Update for the year and the future is coming

It is insane how fast this year has flown by, it's already the middle of May and that means that I have only mere months before I'm all done with study.

Come mid November after my final two exams are done, I'm a free woman - from university life at least - entering the big wide world of full time employment. I have a few ideas up my sleeve from working for myself as an ESOL Teacher, to finding full time work in a local tutoring service or school... or heading out overseas into the ESOL role I was offered in South Korea. There's plenty of options and I'm sure more will come knocking this year.

In the meantime I have to keep studying and reading - two more novels this week, and two essays by the end of the month... before two exams in June. I really hope I have managed to learn some relaxation techniques for my exam anxiety. I just want to pass the two classes and be done with school.

Then the excitement and madness of the Engagement Party in July with our families back in New Plymouth...            Before it all starts again for the second term of uni study!

(A dated selfie at Te Papa).

Daniel just celebrated making 5 years at his job at CricHQ which is quite impressive. He started at CricHQ when we hadn't started dating yet. I've certainly never worked that amount of time in one job!

I am also considering blogging more often in 2017, like a few times each week instead of just one post per week, but Daniel suggested I find a bit more of a niche market to write to, write about and share things from. Truth be told I don't really know what my overall theme or topic is, because I just write about my life - maybe I'm a lifestyle blogger? I do like a variety of themes though - I decided against cooking as an overall topic just because I find it hard to write a lot about cooking and baking... so while I enjoy doing it I won't be writing about it... I also like interior design type things but I also like to read about what others are doing in that realm!
It's hard to nail down to one or two topics.

If anyone has help or advice about how to nail down a blog topic - I'd love to hear it.
You can contact me on facebook - here, or on twitter here or leave me a comment below!

Until next Monday,
xo Lisa.

26 places to see, do stuff and go to in Wellington, New Zealand

This week I decided to do a re-run of the Top 26 things about Taranaki post, but with a twist - everything is about Wellington and the city is the main feature.

Here goes my A to Z of Wellington, New Zealand!

Arts and Culture Capital - there's so many spaces to see and do things, from local art galleries to theatres for shows...

BATS Theatre - so many shows, so little time. I've counted up all that I've seen as an Usher and I'm up to show 146 in a week or so. Not far to 200 shows! #Counting

"Coolest little capital in the world" - The 2011 one liner in Lonely Planet about Wellington.

Dirty Little Secret - rooftop bar.

Exhibitions - at various art galleries and museums.

Fever Hospital, Mount Victoria - now the SPCA location.

Garage Project - beers and brews.

Hutt Valley - Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt at the base of the Rimutaka Hills.

Improvised theatre - Wellington Improv Troupe.

Jackson - Sir Peter Jackson turned JRR Tolkien's books the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, into award winning cinematography.

Katherine Mansfield House and Garden (formerly Birthplace) - I'm yet to go and check this out. It's up in Thorndon.

Love - what I found when I met Daniel my now fiancé!

Mount Victoria - the Lookout is a must, also the Southern Walkway.

Newtown - the community centre has a good feel for what's happening in this bustling suburb.

Oriental Bay - from the beach to the views over the harbour and the ice cream shops along the way, O'Bay has it all!

Porirua - from the Shopping Mall to a list of places to visit... I need to spend more time in Porirua ~ It's a bit of a hike from where we live, but well worth the cheaper prices! (About 21 minutes on the train, plus time spent getting to and from the station...)

Queensgate shopping mall - the main shopping mall of Wellington, located in Lower Hutt.

Royal New Zealand Ballet - Ballet troupe of New Zealand based in the St. James Theatre on Courtenay Place. Flatmate Loren and I are going to a show very soon!

Somes Island - the island in Wellington Harbour, where at one stage Enemy Alien Internees were kept during WWII. Today the buildings are still on the island and can be visited. The island is a special place with shared history of many people. It is a great photography spot.

Te Papa -  the National museum. Lots of it is free and there's a wing that has a charge to see the exhibits. Well worth paying the small fee for many of them. We've seen a number of them. Keep an eye out for Locals deals too.

Uber X - a popular ride-sharing company that usually riles up taxi companies. I really like using it. It's in New Zealand in selected cities, so keep an eye on the app. (Use my code for a free $10 credit: lisat2293ue )

Victoria University - where I am in my final year of study for my BA in English Literature with a minor in Religious Studies.

Windy Wellington - the weather in Wellington is somewhat all over the place with a Marine climate; Windy Wellington is the nickname given to the city especially when it's blowing a gale.

X-plore Wellington - a favourite pastime is to go somewhere and just explore the surroundings. It's a great way to learn the city when you move somewhere new. A few weekends back Dan and I went out to Island Bay, he had never been before. I'd been once, years ago. We went to the Aquarium there - the Island Bay Marine Education Centre - well worth the $5 (adults) or $2 (kids) entry.

Young and Hungry - Wellington theatre from young actors.

Zealandia - a wildlife sanctuary in Karori which happens to also be the first suburb I moved to when I first moved to Wellington for University way back in June of 2009.

Until next week,
xo Lisa.

Photography and photo shoots

So this past week has been awesome, with preparing a bunch of stuff for our engagement party...
The past two weekends we have been getting photo shoots under way. Daniel was in charge of booking a photographer to take our engagement portraits and stuff... and we just got everything organised with that and waiting on the venue... and then I get a phone call saying I had won a free photo shoot and three complimentary 5x7" photos (from the Wellington Women's Expo we had gone to earlier in the year/late last year). So of course we couldn't say no to a free $249 photo shoot! Fast forward - we get the free shoot done of us as a couple, and had a number of extras taken of us with Loren and Thomas, our flatmates. Such a fun time!

Here are some behind the scene's shots that I took on my phone, so please excuse the quality.

You can see the mobile studio backdrop, lighting gear and such too.
We moved all the lounge furniture and positioned everything.
With the studio lights and professional camera the light from the window isn't seen.

Hero pose.

Dan modelling for Hallensteins? hehe.

Behind the scenes setting up the camera and stuff

Dan with his Bug-assault rifle - getting directions from Gareth.

Dan sniping bugs.

Gareth snapping away and Dan being a model...

The photographer for this shoot was Gareth from Duo Photography.
He was really fun to work with and put us all at ease being in front of the camera.

At the end of the shoot we booked a time for Gareth to come back and show us the photos, so on Monday evening at 7:30pm we sat with Loren and looked through all the photos in a huge slide show. Duo are pretty neat in that they create a video slide show - we didn't purchase this as we just wanted a number of digital files of our photos. We ended up getting a deal from Gareth - 18 for the price of 10 plus the 3 free prints and he threw in a few extras; since we couldn't whittle down the choices much more!

These following images are some throw back images - Dan and I on the waterfront with my Asahi Pentax K1000 film camera...

Our second photo shoot was with David from Von Photography - this was the engagement shoot package for $99 it's for an hour shooting, and has a set of 20 digital images at the end.

We hired the Dome at BATS Theatre as the venue - I volunteer as an Usher there so it made sense to come and play around on the stage area! The Dome is a large space, with a matte black floor, amazing white columns on the walls,
We had plenty of fun playing with shadows from the lights that David bought with him, and the Dome, then a few sneaky stairs shots.

I really enjoyed this photo-shoot because David made us totally relaxed in front of the camera - we even got a few public displays of affection shots - kissing and holding hands!

My favourite shot so far - us on the stairs, with our D and L letters on the windowsill.

David was lovely and took this on my new Polaroid camera (from Dick Smith for $77.40).

More shots from the day...

Us holding hands.

Oh do you see that? Hot damn gurl! my manicure from Serenity at Absolute Therapy looks amazing!

Until next week, 

xo, Lisa.

Volunteering - skills for life

This week it is Student Volunteer's Week: 11-17 April.

Image credit: Volunteering NZ

I saw an advert on Victoria Plus asking people to make contact if they wouldn't mind doing an interview for Student Volunteer's Week through Volunteering New Zealand. I thought I would sign up to do it and then I thought well, why don't I write a blog post at the same time - about what I've been doing and how awesome volunteering is?

Throughout my time at Victoria University I signed up to Vic Plus, it's an award and certificate system that recognises student leadership and volunteering. I've really enjoyed the opportunities I've been given to excel in my areas of expertise, and developing skills I didn't really have before. You can sign up to and learn more about Vic Plus here.

One part of the programme is developing skills through personal and professional sessions and this helps the student to transition from study into paid work. Some of the workshops I've done through the Vic Plus programme cover things like how to write a kick-ass cover letter and curriculum vitae, and how to really nail an interview and get the job!

The second part is based around volunteering and giving back to the community.

Through my time doing Vic Plus I've done a range of things from charity letterbox drops for fliers as a one off day with my sister; volunteering long term as an usher, fire warden and ticket taker at BATS Theatre (just passed three years!); helping to man the stalls for Vic Plus at Club's Week 2016; and a range of other things on campus like Class Rep for my classes (for a trimester for each paper) and being on the FHSS Faculty board as a student rep (for one year).

Part three of the Vic Plus programme is writing an E-Portfolio, I am doing this step now. This is a place where the student reflects on what they have been doing, what they have learned and what they can take away from the experiences they have been doing.

Through being Class Rep and Faculty representative I've worked closely alongside VUWSA (the student association at VUW) and a large number of fellow students. The Class Rep acts as a voice between the students of the class and the lecturers and the school. They have training from VUWSA and that includes free pizza! And then at the end of the trimesters they also meet with the department and talk about the issues raised by students. The more the Class Reps put in the more they get out of it. In my first trimester I impressed the head of school of English so much that he offered me a PhD position when I get to that level... Needless to say that is no longer in my plans. But still pretty awesome!

Through my volunteer ushering, fire-warden-ing and ticket taking role (I wear many hats at once) at BATS I've learned to multi-task and prioritise things. I've also developed more confidence with talking to strangers and public speaking in general. I still have a few (rare) moments of worry like when a siren is in the sound effects of a show (and I think it's the real alarms going off!)

I am currently working really closely with the Box Office staff each night - we also communicate via radios and I help to ensure that the audience is kept happy and safe within the space.

Because of my love of theatre and box office assistance at BATS - I decided to take on the role of volunteer Front of House Manager for Summer Shakespeare, where I took on full responsibility for all of the Box Office area - from selling tickets, to training fellow Vic Plus volunteers and other community volunteers, and being the main First Aider and on the Health and Safety team.

Summer Shakespeare 2016 - Cast and Crew first rehearsal photo.

Posters by Glover Park, in Ghuznee Street, Wellington.

I had a number of challenges through the season from an audience member being involved in an accident with a prop, to EFTPOS terminals and ticket scanners malfunctioning!

Thanks to my training at BATS I was able to apply a lot of what I already knew, mostly regarding how to fix things up - I had friends who had come along to the show comment that they had never seen me so organised, in control and busy before!

Due to personal reasons* I will not be returning to Summer Shakespeare in 2017.

From the pre-promotional shoot we did which was used for styling ideas.

I had a great costume and didn't know what to do with this apple.

Volunteering for me is about giving back to the community, but it's also about a transfer and use of skills. When I'm not volunteering - I'm often studying. Studying only uses certain parts of my brain. I like being creative - volunteering in the theatre allows me to explore my business side as well as my more creative outlets.

Because of my volunteering at BATS I was introduced to a theatrical genre called Improvisation, because of that exposure I signed up to community college classes for Improv in 2015. I really, really liked performing and I want to expand my skills in that area.

From the pre-promotional shoot we did which was used for styling ideas.

I had a great costume and didn't know what to do with this apple.

*I have to work and get money to help fund our wedding. So by this summer I should be in employment which means less time for all of the volunteering I like to do. However I am sure I will continue doing some volunteering things just because I love doing them so much. For example - BATS you haven't seen the last of me yet!

Until next week,

xx Lisa.

2016 and beyond reflections

This year has been a year of reflecting, a lot. So far at least, I've spent a bit of time each month and each week just reflecting on what I'm up to and where I am going next. Not in a sense of moving as such, but onto the next project, the next thing, the next assignment. Taking a new step in a new direction, in a new way.


This weekend I spent three days at BATS Theatre; It's Writer's Week for the New Zealand Festival.

Yesterday I had a fan girl moment when Witi Ihimaera talked to me, granted he was only asking for directions on how to leave the venue... But he saw me and talked to me. It's humbling seeing these writers I look up to seeing me as a person too.

Witi Ihimaera is a New Zealand / Maori author who has written novels such as:

• Tangi (1973)
• Whanau (1974)
• The Matriarch (1986)
• The Whale Rider (1987)
• Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies (1994)
• Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1995)
• The Dream Swimmer (1997)
• Woman Far Walking (2000)
• The Uncle's Story (2000)
• Sky Dancer (2004)
• Whanau II (2004)
• The Rope of Man (2005) - features 'Tangi', and its sequel 'The Return'
• Band of Angels (2005)
• The Trowenna Sea (2009)
• The Parihaka Woman (2011) 

Novels by Witi Ihimaera

I also really enjoyed the Slam Poetry by Anis Mojgani. His words are mesmerising.
Here's a video I found on YouTube of Anis Mojgani performing 'Come Closer'.

Because it was a festival, and in a theatre, I didn't take any photographs during the event. There was a photographer on site who was amazing, she would come in and take photographs near the end or near the middle of each talk and it made it easy for me to know when the talk was coming to a close, without having to check the time on my phone!

Through working as a volunteer in the theatre now for three years I've noticed I am more confident in walking up and asking people to follow my directions (eg, to kick them out of the theatre* at the end of the show, or to move along so seats are free'd up during the times the audience finds their seats.)


This Thursday it is Daniel's birthday. I've arranged a dinner for just us in a local restaurant, so I hope he likes it!

Last week we picked up my engagement ring, but I will write all about that in another post.
I'm waiting on photographs and also showing my family in person before I post more online about the ring choice, stone choice etcetera.

Currently in the middle of university, week 3 of the trimester, and more assignments are due - so that's up first.

Second is arranging our engagement party - lots still to do!


Last week I reorganised the bedside table - I bought two new candles from the Warehouse - they're super cute and have this written on them:

'All you need is love,
forever and always,
no matter what'

Sheepy, a heart LED light, and candles.

Gold and Black candle - I have two of these.

Until next week,
xo Lisa.



*Of course I ask them politely and don't actually kick people! That's uncalled for violence!

All links worked as of 11:30pm Sunday 13th March 2016. (NZ).

F.A.Q's and getting to know me.

2016 so far has been all about getting to know me in a new way. 

This week I've decided to write a bit about myself. 

Last week I did a call for AMA (Ask me anything submissions and questions)...

I'm a "mature" student at university. I'm an undergraduate. In my final year. I'm going to talk about this a lot, on and off for 2016. I've been enrolled in study on and off since moving to Wellington in June of 2008. I'm still doing the same degree: Bachelor of Arts, but I changed my minor and major since starting study. I'm doing a BA in English Literature with a minor in Religious Studies. (I also did a number of Linguistic papers, as well as a couple of Education ones).

I grew up in a kind of Christian home, in that we didn't go to church, but we have values like 'treat others how you would like to be treated.' And 'always respect your elders'. Even today, living in another city I still live by a number of these values. Kindness goes far. 

I'm a self taught and semi-trained teacher in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). I've taught high school kids and adults. (Aged 11-17 and 30+). I've been fortunate so far to have taught a couple of students from China and some more are from South Korea. I'm currently on a break from teaching as I'm studying for summer, but I might start again sometime later in the year*. Tough to work with students, preparing work for them as well as studying. I may readjust this again later and reassess just how much I can take on.

In 2017, after university studies are all done I am thinking to either go into teaching more ESOL, or going into full time blogging. Then again I do need an income because we need to save up for our wedding and impending move overseas!
If only studying meant I'd be paid well enough to not need to work... Haha. As if!
I just hope I can find a good job where I'm doing something I love every day and not feeling down or anxious about the work, wherever we end up.

I'm the oldest of four children. The oldest grandchild in both families too (of my parents that is).
Daniel is also the oldest child. It makes it difficult when we're both stubborn about certain things. One of us has to let the other lead and such sometimes too. We're both super stubborn with some things. Makes fighting interesting!

On top of all of that I am also aware of how lucky and fortunate I am for the life I currently have. If I didn't have such a loving and wonderful fiance I don't know where I would be living right now. I certainly couldn't afford not to work and just study full time! I am also looking forward to getting some financial assistance from the government for my studies this year, the past few years have been self funded (from fiance) and it has created stress between us. This year I'll get a little to put towards expenses so that will be nice and help relieve some of that stress we currently face.

I have a social media empire growing more and more every day.

 I'm on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and here. I also have YouTube but I'm less active on there now as I've chosen to go more of a written (blogging) and photography route with my creativity. 

This is also why the post a couple of posts back has a new Photography Theme on it. 

I want to showcase more of my creative side this year. 

I'm on a Podcast called Skepticism Today - with fellow skeptics Mark, Sara, Tim and my fiance Daniel. We talk about a variety of topics each month when we meet to record. We haven't been the greatest in getting recordings out quickly, if I'm being totally honest and blunt... The aim for 2016 so far has been to record more. We will see how that goes. 

I love listening to music, to the point I'll find something that I love and play it on repeat for hours on end. Right now? It's this remixed song: Oh Wonder - Lose It.
Sorry not sorry flatmates (and neighbours) hehe. Just kidding - when they're near I have it turned down. Also I wear awesome noise-cancelling headphones.

I'm a very busy person - between full time study, part time teaching*, recording a podcast, blogging here and being a flatmate/ fiancee/ daughter, it's a tough life! I'm also a volunteer at local theatre - BATs and currently doing a lot of shows (think every night) as the Front of House Manager for
Wellington Summer Shakespeare's show of Love's Labours Lost, tickets are available here**.

Until next Monday,
xx Lisa.


*TBC
** Until the end of the season.

Ten things I adore

Being busy with university classes means I'm reading a lot and thinking about the things I love.

My current paper is looking at Banned Books and their ethics, role in society and the place they are within the literary world. So far we have had a Trigger Warning suggesting we seek counselling if we are triggered by any of the topics in the course. I have my counsellor on standby, I'm hoping I don't need to see her, but just in case...

Wellington Women's Expo and thoughts

This weekend (August 9th and 10th) was the Wellington Women's Expo an event run by Peacock Promotions Ltd. It was open between 10am to 5pm each day. At the TSB Arena. Entry cost $10 p/person ($5 on Sunday with a voucher). There was also an optional $20 Goodies Bag. 

I went along both days. Saturday felt busier, but then I did go (with a friend) in the afternoon. Sunday was a little slower, but still had good crowds. On Saturday I went along with Neil and then on Sunday with Dan and a skeptic friend. 

Some key things I took home from the expo; 

(other than the Goody bag which I'll go into in detail below)