the beginning of the end

The last 24 hours have been filled with pieces of news that are sad and happy and exciting and disappointing. The sad news has been tainting the exciting, and the happy is vaguely connected to the disappointing, although the disappointing has been put aside in my head. Similarly, I will try to concentrate on the exciting rather than the sad, for the sake of the people effected by the sad...

After dinner last night, Jeremy and I went for a walk around Lyall Bay. I had discovered a secret path yesterday which isn't signposted, but it stretches from the bus-stop to our house, and is much quicker than the other way we walk home. However, it also involves the steepest set of stairs, possibly in the world. You can't even see the top steps when you are standing at the bottom! I'll try and take a photo, although it won't do it justice. However, the view over Lyall Bay is simply astounding and definitely worth the walk. So I showed Jeremy how to find the path, and then we walked down through Melrose, passing some nuns from the convent (who said hello to us - obviously not a silent order), along part of the beach, and then home. It took about an hour, and involved two serious hills, so we felt pleased with our efforts. When we got home, I tried on all my 'work' clothes to see if they still fit. It felt strange to be wearing dress pants and suit jackets and heels - I am going to try and add more dresses to my corporate wardrobe I think, because it'll just be my luck to get a job in an un-airconditioned office, which is very uncomfortable.

This weekend is shaping up to be the busiest in a long time:

Friday: Exam, class drinks in the post-grad bar, dinner
Saturday: Renovations to house, lots of baking, J has hockey practise, going out to dinner to celebrate finishing Uni, meeting up with friends from Auckland.
Sunday: Eastbourne Village fair, friends from Dunedin for afternoon tea, friends from Auckland for dessert.
Monday: Job hunting....

I had thought about organising a class party for afternoon tea on Saturday, but everyone was either going away or working, and after finding out how hectic our weekend is going to be, I'm now quite glad it was changed to Friday after the exam. Think how much baking I would have had to do, for a party of 8, a party of 4, and a party of 6! Plus Jeremy and I would have probably put on about 5 kilos eating all those treats. So I'm only going to be baking for two events. Luckily baking is one of my most favourite things in the world. And Jeremy is one of my other most favourite things, and he likes to eat my baking.

Now, I had better get back to my notes and revise a bit more before meeting Jeremy for lunch. It is a sunny day, so I think I'll suggest bagels in the sunshine and a walk around the waterfront. Yesterday afternoon I sat in the sun on the balcony and did my work; I even dragged a comfy chair outside! I could feel the vitamin D soaking into my sun-deprived bones..