Hello

Hello.  

I posted and ran the other day. I thought I'd take a quick minute to pop in and give you a tiny bit more info about me - but this will be quick too as it's late and I'm tired. 

I'm L, I have recently moved to New Zealand from Sydney, Australia with my husband and out dog.  I hope this blog will be equal parts "adventure in a new country" as well as a bit of a way to document 2016.

2015 was a huge year, for a lot of reasons, many of which were not so great. 2016 (and beyond) is supposed to be about relaxing and enjoying a new country. With that in mind I am trying to challenge myself. I'd love to travel a bit - but that might be difficult with a dog who gets car sick, I want to cook more, I want to study more, I want to sew and learn new skills. 

So...  

1. I have said yes to a 52 photo challenge - the first weeks photo was included in my first post. For those of you who don't know what a "52 photo challenge" is - it is one photo a week for a full year.  My extra personal challenges are to try and make sure my dog doesn't feature in more than 50% of the photos! And I want to learn to take better photos. I only have a "point and shoot" but it does have manual focus and other settings so I will be focusing on better photography - with the ultimate reward being better photos and, if I stick with it and I'm happy with the results, a new "grown up " camera next year.
2. I will cook (or prepare) a new recipe ever week. Because of the international move last year there were extended periods of time where I was cooking for one, or living in a share situation (a flat mate and my parents at separate times) and all of my belongings except for my clothes were in storage for over 8 weeks.  I have a (newly unpacked ad re-discovered) cook book collection, an extensive saved tab in my RSS reader, an equally extensive saved tab in facebook and a healthy pinterest board. I'm determined to get there. This week will be this yummy looking "Italian Sub Salad" from Iowa Girl Eats - a favourite read of mine. 
3. I'm a student. Before the move I worked full time and studied one class a session - fitting it into life as much as possible. This year we're hoping we can reverse that situation and I can study a little more and work a little less. I'll let you know how that goes for me. I'm sure I'll revisit what I study, why and lots of really interesting reads related to that as we progress here. 
4. Sew more is self explanatory. I missed my machine which "she" was in storage.  I wont make promises. I love sewing - but we'll see how we progress.  I am a complete newby - don't be surprised if the extent of my sewing results in you seeing multiple cushion covers. Also my husband suggested the best name ever for a sewing blog which I registered when I set this page up.  If I actually get more sewing done than cushions you might see me post over there more often. Honestly, it was too good to leave!
5. New skills - polish up the sewing, learn more about photography, take some "moocs" (Massive Open Online Courses) I participated in a few last year and loved them.  This year I am determined to get this one done!

Now, these aren't resolutions (blurgh - yuck) these are a mix of board and specific things I think I'm likely to share here and that I want to get done this year. As I said, 2016 is a year to relax and learn and enjoy.  Also - I said to hubby the other day  - I want to look back at this time and say I did things. I sewed, I cooked, I walked the dog and explored. I don't want to look back at this time while I'm settling in and job hunting to be characterised / summed up by my playing the the xbox (believe me, that's a possibility)! 

And to end a quick phone snap - this beautiful new country I find my self living in.