A long awaited post (5 months marks the calendar)

Check out the 4th of July SKY TOWER

Today marks our 5 month NZ adventure. Time is flying by so fast! Lately I have been slack about blogging... now I realized that I need to get caught up on the past few months. Hummmm Where to begin? We have been enjoying getting to know more people and seeing Auckland. It now seems as though our weeks and weekends are filled with fun times outdoors, hanging out with friends, or spending time with our "kiwi family." The winter has been super mild as the average temperature is 60 degrees. Not quite sure what August and September have in store but only time will tell. JC worked so hard this trimester and finished with a "proud wife" approval. He had his first class of the second and FINAL trimester today! Like I said, Time is soaring! We joined the "rest" of Auckland and purchased a car. Not sure if you call it a car or roller skate. In Auckland it seems like all cars have been in that movie, Hunny I shrunk the kids. Most cars are tiny mini. We are proud owners of a.... (drum roll) 2004 Toyota Allex. Yup in normal words a Toyota Corolla brought over from Japan. It zips around town and is great on gas (even though we have used it maybe 8 times) since we purchased it. Our apartment is so central that we would prefer to walk than to find parking. To make things simple I named the car Allex with Mom's help. On the weekends we have been hanging out with friends playing American football, rugby, and dinner parties. We spent a lot of time with our Kiwi Dad, Bryan, while our Kiwi Mom, Marianne, was touring Turkey and visiting Luke in the USA. Bryan took us on many road trips that we are always excited about going on. It is fun to see the country with a locals help. I dressed in red, white, and blue for the 4th of July which I have not celebrated in years! I went with my friend, Katie, to a morning tea for the American Women's Club that I recently joined. With a group of friends we played American football but then somehow ended up playing rugby which ended up being way more of a work out. The Dalai Lama came to Auckland! JC and I decided to go a bit early before he spoke to see if we could buy tickets. I thought it was best to carry a homemade sign to hold that said, "We need 2 tickets." When we got to the civic center there were others holding signs. Being me, I decided to walk up and down the street holding the sign to gain more attention to those walking. Within 10 minutes we were approached by a school teacher who had extra student tickets. As we walked into the theater I wanted JC to take a picture of me with our sign and tickets. While he was taking the picture we heard a guy say, "hey here is two tickets for free." Having our tickets already I told him thanks so much but please go outside to the ladies in front of the door who were holding a sign for tickets! In the end it worked out for all of us and we had great seats to hear the Dalai Lama speak. He is getting up there with his age and it showed with his randomness of words. Overall, the presence of him and the crowd was a lifetime experience. JC and I were so happy to have found tickets! Speaking of tickets... Beyonce is coming to Auckland for 3 days. I have always wanted to see her and thought now is the time! JC and I waited by the computer Friday morning to be the "first" ones to purchase tickets. Needless to say, after all the craziness we got tickets to her first show in Auckland. Can't wait to go to the Vector Arena (which you can see from our house) to see such an amazing performer and who knows... JayZ might make an appearance. Well, the transition period is over for us as we are settled into our new home, life, and adventure in Auckland. With that transition period, I also "transitioned" with eating and enjoying all the bad foods that taste so so good. I have kicked my own butt in gear and have been dieting, walking, cardio, and back into the yoga routine. I went to my Ayurveda Doctor this week and she said, "no worries dear you are transitioning, it's winter, and it is ok." I basically told her that I am kicking it in gear and I enjoyed my time while it lasted! I guess my joke of gaining weight from the delicious NZ wine is haunting me now! I know that there is way more that has happened since I last blogged but either 1. I can't remember or 2. I feel that I have written way to much as it is...
Stay tuned in for our Queenstown/South Island Ski adventure post PRONTO! 

1920's mystery dinner party

                                     

                                    

JC, me, and Allex makes 3