(no subject)
Fruitbat_mum took Alan and me to meet his youngest brother and his fiancee, then the five of us went to meet one of Alan's older brothers' wives and her three-week old baby, Melissa, who is just adorable. She let me hold her and everything was great (I miss holding a baby that tiny!), then as she was laying in my lap she spit up on my jeans. Alan's sister-in-law apologized profusely, but of course that's nothing new to me. It's a sign the baby likes you, right? ;) Then we went over to see Alan's _other_ sister-in-law and her 20-month-old, Emily, to whom her mother introduced me as "Auntie Sierra." Squeee!! She is _very_ pregnant. Like, any-day-now pregnant. So she may or may not make it to Alan's party on Saturday. But at least we got to see her.
Fruitbat_mum bought us pizza for lunch, which we ate in a park with a little fountain, then she took little_brother-and-fiancee home and Alan and I went in search of a costume shop, which turns out no longer to be where Alan remembered it, so we will have to try again tomorrow. Boy am I glad I was able to convince him to _begin_ the costume process today instead of tomorrow, even if my pleas to do some internet searching and get addresses and phone numbers apparently fell on deaf ears.
We tooled around central Auckland, which was fun. Got us both new hats (mine is more fashionable than my Yosemite hiking hat, and Alan's has replaced his lost - and much lamented - leather hat), a watch for me (I never realized how often I use my cell phone to check the time until I don't have it on me anymore), clothes and a hat and an abalone heart necklace for Morgan, and a cheeky t-shirt for Rew. I'm not sure if he'll really be able to wear it out in public, but I'm pretty sure he'll find it hilarious anyway. Ooh, and Alan bought me a very pretty silver necklace wit a greenstone pendant, which apparently is quite sacred to the Maori and thus a big thing to New Zealanders in general.
On our way to meet elven_alchemist at the university, we actually ran into her on the street. So we walked back to her place, talked New Bretonia, taught her how to play Munchkin Cthulhu, and gave her the plushie Cthulhu we bought at Great Escape, like, two weeks ago. She loves it. She squeed and glomped us both and just sat there with a big cheesy grin, stroking it. I love an appreciative audience. elven_alchemist also gave me a barrette carved with butterflies, which is perfect because for the handfasting and party on Saturday I was planning to wear my hair half back in a barrette anyway. She ways it was one of those things where you see something and you just know you have to buy it, and who you have to give it to. Sometimes the Universe does indeed make its voice heard.
The three of us (or rather, four, if we're counting the Great Plushie One) caught a train to starfirenz and Gryphon's so we could go over the ritual for the handfasting, which I really am getting excited about now. Squee! Minor adjustments were made, and other than making sure the cord - provided by elven_alchemist - was indeed long enough to wrap around our hands, we all felt comfortable enough without a more thorough run-through. Little_brother-and-fiancee picked us up & brought us home, since she was visiting friends down here tonight anyway. Now Alan and I are going to take a dunk in the pool before crashing. Oh, my feet....
Fruitbat_mum bought us pizza for lunch, which we ate in a park with a little fountain, then she took little_brother-and-fiancee home and Alan and I went in search of a costume shop, which turns out no longer to be where Alan remembered it, so we will have to try again tomorrow. Boy am I glad I was able to convince him to _begin_ the costume process today instead of tomorrow, even if my pleas to do some internet searching and get addresses and phone numbers apparently fell on deaf ears.
We tooled around central Auckland, which was fun. Got us both new hats (mine is more fashionable than my Yosemite hiking hat, and Alan's has replaced his lost - and much lamented - leather hat), a watch for me (I never realized how often I use my cell phone to check the time until I don't have it on me anymore), clothes and a hat and an abalone heart necklace for Morgan, and a cheeky t-shirt for Rew. I'm not sure if he'll really be able to wear it out in public, but I'm pretty sure he'll find it hilarious anyway. Ooh, and Alan bought me a very pretty silver necklace wit a greenstone pendant, which apparently is quite sacred to the Maori and thus a big thing to New Zealanders in general.
On our way to meet elven_alchemist at the university, we actually ran into her on the street. So we walked back to her place, talked New Bretonia, taught her how to play Munchkin Cthulhu, and gave her the plushie Cthulhu we bought at Great Escape, like, two weeks ago. She loves it. She squeed and glomped us both and just sat there with a big cheesy grin, stroking it. I love an appreciative audience. elven_alchemist also gave me a barrette carved with butterflies, which is perfect because for the handfasting and party on Saturday I was planning to wear my hair half back in a barrette anyway. She ways it was one of those things where you see something and you just know you have to buy it, and who you have to give it to. Sometimes the Universe does indeed make its voice heard.
The three of us (or rather, four, if we're counting the Great Plushie One) caught a train to starfirenz and Gryphon's so we could go over the ritual for the handfasting, which I really am getting excited about now. Squee! Minor adjustments were made, and other than making sure the cord - provided by elven_alchemist - was indeed long enough to wrap around our hands, we all felt comfortable enough without a more thorough run-through. Little_brother-and-fiancee picked us up & brought us home, since she was visiting friends down here tonight anyway. Now Alan and I are going to take a dunk in the pool before crashing. Oh, my feet....