What You Can Accomplish in 9 Months

10. A Baby
9. A School Year
8. A TV show (I am making my transition back to LA and the industry :)
7. A certificate in just about any trade you can find on the internet
6. An experience that you chalk up for the most LIFE Changing you have ever had
5. A training for a marathon---though I don't think I will verify this one :)
4. An encounter of finding friends that will forever change who you are--and your status (a sister....)
3. An understanding in the deepest part of your being that God is a good and a kind God
2. An switch from knowing that God loves people to knowing that He loves me and invites me into freedom and love
1. Relationships that turn your world upside down, but somehow when you land you have a better view....

I leave for the airport in 10 minutes with my great friends Mich and J and Sally and Andy and Georgia and Mac--we will pick up Ali in Auckland and then spend the day together. I said a VERY hard good bye last night and barely connected with the fact that I am really leaving and then this morning had to say good bye to Uncle Neville. I immediately started crying. One night I pictured the airport scene and fully lost it. My poor friend Sam who I was hanging out with finally had to take me over to Sally and Andy's to calm me down. I stopped picturing that scene the rest of the week...but in a few hours I will live it. I will wave good bye, walk through security and sit in a chair at the gate with tears filling my eyes. I will get on the plane and say good bye to New Zealand for awhile. As I sit in my seat I will wonder, "what the heck just happened?" I don't know if I will be able to put it into words, but the tears will come, the peace will rest there and then I will fall asleep. I will land at LAX and see the Reynolds, cry a little, cuddle my kids, and then go to Mexican food!!! Then I will sit on the Reynolds couch with Scott's popcorn I have missed terribly and I will talk to Amy and cry and the world will all be well....

After that I will love seeing all my LA friends, laughing, trying to explain this experience, showing them all the cool stuff I brought back. I will head to my parents and see my family and show my mom every picture I took because she loves that...then I will head to Redding, stop and cuddle my Jacob and Micah, cry with Kerri, laugh with Kerri and then keep going to Redding. I will sit on Sea Jay's couch, cuddle the kids, Amy and Danielle will come over, I will cuddle their kids, give them their yummy presents! And then all will be quiet and on Sea Jay's couch I will process all that just happened--then I will go to Raya's 5 year old room and LOVE my life....

There is no way to put into words this experience...it was just TOO wonderful.

Happy Birthday Aims

I love you Amy!!!! I celebrate you and your life and am SO thankful for you!!!


Things I am thankful for:

Your life long friendship
Your love of vegging out at my parents watching mindless TV while my mom and Jeremy talk Politics, Fox News, and Rush :)
Memories that will last a life time
Holidays with you
Loving me unconditionally
Calling at the right moments
Giving me a place to call home after the most intense season of my life...and letting me cry myself to sleep every night!
YOUR AMAZING FRIENDSHIP!!!

I LOVE YOU AIMS!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Good Byes SUCK, but They Make For Good Parties

So the official "Good Byes" have begun. I have done really good with being excited to come home but not connecting to the fact that I have to leave my friends and life here....until Saturday. I woke up sad on Saturday realizing that I was going back to the States in a week. It all began hitting me. I rolled through my day in a bit of a fog because there was just so much emotion finally coming to the surface. It was J's birthday (and Michelle's on Thursday) so I went for their family birthday lunch and just sat there trying to take it all in. Sitting in a cafe with best friends, enjoying laughing, and wondering how I will explain all this back home...



As the day progressed I felt the memories that were being made before my eyes and the memories that have already been made flooding my mind and my heart. One of my most favorite memories in NZ is sitting in the kitchen talking to Ali, so before the party started I had to take a picture to capture a memory that really, no picture can fully capture.



The Good Bye party was fun from the moment people got there until the last person left. Right before everyone arrived I was sitting in the kitchen and I looked up at the clock and it was 7:15...I was so sad as I realized in one week I would be sitting on a plane and not in the kitchen...but enough about that...let's look at how much fun the party was...

(here is a picture of me and Mackenzie...he thought it would be funny to come as a girl from Redding....not sure if this is how we look in Redding but man he made me laugh hard!




Then of course there were the super fun friend shots:

(Me and Mich)


(Me and Sally)


(Me and my American Friend Jen--who brought 7 Layer Dip for me!!!! I was SOOOO excited I couldn't even stand it. It was the HIT of the party, with every Kiwi asking for the recipe, which just made me and Jen laugh. It is just the dip that is at every party....so easy yet so yummy!!! And I do have to say that two of my friends said..."you get kind of loud when you are with Jen." Apparently my Americanness comes out with her, I keep my voice level low here I realized (I know shocking to believe for some of you huh?)because when me and Jen are together I think we are talking normal but really we are talking "american" normal, which is SUPER loud for a Kiwi.)



(Me and Rebekah)


(My friends Mark and Hayley)



(My good friend Merryn with Greg sneaking in the back!)

(Greg and Mich)


All in all it was a great party! I had SO much fun!! Ali always throws a GREAT party and she did not disappoint this time!! It was bittersweet to realize all this fun was for me leaving. I really have lost my heart in NZ and realized how hard next Saturday at 7:15 is going to be. I am excited to see everyone in LA and at home, but my heart is beyond full of memories here I am just not sure how to express once I am back. For now we will focus on the fun photos and the fun memories I am still making!!

I am my mother....(and secretly LOVE it!)

So...today I had Fox News (or CNN depending on which was airing the convention stuff) on ALL Morning!!! I am my Mother!!!!! And I am working my day around seeing Sarah Palin's speech tonight...when did I become my mom? But as far as Mom's go I couldn't think of a better one to become...I just am having to eat my words and swallow all the teasing I have done to my mom over the years!

I did watch the Democratic Convention as much as I could, too and always had CNN or FOX News on during that if I was home, but I was not quite ready to make my big confession as to how much I was actually doing it!

I am so into this election, not just because it is ground breaking and history being made. I think being so far away from America for so long it makes me feel home a little bit. And I'm not going to lie....I love that Sarah Palin came out of nowhere. I love a drama and a great twist. See for me life really is a movie! Excited to hear what she has to say tonight....Obama's speech was amazing last week and I wasn't thinking I would be as excited to hear anyone speak this week, but I am coming home at 2:30pm today so I can catch it live...because TIVO does not exist here :( I have to watch it live!

P.S.
I fly home in 8 days! YIKES

Dresses and Gumboots

What else would one do on a cruisey Sunday other than wake up your friends with muffins and scones, giggle while coffee is brought to you in bed, hurry and get ready and go look at the most gorgeous property and view every. This was my Sunday morning with the Line's family! I had just seen them on Saturday but thought they looked a bit down, so I decided they needed a wake up from their favorite American friend. Then as the morning progressed we decided I needed to see the land that they have purchased but haven't built on yet....check out this view! This is the most amazing view I have seen here!






Notice my outfit....city girl hits the bush (what they call the country here in NZ). Now I grew up a country girl, but I realized how much I have changed over the years. I had to laugh at the fact that I was in a short little black dress...gum boots (rain boots), a hoodie and Andy's huge puffer vest...I was straight out of a fashion magazine! :)




These are shoots by the stream on their property (Sally, Georgia and her sweet friend Molly)





And do you see the lamb??? Sheep are abundant here....and their little lambs too!




In all it was a wonderful Sunday morning and I'm not going to lie I have to say I was a bit sad this weekend to say good bye....

New Baby!!!

Not mine...don't worry that is not why I have been in NZ for 9 months...hehehe Ironically, though, (can you tell that irony has been a big part of my life recently?!) I have a few friends that have birthdays on July 11--which always makes me smile because the date is 7/11 (if you say it how American's do with the month said first...sorry Kiwi friends). Well it makes me always remember their birthdays because in the States is a great little store that is open 24 hours and a always has SLURPIES, called, you guessed it 7-11. But that day gained another friend, Isabella Sowter. My friend Ingrid here in NZ has been so special to me. She has always invited me out to coffee, we have great chats and always end up laughing together about something. My mom has tracked her pregnancy with me and I just realized two weeks ago when my mom asked if Ingrid has had her baby, that I forgot to introduce her to my friends in the States.

I got to have my first cuddle with her on Thursday and she is SOOO sweet. She is not just a pretty baby because she is my friend Ingrid's, she is just one of the those gorgeous little babies. Ingrid I am SO glad that you "collected" me as a friend!

Why Are My Friends SO AMAZING?

Because today this was the phone call I got:

Amy: So for your Bday we are going to the Spa Downtown (in Redding)
Me: WHAT?!!! Really?!
Amy: Yes!
Me: I just wanted to hang out with you guys and not be Loserville USA on my 32nd bday waking up in a 5 Year Old's (Raya's) room that day...
Amy: Well we have a question though, Facial or Massage?
Me: Um...I don't care
Amy: You have to pick. We (Sea, Amy Danielle and I) are all getting Pedicures but their staff can only do 2 of us for Facials and 2 for Massages....Both for an hour. Just choose one.
Me: Um...I think Massage, but who really cares!
Amy: Done!
Me: I LOVE MY FRIENDS!!!!!!