"Prior Planning Prevents..."

There is a saying someone once told me when I was first at teacher's college -

"Prior Planning Prevents Panic"

Throughout my 3 years of training and subsequent 10 years of teaching, that saying has morphed into several other similar 4Ps that I have kept in mind and also shared with the dozens of teacher trainees that I have mentored in the past 8 years.

Born out of this has come several derivitives including -

• "Prior Planning Prevents Problems"
• "Prior Preparation Prevents Panic"
• "Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance"
• and even the 6 P's - "Prior Preparation/Performance Prevents Piss Poor Performance"

Tonight, I find myself guilty of all the above!
Having only just organised my calendar over the past few days I have realised I have failed to plan and prepare.... for the 10km Botany Summer Fun Run & Walk.

#4 from my 50 Things 2012 List:
"Walk the 'Botany Summer Fun Run & Walk' 10km course again (done in 2011)"

Last  month February seemed like such a long way away and I was sure I'd have loads of time to train up my legs for the 10km walk... but then school started back for the year and I have not stopped working since. You see I have registered for the walk, but have not trained... (at all!)

Now it's going to hurt (and perhaps nearly kill me), but I'm going to DO this walk - THIS SUNDAY whether I like it or not, stay tuned for extreme blister photos (lol) and wish me luck!



Image Credit:  
Image: 'planner pages with pencil'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94168846@N00/6631666775

"Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

#17 from my 50 Things 2012 List:
"Make a list of 15 special or interesting places I'd like to visit around Auckland and start to visit these places"


After 3 days of research, miles of crowd sourcing through input from my Facebook friends my #17 goal of making a list of 15 special or interesting places I'd like to visit around Auckland is complete!

All I had previously was a scrappy envelope that I kept in my car for whenever I had a new inspirational idea of a place to add to the list. Now I have a whole new page on this blog of places I want to explore this year, complete with hyperlinks!

The plan has been made, and now to make some more plans!

This time, plans to have some fantastic weekends of exploring, getting out there and visiting these magical places!

Thank you SO much to everyone who contributed an amazing 35 plus comments to my Facebook plea! I will try hard to document some of my adventures throughout the year :)

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. 

So throw off the bowlines. 

Sail away from the safe harbor. 

Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.” 

~ Mark Twain

Image Credit: Image: 'Pink and green' 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34726560@N00/3731308899

"From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached."

#50 from my 50 Things 2012 List:
"Finalise my Divorce"

Huge progress this week towards my final BIG #50 'thing' from my 2012 list.

[I was contemplating the title of this post to be something like "Psycho stalker assists with #50" but have calmly decided against it and chose the above quote from Franz Kafka.]

You see this week I have had the 'pleasure' of being 'served' and been given official DIVORCE paperwork.


Yes, I did indeed use 'that' D-word! After 5 years of legal separation it has come.

Perhaps I could have done without being stalked by my ex-Mother in Law at my workplace, needing to hide in my boss' office while abuse was hurled in front of my work colleagues, then having to hide in a dark corner of my house while doors were banged on and yelling 'discussion' ensued. And I surely could have done without the questions from my students after an "angry old lady" yelled and threw paperwork towards me in my classroom the very next day.

But, do you know, it's done!

And what a great feeling! 

A new year, a new start and good riddance to old rubbish.
I never have regretted getting married, nor have I let it get me sour about men or relationships in general.

I have reached that point of being able to confidently move on and am very pleased indeed!
I may have to have a 'D Party' once all is finalised ;)

I have nearly accomplished my #50th 'thing' for 2012 :)

"From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached."  

~ Franz Kafka

Image Credit: Image: 'Ring'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20993292@N08/2232897539 

“But I always say one’s company, two’s a crowd, and three’s a party.”

#2 from my 50 Things 2012 List:
"Have a 30th Birthday 'shin dig' and really enjoy myself"

Two glorious venues and many fab friends made for a GREAT and memorable early 30th Birthday celebration day in Nelson on the 14th January.

My wee surprise was that in the morning Leanne treated me to getting my hair done up all fancy by her lovely hair dresser. Leanne had her hair done first while I trawled Pinterest on my phone looking for hair up styles I liked; meanwhile secretly wishing I was as organised as a friend Justine, who already has the above mentioned ideas already neatly 'pinned'.

My final look was pretty cool, a wee bit rockabilly with loose curls and a swooped back fringe complete with a wee bit of height. It looked so easy when done by a hair dresser but I am fairly sure I'll never be able to recreate it without 'adult supervision' :P

In the afternoon we checked into one of my favourite hotels in Nelson, The Monaco Resort. On this auspicious day (14th January 2006 was my wedding day at the SAME venue!) it was quite surreal. In quite an interesting twist the hotel had NO weddings on that weekend, which was a very rare occasion in the middle of wedding season. I took this as a good omen :)

Next we donned our flashest manners and visited another one of my favourite places in Nelson - the gorgeous and historic Melrose House. Quite a few months ago I had seen that the cafe there had started offering "High Tea" occasions and it looked absolutely divine.

And so we were treated to wee morsels of deliciousness (both savoury and sweet) and tea by the gallon, all from gorgeous china and tiered displays. I admit to being flabbergasted at the sheer volume of different teas they had on offer, from memory it stretched to over 3 pages of the menu! It was great to have some special friends join me for the occasion, including some I hadn't managed to catch up with when I was down in Nelson earlier this month.

Once the 'formal' part of the evening was over, the three of us were ready for some fun! Amie and I had arranged for the most amazing makeup artist Emillie from Blossom to come and do her magic on us. The results were fantastic! To complete the look I also had purchased a set of cat ears, whiskers and a bow tie for each of us ladies. We had a wee bit of fun playing around with them!

So without revealing too much; the rest of the night consisted of an awesome Sex Guessing Game (kindly provided by a Speech Language Therapist!), Limoncello, fireworks on the mudflats at Monaco and some dancing out at the Little Rock in Nelson. Now, who says you're too old also when you walk away with a business card from a 22 year old banker lol ;P

A fabulous night, and a huge thanks to the lovely Amie and Leanne who made it all happen x
One of the best nights out I have had in A LONG TIME!

“But I always say one’s company, two’s a crowd, 

and three’s a party.”

~ Andy Warhol