rivettingKateTaylor

Manicures, pedicures, spray tans and hand massages…. this week marked my first trip to a nail boutique (actually, The Nail Boutique in Ahuriri).

Not one to worry about my nails, which I now realise is obvious, I took the chance on Tuesday while in Napier with a spare hour and no school bus to rush home for, to catch up with an old friend.

A member of my antenatal group a massive nine years ago, Alina had a change of career after having baby #3 and moved into nail care. And treated me to my first manicure, hand massage and pretty pink polish. It was lovely and will be repeated for sure!

However, my little journey into the world of beauty pampering has been seriously overshadowed by the earthquake and following tsunami that has devastated half of Samoa. Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones and homes.

A deserved slap is given to all the New Zealanders who took their children to the coastline yesterday to see if a tsunami arrived. Some of them were at high vantage points (understandable, if they got hit up there then the rest of NZ was history). But for those who sat in carparks a metre or so above the sea line, unbelievable. Stupid. Unbelievably stupid.

And a quick phone call was made to my mother-in-law in Gisborne just to make sure she didn’t decide to take my holidaying children to Kaiti at low tide yesterday morning (as they often do) without knowing a tsunami warning was in place (although someone would have told her). But they were off to Eastwoodhill, the amazing aboretum in the hills west of Gisborne.

While you’re here then, visit this link to have a glimpse into one of NZ’s hidden gems.

http://www.eastwoodhill.org.nz/

This blog should have been called miscellaneous! I haven’t been talking to you for a while so I thought it was time to touch base.

Golf day yesterday (second best round of 108, net 71, with my handicap index now down to 36.9)  then a PTA fundraiser at a farmer meeting at the golf club last night (supper raising $145) and today I’m getting some work done before heading to the opening of tennis season tonight. Hopefully our six grass courts have drained away all of yesterday’s rain or there’ll be 60 of us sharing the three astros!

Happy first day of October. Pinch and a punch.

Does your family do the first of the month ritual of pinching and punching (followed by a slap and a kick for being so quick)? What about rabbits being your first word of the month? Or white rabbits for New Year’s Day?  That one always gets me – as opposed to my children always getting me at some ungodly hour on the first of the month.

But they’re not here – so I got you instead.