Seven things

I’ve been tagged by Carson !
And I tag Tanja…

Each person tagged gives seven random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write on their blogs seven facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag one other and list their name on your blog. You have to leave the person you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog.

7 random things about me. + 1 because I got a bit carried away.

{ One }

I met my best friend Polly when we were seven. we’ve somehow been best friends ever since even though she moved to London when we were 14. I visited her in 1990 when I lived in Germany and moved there in 1998. Polly has just moved back to Auckland. Yay!

This photo was taken in Hyde Park, May 2003.

{ Two }

I met Kevin through an online dating agency! Whilst reading TimeOut London one day I noticed they had a new site, TimeOutDating.com. I joined, put Kevin in my shopping basket, he contacted me. We didn’t do that whole email me a list of… kind of thing. Neither of us thought that was cool.

We met on May 31st 2004 at The Garden Gate in South End Green just by the Heath. He texted to say he’d be late. I phoned him asking what he wanted to drink. He fell in love then. I fell in love about five minutes after that.

This photo was taken at Madrid Airport August 2004.

{ Three }

If I had to choose only one food in the world ever to eat again it would be carrots. I love them in salad, spag bol, as they are, and sliced on toast. I think they are best sliced on toast. Second runner up would be rice and salad. Third runner up would be Donna Hay’s orange and poppy-seed cake made with spelt flour.

{ Four }

Astrid is named after Astrid Lindgren who is the author of my favourite book, The Brother’s Lionheart. It’s been my favourite book since we were read it at school when I was about 10. I went to the Auckland Steiner School from age 7 to age 14. That’s where Polly and I met.

{ Five }

When I was a kid my Dad was into the teachings of a guy named Da Free John. He wrote a lot of books about, well, life, and attaining enlightenment. When I was 11 we went off to his sanctuary in the states. It was called Mountain of Attention and it was about 4 hours from San Francisco in a bus. Well, it was just so much fun for me – hanging out with heaps of girls my age, doing yoga, wandering around the manicured gardens, picking flowers, meditating… there was a zoo there with a llama, secret wells and springs hidden amongst little temples here and there. A girl I made friends with, Cairo – she and I got kicked out of the school for kissing under the mistletoe out in the forest one day.

{ Six }

I lived in Germany for a year when I was 17 on an exchange. I lived in a tiny village called Angfurten, near Wiehl, near Gummersbach, near Köln. I still keep in touch with my host family and I still speak pretty fluent German. I have also lived in Belgium – in a tiny village on the German and Dutch borders – called Gemmenich. I was an au pair. That didn’t last long – only 4 months. I lived in London from 1998 until 2006 with a year back in Auckland in between.This photo is of the house I lived in in Germany.

{ Seven }

I went to University for about 4 months and studied completely the wrong things – ie international business. Needless to say that didn’t last long. My first job was as a calligrapher. I was 18 and earning about $80 an hour writing names on invites, table placings and name badges for the New Zealand Investment Conference. My second job was as a receptionist at a sharebroking agency where I got one half of my sharebroking papers. They changed their minds about training me as a sharebroker so I quit and got a job as a graphic designer. The rest is history.

{ Eight }

My ambition was always to be an interior designer then that changed to shoe designer at about 19. I was enrolled to go to the college in Melbourne but it closed down a week before I started. So here I am as a web designer with ambitions to be a fabric / fashion / accessory / paper goods designer with a skincare range.

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Right – I have to go and get Astrid ready, so I’ll finish this up and tag my peeps later !!

Have a fun Sunday…