Hello June!

So, in honour of my return to the world of blogging, I've decided to do a post about my June Goals. I am always inspired by Nancy Ray and her monthly goal lists - and seeing things crossed out every month too (way to go nancy!)...and I do really love to make lists... So, here, my friends (if I still have any readers out there...) is my list of goals to complete by the end of June.

1. Finish my "alligator chair". Now, I know what this entails, but I'll go into more detail for you: It all started when I bought a cheap retro wooden arm chair from Salvation army... then I took an upholstery class with my friend Wendy to learn how to recover it (this was months ago people...). And now, once and for all, I'd like to call it finished. I want to strip the varnish what is currently on the wood, sand it back down to beauty, then re-stain and re-seal it. I've been sanding and staining wood for the past few weeks on the job I'm working on now, so this really should be a piece of cake.. just have to do it!

Okay now this picture is actually not a picture of the chair i am talking about. the chair I am talking about is in the background (the burgundy one)... apparently (even after trolling through EVERY picture on my external hard drive), i do not have a picture of my alligator chair before i pulled the fabric off..sad. Before I strip and sand it though, i will take one.
oh, and it's called an alligator chair now because of the new fabric that I used to upholster it with. You'll have to wait for the "After" picture to see.

2. Paint my deck furniture.

Here is the before picture from when i bought these chairs before Christmas last year. The natural wood was pretty, but did not weather well.. I am painting them with a high gloss enamel finish that will help seal the bamboo. I have already sewn all new cushion covers for them and I have already primed them. I want to spray on the enamel so that it is really smooth without any brush strokes, so I'll need to take them all to the workshop where I'll have access to an air compressor...


3. Finish the book Blue Like Jazz. Scott gave it to me and I've started it and like it so far...I just need to go to bed those extra few minutes early so i can get some reading time in!

4. Actually take my daily vitamins on a daily basis. I sometimes remember, sometimes- not so much... So for the whole month of June I want to get into the habit of actually taking them!

5. Update my blog once per week. This is HUGE. I hope this isn't too ambitious of me to commit to...

6. Complete my NZ taxes and send them in.

7. Plan a "Christmas in July" party. Since it's winter here now (and actually feeling like the Christmas-hot chocolately weather), I'd like to host a party for all the Kiwi's to see what a Northern Hemisphere Christmas feels like, and for all the Americans here (and a few Canadians..and a German:) - to have a proper Christmas. Where you have to wear a sweater. not flip flops.

8. Organize and book shipment of some parcels from home via ship (so that weight doesn't up the price). I have ordered some paint tools and a few other goodies (clothes! yay!) from the States and will go together with Scott and the gang to ship it all over here. The plan is in place, just need to make it all happen!

9. Have a date with Manuel at a restaurant in wellington that we haven't tried yet. We bought the new Entertainment book, so we have lots of great coupons!

10. This one is probably most important on the list: reconnect with all my great friends! I have been MIA lately and pretty bad about emailing friends back home, and also keeping in touch with friends right here in NZ - so I am going to be better at that this month!! (Starting right now - we just invited Neil and Ness over for Lasagna and Pictionary :)