New Zealand (part two)

We left Martinborough and headed back to Greytown to buy more chocolate for Greg and then off to Wellington. (Before we left we grabbed a quick shot of the whole group – notice the similarities between Michael and Roland). Wellington is a lot like San Francisco, with high hills overlooking the bay and quaint little houses tucked all around. One of Michael’s old friends, Faith Taylor (she was at our wedding to Montana) owns a beautiful apartment down town overlooking oriental bay and hosted a cocktail party in honor of our arrival. Her apartment is amazing, a new york loft with great views and lots of fabulous art (some of the art was by Tom Sladden – somehow distantly related to us – 3 cousin?) here we are with Scott, Faith and Jane (Jane is Faith’s daughter who was over from Sydney)

It was a great party – towards the end of the night Hamish Gibbons began to convince Greg and then Chloe that we needed to go out to experience the New Zealand night life. We tried to play the old married couple card – but eventually we caved and off we went. Mark and I made it till midnight, Chloe till 1 am, and greg till 2 am, we aren’t sure when Hamish went home.

We stayed in a lovely Bed and Breakfast and in the morning we dined with a family from the UK who informed us that right behind our house was they tree where all the hobbits hid as the scary man on the horse (nasgul?) passed by in Lord of the Rings. Sadly we were running to catch the Ferry and it was pouring rain so we didn’t get to check it out. The ferry was great – we drove our car on and headed up stairs to get settled for the 3 hour tour. The Ferry is an Inter-Islander Ferry and it carries passengers from Wellington to Picton, it also carries a train. The train drives onto the ferry rides across the Cook strait and then gets off in Picton to head around the south island – crazy!! here is a view of Wellington from the bay as we left.

Once off the Ferry we headed for Marlborough beautiful wine country. Michaels old “university” drinking buddy owns Spy Valley – the largest privately owned winery in New Zealand producing 1% of all New Zealand Wine – had arranged to give us a tour off the area and the vineyard. On the way to meet him, we stopped at Cloudy Bay for a quick taste and then off to Highfield winery for lunch.(the mountains in the back of this photo are the mountains on the Cloudy bay label – I think we served the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc “Sauvy” at our wedding).

We met Bryan and Jan (Johnson – close to Johnston) at Highfield Winery and then headed over to their “Lodge” which is really a manor on many acres of beautifully manicured English gardens (they have, over the years, planted 200,000 tulip bulbs!). Bryan had us jump in his car and we drove over to the winery – spy valley is named for the CIA Echelon base located just down the road. Bryan walked us through the entire process (with a glass of bubbles in our hand)– from how the grapes are collected, de-stemmed, squeezed and put into the tanks. We tasted unfermented Sauvignon blanc grape juice (which was delicious) and half fermented juice (not so delicious). Here is Bryan showing us the primary fermentation for the Spy Valley Pinot – the skins float to the top and are stirred every so often. We quickly tasted all of the Spy Valley wines, my favorite was the Echelon Bubbles!! Bryan gave us some Spy Valley gear (shirts, hats and wine) and we were off. We headed to Nelson which is located on the water and considered one of the sunniest areas in New Zealand. Michael’s big event was on Saturday night so during the day Chloe, Greg, Mark and I had headed out wine tasting around Nelson. [insert 8] We tasted at Te Mania, Richmond, Khurangi Estate and Neudorf (our favorite) – I have had more white wine in the past week than I have had all last year. We have collected about 3 cases of wine to bring home – so everyone will get to have a taste.

The Nelson College Jubilee was a huge event – lots of “Old Boys” with family and friends.
Twice Mark was asked if he was Michael Sladden’s son (and he wasn’t even wearing a name tag). :)





We have one more day in Nelson and then we are off for adventuring (kayaking in Abel Tasman, Underworld Rafting in Westport, Heli-Hiking on the Franz Joseph Glacier and an air tour over the fjords in Queenstown) – I am crossing my fingers for good weather all the way.

New Zealand (part one)

Well we are on our adventure!! We took off Saturday afternoon and headed to SFO before getting on our Air New Zealand Flight to Auckland. Greg had been in charge of purchasing us some snacks and we ended up with an entire carry on bag filled with treats (yes we know there are snacks in New Zealand, but you can never be too prepared.


The flight had video on Demand so we were all very pleased - I watched 3 chick movies (Rumor Has It, Prime and The Weatherman), and mark watched 3 Mark movies (Harry Potter, Serenity and Aeon Flux). :) I was pleased when Greg ordered wine with dinner (its true he does drink in other countries). The flight was 14 hours but after many movies, food and games of Sudoku we arrived. I like to follow the law so I made the boys declare all of our goods (food and hiking boots) even after I got the roll of the eyes from Greg. We opened our Snack-case and disposed of the illegal products. Here are greg and mark at the drop point...

Greg's bad luggage Karma showed its ugly face and sadly none of our bags showed up. We headed to our hotel to check in, but because it was 7:00 am they didn't have any rooms. We went in search of some clothes to hold us over until our luggage arrived. We checked in, took a shower using all of the hotel's toiletries - and headed off to catch the ferry to Devonport. We walked up Mount Victoria to get great views of the Auckland bays and downtown. Here we are in our new clothes - yes I love trees!!

We headed back on the ferry to Auckland to meet Duncan and Robin at the Loaded Hog for drinks and dinner. They are both working in Auckland and living the life aboard Whisper. We had a great dinner at Wagamam (japanese noodles) and headed back to the hotel to sleep off our Jet Lag (which hasn't been that bad)

The next morning we headed across to the Bayswater Marina to meet Robin and Duncan and Whisper. The weather was a mix of sunny blue skies and then mini-squalls (WHITE SQUALL!) We decided to be true Kiwi's and brave the elements. Once out in channel I was able to navigate Whisper and avoid massive freighter ships and ferry's - it was pretty stressful. At the first sign of tipping, I quickly handed back the wheel.

We headed into Islington Bay where we dropped anchor and had a lovely lunch with tunes, beers and fabulous sun! Greg and Mark got a little out of control at the front while trying to hoist the sail (at least I wanted them to envision that as they posed for the shot. Duncan and Robin are awesome sailors - they took some time to get us aquainted with the general sailing terms and even let us be ship mates!



We headed back into the marina (perfect docking Robin!!) to try a new Kiwi drink called a "Bee Sting" - a mix of Manuka Honey Vodka and Ginger Beer with a splash of lime. It was YUMMY! We ordered in "Hell's Pizza" which was delicious and tasted many NZ wines. Yes more drinking by Greg!

We got up early to fly to Wellington where Michael greeted us at the airport. We snagged our car and drove to Martinborough to Roland (Michael Sladden Look-a-like) and Lyles Vineyard (Julie this is your kind of place). We had a lovely lunch on the veranda and headed out to do some wine tasting at the local winery that Roland and Lyle supply grapes to Ata Rangi. YUMMY. Lyle also mentioned a famous chocolate shop in Greytown and of course greg was ready to go. Honestly this is truly the most unique and tasty chocolate ever - Greg Stocked up, but today we are heading back for more.

We had a lovely dinner in town and today we are heading back Wellington for a cocktail party with many family friends. We are having an amazing time and wishing we could permanently be on vacation! We will blog more when we get to Nelson.

Cheers from Kiwi Land!

Foxy!

 

Yesterday we had a visitor on the other side of the fence. The fox was in search of some lunch (a little mouse) and didn't mind Mark walking outside to take a photo. 

Snow Shoeing

Last weekend we decided to head up to Brainard Lake to do a bit of snow shoeing. This place was sweet because it had designated trails for both snow shoeing and cross country skiing - so we were pretty much on our own for the walk.

Jessica and Emma joined us - Emma was a trooper. Emma knows us as MeMe (Mandy) and Mar (close to Mark). :)

Here she is snug as a bug...



Here we are heading into the snowy wilderness...


Here is Mark with Emma - she did an awesome job and had the best view from her backpack.

Selling your dog on Ebay...

Lola has been exceptionally crazy these past few weeks, part way though I actually contemplated puting our dog up for sale on ebay (well not actually). Our troubles started out when she rifled through my art supplied in the office and ate a bottle of yellow craft paint - she got a few spots of the carpet.



...then it got worse, she found a ball point pen in my bag and decided to chew it up and get ink all over the floor. Fortunately Lynne and Jeremy told me to use hairspray on the stains (bizarre) but it worked (sorta).



Just when you thought she couldn't ruin anything else, she decides to chew on our freaking baseboards - this is a dogs way of giving you the finger.

THAT'S IT - I HAVE HAD IT!!

But of course my calm, sane husband comes to the rescue (you're luck lola!!). But Mark is right - for all of her destruction she is soo cute and loving and just needs lots of attention (and doggie daycare).

Here she is bouncing through the snow in her very sassy Orange Sweater from Aunt Chloe - Orange is definitely her color. She is even getting better at catching her frisbee.




And even today as I write this post, she sits in her new bed with her new toy "Mr.Crabs". :)


But just for the record, cats are sooo much easier than dogs... look at these angels.

Valentines Day at the Aquarium

Only a month late on this post...For Valentines Day Mark took me to the Aquarium for dinner and a night tour. Dinner was great, but the aquarium was even better. The tour leads you through different environments like you are in a disneyland ride (misting water and playing bird sounds when you are in the rainforest, having rattle snakes rattle and his just as you walk by) - they also have an impressive tank holding quite a few sharkes...

Here is Mark at the entrance...


Saying hello...


Electric Jelly fish (can't pass this up)


Mandy trying to feed the rays (these hungry little bastards have teeth)...


Happy Valentines day last month!! :)

Julie

Today is one of those days that you can't help but think about something going on too far away. A day when you have that pit in your stomach because the stakes are so high, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Today our very close friend Julie is going in for surgery. Doctors discovered Julie had an aggressive form of DCIS 6 weeks ago. Since then Scott and Julie have been in patient survival mode - running tests, keeping the pressure on their doctors when things weren't getting done. And all the time keeping up a blog to communicate with friends and family (a lifesaver for all of us who aren't nearby).

Julie is one of those people for whom cancer seems most unfair - as if she wasn't dealing with enough in her life. I think we all have unfair examples like this, so if there's any reason behind who gets cancer, it is obvously hidden from me. But as one would expect from Julie, she is being so impossibly brave about it. I'm sure it gets exhausting being so brave all the time, and I'm so happy that she has Scott there to catch her when she lets herself go.

We hope that anyone reading this will focus all their positive thoughts on Scott and Julie. We're thinking about you today.

Beaver Creek

This year Mark and I are trying out different ski area's to help us pick which pass we would like to get next year. This past weekend we headed up to Beaver Creek - we had an amazing time. We drove up Friday night to meet Jessica and Yancey (and Emma). When you come into Beaver Creek you have to drive through a private gate that checks if you are cool enough to enter - fortunately they let me and Mark through. We stayed at the Charter which is right on the mountain so you can have ski in / ski out access.

We used our Carve Diem passes from United to get a free lift tickets - which was sweet at $81 a pop. We got up Saturday and headed up to the Mountain - not a cloud in the sky, but only about 10 degrees (brr).

We were happily surprised that the mountain wasn't very crowded. We spent much of the day skiing the Birds of Prey runs - which were covered in all different sizes of moguls. This was great for me - I don't love giant trenches to ski in, but Mark does and we were happy to be skiing together.

The Charter had a great spa service so Mark and Yancey had arranged for us ladies to have massages after skiing - which rocked!! We had a lovely dinner and played some hearts - Mark and I whooped Yancey!

Beaver Creek Rocks!

Wine Tasting

A couple of weeks ago Mark and I hosted a wine tasting night at our home. We decided to focus on Rhone Style wines mainly because I am addicted to all things Syrah/Shiraz. We gathered up some friends and decided to taste 8 different wines from France, California and Australia. Our participants tasted and tried to identify each wine with the region and price. We opted for 3 flights of three - to allow everyone to taste in comparison to 2 other wines. We had 12 guests which meant we needed 36 wine glasses.



So in typical Mandy and Mark fashion we headed to Ikea on one of our business trips and bought 36 wine glasses and transported them home. We were able to get 6 glasses for $2.99 ($.50 per glass) - we couldn't even rent glasses for this price, and the Ikea glasses actually look good.

I created some collateral - tasting notes and wine descriptions. Because we had nine wines to taste I had to settle for the brown paper bag wine covers - it added the touch of class that I was definitely hoping for. :)


We finished most of the 9 bottles, but we managed to hold ourselves together (we must be getting older and more responsible). Jessica was the Grand Prize winner and Josh was second place. Yummy Wines of the Rhone!

Cricket and Lola

Saturday morning we woke up to a cool surprise - Lola featured on the Daily Puppy and Cricket featured on the Daily Kitten. I submitted their photos because I didn't want them to suffer from Second Child syndrome (like me). Crenshaw made his debut as Mr.October 3rd in the 2003 Edition of 365 Days of Kittens Calendar.**

To Top off the publicity, Our wedding is currently being featured in Brides Magazine's Receptions special addition*** - if you are in the supermarket take a peak, its a great spread of some fun details of the wedding (2 1/2 years later).

Hope everyone had a happy weekend!


** These guys have their purchasing model down - the parents of the kittens send in the photos. If the photo is selected the Calendar company sends out a letter congratulating the owners and encouraging them to buy calendars to send to family members to show off their kitten. You get a discount for buying in Bulk! Yes we fell for it.

*** I always wondered how these weddings got into the bridal magazines, now I know - its the photographer. They send out their photos hoping to get them published which ups their wedding prices even more.

Keystone!!

For Martin Luther King Jr. Day (three day weekend) we went skiing with Jessica and Yancey up at Keystone. This was our first ski outing since we have moved to Colorado and purchased our new ski gear at the SNIAGRAB (yes this is bargains spelled backwards) in August.

I decided it would be good to have a pink jacket to stick with my life color - but I need to remember to balance my love of pink, my commitment to my life color and my capacity to spill any thing I eat or drink.

The first day was warm (30's) and the mountain was packed - we headed over to the Outback Express area that allowed Mark and Jessica lots of access to moguls. After the first day of skiing we headed home to watch the Bronco's whoop the Patriots and sit in the hot tub - I was exhausted.



We also skied the next day. Yancey's business school buddy was also with us, and he headed up the next morning to get "first tracks" - we were still eating our full cooked breakfast - and chatted with some of the locals who recommended taking the Snow Cat up to the Bowl which was awesome. It wasn't crowded and the snow was great - if you are up at Keystone definitely do this! By the end of the day, I wasn't sure I could even feel my legs (I vowed to start exercising) so we dulled the pain with a beer. :)

We had surf and turf for dinner at the Condo and watch 24 - but sadly did not go through our expected wine consumption - another data point for Josh's drinking at altitude theory. We had a blast - Next stop Vail! :)

SUMO!!

Last night we visited Scott and Julie and met the newest, snuggliest little ball of love: SUMO!! He is just a perfect pug! Already he is potty trained and can play fetch. Unlike Lola, Sumo plays hard for a few minutes and then is ready for a nap in your lap, complete with little snores.



He was much smaller than I imagined and his fur is super soft like a baby seal. You can see more pictures of the snugglet on Scott's Flickr page. I can't wait to see him on the Daily Puppy.



Lola can't wait to meet Sumo - she could learn a few things about taking naps.
One thing they both have in common is posing for cameras - they are clearly trained to be runway dogs, now only if their dad's would let them wear clothes. :)

Flowering Plants for a Year

It's no secret that I have been wishing for the monthly flowering plants - I continued to drop hints to Mark with no luck. Last Month I got the sweetest card from Michael Sladden and a note that I would be receiving a whole year of flowering plants from Smith and Hawkin.

WOW!!

In December I received an amaryllis that was needing time to flower. Just this week it began to bloom.

Yesterday I received a HUGE cymbidium orchid in full bloom. It is amazing and making Mark quite jealous - he constantly tries to re-bloom orchids. We have yet to see a bloom, but we always have some new growth that gives Mark hope.

Thank you Michael for brightening each of my months!! and giving me a chance to try and turn my brown thumb green!! 

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to everyone! After Greg's Roof blew off of his loft we moved the New Years Party to our house. Chris, Saira and JB flew in for the event and we were able to test the French Flirt and the Bellini-tini were a hit - and by 8:30 pm Jonathan was lit up!! :) Fabulous! The drinks were served in martini glasses which mark started referring to as your "Drunk-ometer" because of the spillage through the night.



To spice up our night even Greg D drank - moving his "Fun-ometer" from "0" to "Cool" in no time flat.



We played Beer Pong through the night using a keg of Twisted Pine Hoppy Boy Pale ale - a local beer. As the night progressed Chris started using his martini glass as his Beer Pong Target - which turned out to be an easy target!!



We had too much food, including a chocolate Fondue fountain and crepes. We rang in the new years with party hats, more champagne and CONFETTI!! (just a note to all you homeowners - spilled drinks + confetti=stained hard wood floor - scrubbing will get it out, eventually). After the ball dropped we headed into the 80's music dancing - Kristin and Angela (Kristin's college Roomate) were dancing Queens!




Even a few games of Halo were tried - after 2/3 of the way through the game Chris's score was -1, and Mark was beating Jonathan. Even after Greg's begging the boys wouldn't play anymore.




We had a great night and wish you all the best for 2006!!