Back in NZ

Well after my 2 week trip to the US and Canada, I'm back in New Zealand. It was great to be home and see everyone again, but it's great to be back in NZ with Erin.

Last week I was in Toronto for a conference. The conference had many highlights, but the biggest thing that happened was getting stuck in the elevator with my colleague Chris for and hour an 1/2 until 3am in the morning.

I left Boston on Friday morning for New Zealand, and although I never experienced Saturday, my flight was very much enjoyable. The best thing that happened was that I got bumped into First Class from LA to Auckland. First Class was quite an experience. I had my own little "pod" area, first class service, food, even bathrooms (they had orchids in them and very spacious for a plane bathroom).

I landed here in Auckland, and unfortunately it was raining, but stopped around mid-day. Thanks to everyone who made my trip back to the US as fun, exciting, and tyring as it was.

US

As many of you know I've been in the US for a full week now. It's been very nice to be back home and visiting with so many friends and family. Although this is our New Zealand blog, I figured I would give a special update for my trip so far. My trip has been filled with plenty of good times including:
-Late night trip to Chinatown for some good food with Corey, Andy, Tim, and J
-Trip to the Maine House for which turned out to be a very rainy day. The good thing was, that we were able to play some Zonk!
-Full days at the office spending time with the PCAOB as well as many colleagues
-Time with my cute little niece Avery
-Drinks and Dinner (Tia's, The Living Room, Sail Loft, Joes, and the Intercontinental)
-Sushi with Charles and Jake
-Red Sox Game and watching Dice-K pitch (Thanks Mr. Katz)
-Road Ralley to Island Pond VT
-Party at the Pond (including volleyball, basketball, bocce ball, flip cup, beruit, hot tubs, and more)
-Dinner with Mom, Dad, Aunt Connie, Uncle Brian, Charles, Carrie, and Avery (we had Luigi's)
-Talking with Erin back in New Zealand!

I'm off to Toronto and will then be heading back to New Zealand at the end of the week.

Our Apartment

The past months (almost 4!!) have gone by very fast. Before we settle in any further, I thought it might be nice to show everyone where we live. Our apartment is quite cozy, but has lots of space for visitors. Please click here to see a slideshow of our apartment!

Home

I'm heading home this weekend for a business trip. It happens at a great time and I'll be able to participate in the Party at the Pond in VT. Can't wait for the 11th great year that I've been attending.

Erin will be bringing home the bacon here and making more and more placements. She got a bottle of wine today for another placement, GO ERIN!

Just because I'm going home doesn't mean that the blogging will stop...don't forget to keep checking.

This weekend kept us VERY busy!

Friday evening started out with after work drinks for both of us. Jeremy's lasted much later into the night, but we both had fun nights!

Saturday started off with a cafe breakfast and then we chatted with Mom and Dad Ciaccia and Avery and then Skyped with Andy. In the afternoon we went shopping at Sylvia Park, which is the biggest mall in New Zealand. It's so huge and popular so finding parking was a struggle. We used our navigational skills and found a spot in lot 12, just a short stroll from our usual entrance - at the food court. We had a quick lunch of sushi and then found our way to Kathmandu, so that I could find a new jacket. After lots of comparing, we purchased my new jacket and hit the road. Upon arriving home, we were STARVING, so we decided to go across the street to Auckland's #1 Chinese Restaurant - Grand Harbour. Dinner was delicious and we settled in for the night to watch Murder By Numbers and Independence Day.

Today we decided to clean the house. After cleaning, we Skyped with Brian and Mom Warden. Then it was time for grocery shopping. When we shop, we try to see how much money we can save with our discount card. Today we saved $40! That's the best we've done since arriving in New Zealand! Once we got back to the house, Jeremy took off with his friends Jacco and Jochen to hit the driving range. While they were gone, I made muffins for tomorrow's morning tea at work. (We host morning tea whenever someone new starts. There is a lot of turnover, so this is my 5th tea already!) When the guys were done with their golf, they decided to get some drinks at The Loaded Hog in the Viaduct, just down the street from where we live. I met up with them and we sat outside, enjoying the sun and lovely winter weather (no rain today - horray!) Our last stop for the day was the gym. We got a quick workout in and now we're here relaxing until the Sunday Night Movie (they show A LOT of movies here) comes on.

We hope everyone had a fun and exciting weekend like we did!!

July 4th Photos

Happy 4th of July!

Celebrating the 4th of July in a foreign country is a little bit challenging. We did our best and celebrated by grilling some chicken and hot dogs for dinner. Unfortunately, it's winter in New Zealand. In winter, it rains a lot. Thank goodness for our big umbrella. We hope that everyone had a 4th of July celebration that was as fun as ours!

Trouble on the Seas

As most people in the US don't know, the America's Cup is going on right now and the final's which is a the best of 9 races is underway. In the finals are New Zealand (Emerates Team New Zealand) against the defending cup holders the Switzerland (Alinghi). Right now Alinghi is winning 4 races to 2 so tonight is a very important race for NZ to stay in the competition.

Why is it called the America's Cup? I've been asking that question of myself since I arrived. Did you know that the America's Cup is the oldest active trophey in international sport even predating the Olympics by 45 years? Well it's called the America's Cup because it was named after the first country that won the trophey which was America.

So on Saturday night we went to a showing of race 6 which was held over in the boat houses which were built for the last America's Cup held in Auckland. The city did a nice job and there was a ton of support considering the races began at 1am NZ time.

The rest of our weekend was pretty good as well, we went to dinner at our friends from the Netherlands (Mascha and Jeroen). We had a traditional winter Dutch meal "Stamppot Boerenkool and Schnitel", it was tasty.