There was that day...

There was that day (i.e. today) that I finally sat down to update my friends and family what has been going on over the past little while. So here you go! Be warned... this will take a while. :)

There was that day that Anna and I ate an entire watermelon between us one lunchtime.

There was that day that Anna had a large pile of dishes screaming her name.

There was that day that I bought over-the-counter antibiotics for a chest and sinus infection.

There was that day when there were too many pigeons for one bit of sky.

There was that day when the colours looked beautiful on the buildings I could see from our living room.

There was that legendary day that Anna cooked donuts, while watching Vampire Diaries, and burnt her finger in the oil.

There was that day when the monsoon rain left it's beauty behind for a little longer.

There was that day that I watched a man watching another person. Inception of stalkers.

There was that day that for dinner I made roti's from scratch, and served quesadillas for the last meal Kay was with us. 

There was that day when we were a large family around a small table.

There was that day that Judy bought over a Korean film, and we cried with laughter after soon learning that one of the words constantly said was a bad word.

There was that day that Judy invited us all over for a Korean dinner, gave us cute little charms for our phones, and sent us home happy and content.

There was that epic day that Gabe's came back to India (finally), and she was a darling and bought me these back!

There was that day when the thunder rattled our building, and so logically I had to prance around in the monsoon rains that flooded the streets.

There was that day that Gabe's turned 19, and I embroidered a piece of paper for her.

There was that day when the (small) bruise finally came through from a fall in the night; I had woken up needing to pee, and didn't realise half of my thigh was numb, and as soon as I was standing I had crumpled back onto the ground on my hands and knees, and half crawled/half stumbled my way to the bathroom.

There was that day that Anna serenaded Luke on his farewell, with her 150 rupee string instrument.

There was that day that Nate looked like this...

... and the boys collectively looked like this.

There was that day when we managed to count 9 nationalities between us: Ukrainian, Korean, American, Kiwi, Brazilian, South African, Irish, Australian, and Indian.

There was that day that I had weird shoulder-pads (and an expression to match).

There was that day that we went to Mocambo's for lunch, and we were served our drinks in giant mugs, and our food on a hot, sizzling stone.

There was that day that I ate my first true store-bought donuts.

There was that day that I bought this nose-stud, lost it down the drain, realised it had actually just fallen into my hair 15 minutes later after sulking for a while, and eventually got it in!

There was that day that I was waiting for a friend at the metro, and this man requested that I take his photo.

There was that day that I got to meet Christina (centre), who I have been in touch with via our blogs!

There was that day when the monsoon was light and delicate, and it left pretty rings in the water.

There was that day when my view looked like this.

There was that day that I took photos of the beautiful, and crumbling, buildings surrounding our flat. It is amazing how old some of these buildings are.

There was that day when I remembered just how beautiful textures are.

There was that day that the sky was deep blue.

There was that memorable day that Anna found some New Zealand kiwi-fruit at a store!

There was that day that I embroidered some fabric, cut some paper and hard-card up, stitched the paper together, made my own glue, and bound my own book.

There was that day where things were just beautiful.

There was that yummmmmmy day when I tried a very sweet lychee drink.

There was that day when I saw a girl wandering on her roof in her night-gown.

There was that day when I gave a photo some embroidered pants.

There was that day when our friends bought us some fresh beans from the States, and we took turns to smell them.

There was that day when it was the 4th of July, and the boys finally organised themselves to spell this out.,,

...and that I captured this pretty awesome photo of Nate.

Now, this Saturday, Anna and I will be boarding a 28 hour train to Chennai, and will fly out on the Monday to SRI LANKA!! We will spend a couple of nights in Colombo, one up in the mountains where we will climb Adam's Peak, then we will travel to the east to Trincomalee for 3 nights on the Uppuvelli beach, before spending our final night (and Anna's birthday) in a nice hotel back in Colombo. We will return slightly different shades of skin colour when we return I am sure (me red, Anna tan), and relaxed and refreshed. At least that is the aim of this trip! It will also be marking the half-way point of my stay here in India.

See you all later!

xx

Tattoo Design + Family History

So this is my last post of the first year this blog has existed! Isn't it crazy that in only 6 hours, it will be a new year??

Something pretty awesome happened today - my friend Shannon got a tattoo! But what makes it even more special, is that I designed it! Woo! My mark is going to exist on her for the rest of her life. Hah. But anyway, here are some of the concepts. None of these is the final design, it ended up being a combination of the bottom two.

When we traveled back up to Tauranga, we brought with us some old family items...

This bible belonged to my dad's cousin's mum, and was given to her on her 9th birthday in the early 1900's. It is awesome and still has pressed leaves and four-leaved clovers inside it!

This is something that I have started reading - the war journal of my great grandfather, from the 1st World War.

This is an excerpt from the second page of the journal, and I've highlighted (on photoshop, not the actual thing!) a part that made me shiver.

The man in this photo was the writer of the war journal - my Great Grandfather Robert Watchman.

The little boy in the photo is my grandfather Rex Watchman, who in 2009 was killed when a train hit his car in Blenheim.

The photo in the top right is my Great Grandmother. One of the older women in the other photo (Ellie) had a bible that her grandmother had owned, which her father had passed down to her. It was passed down to my grandfather, and then to me on my 16th birthday. It is approximately 160-170 years old.

My daddy (on the left), and with his brothers Greg and Stuart.

Some old envelopes from the 1940's

On the left is an old Gillette shaving kit, and on the right is my Grandfather's lighter.

I love digging through old objects of lifetimes past, and discovering the background and stories behind them.

On the note of history, have an amazing new year, and do something with 2012 that will be passed down in stories to your future great-grandchildren.

(I'm hoping my year in India will be worthy of such preservation!)

Blessings,

Alanna.

x