus to jumping up in your lap and going to sleep. I was dying of the cuteness ALL NIGHT LONG.

Here is an example!

Oh yeah… there were other animals too which made it even more hilarious. There was this big rottweiler dog who lived here and the kitten was still boss. She’d stalk him all around the yard and jump out at him and the dog would look at the little kitten with his old dog wisdom as if to say, “oh, you silly little kitty… you’re so cute and you have no idea what is going on.”

D’aww.

As if that wasn’t already enough cuteness to blow up the world, another friend showed up and brought A PUPPY. How much more cute can we get here than kitten and puppies playing together? I don’t think you can really get much cuter than this, actually.

We watched this for HOURS.

I am envious of these little animals. They have the best playground ever. Who wouldn’t want to live in a yard like this?

Okay so we did actually do some other things at this BBQ… like actually have a BBQ and eat food and drink grown up apple juice. It was amazing. Matt had home kill sausages and lamb only a few days old. I don’t think I’ve ever had meat that tasted so good. (This means their neighbors killed these animals a few days ago themselves and gave the cuts to us… so it was fresh and free farmed.)

Perhaps the BEST PART of the entire night was the ending when we lit a bonfire. I have never in my life participated in something so incredible yet so relaxed and simple in my entire life. Sitting around this heap of fire in some random person’s backyard just sharing stories and life experiences was just one of the best nights I have ever had in my entire life.

Even Little Mau came outside to be by the warm bonfire.

WHERE AM I, YOU GUYS?
CAN I HAVE MORE APPLEJUICE PLEASE?

Another surprise was that Matt actually is quite talented with fire sticks. He put on an amazing show for us by the bonfire to ring in the New Year.

I hope that your New Year was as incredible as mine! If my New Years Eve is any indication of how 2012 will be, then it’s going to be a winner!

Psst – You can see all 40 New Years pictures here.

January

- I ate my first crayfish.
- Donated blood in NZ for the first time.
- My greenstone pendant was found. Josh gave it to me the first day we met.
- I moved back to New York.
- I was happy to see Moko again.

February

- Got my camelback watter bottle and became addicted.
- Joined my gym.
- Went to my first spin class.
- Hit 30 pounds lost.
- Tried zumba and hated it.

March

- Finally went to the Museum of Natural History after living in NY all my life.
- Actually spent some time in NYC and didn’t hate it for the first time ever.
- Mom’s 55th birthday!
- Got my first manicure and pedicure ever, haha.
- Started taking Baylee for walks.

April

- Got my hair cut.
- Hit 40 pounds lost.
- Easter.
- Erika and Rocco’s wedding! <3

May

- Had an awesome trip to the Holtsville Ecology Center with Kierstin.
- Got addicted to Doctor Who.
- Helped my dad run a booth at a green energy convention.
- Mother’s Day
- My 27th Birthday!
- I reached 50 pounds lost on my birthday!
- The North Shore Bike Tour!

June

- Hung out a lot with my family.
- Did the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, haha!
- Got my new phone. DROID!
- Had my going away party with my friends.
- Moved back to NZ.
- I missed our anniversary because I got stuck in Sydney. :(

July

- Josh and I are finally back together again, yay!
- We moved into our little cottage.
- We went on adventures in our little Fiat.
- Went fishing at French Pass for the first time.

August
- I still didn’t have the internet.
- I borrowed a bicycle from Josh’s boss and biked into town.
- It was still winter so I was cold and still adjusting to the cold weather.
- Lack of internet = no pictures.

September

- Josh cut his hair.
- I got my job at the supermarket dairy.

October

- I got my teaching job which starts in January.
- The Rugby World Cup! New Zealand is victorious!
- Went to Hokitika to visit Josh’s dad who was working on a dairy farm.
- We got a hand blender.
- We cooked a lot.

November

- Josh’s Kick Arse burgers are perfected.
- We keep trying to grow our garden with little success.
- I took a trip to my new school for a week and loved it.
- Finally reached 60 pounds lost.

December

- The first BBQ of the year.
- Josh’s Birthday!
- My second NZ Christmas.

I got a lot of great gifts this year. It made me feel really bad because Josh and I couldn’t really reciprocate any of the gifts given our current financial situation. I can’t wait until my new job starts because then I can actually afford to do be a little bit more financially stable if something comes up and I want to be a bit more generous. Next Christmas, I’ll be able to actually buy people presents and I am already looking forward to it.

My family back in the states decided to pool all their money together and Western Union me the money to get myself a bicycle. My uncle, my grandparents, my grammy, and my parents all send me a nice chunk of cash that will get me a really nice bike. I am really excited to get a bicycle. It is something that I have been wanting for a long time ever since I got addicted to spin classes at my gym in New York all those months ago. I decided I am going to wait until we move next month to buy my bike since it’s one less thing to bring with us.

My mother in law got us an awesome BBQ! We love it so much and have already used it multiple times. It can even be used as a smoker and Josh even smoked some bacon and chicken in it for his work mates on his last day of work on the orchards before the Christmas holidays. We love it!

She also sent me a beautiful planner and a matching pen for 2012 which will really come in handy with teaching and keeping track of everything being that I plan on being a busy little bee once we move!

My mom saw on my blog last month when I was talking about cool things I saw on Pinterest and mentioned this clock. Well, she wanted to get it for me so she asked me how to order it online so I told her and she got it for me. :)

My sister sent me this nice bag since I’ll need something fairly nice looking to carry all my teaching books. She also sent me some nice shirts which she hid inside the bag.

My brother in law and his girlfriend got us these awesome hand towels and also a beautiful bowl and serving spoons. However, I used the bowl and spoons and haven’t done my dishes and I’m not taking a picture of my dirty dishes for you. It shows you that I love the bowl though! They also sent us the most amazing fudge (also not able to be photographed because it mysteriously disappeared into our stomachs) and some jeans for Josh.

My amazing internet friend Saskia who I’ve known through myfitnesspal and blogging (and now dailyfratze) asked for my address a while back so she could send me something for Christmas. I figured that she wanted to send me a Christmas card since some of my online friends had also done the same thing. However, she sent me these beautiful hand made ornaments! I remember her talking about them on her blog and she sent me some of my own!

I love them so much! :D

I also got a year’s Flickr pro account from Shannon. I have the best online friends ever! Now I can have space for all my pictures for another entire year.

Josh and I decided we weren’t going to exchange gifts this year because we couldn’t afford it but when I got home the other day, I saw that I had this new gaming mouse at my computer. Josh had been planning to get it for me anyway. I felt so bad because I actually didn’t get him anything but I decided that I would give him the mall vouchers that I got as a gift from my work for Christmas so that he could go buy some new shirts for himself because he needs and wants them. I was going to buy them for him myself but he likes to buy his own clothes so I figured that giving him the mall vouchers would mean more to him than me buying shirts for him.

He told me that all he needed for Christmas was to spend it with me and for me to always love him. Even if that is true, I still feel bad that I couldn’t give him the world on top of that, too. Maybe after my first paycheck I can get him a “I wanted to get this for you just because I love you” present. He deserves one of those.

What was your favourite gift from the holidays?