Finishing up with work...

Work has been CRAZY these last 2 weeks... Adventure went to print last week and I just sent Curl out to print today. Adventure went really smoothly but Curl was pretty hectic. I got so much time to work on a couple editorials when I got here, and then 2 days to finish the rest of the magazine. But I got it done! AND I got paid :) More than I expected too... Nice. Now I can finally relax...

Next week is my LAST week at work! AHH!!! I can't believe it. They have a few articles I can work on that are going in the next issue so I'll just be doing that. I'm meeting Michelle in Tauranga on the 22nd to start our adventure to the south island... Then Australia on March 5th! We're flying into Sydney to meet our friend Garrett, then going to Adelaide to play in the Aussie Beach Volleyball Championships March 10-13th. Should be interesting, haha.. Then back to Sydney to meet Heather and her brother who are flying in on the 13th. We're going to adventure around the east coast for a while and then go back to New Zealand (south island) for a week. And theeeennnn CALIFORNIA!

Now to sell my car...

Time flies!

Sorry it took so long for this post, I've been so busy! I CAN'T believe it's almost February already. Wow.

My camping trip up north was amazing!! We went to the concert in Opinoni, drove all the way up north to Cape Reinga, and then made our way back down. We had no plan so we just drove around stopping at anything that looked cool. Cape Reinga was incredible- it felt like I was standing at the edge of the world! My favorite parts of the trip were the Karikari peninsula and a place called Rainbow Falls. The Karikari peninsula is a beautiful long stretch of beach that is completely untouched. We were pretty much the only ones there- it was beautiful! We walked all the way down to the end and came across these huge rocks covered in mussels... so we made a fire and cooked em! Delicious!! Rainbow Falls is a beautiful waterfall some of the locals recommended we check out. We swam to the other side of the water and climbed up the rocks.. It was like a whole new world behind there!! Can't wait to upload pics.

Other news... My boss decided to start paying me for my work with Curl and Adventure! They were really impressed with how fast I got through Adventure and gave me PrimeTime to do to keep me busy for now. PrimeTime is a little kid's mag... Not really my thing, but I'll do all the work I can get! I'm also enjoying all the leftover giveaways I get to keep haha... free bikinis for me :)

More to come soon!

2011 is off to a great start!

A few new updates...

First of all, I forgot to mention that I booked my flight to Australia!! I'll be there March 5th-30th, then back to Cali! I convinced Michelle to change her flight so she will be going with me on the 5th and leaving the 21st. Our friend Garrett is playing in the pro beach volleyball tour there and invited us to come stay at his beach house in Manly. Sweeeet! Heather is coming to visit me there on the 14th (til the 30th) and another one of our friends Brittany might be coming too! Woohooo!

More exciting news!! My boss has put me in charge of designing the Adventure magazine! This means that I'm responsible for putting together the entire magazine- start to finish! There's not as much flexibility as Curl, so my designs will have to follow a specific layout. But that makes it a lot easier and faster to put together. I'll be doing my designs with Curl on top of that, so I'll still be able to make some more fun and creative layouts. I'll also be able to keep doing some work for them after I go back to California! Hopefully making some money off it by then... We'll see.

I'm going up north tomorrow morning with some friends to see a concert in Opinoni. We're going to go camping and travel around until Wednesday. Hopefully we'll get to Cape Reinga- the top of New Zealand!! Then I'm back at work on Thursday to finish up this issue of Curl and start on Adventure!

Stories to come soon :)

So long 2010!

Hello again! It's been a while! So much has happened....

Although I really missed being with family this holiday, I had a really good one! I spent Christmas day with my boss from Curl and their family at their beeauutiful house. We had a delicious lunch and went out swimming and paddleboarding. Check out the view from their balcony...

After Christmas, I went to stay with Michelle in Te Puna. She's staying at a huge place up in the mountains that looks over all of Tauranga.. Beautiful! The two little girls she's nannying are adorable and the parents are really nice. They said I'm always welcome (two nannys is better than one, right?) so I'm sure I'll be back soon.

Te Puna house

Miss Jade

Michelle and I on new years eve

Michelle and I played in the pro beach volleyball open tournament on the 29th... We did pretty well! Won 2, lost 2. That's two more than we expected to win, haha... On New Years eve, we spent the day sailing on their family's yacht (no big deal) and then went to Mount Maunganui at night, which is a fun little town right on the beach. There were huge covers at most of the bars, and others didn't except our California IDs... So we spent most of the night walking around making new friends, and then watched the fireworks on the beach at New Years. Fun stuff!! The next day we hiked the top of the Mount, which was beautiful! And then I drove back to Auckland... Boooo.

Sailin' around the Mount

Climbing the Mount

At the top!

I'm back at work now and things are going great. I've already finished 2 articles, some ads, and am working on a new article right now. The next issue is coming out soon so there's LOTS of work to be done. Better get back to it! More to come soon...

Done with work til 2011!

Today was my last day at Curl before Christmas break. I finished the 22 page spread they had me do and they thought I did a really good job! I still have some editing to do and I'm still waiting for more text.. but other than that it's done! It was kind of difficult getting into it since I've never worked on a magazine before, but I'm getting the hang of it now. They gave me another 6 page article to work on over break, and I have another to do when I'm done with that.

My night working at the bar went really well! It's an older crowd, but they play live music and people start dancing and having a good time. All the workers are around my age too, so we have fun. I'm the "glassy", which means I go around collecting empty drinks, wash them, and help restock the bar. My boss is teaching me some bartending stuff too, which is cool. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do that before I go. Unfortunately I can't get my work visa for another MONTH... which means I can't get paid. My boss says he'll try to help me out however he can, but he could get into a lot of trouble doing it... Baaahh.

It still seems so weird that it's Christmas... doesn't feel like it at all!! I don't have any plans yet.. Hopefully it's sunny and I can go hang out at the beach. I'm heading to Tauranga on the 27th to stay with Michelle until New Years. There's some concerts we want to check out and a beach volleyball tournament on the 29th. Time to teach some kiwis how California plays volleyball. :)

:)

Just moved into the flat! I already feel soooo much better. It's so nice to have a safe place where I can come to and keep all my things. The girls are really nice too, I know I'm going to have a good time here. As I was moving in, I met a guy who owns a bar right below where the flat. I asked him if he had any bar work available, and he does! I start tomorrow! AWESOME!!!!

The search for work continues...

I quit the hostel today. Well I didn't really quit... I just didn't show up to work and left with all my stuff. Same thing, right? Housekeeping turned out to be horrible... and the hostel was SO disgusting. I met some cool people though! They showed me around some bars downtown... where I ran into a girl that I studied design with at UC Davis!! So random!!

I'm back at Marcus' now, and will be moving in with some of his friends tomorrow... 2 girls my age who seem really nice! I'm lucky to have this house to fall back on.. Or else I'd be sleeping in my car tonight! I'm going to be paying rent now though, so I've been looking for a part-time paying job. Probably a waitressing job or something... NO MORE CLEANING BATHROOMS!!!!

Curl is AWESOME!! I'm working on a 20 page spread right now... I'm loving it! I'm basically in charge of designing the whole magazine. They just give me the images and text, tell me what goes on what page, and I put it all together. There are some requirements, like fonts and stuff.. but other than that I get to do what I want! Everyone is so nice there too. My boss even made some calls today and got me an interview at a restaurant. I don't think I'm going to be able to do it though because it's so far from where I'll be staying... But I'll go and check it out anyways.

Ok, back to work! More to come soon :)