Hello Tokyo.

Three days in Tokyo. Rode the trains and ate good food.

Fifteen strawberries for 2625yen, roughly $40nzd.
Other that that prices are much the same as Auckland.

One of many drink stops. This one at L'Occitane in Shibuya.

A Love Hotel.

Turn off the main roads and you quickly find yourself in suburbia.

A Blurry Good Morning.

After a great night of x-box bonding and all the boys had gone back to whence they came I wandered outside.

Taken between 5.15am and 5.30am on Tuesday the 24th of November, 2009.

Hedgehog in the garden.

Look who we found in our garden. So adorable but a pest in New Zealand. They eat our native bugs and worst of all they devour our ground nesting birds. We really should have killed him but we couldn't bring ourselves to do it.

So you need a Catholic church... an Auckland guide.

You don't believe in God but you are getting married and for some reason you now need a Catholic church. A church never entered your wedding plans but now you need to rethink the plan... Where to start?

The priest is probably a good place to start. There are so many out there and getting the right one can be hard (We went through 2 before finding one that we were happy with). They can be a great help. Use him, he knows stuff. Book him early, the good ones are really busy.

Then there is the marriage course. You won't be able to have a Catholic wedding without attending a registered course. The Auckland course, Pre-Marriage Education, is quite good. They do not try to preach to non-Catholics and is mostly filled with practical topics that apply to everyone. The most ammusing part is a lengthy questionare that you fill in alone then compare answers with your partner with one on one help with a married couple. Some funny questions about sexual orientation thrown in there, just in case you hadn't let your partner know. The second part consists of a skill enhancement course covering the following topics...

• Exploring our origins
• Building a shared understanding of Marriage
• Sharing ourselves - Intimate communication
• Coping with difference - Managing conflict
• Intimacy/ Sexuality- Giving Love, Giving Life
• To Have and to Hold – Sacrament of Marriage

Then there in the wedding service. Your priest should give you a list of things you must have in the service as well as a list of optionals like hymns and readings. We had decided that hymns weren't for us so kept them out and kept the readings to the required number so it ended up being a nice short 20-30min wedding which is what we were looking for. Then there is the option of having the service with or without Communion. It can get confusing but the priest will have all the answers.

Now that the formalities are over with, The Church...

The Catholic Diocese of Auckland has a list of all the parishes and web links for the churches that have their own websites. Here are a few of my favourite.

Saint Peter's Catholic Parish Waiheke Island.

This one gives you great views and lets all your guests feel like they are having a mini holiday visiting the island. Fees apply to non residents but with a great location and views like that who would mind?
Waiheke is also great for the reception, think picnicking in a vineyard. And off to Stony Batter for photos.

St John the Baptist, Parnell.

It dosn't have its own website but your priest will be able to help you with information. Its one of the oldest Auckland Catholic churches. Good for mid sized weddings, I would guess 100 to 150 guests. Located roughly halfway up Parnell rise it is in the heart of the action. A cute modest church with a choir loft. This one would look great with some bright flours and a coulourful bunting out the front. Maybe one like this.

(One I made, send me a message if you are interested in something similar)

How bout a Church outside of Auckland? Pouhoi has a great little church.

Church of Saints Peter and Paul.

And you don't even have to stick to a Catholic church. Some Anglican churches will let you rent their churches and allow you to bring your own priest.

The Holy Trinity Parnell has 3 great churches for use to all who will pay. Here are some descriptions about guest capacity from their website.


St Stephen’s Chapel: Judge Street, Parnell: is a tiny historic chapel best suited for small numbers. If you are marrying in St Stephen’s, there are space restrictions which can affect the number of your attendants and it is not possible to gather more than 45 guests within this church.

This is a great little church (We were married here, and even got to ring the bell at the end of the service. We had the bunting pictured above across the door and it gave such a great festive feel.) Because of the size it is great if you just want a small personal wedding. There is a grave out the back full of roses and a cute picket front gate. There is even a small organ inside for live music.

St Mary’s-in-Holy Trinity, Parnell Road, is a large wooden church, formerly the cathedral and now placed within the grounds of the new Holy Trinity Cathedral. Up to 500 people are able to gather in the Nave of St Mary's.

Defiantly the prettiest large church in Auckland. Open during the day for visitors. Why not head to Parnell for a coffee or lunch and check it out.

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell Road, is the new Cathedral, the regular place of worship for the parish and our many visitors, as well as being a centre for numerous civic events and concerts. Up to 1100 people are able to gather in the Nave of Holy Trinity Cathedral. For those with a smaller number of guests, speak to the priest about using the Chancel which provides for approximately 80 people.

Don't want to leave anyone off the guest list? This is the church for you. Heaps of natural light and one of the most amazing ceilings I have seen in Auckland architecture. The great courtyard out front for all your guests to gather after the ceremony and a pretty garden with a wandering path down the side.


I hope this has helped. Always visit a church before deciding, remember to go inside too. What looks good on paper may not be what you really need. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions (bring you pen and paper, it all gets a bit confusing a seeing a few they start to merge). Bring a friend, they might have some ideas that you have not thought of. And don't be afraid to say no.

Good luck and have fun.

Adventured on a Rainy Day.

So its cold wet and miserable, what do you do?... Adventure time! So Joel and I headed out to Muriwai with our cameras, some snacks and our wet weather gears.

This is what we found.

These are the public toilets with cute little turf roofs. You can see a few flax bushes growing up there too.

That little upright speck is some guy fishing.

The best part was leaning into the wind then topping it all off with a
BLAT from the local takeaway.

Flickr Find.

These are so many amazing photos on Flickr. Today I stumbled upon a couple of wonderful shots by Picnic by Ellie. Vintage aprons are one of my weaknesses and I'm defiantly going to attempt a version of the first one. The little capped shoulders are so cute!

Maybe I might do a mix of the two. Full skirts are the most fun and dressed up with that string of pearls perfect for hosting dinner, some tea or even a picnic.

Burda style, open source sewing.

It works out that I don't quite have enough grey wool fabric for that dress in the last post and I don't really want another black dress so its off to the fabric store tomorrow. In the mean time I will sew up a black one just to make sure the pattern fits. Might jazz it up with some embroidery or something, I'll let you know.

While in this sewing mood I was doing quite a bit of internet trawling and found this little jem. Burda style, a place for sewers to share patterns and creations. There is a bunch of free patterns to try out.

I found this cute little cape jacket designed by ceregana. Look her up, she's also designed and posted another great jacket, her patterns are easy to print and easy to follow.

Cute little dress.

A friend of mine gave me this wonderful vintage dress pattern. I'm trying to decide what sort of fabric to make it from. So far I know I want to make winter and summer versions. Trouble is I have so much black wool that the winter one will probably be black, I would prefer to have it grey. I love grey at the moment. Not flat grey but the sort that is made up of various depths of grey. I do have some grey wool left, fingers crossed I have enough.

As for the summer dress it would be great to get my hands on some blue Japanese fabric similar to the fabric that this pouch is made of.


Or even like the pattern below.


And here are a couple of cute amusing little things I found while googeling Japanese fabrics.

Hidden Snowflakes.

Yesterday I was standing at our french doors just breathing breath onto the glass and thinking about drawing some pictures. I stood back and found that a snowflake had appeared. When it fades there is no trace of it.

Then I thought if there is one why not another... Sure enough there was one on the other door. Wonderful!

Spoonflower.

This is for everyone who loves fabric. I've always wanted to design my own and now I can thanks to the people at Spoonfabric. Just send them what you want and they print it for you. You don't even have to order very much, swatches are $5US to make sure you are getting what you want. I'm thinking maybe a retake on a vintage wallpaper or some whimsical drawings. I can see this could become quite addictive.

Crate inspiration.

I have been thinking about shelving recently. I usually favour custom built bookshelves but the crate caught my fancy, they are so modular (and if you are lucky free). If you get board just move them about. The wood has texture and a great variation of colour (you can always paint or stain them too). So here are a few to gaze over and gather inspiration.