Finding My Christmas Spirit :: An Act of Desperation... Or Maybe One of Devotion

After my post about the wine festival a couple weekends ago and feeling so fab about our impending summer, looking forward to sunshine and barbeques, it got me thinking perhaps I've been a little distracted and haven't been focusing on the real message of Christmas. It's amazing that even after a year of living in the southern hemisphere I still struggle with the seasons being opposite of what I am so use to... it feels more like the 4th of July is just around the corner rather than the celebration of our savior's birth. So I decided to challenge myself to a few DIY projects around our house to bring in a little holiday cheer and cherish the season. 

I can't say they've all been successful. In fact, if you saw this month's Ten on Ten post you caught a glimpse of how things have been going over here at Thirty3Gloucester.... For example, this fumble... 

10 points to the first person who correctly identifies the materials used to create this sorry piece of holiday art.... Yep. If you guessed a scrap piece of sheet rock (or 'gib' for the NZ readers) that I stole from my husbands collection and chalk, you are correct.

I'm not really sure what came over me? Clearly I was caught in a moment of pure desperation, grasping for (literally) whatever I could find to imply my need for holiday cheer. God knows the Christmas carols Pandora keeps spitting out isn't cuttin' it, and really isn't evoking much other than frustration and feelings of great distance between this home and that of our loved ones so far away!  

It finally dawned on me that many of these feelings are really my heart aching for some of my own holiday traditions that I'm missing out on for the second year in a row. Like pulling out and using the holiday dishes I've been collecting piece by piece for about 8 years now. And the ornament collection my parents started for me when I was a child, and continue to add to each year. I didn't realize how special a ritual it is for me to get that box out of storage every year, unwrap each one, reflecting on its history and then carefully placing it on our Christmas tree. 

Perhaps I knew this before, but it seems I am clearly recognizing in this season how important the traditions of home really are. They are after all important elements that bind us to family and friends, hold us steady, keeping us connected while we're apart. So to help me relocate my center and redirect my heart back to the true miracle of Christmas, I decided to start a new little tradition and make myself an advent calendar, which tells the nativity story just a little day-by-day. 

This really was an ultra easy DIY, perfect for someone like me who generally lacks the crafty, design gene and even more so, the patience to complete more intense craft projects. This one was a little time consuming, but that's where the 'act of devotion' comes in. Believe me, I didn't pull this all together in one sitting! (I got figity and had to take a beverage break.... and let's be honest, my pen ran out of ink about 3/4 of the way through...) So I spread it out over a couple days. It would have gone much quicker if I had a rubber stamp to make the wreath, but frankly I found it so therapeutic to sit with each card and go through the process of creating each one. On the back side of each card I wrote a piece of the nativity story, beautifully retold on these freebies that I found through a quick Pinterest search.

Now that it's complete and hung I am so glad I put in the time to make this calendar. In fact, I'm considering having the cards laminated so they'll last more than one or two seasons. I think it will be a great reminder to Drew and me of our first full year (second Christmas) in New Zealand and of the many acts of devotion it took to get us and keep us here. This project was also a great reminder that I need to continue to be present in each moment, enjoying every bit of the season we're in and all this chapter of our life has to offer us. 

Wishing each of you a holiday season abundant with love, joy and laughter.
Merry Christmas from the Robinson family! Xoxo

Here's How To Make This Advent Calendar

Materials  :

24 pieces of card stock cut to the size of your liking

1-2 white scrap-booking pens

1 glass jar with the appropriate diameter opening to fit the card stock

Butcher twine, hemp or string (I used hemp butcher's twine)

decorative clothes clips 

Method:

1. Start by tracing the lip of the jar onto each card, leaving and opening at both the top and bottom. 

2. Next, draw the leaves down the shaft of the twig. I imagined a sprig of thyme and tried to replicate it's shape.  

3. Now, shade in each leaf, and add a few decorative berries at the bottom of the wreath in between where the twigs meet. 

4. Then, number the cards from Day 1 to Day 24. 

5. Turn the cards over and inscribe a piece of the nativity onto each card.

To hang:

1. Assemble the cards in order.

2. String the twine into place, fastening it with tape, tacs, or some other fancy method you come us with. 

3. Add the clips, evenly spacing them across the twine.

4. Attach the cards to the clips in order of days 1-24.

Enjoy!

Ten on Ten :: December 2013

Happy Ten on Ten!

Finding life and beauty in the ordinary things of our day to day! 

Ok. I'll admit I had to dig deep this month. Surprisingly too. I've been so excited about the holidays, but this celebrating in the opposite season business has really been eating at me the past few days. I've actually been trying really hard to encorporate some holiday cheer into our little home, but feel like all of my projects are duds! This day ended with my husband rounding me up, wiping the chalk and tears off my face, and taking me out for a pint just to get my head out of my... well, to cool off and get my head straight... sigh... the holidays sure do have a way of messing with our emotions don't they? Well, cheers to another day...

{SidewalkChalk} {OurGrapevinesLookin'Good!} {TheNumbersGame} {We'llCallThisAnActOfDesperation}{UnfinishedBusiness} {The12BeersOfChristmas!} {TimeToGetCrackin'}{KiwiChristmas}{WellDoneLeopardPrintPlatforms..Rar..} {OdeToFellowExpats-BringBackTheAmericans!}

Apartment Therapy :: Session II

A little Thirty3Gloucester Inspiration for you this morning... Warm neutrals and a bit of whimsy woven together with simplicity.... as I've noted in the past, I am a girl who adores tons of natural sunlight.... and one who is obsessed with the contrast of wood against bare white walls. Love. I sure am lucky to have a husband who is open to my design tastes and one who is such a skilled woodworker that he can make my ideas a reality. :)

A simple, relaxed retreat to call home. At least, this is the vibe we hope to create in our new space.  One that is soothing and welcoming. What do you think?

 

Images: coat rack: Le Repère des Belettes | French minimalism art: A Thoughtful Eye | open shelving and décor: Father Rabbit | fairytale and house cut-out: Merchant Design Studio | underwater man sketch: Refined Vices | bubble vase: Henhurst Interiors | building: Kerry Murray Photography | stairs: Vosgesparis 2.0 | chunky knit and round mirror: Dust Jacket | Audrey Hepburn quote: Pinterest | pallet wood bed: Could I have that? | car and Roman bridge: Kerry Murray Photography

Happy Birthday QEII!

What a great holiday weekend! Our first time ever celebrating the Queen of England’s birthday as a national holiday. It was the perfect opportunity to embrace our new home and create a few new family traditions. We may not be traditionalists on this matter, but we sure had a lot fun spending the long weekend working around the house on new projects. And Eco-Shop lent itself to some very successful thrifing! I've been dying to find a really large mirror that we could use as an art piece to help our tiny home feel larger, but everything I've seen so far has been several hundred dollars and up. Until yesterday that is! I found an old mirrored closet door (you know, the kind that were really popular in the 80’s and early 90’s). There it was just waiting for me in the builder's yard for only 15 bucks! I’m going to clean it up and use some leftover wood from another project to build a new frame for it. It's going to look fabulous leaning against the wall near our entryway and will hopefully help this space feel a bit larger. The highlight of our shopping trip however, was a little splurge I found!  2 replica Xavier Pauchard Tolix stools in galvanized gunmetal that (after pleeding my case to the Mr. as to how much we neeeded these stools for our place) proved to be on special for 50% off when we got up to register! At a price that kept even Mr. Robinson’s pocket book happy!! Sweet as!

The evening was celebrated with a little British style meal of homemade beer-battered fish and chips. Perfected by Pacific Pale Ale from Monteith’s Brewing Co., another local beer that we recently tried for the first time. (Drew and I have been slowly working our way through the wonderful and exponentially growing world of New Zealand craft beer.) Crisp and clean, PPA is brewed with a lively mix of New Zealand and Pacific Northwest American hops, which we agreed was a nice nod to our Pacific Northwest roots and certainly made the dish worth indulging in. We then wrapped up our holiday weekend with a classic, just right for this stormy evening - James Bond 007! British perfection! 

Hope you had a great weekend too. I’ll be back later this week with a little design inspiration I’ve been pulling together that will hopefully give you a good sense of the tone we're trying to set in our new space. Hope you’ll join me!

This Calls For Celebration!

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 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!

Apartment Therapy :: Session I

If I had a dollar for every drawing my husband has sketched to help me understand the vision or engineering behind the project he's engaged with at the time, I would have a lovely nest-egg by now. I've been wanting to share what we've been working on over here on Gloucester street for some time, but just haven't known where to start... because, well, I've been a bit hesitant to share images of our current living situation... because, well, let's be honest, the size of our place is a bit shocking and the living conditions a bit sparse (ie - Un-Inspiring!).

Let me give you the tour.... 

This is the 19.5m2 (approximately 210 sq foot) self-contained flat that I share with my 6'5" tall husband in the heart of City Center, Christchurch. There is no bedroom. No closet. That's right - No refrigerator! (At least when we moved in). Our landlord finally got around to installing our heat-pump, so we no longer freeze at night (YAY!), and that stove - nothing but a hardwired piece of installation art at this point (we're working on affording a new one)... But, all-in-all what you're looking at is the potential for very efficient, simplistic living.

One of my favorite features about this space is the boatload of light we get everyday! I absolutely love (and am one of those people who needs!) lots of natural light in my home. And this place delivers! It wouldn't be a stretch for me to assume that Drew's favorite feature about this place is the price tag :) Since so many homes and apartments have been devastated by the earthquake, we've found that quality, affordable housing is hard to come by. Along the road, we've met a number of people who've been displaced from their homes and a surprising number of them either living at holiday parks or there for extended-stay while their home is repaired - and this is 2 years after the earthquake! 

Although this space is teeny and...um...basic, we both agree that the location of our new home really can't be beat! Christchurch may not have much of a nightlife right now (I'm assuming it's) because so many businesses have been shut, moved away, or their buildings torn down, but our current location puts the rebuild quite literally right outside our front door. We're within a one block walk to many concerts, festivals and activities that take place in Hagley Park. And nearly every day we see new buildings breaking ground or new boutiques and restaurants popping up. It's really exciting to think about and it's really amazing to watch this city rebuild. The people here are lovely. Other than the occasional grump at the market, most people are very warm and excited to learn that we've relocated here. And I'd say, those who've chosen to stay to see this city get back on it's feet are some of the most resilient people I've met.

We moved to NZ for the adventure, challenge, and opportunity to slow down and live more intentionally. Not to say we couldn't have done that back in the States, but cleansing ourselves of most of our belongings to make this move happen, we have embraced the opportunity to build a newly-wed life from scratch as we participate in a community also starting anew. This move was also and opportunity for a newly married couple to focus on something else that is important right now. Us. My husband is a structural engineer and the opportunity for him to gain international work experience in a field that is in very high demand right now in New Zealand was a career choice this family couldn't pass up.

We don't know for sure how long we will be in New Zealand, but we do know that everyday counts. Although we are reminded everyday of the sacrifices we chose to make to move here, we agree it was definitely worth the risk. And even though we desperately miss our family and friends... and Sam, our handsome, easy going golden retriever, we agree this was the best time in our life to take such a risk if we were ever going to.

Ehem... Getting back to our apartment - It's going to take a lot of thought, design, and some time to get this place up and fully functioning, but Drew and I have become quite comfortable in this space already. Perhaps living in our semi-converted campervan for the first couple months we were in New Zealand, touring the north island countryside helped us realize just how spacious and full of potential our new home really is! 

This is what we upgraded from....

A 1994 Toyota Townace that was once used as an electricians work van. The company decal including contact info is still visible from both rear windows. I love it!

And here are couple more photos of us enjoying 'life on the road'. See, it's not too hard to live without all the common amenities we're accustom to, right? Ok... I will admit, there were days I wished I didn't have to put on my shoes to use the lou, but in reality, I would do it again in a heartbeat!

That wooden 'box' with the folded cushions on top ufolded into our bed. We would unfold it and use the cushions as sleeping pads every night and then put it all back together the next morning so I could cook. As you can see from the photos, Mr. Robinson also designed a drawer that pulled out of the box, which held our camp stove. I don't have a picture of it, but I bartered with a guy at Bunnings (like Home Depot) in Rotorua to sell me the floor model of a rolling hard case toolbox for 40% of it's retail price. I used it as a campbox, which stored all of our pots, pans, dishware and spices. It worked great as our portable kitchen and kept the rain out too, so I could leave it sitting outside during the night, but packed away easily when we were ready to roll! However, now that case has been turned over to Mr. Robinson who uses it for actual tools that he brought with him and a few that he's started to aquire.

Here are a couple of photos of Drew building our 'first home' in New Zealand...

And this is the view I enjoyed for most of that project... Not bad, right?

This last photo isn't much to look at, but it is one that always makes me smile. There were so many places along the road where we just pulled off the highway onto a beach and we could set up shop. Drew would pull out the spare car battery we bought at a garage sale in Whangarei and he somehow hooked up his power tools to it to outfit our campervan. This picture depics that activity very well... We actually spent 4 nights at this beach. Mostly because it was free (which is pretty hard to find unless you're traveling completely self-contained), but also Drew had a couple finishing touches to do to our bed, so this is where he worked... in the rain! And yes, that is my laundry hanging out to dry over the passenger side door. :)

I'll be back soon with updates on the loft bed Mr. Robinson is building for our new place and some design inspiration I'm planning to use as I decorate our flat!

Have a great week everyone!

Ten on Ten :: April 2013

Happy Ten on Ten!

Finding life and beauty in the ordinary things of our day to day!

{Good Morning Sunshine} {Glass House} {Morning Routine} {AR Loft Design} {Boundary Lines} {Silent Partner} {Idle Tracks} {Sunset on the Avon} {Dinner Improv} {Date Night}