a mini vacation

Ahhh, it's been a hectic week. A week of unintended absence here at crosspollination.

Kyle left today to fly back to Auckland after a too-short two week visit. We had a great time while he was here stuffing our pie-holes at all the Austin barbeque and Mexican joints, swimming at Barton Springs (above, image from here), and hanging out with family and friends.

Next week it's back to business as usual, with fun posts coming to a computer screen near you.

We're all moved in!

We've bought the farm

Yes, we've given up on the land deal and bought this beautiful barn instead. We're getting an acre of land, more than half of which is covenanted bush (must stay wild). I can't wait to renovate the living space, but it'll be a while before we can afford to do that- good thing it's *got* a living space, eh? Our settlement date is not for a good 8 weeks, so we won't be in there for a while, the anticipation is killing me. The only bummer is that it's on tank water, and you know what a stickler I am about good water.

JBL ready to launch

Yep, it's basically Christmas Eve at JBL. We are soooo very excited that the phone will start ringing on Monday morning with orders. Freaked out, but excited. Here's a few shots of our still messy office, the design room (complete with flowers), and the newly installed chiller that still needs electricity...

Our land purchase is still slowly happening. Looks like we might wait for the developer to put in the pain-in-the-arse driveway and build on the top site instead of the lower one. Not sure when we could start construction, since we have no way of controlling when he puts the drive in. Argh. So for now, we might have to look for a bigger rental if we're going to be renting for a year or two. It's been a bit tense with us figuring all this out before we close the deal. Everything good is worth working for, right? Hopefully we're making more money at that point and can build a bigger house :). So many important things happening right now- it's giving me anxiety dreams and jaw tension. Now that my yoga mat has arrived I've got my eye on some yoga classes.

JBL new work space!

First, there's the pics of the beach Kyle took that I couldn't post the other night. Beautiful, eh?

Next is Jane and Andrew's honey barn that we're converting to a floral studio for our new business JBL. Andrew is posing coyly with the drill. He and Kyle put in a hard day lining the walls with MDF. There are two rooms- the old kitchen/design room side and the office/consultation side. Also, there's a pic of the pond that's beside the building.

Engrish really cracks Kyle up- the text that gets put on Ute tire covers is particularly ridiculous.

The house we want to build... just need land.

Oops, I kind of mixed up the images... The first two are the GJ Gardener house that we would like to build- about 1000 sq. ft., 1 full bath with an extra toilet, 3 bedrooms, lots of glass, and oooh so modern. Fully kitted out like this one it's only $200K to build- probably $150K with simple finish-out. The next pic is of the section (lot) in Stillwater that we really like. We met the nice guy that's finishing out his modern box that you can see to the right of the scorched-earth slope (that's $230K).
Next pics are of the Coatesville Farmer's Market that we went to. Bad shots, I know- what you can't see is the chocolate gelato dripping off Kyle's chin, and the pineapple-carrot juice I guzzled right out of the juicer. Very interesting selection of homemade foodstuffs, handmade clothes, and no tube socks in sight :). We'd just bought all our produce for the week, so we felt pretty silly passing all the good-lookin' beets and carrots.
More shots through the windows of the GJ home.
Ok, Kyle wants to post some pics....

Too busy to blog lately

Yes, it's been a while. We seem to have slotted ourselves right back into a hectic life. Here's a few images of our friends Andy and Theresa (immigrated from Texas) at the beach, and Nolan and Joanne (Kyle's parents). Also one of Louie trying to steal Kyle's dinner (while we were still living with Robert and Audrey).

We had a wonderful time with Kyle's parents while they were here. It really makes the globe seem a lot smaller to have them visit us so soon after making our home here. We got to show them a few beaches, a few sections we're interested in, and a few good restaurants. Nolan was ready to order the GJ Gardener showhome to ship back to Austin. America is really missing out on the whole kithouse/prefab/move-on phenomenon that rules Kiwi homebuilding. I'll have to post some images of them- super modernist design, and nicely appointed for less than $150,000NZD.

Kyle's just about to get into the thick of his new job with the movie project starting soon. Hopefully there is still time left in his life for me and surfing, otherwise we'll both be unhappy campers.

April 1st also sees me beginning my new job with Jane- running a floral design studio out of Jane's 'honey shed'. Hopefully we can get everything in place before then.

I'll be sending out more journal soon. Cheers.

More pics

This will be our new home for a while until we can break into owning property again :).

Caroling with the Zealanders

It's Christmas- what a weird feeling for it to be summer! Not that the temperature is much different from home right now ;). So here's some images of Kyle's ridiculously sporty car. I really do still squeal when we round the clifftop corners in it. Also, there's a shot of the *double* rainbow (hard to tell in the bad pic) that we saw the other day- it was a full horizon to horizon 180 deg. circle with another one to the left of it. Still looking for the pot of gold, unfortunately.

Also here's two pics of the house on Glenelg that we're staying in until the 15th. We totally lucked out on this one. Not only is it an amazing house, but Audrey and Robert have basically adopted us. They invited us upstairs last night for dessert (baked Alaska, yummy pavlova things, fresh berries...) and prezzie opening. We felt so welcomed by their family and had a really wonderful time. Carolling by candlelight was really a treat. They have two daughters our age, who have two interesting husbands, so we had plenty of ridiculously interesting people to chat with.

I got the job! Iain and Helen have invited me to work with them! I can't wait.

We found a house to rent long-term! It's an impossibly tiny two story garage apartment that's probably no bigger than the 20' container we shipped all our stuff in. Aack, now what do we do with it all? But in this rental market it's a total gem, relatively affordable, and close to the beach, shops, etc. The owners are great- South African immigrants themselves, and it's so much better than renting from an agency. My commute in to Auckland is only an hour (ha- imagine me saying that in Austin), but I'll probably ride the bus, so I can get some good reading in...

Ta ta, hugs, and Merry Christmas!

Job! Money!

It's a glorious day here in Paradise. Our house sale money finally hit our bank account, good thing cuz we were running on fumes. We picked up Kyle's new car- pic soon- a silver Subaru WRX.

I stopped in at one of the places that I had emailed from Austin- Iain Stephens Floral Design, and they asked me back for an interview today! I had a lovely chat with Iain and his wife Helen, and they just might be the nicest people I've ever met (but then again I say that about everybody here). They had me make a few arrangements and meet the rest of the staff- wish I'd been a little less nervous, I dont' feel like I did my best on the arrangements. Anyway, the pay and benefits are good, the work would be exactly what I'm looking for- taking on as much responsibility as I want- maybe buying at auction, etc. Their employees tend to stick with them, which is always a good sign. If they offer me the job I would start on January 8th- my birthday (and get 4 weeks paid vacation almost immediately!).

We've had another offer of Christmas hospitality- our friend Jason who sold me my car invited us up to his house for a Christmas BBQ. Who said it's hard to make friends here??