four size smaller and a catastrophe

as i was spending my friday afternoon watching a british reality tv show where two (stylish) women attempt to do a makeover someone's wardrobe and look - i glanced at my own wardrobe and sweet niblet i should get meself new clothes!

i actually didn't want to and plan to buy clothes back home in jakartaland - but i do realise these few weeks that although i love the feeling that i am shrinking, my jeans are getting saggier and saggier and there are times when i feel like i am dressing like ms.mcfrumpy or like those kids around the block who fashion jeans 3 size bigger, with hood and all.

so i bought several fashion magazines (ahh civilisation!) to sort of update this laid-back self and then went shopping and got myself a new pair of jeans (FOUR SIZE SMALLER) and a nicely tailored black tweed that would come very snuggly (and pretty) in wellington's windy autumn. i also bought red flats and a black maryjane. and a new haircut.

the haircut was a SERIOUS DISASTER. THE STYLIST CUT AT ALL THE WRONG PLACES HENCE MAKING MY FACE SEEM TO INFLATE. and bloudyhell haircut here is twenty times more expensive than jakarta. remind me NOT TO HAVE my hair cut by someone who doesn't seem to have her hair trimmed for ages.

all those money for this?!!!

5km marathon training: week 1

as suggested by www.runnersworld.co.uk and with a bit of my own modification, below is my training regime week 1.

mon - rest day
tue - today i walked 2.5 hours nonstop
wed - run 1 mins, walk 1 mins, repeat 10 times
thu - run 2 mins, walk 4 mins, repeat 5 times
fri - rest day
sat - walk uphill to kelburn
sun - run 2 mins, walk 4 mins, repeat 5 times

to the southmost part of the north island and everything in between

31 march 2008

04.15-05.00: woke up, made bed, fried those chips and fish fillets for picnic

05.00-06.30: went to wellington, fetched karl and levi at mcd newtown - i went to the wrong mcd, excuses moi i was half asleep. fetched livia at stafford. off we went


06.30-08.00: journey to featherston was magnificent. the sunrise is very pretty. the road however was scary. up-down the hills with the sea below. i just love driving. my dad loves driving

08.00-08.30: went to the henley lake at masterton to find out that they cancelled the morning hot air balloon show because the wind was too strong - wtf - we were so dissapointed

08.30-09.30: didnt know what to do we went to stonehenge aotearoa - its like a stonehenge - but the tacky version of it. so tacky that i insisted on seeing. road there was nice. hills hills and sheeps and cows. too many of them in fact that the air smelt bad. but when we arrived the stonehenge was closed and we just found out that you have to make an appointment first (but lonelyplanet didnt say that!). sucky dissapointment number two


09.30-10.30: sulking on our misery we went to greytown - a small yet charming little town that i fell in love with. the people are really friendly that even passerbies smile to each other (unlike wellingtonians - but we're still charming). we ate some french bread (i ate eclairs) at this french bakery where people queued. the bread was good. finally we went to schoc - an amazing chocolatier. they have really weird tastes like earl grey, lime chilli, rose, lavender, olive, geranium, pepper, basil and 47 other tastes. it tastes extremely good also! amazing. my favorite so far is rose. must_visit_again


10.30-13.00: went to martinborough to do some wine-tasting. i didn't take even a sip because i was driving boohoo. we went to four or five vineyards. some of them are free the other you have to pay between 2 to 5 dollars. not bad


13.00 - 15.30: went down to cape palliser. cape palliser is the southmost point of the north island. the road there is rather bumpy as it is gravel road (i feel sorry for the car haha) but the view is just amazing. the beaches are rugged and there is this sense of out of the world feel as you arrived. there is a seal colony. i saw some of them they were all sleeping (or just enjoying the sun). cute animals. i didn't climb up to the cape palliser lighthouse though. its like climbing up to the 11th floor. no thankyou


15.30-19.30: on our back we planned to go straight ahead to wellington but dina told us that the evening show is on so we went back to masterton. so yes. there were hot air balloons as we expected. they gave us balloons also. i felt so happy like a nine-year old

19.30-22.00: we went before the fireworks started because i was getting sleepier and i didn't want to risk driving under sleeping influence. the way back was crazy. as we had to pass the zigzaggy road of wairarapa and it was raining so hard and the inside part of the window evaporated. so yeah. i vow not to drive through that hills if it rains

22.00-24.00: dropped livia at stafford. went to vieng's house again with karl and levi (hah i am so cheap i dont want to spend 4 dollars per hour for parking in front of stafford house) so i parked all the way at porirua

09.00: returned the car back to apex. i was so tired. and hadn't even started on the policy tools and practice assignment

(i finished it of course the next day at 3.30 PM with extrahard labour and two plates of indomie at night and the very few moments of grace)

wellington-kapiti-otaki-porirua

29 march 2008

9.00: fetched car from apex rental cars, check check, off i went

9.00 - 9.30: went to newtown, whatever bays around wellington city, driving's pretty good, i went too slow - but give me a break, newbies here, wonderful wonderful wonderful scenery, must go to these bays again sometimes (karl texted, 'diana we're at campus already')

10.00: karl and levi joined we went up to the kapiti coast

10.00-12.00: played at the kapiti coast or the coast of dead birds. when i stepped in i thought
those are feathers but they're actually dead birds. it was soooo disgusting (ewww and icky too).
the kapiti island in front of the kapiti coast is a bird sanctuary perhaps these poor birds got
carried away by a tide or something. beach was empty

we had lunch at the park in front of the beach. there were lotssss of ducks. and they were
following us because we had foods. the ducks that were inside the pond went up and crowded us. if they were in jakarta they wont be alive and directly made into tender roast duck instead hahahaha

12.00-13.00: went further up to otaki beach. cleaner beach. but reallly quiet
13.00 - 15.00: went down. passed lower hutt. (not a really impressive city). stopped at pak n save to use the toilet hehehe. went back to wellington
15.00 - 15.30: went to pipitea. met vieng and nak. tried to persuade nak to join. nak joined us to
oriental bay
16.00 - 17.00: went to oriental bay. persuaded nak even more to join tomorrow. dropped karl and
levi and nak at their houses. went back to pipitea

17.00 - 18.30: fetched vieng. went up to porirua. stopped by at new world to buy some food. went to chitt's house as his family came the day after. went to vieng's house. got honked by this lady because i didn't 'give way'. i hate give-ways. we don't do give-ways in indonesia

18.30 - 04.00: i lovee vieng's house. so cozy and spacious with amazing view. helped vieng cook. me cut carrots and potatoes and wasted quite lots of them hehehe. ate good laotian foods with vieng and chitt. talked nonsense until twelve. took bath and then slept. everything perfect.