Hi July! Housesitting, Moving Out and other juicy bits...

Hello everyone!

I've been a little MIA, so I thought it was time to fix that and pop on another blog post. So, where have I been?

Let's jump back to three weeks ago and slowly work our way up to today...

This semester at the tech was a rather hectic one, with all my classes having group projects as our and second and/or third assignments. To say it was stressful is a wee bit of an understatement, but we managed to get all our work done, and I came out at the other end, tired but relieved. I spent my first week of holidays pretty much holed up in my room, with fluffy socks and a blanket, binge-watching CSI: Miami, from the start, online.

In my final week of tech, I had my last class on the Thursday afternoon, and our tutor took a few of us out for a fun trip to the Hamilton Gardens. We had a fun little scavenger hunt, relating to work we had learnt during the semester, and we were later all shouted a hot drink, at the café there, and had a good old yak about semester and life stuff. It was so lovely.

The following day - Friday - I had work as usual, but it was a very different Friday. Mum and Dad piled their bags and suitcases into the car, and had my sister drive them to the transport centre in town. They made a quick stop in at the office to say goodbye again. The bus took them up to Auckland, where they would board a plane which would take them all the way to America, where they would spend nine day with Dad's brother! Their next trip was to Iceland, and then they went over to France, where they are now for another two days, before heading to the northern part of Italy for the remainder of their trip. I've been watching over my brother - and the two puppies - at home, and it's been an absolute joy! We do miss our parents, however it's times like these when we can really appreciate the invention of the internet. Being able to message and call each other over WhatsApp, has been really nice, and being able to see photos of everything they are getting up to. They'll be home in eight days! I'm really glad that they were able to take some time for themselves and do this lovely trip together, but now I think I'm ready for them to come home.

Speaking of home, I have some very exciting news! I'm moving out! In three days we pick up the keys and the following day we are moving in! I won't officially be living in the new place until next weekend, but most of my stuff will be over there, just waiting for my bed and other last minute things. I can't believe it's finally happened. I'll be moving in with my friends Tessa and Hannah. It's been an interesting journey already, trying to pack and sort out and buy all the things we need - a heater was at the top of our list but we had to wait for a good sale. Scored a really great one for $90 - down from $150, thanks Briscoes! It's such a sweet little house - build in 1869, with an adorable dollhouse front porch, and a big deck out the back! It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms - one ensuite. (I'll have to put up a couple of photos when we are officially moved in).

Backtracking a little to tech news again, I got my official results for the semester, and passed two of classes with overall A's and one class was an overall B! I was so pleased! One more semester and I can officially graduate in March 2017! Can't wait to don that cap and gown, and frame that piece of paper with my name on it!

That's all the news for now. Will make another post soon. It's been freezing here, lately, so I have a couple of really nice Winter-y meals to share with you :)

Hope you're having a wonderful life!

Aletia xo