The grand update

Its been five months and ten days since I left Fiji to join my husband in our new home in New Zealand. Five months and a few days since I have job searched in  Auckland in vain (thank you fathers of the recession). And it has been 13 days and a few hours since we arrived back in Fiji, nine days since I started work at PASIFIKA COMMUNICATIONS again, nine days since Noesheen started at a new preschool in Fiji and a long 10 days since I have seen my husband....feels like two months already! In a nutshell that is the latest and greatest in my life right now. 

For now I am dusting off the cobwebs .....five months geez and there is so much cobwebs everywhere hehehehe. 

School Time

so did yah miss me?? Our Internet speed at home is really slow (don't ask), which is one of the reasons I have not been updating at often as you or I would have liked. You would think that being a full time stay at home mom, I would have more time on my hands. I wish it were true.

Noesheen started her first day of Preschool today at Tiny Town

It will be for only half a day, while I am at home. Then once I get a job, she will be going full day and then transitions into first grade in August when she turns 5.

I was more nervous then she was I must say!

Getting out of bed - Not a morning person at all, when I finally went to wake her up at 7am, this was her reply, " Mum, I did not sleep well, just give me five more mins then I will get up". So I gave in and retreated to the living room, to wait out the "five more mins" after which i marched into her room, she had a little smurk on her face, her eyes shut tight....."okay okay, I am getting up". Then it was prayer time, she told me, " I will say it in my mind" as knelt on her bed and buried her face in her covers. About ten mins later we were ready to brush our teeth and get ready for breakfast.

Breakfast - For a person who usually loves to take her time having breakfast, this morning, Noesheen did not want any! After a lot of coxing, a few threats ("If you don't eat brekky, we will be late and your teacher will be upset), she managed a few gulps of warm cereal.

The Walk to school - The fastest thing she did this morning was get dressed!!! Then she was ready for a few pictures, before we headed out into the chilly morning to walk to preschool. Tiny Town is just walking distance from our home, which is really nice, it takes us less then five mins to walk to the establisment. As a result we were like the first ones there, talk about eager-beavers.

When we finally got in at 8am, Noesheen as super excited. She hung up her bag on the little silver hooks that lined the classroom, took off her hat and put it into her bag, removed her jumper and handed it to me with the look, "yah i dont think i will need this for the rest of the time here" and made herself at home exploring the classroom.

For a min I just stood there, feeling really quite out of place, like a weed in a flower garden until my child sensing my discomfort turned to me and said, "its okay, you can go now Mum, don't forget to pick me up". With that I turned away and walked out of the classroom and slowly made my way home.

Now I sit here, watching the hands of clock tick..tick...tick, all of a sudden the house is so empty and quiet. It would be perfect painting or sketching time, which I will get to in about a min or so.

Just a little more time will go by and then I will pick myself of this couch, lock the house up again and walk just a little bit down the road to pick Noesheen up. What stories will she tell me today about how her first day was....hmmm, I will let you know soon enough.

Okay as you can see, I only managed to get one pict up.....slack I know. I will try to get more up later, which means I have to resize all the picts before posting.

take care ladies! til the next post

Moving to a new nest in a new tree..

Hello! or as I now should say KIORA!

Nadim suprised us and arrived in Fiji on the 6th, after a wedding, selling our belongings, a few dramas, a reunion and sad good byes we left the islands 10 days later for our new home in Auckland.

The last few days settling into the new nest in our new tree has been....an experience. Luckily Nadim did a wonderful job setting up the nest (will post pictures later), the only things missing was shampoo and a hairbrush (his latest hair do...is the "no hair at all" look, so he did not need shampoo or a hairbrush)

Noesheen is settling in well, she loves the mall! She has asked to go home a few times, but as soon as Nadim mentions the mall....she automatically loves NZ.

The weather is totally different to Fiji, and its a nice different. So now I find my self sleeping -in in the mornings, taking my time with breakfast, cleaning the house on a daily basis (umm sometimes two or three times before I give up trying to clean Noesheens crumb trail) and job hunting. It sure is a lot different from what I have been used to doing in the past, but I know once I get a job ....the leisure life will dissappear.

Time to go, the laundry calls. Here is wishing all of you a WONDERFUL Christmas and a JOLLY New Year!

It's Time.....

I have a very very very good excuse...I hope, for being silent for so long! Its time, yes my friends its time.....

1. Its time for the Mad Rush before Christmas

Its this time every year, we experience a huge influx of ads, campaigns and other advertising material that need to go out, like yesterday! The TV station will tell us..."sorry that program is booked out" and our clients will tell us, "there's one more thing we would like to do". Needless to say, my work keeps me up during my dreams at night.

2. Its time for weird weather

Fiji has now entered its CYCLONE season, which means for the most part that it will be blistering hot in the morning. Then at lunch, the sun will go on vacation and the rain will pour in buckets, as the skies darken.

3. Its time for the cold & flu & fever

Due to the sun/rain weather we have in Suva, the number of cold & flu & fever cases increase. It doesn't help that dengue is around as well. Noesheen was down with the fever for a few days, then with a heart wrenching cough for a few more. She is fine now, and is of course making up for lost time by redoubling her efforts to watch every cartoon, destroy every sign of tidiness and fill up all the silence in between with questions, stories and other fun banter.

4. Its time for my favorite time of year

Growing up I loved Christmas. My parents had several traditions and it was always fun to be a part of that, and watching the joy these selfless acts would bring to the faces of others. Although I sound like a frog drowning, I love Christmas carols!!!

Since BYU Hawaii and Georgia, I fell in love with THANKSGIVING....What a coincidence! So HAPPY THANKSGIVING YA'LL!!! Although we do not celebrate it here in Fiji, around this time of year, I take extra special time to be thankful for all the blessings I have received all year round.

5. Its time for Weddings!

Nadim's Family have two weddings over the next few weeks, so we are going to be all weddinged-out by mid Dec. Nov - Dec is wedding season in Fiji, so there is always a mad rush to .....get married before Christmas.

6. Its time to move!

That's right, sadly enough....well it's a twist of emotions. Noesheen and I join Nadim in New Zealand in the next three weeks. What this means right now, is that I have even more to do at home as well as at work. House items to sell, clothes to sort, car to sell, finances to put in order, clearances to gain, new person to train etc etc  So I am taking one day at a time, and finding that I am running out of days! heehee

I also am trying to spend as much time in the temple (only up the road from my home) as in New Zealand it will be several hours away. Its all these little things about Fiji that I love. 

Don't get me wrong after almost nine months of separation, we are happy that we will be together in a few weeks time!

Time to resurface!

Hello! I'm back....I found a little window of time in my schedule, so I thought I should write a bit. Lots has been happening! Life is very very tight.

I managed a trip to the West two weeks ago (other side of the island), and the night before when i was explaining to my dearest child that I would be leaving very very very early in the morning, she asked where "Lautoka" was, as i explained, she realized that she lived on an island! what a wonderful discovery that was, her eyes widened with amazement, "an Island? we live on an Island?"

Although i have been teaching Sunday school twice a month for a lot of months now, I don't officially have a calling in church (ahem...rephrase "didn't). Well, now i got one, my grandmother is the Relief Society President, so......yah! You are reading the new RS teacher's BLOG! YAY! I love RS! oh and I still teach Sunday School as well.

There has been a super lot going on at work, as the year rounds off, we get busier and busier....once we have launched a few things, i will put a few pictures up. There is something really big on the horizon for one of my clients, Vodafone! So it will be super and bit nerve wrecking to get stuff done.

As for my child, she has learnt that baking choc chips taste just as good if not better than actual confectionary chocolate..... I have learnt that umbrellas are for all seasons; you should show them off as often as you can, especially if its clear with pink polka dots and is too big for you. 

I have also learnt that my child is the bestest missionary ever, she has directly asked her great-grandpa, " Do you love Jesus?", "Next time you go to church with me!"....10 children, 44 grandchildren later, my grandfather exclaimed, "This kid will have me converted".

Prayers are indeed answered!

ONCE again....thank you Janan!

So I open my blog, after what seems like yoncks! and what a surprise, I have been tagged, I think Janan is getting very good at helping me update my Blog, thanks gal!

Okay so, wait give me a min...let's just read what i have to do....okay set, i will shortcut this a little bit okay, just cuz i can!

Seven random facts huh....

1. I think like you watch an animation/cartoon....a bit funny at times, and sometimes it just does not make any sense...to anyone else, but me of course! Bits and pieces glued together like a collage, no that does not make me very creative, it makes me...random!!! See this first fact did not make any sense at all!

2. FOOD- I love food, I have never met a food that I did not like...I have had this addiction since I was born...ME LIKE FOOD! and if you saw me, you could tell, since you know i'm like a size 6, hahah, yah just add 1 in-front of that, or maybe put a 1 in front of it and add a 2 to it...but yah food, from chinese to pacific to Indian to mexican to Italian to stuff you can just throw together coz you so hungry you could eat a .......In fact over the years, i have just totally stopped listing my favorite food, because, it's just so hard to decide!!

3. DESSERT- Unfortunately for my teeth, and my body...i love cakes and cookies and ice-cream and cheese cakes (that needed a mention on its own) and brownies and pies and all the other mouthwatering yumyums there is out there, but i prefer homemade to store bought, only exception is ice-cream of course. And if i do buy cakes, it has to be from the really expensive place (my wallet suffers for my addiction). I also have a fetish for Indian sweets, but as i get older, i realize that my body cant handle all the sugar like it used to....ah the frailty of age!!! So since Nadim has been away, guess what i have been doing? Making cupcakes and cookies almost every weekend i can! My excuse, well Sheen needs Sunday snacks!

4. ORder -  i live like i think, unorganized and all over the place. I am not the neatest most well organized person in the world, if any of you have lived with me (ex roommates, mission companions) you will say "amen" to this! This really bugs my husband, who is like the opposite of me

5. writing - you would not be able to tell from the way i keep this blog, but i started writing a journal when i was like 12 ( I think i started before then but kept loosing my notebook) and by the time I was 17 I had already filled like 13 or so journals. The habit forgot to kick in when i got married, but now almost 5 years later, i got my groove back! and so i am writing my journal again, its not like it was back in highschool, when i just rambled (something that has not changed), now i ramble about more important things...of course there are less dramas in my life! Because i have so many books filled, i had to started going back and putting everything into separate categories ....like school, religion, friends...so once that massive task is done, then i can compile according to categories and hand those out to my ....daughter! That way i sound so much more sensible!

6. Stories - i love to read and then making up stories, in fact this became a small fun group thing we used to do in Uni when my kiwi friend Winnie was there. i have started writing a book....and am yet to finish it.

7. umm lets see......my wedding, yes, i let my mom plan my entire wedding and did everything she wanted done...because at that time, I thought it was really important as the oldest child that I let her do that....and you know what, no regrets! I mean when Nadim and I celebrate an anniversary (which one i haven't decided yet, i think i am waiting for the light-bulb effect), i want to re-new vows and do things....well my way...then again, i have gone through too many bride magazines, maybe that's not a good idea. Oh ya and I had a hobby of collecting bride magazines when i was at Uni.

Phew!! sorry, random i know! and again, sorry for not updating in a while, i have to sit down and talk and talk about all the things that have been happening around me....for now i think this much reading is reading enough!

you thought i forgot to tag.....hahaha okay i tag

Kamaile

Whitney

Marie

Sue

Victoria

Jessica Bills

sorry, guys, no links, i have to get back to work! 

ramblings

 First of all "thank you Janan!". I have been wondering what to write about, then I read Janan's message to update this blog, and thought to myself, "just ramble woman....something interesting ought to come out of that" so here goes....

I turned 30!

For those of you who did not know, I turned 30 on the date of my last post. It was a nice day. For those of you wondering how the day went....the sun was out, but there was this nice cool

 breeze....the gang at work got me a cake and sang "happy birthday".....so i got cake! All my friends from almost all over sent me nice little messages....thank you facebook! I went home and made roast for dinner....which was nice....so it was nice, of course it would have been 

nicer if my husband were around, but that's okay, many more birthdays to come....

Zedekiah's Birthday Party

Sharon's son's birthday party was held on the 30th.....the busiest weekend of ....i think...the year! Because I love my sister so much...and it was her first kiddy birthday party...i helped. Thi

 means I ended up doing the pinata (from scratch), pin-the-pants-on-spongebob poster, cupcakes, cookies, packed the party bags, as well as decorate the two birthday cakes. If I did not mention it before, i'll tell ya now, the two cakes were Spongebob and Patrick...it turned out alright, I was more happy with how Patrick turned out this time. Sorry, I don't know where the pictures are, when i find it I will post it. 

So we were up til four on Saturday morning baking, then went to bed only to get up a few 

hours later at 7am, helped Sharon with a bit of last minute shopping before I dedicated myself entirely to decorating the cakes. 

Noesheen had super fun at the party, and was a bit upset to leave at 5.30pm for a quick shower and change before we headed off to another function,which ended at 11.30pm. Needless to say, Sunday we were super super tired as we sat in church (our meeting starts at 8am). 

No and I am not superwoman, because we arrived at church an hour and a half late!

I learnt a lesson though....DO NOT OVERBOOK YOUR WEEKENDS!!!! Having said that, i know I am bound to do something like that again!

I am looking forward to a much much quieter weekend this weekend, heavens know my house needs it!

THE ROAD-TRIP!

On Tuesday, I was supposed to take a road trip to the other side of the island 

to see a building we are to brand for a mobile company. I was excited! Super excited, what an adventure! 

Getting up at 2am in the morning for a road-trip to a place I hadn't seen in over 15 years! Then the more and more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed to let my other ME (media executive who also happens to be my brother) do it. 

Why?? Several work related reasons, I am in the process of off-loading a lot of my work in preparation of my departure (no its not like I am leaving next week, or next month for that matter...have to ramble about this later)

As a result I gave up a good trip. For those of you that are not familiar with Fiji, the country is made up of a group of over 300 islands. The main island, which is Viti Levu is where I live. The island is also home to the capital and has the main ports of entry into the country. The main island has two major highways that go around the island....Queens highway and Kings highway. The Queen's goes from Suva passed Sigatoka to Nadi and Lautoka and I think up to Ba. The Kings highway goes from Suva in the opposite direction to Nausori passed Rakiraki and Tavua and I think meets the Queens in Ba. The Queens is the road most often travelled, its faster to get to the airport on this road. The Kings is mostly inaccessible.....under-construction...and requires an off road vehicle. Its getting better though as the pictures will tell.

 Although after a rainstorm most of our roads require an off-road vehicle...but thats another rambling for another day...bless the hearts of all the men who work tirelessly in the hot sun to repair all the pot-holes only to have their hard work go down the drain after a storm! Sorry, i have to take a moment to laugh at that statement!

So where, was I... oh yah...the Kings road...yes that's the road the boys took in their road trip. I couldn't go but I have some pictures...that Simon took of the trip and the

 natives...enjoy!

the natives ...well the chick belongs to the chicken who belongs to the natives that live on this side of the island!