Orsman-Cres

2008-02-28T20:31:00.000-08:00

WooHoo!!

2008-02-27T12:51:00.000-08:00

Made it the front page of etsy.com and creaturecomforts! Yay!

Another One Bites the Dust!

2008-02-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

It's official. We're taking over the neighborhood.

Jude (Ash and Siggy's Mum) has just bought the house next door to Evan and Sig's place. I can't believe it. Total number of family members in a two-block radius=9! Nine! When my Sis and her family arrives, that will bring the total to thirteen. Ooooh, that sounds unlucky. Maybe we're pushing it too far. Are we crazy?

I still can't help but think that we're doing the right thing. Rallying against the global economy or something. I used to listen with such jealous interest when my Nana would talk about the olden days when the whole family lived on the the same hill. Granted, I wish my family was a little better represented on this hill. Not that I don't love who I've got here, I just wish I could wander up the street and have my parents back me while I sing "Psycho Killer" in their music room.

Anywho, we're still waiting for Ashleigh to add number 10 to the tally (just occurred to me that we won't have 13 as a total, but 14...phew!) and trying to calculate how long it will take for her parents to join us on the hill.

Wish us luck in lawn bowls tonight, teams DeVille 1 and DeVille 2 both won last week. I'm hoping for a repeat.

I've got a secret!

2008-02-18T22:43:00.000-08:00

And no, I'm not pregnant.

BUT...I do know the finalists for the 2008 New Zealand Post Book Awards. And I can't tell anyone until next week when they're announced publicly. Not that any of you probably care. Unless you're a hopeful in which case you probably care a damnload. I wonder if bookies cover book awards?

I've volunteered to be the regional coordinator for the festival leading up to the awards in May. These are the most important awards for NZ children's, youth and young adult books and I am SO excited to get to be a part of the celebration. Even though no one else in Nelson would agree to do it, so the job itself probably sucks, but I don't care. There's nothing I love more than kids, books and getting to boss people around, so I couldn't be happier.

I got to fly up to Wellington today FOR FREE for the seminar for all the regional coordinators and it was so exciting. Nothing feels fancier than having someone else book all your flights, arrange for taxis, greet you in the lobby and then escort you to the 12th floor conference room that looks out over the harbour. There was actually a guy with a sign with at baggage claim waiting for me. Every time I fly I get this secret hope that there will be someone there with a sign waiting for me. I also always think that if I look sad enough they'll bump me up to business class.

Plus there was finger food all day and since I was just there for the day I didn't even have to pack a bag. No luggage in an airport is awesome. I think I'm going to get a job in Wellington. The flight's only 25 minutes which is shorter than my walking commute to the cafe. Al Gore be damned!

That's all for now. Love, Laurel

Ok, Seriously

2008-02-11T12:03:00.001-08:00

You should move to New Zealand. Or at least come visit me. I'll make you pancakes and put a little jug of water next to your bed. And hopefully, my boyfriend's beautiful Mum will come over with lobster that one of her friends left for her on her porch. Except they'll call it crayfish 'cause they're funny that way.

And then Ash won't just break it up and put it on a plate, he'll make a beautiful platter with aioli and rocket (arugula) and lemon wedges. And then he'll say, "ladies, let's open that bottle of bubbly and eat this on the deck." And I'll nearly pass out because, holy hell he's got a good life aesthetic.

This is what it will look like:

Check it out!

2008-02-11T00:24:00.000-08:00

We're about done! Yippee!

ashhilton.com

Harvest Feast!

2008-01-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

So, I've attended a bachannalia festival before. I was convinced to hangout topless with bunches of grapes painted on my breasts. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do when there were 7 of us at the party. Hours later when there were about 50, I started to doubt my decision. Ash and I had a harvest feast last night, it was nothing like the first one I attended.

This is what inspired it all. Corn. We grew our own corn and apparently, that's hard to do. A lot of times it comes out small and tough and not very nice at all. This was none of those things. It was so tender in fact, that it didn't even stick in your teeth.

This is our version of an Italian poached meatloaf. Ash read about it in a magazine. Some Italian family that lives in New Zealand now made it. They hang out and eat food and play ping pong while wearing capri pants and skinny sneakers. We want that life, although we're probably not effortlessly good looking enough to have it. And our fights aren't nearly as cathartic.

Well, maybe some of them are effortlessly good looking. Anyway, who cares about good looks when you're eatin' tiny, beautiful potatoes that grew right out back. And the sun is shinning and you've got a linen table cloth that only cost $5.00 at the flea market. Not to mention the fact that we had enough plates for everyone. Once again, I only feel justified bragging about all of this because, really Ash did it all. And I'll brag about him all I want cause I have to live with the bastard.

Ash and Arlo at the beach

2008-01-29T00:26:00.001-08:00

Arlo at the beach, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

This was taken at Rabbit Island, a place I'd never gone before this Summer. Ash always described it as a "poxy little hole full of pine trees." His scale of poxiness is a little off in my humble, Texan opinion. I mean, there aren't balls of tarry petrochemicals all over your feet when you come out of the chocolate milk colored water like in Galveston.

It can be a bit crowded on the weekends, but all-in-all I think it's pretty fantastic. The water's nice and warm and the big waves take me straight back to being a kid in those chocolate milk waters. You don't have time to give a damn when you're struggling to keep your footing in the water.

Things in the workshop are chugging along nicely, you can see Ash's new designs over there on the right. It's been fun testing them out and the leaves and stems don't get caught on as many things as you'd think they would. Of course, I am known for not being able to keep rings on my fingers for more than five minutes in a row.

I did a voice over for Marshalls Fashions (my Aunt Gail's clothing shop) today and it was a blast. My fifteen seconds of fame are upon us. Listen for me on Mainland TV. I'm the American one talking about the "Super Summer Sale!!!!!"

Why I love our deck

2008-01-26T04:05:00.001-08:00

Why I love our deck, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

It still really surprises me sometimes when I walk outside and I see this. I'm really terrible at taking photos, so you can't really appreciate the scale of the hills in the background because there's nothing in the foreground to compare it too (you'd think because I can write things like that that I'd actually be able to put it into practice, but no. It's a common theme.) but they're really pretty high. They get a bit snow-capped in the Winter. More like snow dusted, on some days, for a few hours.

Nevertheless, the light and the colors! It really does look like that sometimes. Everything looks so warm and crisp, like you can see what those people in those houses way over there are eating for dinner and it's lookin' delicious.

Ash is working on some really cool new ring designs that I can't wait to show you. So freakin' cute. And the best thing is, is that when he comes up with new designs someone has to try them out to make sure that they don't break really easily or, you know, have a tendency to slice your finger up or get in the way when you're doin' high fives. That person is me by the way. And Siggy. And Ash has finally learned that it makes me cry a little bit when it's only Siggy that's the tester. And YES I get that it would be helpful if the tester actually wears the jewellery for more than five seconds between tasks that don't seem appropriate for jewellery wearing. It just seems wrong to get your rings wet. I don't know why.

Zuchinni from the garden

2008-01-24T12:45:00.001-08:00

Zuchinni from the garden, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

This is the tastiest zuchinni we've grown yet. We got the seeds from Koanga Gardens, a place that grows and cultivates and saves their own seeds. They're doing a great job to maintain a diverse plant stock, which is really important if you want, well diversity. Not to mention the taste. Delicious.

Zuchinni are the best thing to grow if you're new to gardening. They grow SO fast and seem to grow in even the crappiest of soil. I never really was here or there on zuchinni before we started growing them. I think I probably bought them a few times before and would eat them if they were there in my casserole, but I would never had made a soup of just zuchinni.

Well, last night, I did. It was really good, but it had cream in it, so that kinda goes without saying. But not much cream, just 1/4C in the whole pot. We ate it with bread salad (is it really a salad if it's got bread in the name?) and I think I'll have the rest for lunch today.

At the races!

2008-01-22T23:25:00.001-08:00

At the races!, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

I bet nine dollars. I won six dollars. I spent twenty dollars on Coronas (who has Coronas in New Zealand?) and fried food. I still consider myself a winner because I know what "I'd like a dollar each way on number seven," means.

How do you like dem apples? I mean tomatoes.

2008-01-22T23:23:00.001-08:00

Tomatoes, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

I don't want to go to work, I just want to stay home and make fried green tomatoes. And sit by and watch them turn red. Or will they be stripey green? Or will they be yellow and kinda purpley? Who knows? All I know is I like dem apples. Even though they're tomatoes.

Keeping Up

2008-01-17T03:12:00.001-08:00

Office Stool, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

Uh...I'm really sorry it's been so long. At some point Ash and I are going to realize that the Holidays aren't really holiday time for us. It's the biggest, busiest, craziest, shoppingiest of jewelleryiest time of the year. Which is great! Because now we can buy a new van to replace the one that was the tragic stooge in this big, busy, crazy, shopping time. Not to mention the fact that it's also Summer and we have to make time to swim. And Bar-b-que. And go to the races!

In between it all, I've been here on this stool making up organizational systems to keep track of all that jewellery. I love this office with the big desk I insisted be made out of the old closet door. I love that Ash added another half a door to it to make it the right size. I love that we put aside our shared disdain for chemical smells to paint a whole wall in blackboard paint. I love the view out the window of our corn and the hill I used to have to climb to go to a job I hated. I love that soon my beautiful niece and nephew will be sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room after a long day at Natureland.

In other news, we made our first batch of salsa verde from the tomatillos we grew. It was delicious, if I do say so myself. It made me feel sad for all those times I left a half full dish of it on the table at Trudy's just because I liked the red salsa better. Damn it, now I've created a Queso Espescial hole in my soul that I have no way of filling.

In more other news, we found our newest, favoritest swimming hole today for our daily after work dip. It has no official name, although we're considering 'sheep poo hole,' due to it's location next to a pasture. Oscar is getting braver by the minute and put his face under today all on his own. "Watching? WATCHING? Splash, splash, 1,2,3, splash-splash."

Oh, and we put on this year's batch of plum wine yesterday. Just two short years and it'll be ready. Luckily, we put our first batch on two years ago, so we have motivation alcohol. Unluckily, last year we did flagged it, so next year we're officially SOL. Good thing we finally found a source of tonic flavored syrup for our Soda Stream fizzing machine so we've overcome the over-priced tonic debacle. Good news, good news.

Happy Birthday

2007-12-09T19:15:00.000-08:00

After a long, tearful chat to my Sister, Ash and his Mum and I went to the Sunday flea market. Nelson is known for its Saturday market, probably the best in the country. On Saturdays, thousands of people come, you can buy delicious food, all sorts of cool (usually new) stuff, have coffee and see every single person you've ever met in your entire life. It's a bit overwhelming when you just want to get your week's veggies.

The Sunday market (or car boot sale) is the place for bargains. It's on a casual basis, so anyone can show up, pay a small fee and sell whatever the hell they want. You can buy everything from potted plants to antique furniture to who the hell knows? Some things are really expensive, but mostly it's people that just want to get rid of all their crap for fifty cents. Some weeks it's just a few blankets with piles of clothes and old shoes.

The general rule is to limit yourself to $20. Some weeks I spend nothing. That's not true, I always buy something. This week, I blew the budget. Ash and I ended up spending $70 between us. That includes coffee and scones (shut up) for the three of us. The market was big, we were ready. It was overcast and not hot, so we could carry a lot. Evan and Siggy left their house half an hour before we did, so I was worried that the bastards would get all the goods before we got there. The one week they went and we didn't, they scored an old card catalogue drawer, something that I've wanted FOR YEARS.

The best score so far is a brand-new meat mincer that Ash had his eye on for my Christmas present (sexy!). He, being the diligent internetarian that he is, had found out the best kind to buy from a sausage blogger. They retail for about $150, but the one at the market he scored for $8. Finally, I'll be able to make sausages sans lips and assholes. It's like living in a Fairy Tale.

I'll post photos later tonight after I seance the digital camera and perform a colonic on the firewire port. There will be pictures of depression glass! Eiderdown quilts! An old stapler! It'll be like going to Vegas with Brit-Brit and K-Fed before he got all fatherly and boring.

Phew!

2007-12-03T00:42:00.000-08:00

It's non-stop around here. My Mom tells me that I've always been a hard worker, and I believe her. However, I think I've usually just done it for show. You know, I always help you move, carry the stacks of folding chairs to the reception site, move piles of bricks from the front of the house to the back. Un-sustained, momentary outbursts of elbow-grease to prove my friendship. And? Masculinity? Who knows, but I definitely filled the in-between times with all-day marathons of Road Rules/Real World "The Gantlet."

Well, Ash, he's indefatigable. Honestly, he wakes up when the alarm goes off at seven and GETS OUT OF BED even though there's no way he's going to get fired for being late and waters the garden. I lay there, in the softest bed part of the day, hoping that he'll discover new and uncharted areas of the yard to water, areas that are at least 17-23 minutes away. But he doesn't. And everyday he asks me, "are you going for a walk today, Laurel?" And I fake awakeness and "you caught me mere seconds from hoping out of bed unpromptedness" and put my "sloppy joes" on as he calls them for our morning walk.

We come home, have breakfast and then work-he in the workshop and me in the office. I join him down in the workshop to do some grunt work until lunch. Eat. He gardens. I walk around trying to figure out how to start gardening. We work and listen to "This American Life" or Jim Moira on the National Program. We talk about dinner. We make dinner. I do more office work. He goes down to the workshop. I have a bath around 9 or 10 and get into bed. He works. And works. If the cricket's on he works some more.

Finally he comes to bed, and then we do it all over again. This pattern will continue while the days are long and the galleries are busy. I don't understand how he does it, but I sure am glad he does. It's fun to be a part of it, I hope it lasts.

Peaches

2007-11-27T23:33:00.000-08:00

I'll never forget eating Jewell Perry's homemade peach ice cream for the first time. It revolutionized me. I'd never had homemade ice cream before. I don't think I'd ever had peach ice cream before. I dropped very obvious hints about how great it'd be to have an ice cream machine. And a peach tree. And cream.

These were similar to the same hints I dropped about cake decorating kits and all the bits and pieces necessary to build a water feature in the back yard. I appreciated my Mom's enthusiasm about the idea of these constantly evolving interests, but the lack of capital investment was disappointing.

Luckily for me, this was the same Summer that we signed up to be a Neilsen family and had a whole catalog of household items to choose from as compensation for jumping through their hoops. Page 39 listed an "old-fashioned hand crank ice cream machine."

As this required no actual fiscal investment, the family agreed and the machine was ordered. Several days of neurotic mailbox checking later and our the machine arrived. Rock salt and peaches were purchased, a roster of crankers was created, custard made and we were 7 short hours away from homemade ice cream!

Four cases of RSI later, we were treated to extreme soft serve topped with peaches as hard as diamonds. The machine was never seen again. My Sister never forgave me for the toasted sandwich maker that could have been ours. I never figured out how little old Jewell Perry with her arthritis and 69lb frame held together with aquanet and polydent managed to survive the grueling procedure Summer after Summer.

The incredible problem solver and realizer of dreams that is my boyfriend managed to find a electrocized automatic ice cream maker at the recycle center (aka dump shop)so that we can turn these:

into the most delicious, easy and delicious homemade peach ice cream. Easy and delicious, just like me.

Long way, baby

2007-11-25T21:39:00.001-08:00

Long way, baby, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

Thanksgiving in another country is weird and kinda sad. Sad mainly because it really breaks my heart that most of my family is so far away that it's not only a different day where they are, its a different season. And weird because its NOVEMBER and it's so hot that it's ridiculously uncomfortable to eat all that food and then want to go swimming. Bikinis, cornbread dressing, pumpkin pie and wave-action just don't mix.

Not to mention the 30 hours of sunlight after you eat to make you feel guilty for not being able to anything due to sleepiness and mobility issues. Kinda like being hungover in church. I should be able to go to bed at 4:00pm guilt free, then wake up three hours later, eat more and then go back to sleep to the sounds of football and Hills Street Blues in the background.

Alas, all this moaning and whining kinda flies in the face of the holiday, so I'll take this opportunity to list all the things I'm grateful for.

1) Healthy babies.
2) My brand-new, beautiful office desk made from old closet doors
3) My hot foreign boyfriend with his cute accent and willingness to fully participate in and show exuberance for American holidays that mean absolutely nothing to him.
4) My global smathering of friends and family
5) Overwhelming views
6) The takeaway container of carbs soaked in turkey fat in my fridge

More Bedroom After

2007-11-22T02:25:00.001-08:00

decobed, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

Ash's Mum bought this bed at the local auction house and gave it to us. It pretty much set the theme for the room. I love it because 1) It's totally rad and 2)It provides us with headboard, bedside table and lamps all in one go.

Bedroom After!

2007-11-22T00:28:00.001-08:00

CIMG4720, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

From Egg Yolk, to, I don't know Under the Sea? Ash lovingly refers to it as Keira Knightly's minge as one of the colors we considered was called "Pirate's Haven."
I love it. Just looooooove it. It was damn hard work. Ash is super detail oriented (part of what makes him a great jeweller), so we ended up taking almost a month to complete the room, but the result is incredible.

The paint job is 100% flawless. There is nothing more satisfying than pulling the tape off the crown molding and seeing a razor sharp line between bright white and dark blue. I've never had the patience to see a project through so exactingly, but now I see the benefit.

The result is almost preppy. Honestly, as a scruffy girl in mostly wrinkled clothes and the wrong kind of shoes and the ability to tolerate persistent grease stains on my trousers, I'm just floored that something of mine could be so crisp and pristine. My heart beats fast when I get into bed, and not just because I have my very own Flight of the Conchord to share it with.

The lessons I learned from this project:

1) Always buy more paint than you think you need.
2) Peel the tape of while the paint is still wet.
3) But, Laurel, how can you peel the tape of when the paint is still wet if you're doing more than one coat?
4) The latest coat of paint re-wets the previous coats of paints allowing you to remove tape while paint is still wet.
5) Plaster dust is evil

Egg Yolk

2007-11-19T23:57:00.001-08:00

bedroom before, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

This is what our bedroom looked like when we first moved in. Ash didn't get my "Go Packers" reference. Yuck. Nice floors though. We ended up re-drywalling the ceiling (dryceilinging?), replacing the crown molding, taking out a closet (who needs storage?) fixing up all the crappy plaster work and, of course painting.

Our House

2007-09-05T04:30:00.001-07:00

Our House!, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

This is mine and Ash's 1940's state house bungalow. Evan and Siggy's is just across the street. We have a far, far away view of the sea and a gorgeous, blank hillside behind our house that seems very surreal. Ash says that we live in the Bronx, which just seems like a joke when you're from America. Having grown up in an actual crappy neighborhood I feel like I've won the lottery.

We bought this house, our first house without ever seeing it. That's not true, we'd seen the outside while visiting Ev and Sig, but never the inside. Relying on their opinion, trust in the building practices of the New Zealand government in the 40's and Ash's builder Dad's expert opinion we put in an offer. It was accepted and we moved in a couple of months later.

This house, I love. It's completely untouched on the inside and has been well-maintained on the outside. We get to do it up without having to do to many major systemic updates and the fact that it's across from our family/best friends is the best part of all.

We've been here for about 3 months and have rennovated our bedroom and are almost done with the office/spare room. We don't know if we should tackle the terracing out back or the major kitchen/lounge wall-removing overhaul extravaganza. Ash is an avid gardener and spring is coming....then again so is our new stove that we can't wait to cook on.

A Start

2007-09-04T14:32:00.001-07:00

all better, originally uploaded by laureljadewilliams.

This is Oscar. He's related to every single one of us, some of us twice. He's Evan and Siggy's kid, Ashley's nephew, My second cousin and also my (sorta) nephew. Sorta cause I'm Ashley's lady although we're not married. Evan is my cousin. Siggy is Ashley's sister. Confused? So is Oscar.

To make a long story short...My Kiwi cousin Evan came to visit me in Austin, Texas many years ago and we became fast friends. He came back to New Zealand and declared it was my turn to visit him. I did. He was very concerned because he'd just started dating his best friend's little sister.

And speaking of his best friend...Evan declared he'd be PERFECT for me! And he was! And we all fell in love. And made sure we weren't breaking any laws or crossing any blood lines. And then we went to France. To make a lot of money working on super yachts. And Siggy found out she was pregnant. Good thing we were making all that money.

And now we're all back here. Ash is making jewellery in his little workshop downstairs. Evan's making food at the family cafe and putting his art degree to good use designing gates and the coolest patio you've ever seen. Siggy's making beautiful babies, trying to figure out how to sand jewellery, breast feed and change nappies at the same all the while ignoring us when we when we tell her it's time to start painting again.

And me? I'm taking Ash's jewellery worldwide! Mainly so we have a good excuse to make trips to back to Texas tax deductable. And so I don't have to ever leave the house to work. And because his jewellery is beautiful and everyone in the world deserves a piece of it for their birthday.

AND! We all just bought our first houses! And we're doing them up! And they're across the street from each other! And Evan's sister Ashleigh and boyfriend and soon to be baby bought a house up the street! It's like the 50's only with wireless and climate change.