Look, I was doing horrible Facebook poses before Facebook even existed! Okay, you caught me… it was horrible MySpace pose. I’m so ashamed.

I was the same cheeky little bugger then, too. I haven’t changed too much except I had highlights in my hair and sometimes I wore a *little* makeup. By that, I mean a bit of lipgloss and some sparkly eyeliner. I still only own those two makeup products although I don’t really wear makeup much at all anymore. Oh, and I don’t have highlights anymore. My parents still beg me to get them back but I never really liked them anyway. The real reason? They’re too much work and I’m too lazy.

While I’m being all melancholy, here is a blog I wrote ten years ago. (Yes, I was blogging back then too. I’ve saved all the posts but I don’t have them here at caity.nu and you’ll see clearly why in a few short moments…)

midterms, anyone? [January 2002]

First of all, let me state that I’m going to kill my sister if she doesn’t turn off the crap SHE is playing on her radio… yep… my own sister is a bubble-gum-pop-freak.

UGH… it will probably change in 5 minutes anyway, why am I so excited?

How embarrassing. But probably hilarious.
How have you changed in the last 10 years?

What do you miss about America?
What do you like about New Zealand?

I have really had to think about these two things. They are actually not as simple as you would think. At first it was actually just silly things but now I actually have compiled quite the list of things from both sides that I love about both places that I’ve had the opportunity to miss because I didn’t have it when I lived overseas. I bet I’ll still leave something out but here goes nothing!

Oh, America… what I miss about you.

I miss my family (here they are just a few weeks ago – my dad has learned to send me pictures from his phone). I also miss my cat who Josh and I thought we’d be able to get over to New Zealand way before now.

I also miss my friends like crazy. I haven’t really made any friends in New Zealand yet.

I miss my gym. Gyms in New Zealand are super expensive probably because it’s so beautiful outside and easy to be active outdoors.

I miss how cheap clothes are in America. I tried to buy some clothes for my new job a few weeks ago and all I wanted was a damn Old Navy or a Kohls so I could raid the clearance rack and walk out with a bag full of clothes – not 2 items.

I miss stores being open all the time. Why does the mall close at 5? Nothing is open on Sunday? What the heck? I actually have to PLAN my trips in to town?

Cheap takeout food and cheap food in general. Hey, I’m being honest. Sometimes I just want to get a cheeseburger or a milkshake from the dollar menu. I’m not proud of it but it’s the truth. There’s no such thing as the dollar menu here.

Four seasons. Trees changing color in the fall. I just am not seeing four distinct seasons here – although I don’t think I’ll really miss not having to shovel snow.

Central heating. Sure, maybe it’s something I don’t really NEED and maybe it’s also because my father ran a central heating business all my life but sometimes a space heater or a fire just doesn’t cut it when I’m REALLY COLD. I’m sure I’ll get used to it but I still don’t have fire building skills yet so it’s a good thing Josh does or I’d freeze to death.

Free Wifi in tons of places. The only place that has free WiFi is McDonalds which to me is kind of weird because they don’t in America.

Having fast internet – and not having a cap on my internet each month.

Thanksgiving.

Squirrels.

Iced Tea.

Pizza.

Oh, New Zealand… what I love about you.

New Zealand is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous.

There is no pollution that I’ve ever seen here.

People care more about the environment. They recycle. They walk places and use public transport or carpool or hitch.

The food is healthier.

It costs more to purchase takeout food. Yes, I said I missed this from America but it’s also something that I like about New Zealand because it forces me to eat healthier and Josh and I love to cook. I think that overall it is a good thing.

There is no high fructose corn syrup and food, overall, is less processed.

People are generally in less of a hurry and are nicer and more genuine.

There is a more awesome variety of ethnic foods here that wouldn’t be found in America and such foods can be bought in supermarkets.

There are way less people.

Public healthcare. Sure, every system its flaws but I think it’s awesome after not having very good luck with America’s healthcare system.

People are “forced” to recycle because you have to pay to get your garbage picked up but you don’t have to pay for recycling so the less you need to pay to get picked up, the better.

I love that these is less traffic even though I have had to get used to driving on the other side of the road. I also like that people have less road rage – or none at all, really.

Small mom and pop shops around town that aren’t driven out by huge businesses yet. They’re getting rarer and rarer in America these days. All the coffee shops driven out by Starbucks. No more bookshops because there are Barnes and Nobles. The list goes on. Here, there are plenty of little shops all over the place of all different kinds! I love it!

I like hanging up my laundry.

I can actually see the stars.

I love all the awesome birds, especially wekas.

MEAT PIES.

Besides looking like cute little faces and being interesting because they are just a novelty to me, they have one other feature that I really like. Most NZ outlets have a switch right on them to turn the power on or off. It further saves electricity because it directly shuts off the electricity to the outlet entirely. It’s such a genius idea. It’s so simple and yet it’s something I’ve never seen before. You can save so much power by flicking the switch off when you’re not using the outlet so the outlet doesn’t draw any power at all.

I had to admit it took me some getting used to since I just usually plug things in and then pull them out again and that’s that but now it’s always a two step deal – plug it in and flick a switch or unplug and flick a switch.

The other thing that takes getting used to?
Up is off and down is on on all switches here!

I try to think I’m doing my part reducing my usage and recycling (Josh and I set up a recycling system here) and reducing my carbon footprint. Even little things like flicking switches on your outlets can add up if everyone does it.

All day, I tried to think of things I was thankful for. I made a huge list inside my head and every time I got sidetracked feeling sorry for myself being so far away from my family on Thanksgiving, I went back to my list. I didn’t even know I could think of so many things that I was grateful for. It really helped me get through the day. Josh was really good to me too. At first I got all emotional and upset at him because I thought he forgot about Thanksgiving but he went behind my back trying to plan all these big surprises for me. Then I felt pretty awful for just assuming he was ignoring me or being forgetful about Thanksgiving. I guess we’re all human sometimes, aren’t we?

This week I am suffering for it. Even after only one week off my body is having trouble keeping up. Only a few days into the week and I feel like I could sleep for another week straight. I’m going to bed early so I can at least sleep for as many hours straight as I can.

When I start my new job, I’m going to make sure that I stay active. I want to save up and buy myself a bicycle so that I can keep up my love for cycling and spinning. The town also has a gym that has spin classes that I plan to look into. Some of the teachers also play team sports like volleyball. That would be fun, too.

For now, the only thing I want to think about is sleep. I bet I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

How do you stay active?
How many hours do you sleep each night?

I was a bit of a special case since I just left America and might have been missing some of my favourite candy this Halloween so they actually paired me up with Angela in Ohio! Angela and I have been online buddies for years now so this made me really happy and we both tried to figure out what the other person might be excited about receiving.

Angela hit the nail on the head. The only thing I told her I’d love to have was some butterfingers but the rest was up to her. Josh threw in a request for some of his tabasco smoked chipotle sauce, too (when I came back to NZ, there had to be room in the suitcase for this sauce – that’s how important it was). She sent a bottle of it and Josh was very grateful. Hershey’s chocolate is SO expensive over here because of course it’s imported from Hershey, Pennsylvania. I saw some Hershey Kisses in the store the other day all bundled up for Christmas and they were ridiculously expensive. I couldn’t believe it. It was awesome to have these Hershey bars. I am making them last and really enjoying them.

As good as I’ve been (I’ve just reached 60 pounds lost so I’m obviously not sitting here eating chocolate bars every day) I still indulge every once in a while especially with all these new things around me here in a new country. I must admit that I am a bit addicted to white chocolate lately. Whittakers chocolate is what New Zealand is known for but when I can’t afford that (which is most of the time because who can justify spending loads of money on chocolate when you’re on a budget) I buy this Cadbury Dream bar.

My other favourite candy is pineapple lumps. It is a soft chewy pineapple flavoured middle covered in chocolate. It’s amazing. If you put them in the freezer they are even more amazing to eat. I try to do that so I don’t eat them as fast. Pineapple lumps don’t last very long around here.

What is your favourite candy?

Well, my dad has ascended to the next level of being technologically savvy. I just received an email from my dad’s phone. He sent me pictures he took with his droid!

Of what, you ask? Well of his dog and of his boat, of course! What else do men take pictures of? Well, the rest of his phone probably contains ridiculous pictures of my mother but I don’t think he trusts me with those and he is correct in his judgement. Good call, dad.

I can’t believe how adorable Baylee is. Oh how I miss that face. I feel like just yesterday I was taking her for walks but that was months ago now.

It’s a little bit crazy that her puppy face feels like just yesterday too but it was just over 2 years ago.

Here is my dad’s new boat. It was a fixer upper and my dad worked on it all of last winter while I was in New York. I think he put it in the water a few weeks after I left for New Zealand. I am still a bit sad that I never got to go out in the boat but I’m so glad my family got to enjoy it pretty much all summer. My dad deserves it and he worked so hard on it all by himself. I think it looks amazing.

Dad wins!

It has been a while since I mentioned it, but I have a Day Zero Project, also known as a 101 in 1001 list. For those who don’t know, it is basically a list of 101 things that I want to accomplish in 1001 days or approximately 2.5 years. My list has been hidden at my site for quite some time now since it has been on hold but I decided that I would start actively pursuing my tasks once again so I have added my list back to the navigation of my site again.

You can see my list here:
http://caity.nu/101-in-1001

I started my list back in March of 2010 and I have just over a year to complete the rest of the list. I was able to cross off quite a few things from my list after reading over it again. I completed a few things without realizing it in my big move to New Zealand and during my weight loss as well as just randomly here and there.

This is what I looked like when I started my list. :(

Here is what I look like today. :)

Some things of note that I have completed recently are:

3. Take the leap and move to New Zealand.
4. Get a job in New Zealand.
6. Find a place to live in New Zealand.
15. Lose 25 more pounds.
17. Work out for 3 days a week for an entire month. (In hopes this will kick start me.)
19. Drink 8 glasses of water a day for a month!
20. Do not eat any take out for an entire month.
27. Buy nail polish and paint my nails.
28. Get a pedicure.
41. Beat a video game that I start. (Mass Effect)
50. Get myself a new mp3 player for the gym when I’ve kept the 10 pounds off.
51. Allow myself to get some new clothes when I lose the 25 pounds.
60. Take a break from the internet for an entire weekend.
80. Donate all clothes I don’t need or wear anymore to charity.

Do you have a bucket list or a Day Zero project? What are some things that you have completed recently?
What are some interesting things on my list that you think you might want to try?

Via

I bought a lotto ticket the other day. It looked a lot like this one, being a losing ticket and all, so I will borrow someone else’s lovely photo from Flickr. I should have known I would lose anyway. The odds of someone winning the lotto are slim to none. What are the odds of two people winning the lotto from the same place? I don’t think it would be very good, if I had to guess. Playing the lotto is fun, though.

In New Zealand, they only have the big lotto drawing once a week. That’s pretty different to me being that in New York it’s every day and the jackpots are even bigger – and that’s just one state compared to an entire country. (Yes, yes, I know New York is huge but I’m just noticing more differences and musing about them.) It costs a lot more for a weekly drawing here, too. I guess I won’t be gambling on lotto tickets very much.

They have really funny commercials, though. This one is my favourite.

(I’m sharing this picture of my mom because I love it. It’s a spontaneous shot of her beautiful smile and I know it’s one she would never share because it wasn’t a planned photo and that’s just how she is.)

The internet baffles my mother. She doesn’t really know how to work it or navigate it at all. She can only get to the websites that I have set up for her by clicking them in the toolbar. She doesn’t know how to type them in herself and navigate there. Someone else has to do that for her. I bet she will get there, though.

Yesterday, I sent my mother an email about all of the clothes that I bought the other day. I decided that since she couldn’t see my clothes, I would give her links to them in the email so I put links to all the pieces of clothing that I bought so she could go to the website and see my purchases. I figured she would like that. Wow, did she ever. Today, I got a response with this gem in it:

I looked at all the websites you included in your e-mail. They were all wonderful! I have NO CLUE how you can make those websites just “appear” in your e-mail letter to me in BLUE like that. AND – then all I have to do is CLICK on the colored words and the website appears! This whole thing totally amazes me! You are sooooooo talented!

Yes. Yes, I am. I am amazing. If I ever want to boost my self esteem, I just send an email to my mother and I feel like I have this rare talent to bend the internet to my will. I think it is adorable how my mother thinks I am brilliant including links in an email.

My dad, on the other hand, has a droid and is trying to send me pictures from his phone. It’s not working but at least he is doing much better. He actually uses a computer on a daily basis and checks his email on his phone. He even downloads apps for his droid including his favourites which are an app that shows him the world time so he doesn’t call me when I’m sleeping (because he knows I am cranky when he wakes me up) and an app that tells him random blonde jokes. My dad lives with two blondes so this one is very helpful and especially hilarious when he tells the blonde jokes to my mom and sister and they don’t get them. Rock on, dad!

(My dad is going fishing this weekend so here is an old picture of him with a fish he caught in hopes he’ll catch another like it!)

I have awesome parents even if they are a bit behind in the times. I bet in 30 years there will be some new thing that I won’t get and someone will be mocking me about it.