Moving on

The last day at my current contract brought flowers and a book voucher, cards and a cake marathon with morning and afternoon teas.

I've been at this contract since last July, much longer than the short-term, get-in-get-out contracts I usually go for. But I did it, I made it, and this organisation is now part of my narrative.

In three days I start a new three-day-a-week contract in the comms/marketing team of a large tertiary institution I contracted to back in 2009. It's also the place that awarded me a degree. I am looking forward to returning.

Today's visuals are of the floral goodness that is now filling my kitchen with its delicate fragrance.

      

Calorie insanity

Today started with the most delectable blueberry pancake at a place near work for a darling colleague's birthday breakfast (note the singular pancake - these things are the size of a small car).

At lunchtime, I met a dear friend I haven't seen for a while; eggs and bread were involved.

Sadly, after work the weather turned feral, squashing any chance of a run. Instead, there was a walk with the Hound which turned into a hour-long outing when we ran into a couple of his doggie mates and their humans; more talking than walking was involved.

Tomorrow there will be exercise, I promise.

(Pic credit: Smitten Kitchen)

My first byline in Urbis

Yeeha! My first ever story in NZ's Urbis Magazine appeared today (click here to read).

Along with this feature, I also have a book review and a contributor profile thingy up the front of the April issue. Will Dropbox that for y'all another time.

I agree

I feel as though I've gone nine rounds with Mike Tyson; my limbs ache, my eyes hurt and I know, I just know, that I am incubating several viruses who want to have their way with me. But hopefully a few early nights, and a vat of echinacea, will help sort it.

Today was all about getting my house of work in order: schedules were drawn, research done and contacts emailed. I am about to dive into a sea of back-to-back deadlines; it may be some time before I emerge. But as a freelancer, that's a good thing, no?

Thankfully there was time to walk with my friend Ani and her woofer Humphrey in the Town Belt. What with Bristol's kennel cough and Humph's snip, the boys hadn't seen each other for a couple of weeks, so there was much racing about and leaping like spring lambs in the long grass. It was glorious to watch.

The Animator was too busy finishing painting the back of the house before the cold weather sets in to process any more Seoul pics so here's another dodgy one from my iPhone - snapped in one of Asia's largest shopping malls. I am totally feeling the sentiment, even though it makes my inner pedant bristle with rage...

  

Tired

I have only been awake for four hours but already I want to crawl under the duvet. Jet lag and over-tiredness have pulled back the curtains of my life and let the harsh daylight in. We were once again fortunate to fly business class on the return journey and although it was all kinds of wonderful, and I totally heart Korean Air's fully reclining seat bed thingys, my old friend insomnia also tagged along. He was still here last night when we went to bed.

My eyes feel scratchy, a kind of rawness that no amount of eyedrops seems to be helping. I have done two loads of washing, unpacked and caught up on the email Mt Everest. I sat down and wrote a list of commissions that need to be completed in the next couple of months and almost certainly gave myself a new wrinkle. The Animator went to the vege market and several closed supermaches before realising it's Easter Sunday and returned grocery-less. We now have to pull together our end of year tax and six-monthly GST paperwork for our accountant, always an exercise in teeth-gritting, but in the shadow of tiredness/jet-lag, even more painful.    

Still, it is good to be home and to see the Hound, who keeps cuddling into me. He absolutely loved Lil, who graciously flew down from Auckland for the week to do canine/house sitting duties, but I can tell he is pleased we are back. He makes everything okay.

Today's visuals are of Seoul's fish market which I'm writing about for a food mag. They were taken with my phone because although the Animator took over a thousand pics (he is supplying images for my stories), he is yet to process them so we will have to make do with these pitiful ones.

      

Snip, snip...

It's our second to last day in Seoul. We fly home tomorrow night and I can't believe how much we have packed into this week.

Loads more pics to share but the Animator hasn't converted them from raw files yet so in the meantime, here for your reading pleasure is my story from last weekend's Sunday magazine about the Animator's decision to cut holes in his body as a form of contraception (click here to read). Overshare? Maybe, but as they used to say in journo school, why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary?

(Pic credit: Sunday Star Times) 

A Seoul Kind of Feeling

Sorry no blog for a few days - been running around this amazing city like mad folk, doing everything from  impersonating horses in Gangham (!) to a food walking tour, a trip to the  fish market at stupidly early o'clock, haggling for goodies at stalls and not only eating our bodyweight in kimchi but also having a go at making it. If it wasn't for the cold - and the fact I am missing my fur-baby - I could quite easily move here.

The Animator has taken about a gazillion photos but here are a random few.