off to the races

So as Im sure you know New Zealand is a British Colony, which pretty much means if its English we do it too albeit it a little more grunge. I say this as The Races (horse) is quite the event. The men go watch the horses, and the ladies go well pretty much to wear a great hat.
There are many race days and this year we went to Derby (dar-bee) Day, A traditionally black and white affair. I thought I would pop up some pictures of the festivities.



This is our group in the Stella Artois tent (notice the product placement, haha) we were photographed by the next top model photographer, and we were voted best dressed!



My brother Ashley and his beautiful fiancee Natalie, looking as good as ever.



Ash competed in the annual Fashion Show, and made it to the National Finals! :)



he was possibly the only guy.........



I got very nervous for him, but so so proud of him.





apart from the wind and rain it was a perfect day :) and a big Thank you to the very talented Natalie Chan for designing all of our headwear.

a little bit of sun :)

As part of our Christmas Present from the lovely Natalie, Ashley (my brother) and I took a trip down to Queenstown together to record our Dad's memoirs. 

it was a wonderful trip. not only did we record over 9 hours of stories and memories, we also good some of the summer I have been craving!

We even took the boat out with Sheila (my stepmum) which was lovely, unfortunately there was little to no wind but it was fun to get out on the water. heres me "documenting" them rigging up. documenting means staying far away from all the ropes and knot tying...... many bad things happen when im in charge of the knots.



 A quick picture of Daddy Dearest. he has lived a very full and interesting life, i feel very privileged to be able to be part of it.



Ashley and our friend Ramy also took the opportunity to sail in the Donald Hay Classic, the annual sailing race that happens in my hometown.
They were brilliant, and won first in there class. This is them waiting for the race to begin.



and then last but not least i started school this week, which has been an adventure in and of itself.
i feel so blessed to be able to do what i love all day every day.
today i had a doodling class..... aha a 2 hour doodling class, apparently its a fundamental practice for recording information quickly. who would have thought. :)

Chinese lantern festival

This week we had the lovely Syndey come to visit which is always a pleasure. And one of the nights we went to the lantern festival which I had no idea about. It blew my mind I was expecting 50 or so people letting lanterns go in a wannabe tangled moment but instead the entire park was full of these beautiful illuminated sculptures. From pandas to jellyfish to pokemon to sheep I ran around like a kid in a candy shop. It's going on my top five Auckland moments list. So happy year of the dragon I miss you all and if you get a chance go to a lantern festival! ( realizing as I write this that you all probably knew what it was and I'm the idiot thy missed lantern day at school, hahaha oh well the surprise made it so much better)

A day in the life of a cinema

So I got a free iPhone this week. Long story but I'm addicted but seeing as I really have just been living at work I thought I would pop ( no pun intended) up so pretty iPhone pictures of the mission bay Berkeley.
Hope you are all well and when I ever leave this place I will post some more interesting pictures

Happy New Year

So as we are nearing the end of another beautiful year, (and jord has the camera) i thought i would write a wee update and put up our year in images, i know ive posted most of them before, but this really is how we have spent the past year.

we have moved 4 times
been to 18 places over 2 continents
spent 13 weeks apart
have had 9 different jobs
changed our plans more times than i care to remember
and have loved (almost:)) every minute of it.

For me when i look back these are the highlights, im sure if Jord was here he would have more and differnt ones, but month by month, this is what i remember and what i loved.

JANUARY- I loved living in Salt Lake, i loved walking to and from work through the city, i loved our beautiful ward and bishop. i loved the friends we made there, and the temple lights!

FEBRUARY-  I loved how happy the snow made jordan, the amount of work he was able to get because of the snow. I loved working at blockbuster :) and watching movies and talking about movies ALL the time. i loved being with Family.

MARCH- I loved the warmer weather! it felt like spring, i loved exploring Salt Lake, finding cool new places and feeling like a tourist most days, i loved the scones and Jam at Ruths, and the blue plate diner, i loved the seattle girls trip! getting to spend time with all of the inspiring women i get to call sister-in-laws.

APRIL- i loved HAWAII! i loved watching two of my dearest friends graduate from school and re-uniting with so many more. i loved showing and sharing it with Jordan, BYUH changed my life and it was amazing to share it with jord, it was a place of joy and healing.

MAY- we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. its funny, some days it feels like i dont know where the time has gone, and others i cant believe its only been 2 years.... but most of all i love that somehow, even from the opposite sides of the world, jord and I found each other.

JUNE - i loved Houston! I loved the girls, and the pool and AC! I loved watching jord play baseball, I loved teaching swimming, i loved planning our future, and watching copious amounts of tv. but most of all i loved the SUN!

JULY- i still loved Houston, it did get a wee bit hot, ill admit, but hey it was a welcome change from snow, i loved being able to visit Virginia, and spend time with the Harts, i really do love ALL of our Family, its big and messy and beautiful and i love it

AUGUST- I moved back to NZ, this was very bittersweet, I loved coming home, but i missed Jordan, i loved seeing and really spending time with my family, it had been years and i didnt really know how much i missed them till i got here. they define me and i love them. 

SEPTEMBER- I missed jordan some more.... but worked and worked and worked, i love my job and i love watching movies, i love learning something new. i worked on getting my Art School folio together and submitted. i loved reconnecting with old friends and i learnt to love skype!

OCTOBER- i loved having Jordan arrive! i loved showing him all of the fun places and things i had already fallen in love with, i loved being with my best friend.

NOVEMBER- i  still loved working, jordan loved skating, i loved coming home to have had jordan clean the house and do the dishes and laundry! i loved learning to cook with him in out perfect tiny old house!

DECEMBER- i love the sun, i have loved again, fully applying myself to life again, to be working, and progressing, and again, sad to be without Jordan... im not sure why we thought it was a good idea, but we will figure it out. i loved having a summer christmas! eating breakfast outside and going fro a christmas afternoon walk! :)

I feel so blessed for so many things, and forgive me for going on and on, but i am really trying to remember all of the beautiful things we have been given. it has also been quite a hard year, we have worked through a lot, but I am excited for all that next year has to bring.

I hope it is full of all the best things for you all.

xoxoxo Sasha.

a long time coming....

So Ive been waiting to post this, mainly i think i was waiting until it felt real or certain, but its been almost a month and still i don't really believe it, so here goes, I got into the Elam School of Fine Arts. Elam is The University of Aucklands Arts program which Im learning is actually really hard to get into, I'm still not really sure how i did. i know it has A LOT to do with my Family. so here is a much needed Thank you to them. my brother Ashley's fiancee Natalie spent countless hours discussing my dreams and aspirations with me, turning the abstract thoughts into plans, and eventually a portfolio that I fully believe wouldn't have been turned in at all had it not been for her help and support. And also Scott and Geraldine, for again discussing what must be done in order to face the scary possibility of failure at the one thing I want more than anything. and to Jord, for graciously agreeing to move half way across the world to support me in this pursuit. I feel incredibly blessed, and am ready for the challenges that the next four years will I'm sure bring. This is Natalie and I after they took us out to a celebratory Dinner, and my beautiful Flowers!!unfortunately even though Nat warned us and carefully explained how to remove the yellow bits from the inside of the lilies, we forgot and now have lots of yellow spots on our floor..... but they were so Pretty :)

Summer lovin

so its summer and we are loving it!! this is on a stroll along the beach, with Mt Ruapehu in the background (its a giant volcano) we have been trying to take lots of walks in the pretty weather, this one took us up into one of the old battle stations, they had built all these amazing tunnels which you can still explore. Jord has been doing ALOT of skating, and is getting much better, these are just two of many skating pics, i think i just like the colours :) Sammy Dubs came to visit which was awesome, almost as awesome as his movember moustache. Baby Brother Bry came to stay too this month, cant believe how grown up he is!! was fun to take hima round Auckland a bit, we took a ferry in then explored the Art Gallery, (which I LOVE!) We also finally made it to Hamilton to the Temple this week. I am grateful to be married to a man who loves the temple and is willing to get up at 6.00 am and drive 2 hours to get there and back for work. was a beautiful day. the coolest park benches in the world! gotta love it when you ask an artist to make some seats....:) And no post would really be complete without a little love to the rails, those of you who know jord understand his absolute love of rails, he was very excited about this one and we are working out the logistics of snow to a sub-tropical climate. Okay we love you!! hope you are having a Happy Day.