In Her Mind

Anzac Day Walking

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Amanda

I have been so slack at posting the past couple of months, I’m hoping once our work deadlines are out-of-the-way (only a few weeks left) and I’ve gotten in the groove of studying (will that ever happen?) that I will be able to get back into doing the regular blogging thing! For now the posts will be a bit sporadic and out of time order since my camera has crapped itself again and my cord isn’t working to get the photo’s off it!

On ANZAC day we decided to head up to National Park and try our hand at a couple of the shorter walks (under 3 hours), we ended up getting up there later than we expected and only ended up doing one walk which worked out quiet well as I was already incredibly sore from walking up and down the stairs earlier in the week!

We ended up doing the Soda Springs Walk which is essentially the first hour of the Tongariro Crossing then you turn around and walk back to the start to make the walk around two hours. You know how often walking signs are quiet generous on their timing? This one not so much! It took us just over two hours there and back and included a short stop at the springs (to be honest they are not very impressive it is a little trickle of water running over a hill). I did love the walk however, it was a beautiful day in stunning scenery, it’s so nice and quiet out there! I can’t wait to actually do the full crossing one day (it’s been on my must do list for the past few years!).

Enjoy some pictures xx

Have you done any walks in National Park? Did you love/hate it? How did you spend your ANZAC Day for those of you in NZ/OZ or Kiwi’s overseas?

Posted in 2012, Exercise, Life, NZ, Walks | Leave a comment

Easter Weekend 60th & Hitch Hikers

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Amanda

Over Easter my family headed up to Hamilton for my aunties 60th birthday that had a ‘something from the 60′s’ dress code. I can tell you now none of the outfits were pretty!! I can just imagine what our grandchildren are going to be thinking of how we dress now!

We decided to make our way up via the Forgotten World Highway that runs from Stratford (Taranaki) to Taumaranui thinking it would only be about an hour longer (Google maps confirmed this suspicion) only to end up in Hamilton about 2 hours later than we would have if we had gone the normal route! C’est la vie, it was a nice drive since we had a fantastic day.

We ended up picking up a French hitchhiker trying to get through the Forgotten World Highway (he could have been waiting a while based on the few car’s we came across!) – first time ever doing that!

I had driven the FWH once before a couple of years ago and the road has deteriorated a bit since then, it has a relatively long gravel section and it quiet slow in places but is still worth the drive. I think I would be inclined to try to make a day out of it and print out details about the side roads and what not as there were quiet a few pointing to things like the Mt Damper Falls, dad tells me these are the highest falls in the North Island.

Anywho I’m pretty sure you have all been waiting for a photo of my outfit for the 60th…. After the mission of getting an outfit that we won’t even go into I ended up with a lovely multi coloured hippy dress complete with fringe jacket and matching headband, it was a treat that’s for sure I did wear long black boots with it instead of the wedges.

Have you ever been to a dress up party? Have you ever picked up or been a hitch hiker?

Posted in 2012, Fashion, Life, NZ | Leave a comment

Flights Booked!

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Amanda

E.X.C.I.T.I.N.G!!

Auckland > Papaeetee (Tahiti) > Los Angeles > London – make my own way to Dublin – my only requirement at this stage is going to Paris > Dubai > Kuala Lumpar > Melbourne (airport only this time around) > Auckland!

Can not wait!

Posted in 2012, Life, Travel | Leave a comment

Exercise in the morning

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Amanda

Last week I decided enough was enough and it’s time to stop making excuses and fit everything in. With the exception of blogging I think I have devised a way to make it work.

I have start getting up early in the morning to exercise (it’s only been a couple of days, today was a sleep in day – I plan to get up early Thur & Fri), then work a bit later at night (I’ma getting me a trip to Raro!), then do a bit more exercise (hasn’t happened as I’ve worked later than I mean’t too – but I did it in the morning so no missing out on exercise!), then a bit of time to relax while eating dinner, then study time for Professional Accounting School (PAS) – which is often a bit of business time as well, then Bed!

Phew it’s a bit exhausting and boring but unfortunately that is my life for this year – I’ve decided Friday nights I won’t do any study or exercise (will do in the morning) and just take the time to relax.

I hate mornings so this could be fun!

Do you exercise in the morning?

Posted in 2012, Exercise, Life | 1 Comment

Rarotonga

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Amanda

I have been a shit blogger recently! I do kind of have an excuse, although I don’t like excuses at all and believe if you want something you will do it or you don’t want it enough! I guess other things have been a priority recently.

We have been offered an incentive at work – if we meet a deadline for a bunch of work with an end of May deadline we will be rewarded with a trip to Rarotonga, flights and accommodation paid for, we just need to come up with money for lunch/dinner and whatever activities we want to do while we are there.

Rarotonga would not be my first choice of destination, island holidays are something I have always kind of scoffed at as I like to explore rather than sit on a beach. Since it is a lot cheaper than it would be for us to do the trip ourselves I am getting on this bandwagon. It will be a hard 2 months but we will get there because I am getting me a trip!

I’m also in discussions with a travel agent about possibilities for a trip at the end of the year, exciting much!

Have you been to one of the islands? What was your favourite thing you did?

Posted in 2012, Life | 1 Comment

Boats on the River

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Amanda

This past weekend there were power boats on the Whanganui River, given that it was a nice day and we could hear them from home we went down and had a bit of a look.

It was quite relaxing sitting on the grass on the river bank relaxing and sitting up to watch the boats when they finally got on the river! They muck around something ridiculous, I would get a bit frustrated waiting for my race! Although to be fair I’m pretty sure the times they appeared to be mucking around they were actually doing safety checks.

Enjoy some pictures x

Have you ever watched power boats before?

Posted in 2012, Life | Leave a comment

St Patty’s Day Dress

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Amanda

The dress I had ordered for St Patty’s day has arrived!! I was a little worried it was going to be a bit short for me but I neglected to read that the Model was way taller than me (story of my life), so it is the perfect length!

I can’t for the life of me work out how to capture the colour of the dress properly, it is St Patrick’s day green anyway!

Are you going to be wearing green for St Patrick’s day?

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Weather Bomb 2012

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Amanda

This past weekend all the weather forecaster’s were predicting a large storm or Weather Bomb across a number of places in the North Island, Wanganui was one of them.

The forecaster’s also got it seriously right! Although Sunday was for the most part a beautiful day I imagine many people were cleaning up the damage from the storm.

We were lucky enough to not have any damage at all but others were not so fortunate; This unlucky soul now has a completely flattened fence!

Was this weather bomb predicted to hit in your area? Did it hit? If not did you have a nice weekend?

Posted in 2012, Life | Leave a comment

The beginning of the end

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Amanda

It has begun…. The beginning of the end of all this ridiculous study, I received my study plans for Professional Accounting School (PAS) which runs until the 26 October 2012 when I will sit my Professional Competency Exam (PCE), pass and then be a Chartered Accountant (I’m getting on board with visualising the future).

I spent this weekend at the race track skim reading some study plans, watching some racing and generally relaxing. One of our friends we picked up on the way picked me a flower (the b/f should take some tips from him…).

This is the result of not wanting to study and it being too cold at the race track in the morning to leave the car – queue me listening to my iPod and taking photo’s with my phone.

I’ve decided I’m going to try blogging three times a week until the end of this study even though I’ve barely been able to do that so far. I have so many posts sitting there waiting to be written and I intended to get onto writing about five a week. That obviously did not happen!

Now I’m trying my luck with the thought that if I only need to write three a week it seems a lot more doable, I’ll fit it on my planner on the nights the b/f is supposed to cook. Now to stick with the plan…

What did you get up to this weekend?

Posted in 2012, Life | Leave a comment

Mondayitis Motivational Messages

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Amanda

Monday is not agreeing with me today I think it’s something to do with the fact that I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night – or any day of the weekend or most of the week before come to think of it.

I needed a bit of a quick pick me up/kick in the butt and also needed to do a blog post so combined the two.

Enjoy some of these sayings!

Without dragging this into a long-winded post I have been thinking the past week about how little I know who I truly am; working full-time and studying full-time while travelling for racing every other weekend you tend to get stuck in trying to get through each step of the process and forget about the things you really enjoy.