This has been a week full of blessings! I
can hardly contain myself!
It started Sunday afternoon when I went out to collect the laundry. Yes, that's right, we don't have a dryer over here on Gloucester street, we drip dry... Drew was wrapping up his tools after spending most of the day out back working away in the warm sunshine, building some shelving for our little kitchen nook and finishing his cut list for the rest of the framing to our loft-bed. He asked if I wanted to hear some good news. "Of course I do"! Apparently, while I was inside he made a phone call to our landlord to let her know that we've been trying to save up for a new stove, but just haven't been able to right now. He let her know that we've been using a hotplate to cook with since we moved into our flat 4 months ago because the stove was so corroded and the burners twisted. (Clearly this stove had been sitting outside for an extended period of time while our flat was being refurbished after the quake - likely in the rain by looks of it!) Drew asked her if we could swap stoves with the apartment downstairs since the tenant was moving. Our landlord apologized and said it would be too much work to swap stoves since they're hardwired in... Sooo, she offered to replace ours! She said she thought this matter was sorted months ago! I'm pretty sure you would have been embarrassed for me (or maybe for Drew) if you heard the squeak and witnessed the little jump and dance I did right there in the yard when he told me... Guarantee Drew was... Embarrassed for at least one of us, I mean. ;)
And that's not all! Earlier that morning, I discovered an email requesting a meeting this week between me and the Director of a company that I've been dying to work for planning artisan food, craft beer and wine festivals across the South Island. I tracked the Director down after attending one of his beer festivals on my husbands birthday last summer. I have been 'courting' this guy for over a month now, bugging him to offer me a job and finally he wants to chat again!! Granted, there was no job that I was actually applying for when we first met, rather initially we chatted because I requested an informational interview with him, which now appears to be unfolding into an awesome opportunity. Hopefully, I will get the chance to participate in planning special events for this region, helping Christchurch regain itself as a desirable place to live and visit! I so hope this door opens... I should know more soon....
And then yesterday, Drew asked me to meet him at the post on his way home from work. Apparently, two boxes had arrived from the US. And guess what - They were stuffed full of kitchen goodies that I have been craving! My sweet mother-in-law put together the cutest care package of kitchen gadgets and tools to help stock our kitchen, which will surely soon be over-worked now that our new stove is on its way!
So while my carne asada marinates for tonight's little Mexican fiesta with Mr. Robinson, and the marinara for later this week simmers away on that can't-be-replaced-soon-enough hotplate, I've decided to pull out and prepare my new copper tun for a little home brew project!
I'm not going to pretend like I'm any kind of expert on home brew. Heck, I wouldn't even call myself experienced, but I thought this week's blessings sure call for a little celebration to punctuate how much these special happenings have meant to this house. So.... I've decided to brew a nice nutty brown ale, or a little Celebration Brown Ale if you will. Of course, our brew won't be ready for a few weeks, but hopefully by then we'll be able to toast to our new, finished loft-bed that Drew has been working away at during his spare time on the weekends and we'll be able to celebrate our upcoming anniversary, marking 6 months of us living in New Zealand! Cheers to that success!
My beer making supplies are a little splurge that I finally indulged in with the birthday money I've been waiting to use. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my birthday was in January.... and yes, by this weekend it will be June. Because Drew had to leave his bikes behind when we moved and because it was important to him to celebrate landing that great engineering job when we arrived in Christchurch by splurging on a new bike, I let him 'borrow' (if you can actually do that as a married couple with a joint account?) my birthday money to help him afford the Felt65 he'd been eying. Months later, it's finally my turn for a little birthday splurge so we wandered out to Your Shout where Jarryd, the really nice and super informed shopkeepers son, hooked me up with all the beer making essentials to get me started! I could tell this was a birthday gift that Drew was really excited about too, so he'll be stoked when he comes home tonight to find out what we have brewing! If it doesn't suck, I'll tell you all about it when its ready to be bottled!
Hope you're having a great week and take a little time to recognize something in your own life to celebrate. May it be big or small, I hope it's something that makes you do a little dance and rejoice in the blessings surrounding you!
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