Milestones

As may be obvious from the title, this post is all about milestones. Landmarks. Notable numbers. It's a bit of a hotch potch, but I'll get out all that I need to say. This post is one part commemoration, and several parts celebration.

Oh, and I cried when I was proofreading. So yeah, if it gets a little soppy up in here, you have been warned.

Firstly, and most importantly, today is the first anniversary of the earthquake that killed 185 people and changed hundreds of thousands of lives forever in Christchurch, New Zealand.

It was really difficult to select a photo that captures how I feel about Christchurch. My family history is deeply rooted in the city, and although I have never lived there, a part of me will always belong with the Garden City. This image represents all of the hundreds (if not thousands) of road cones that have been decorated with flowers throughout the city as a mark of remembrance and respect today.

22.02.2011

We will always remember. Kia Kaha, Canterbury.

Thank you for taking a moment to think of my fellow kiwis.

Okey dokey... next on the agenda. Happier topics... twi-versaries.

This is TwiKiwi's 100th post. This blog was born on Sept 21, 2010, and has grown into something I never expected. I adore how many of you read this dribble, leave comments, make me laugh, cry etc. This is really where I'm going with this post... it's a celebration of us. Beautiful people, brought together by a convenient conduit (and a certain buzzcut-toting actor) to become friends for life.

Thank you, MelbieToast

I asked my sometimes co-bloggers, Julena and Stef, to say a few words about what Twilight and the twiverse mean to them. *steps down from mic*

Julena / @SparklyJulNZ

WhatTwilight means to me?? *Ponders thoughtfully*

Iguess it is not so much what Twilight has brought to me, but more who. 

I am notjust talking about all the amazing, special and slightly crazy (in a fantasticway) ladies that I have met on twitter and have had the privilege to call myfriends. These strong, sexy women listen to my crap, share in my misfortunes andwhoop and squee with me when I need them. They are my biggest cheerleaders andmy number one motivators.

However,it is not just real people that I have met but the great FF characters I have'met' too. 

Tattward and Inkella, Toonward, Bikeward, Fifty...... the listis endless. These are the people that keep me awake on nightshift, keep meentertained while I sit in waiting rooms and keep me reading til all hours ofthe night when I really should be sleeping. This is what keeps me here, whatkeep me coming back, what has made Twilight a huge part of my life.

Toall these people, real and real in my imagination I thank you. I love you. Mwah mwah x

Stef / @eds_piano

Firstly, Happy Blogiversary Amy, you're a BLOGKSTAR! That's aword, right?

Twilight and all it's trimmings ... hmmm let me count the ways,I think I'll shout out the big 3, (I'm CDO and 3 is MY number), and bestbelieve this IS in a particular order...

THROBWARD - no words needed AM I RIGHT? without whom there'd benothing to look at or look forward to ... EVAH!

TWENDS (twifriends) - both real (@TwiKiwi50 & @SparklyJulNZ) andimaginary, the caring, the sharing PRICELESS, we all came together for onereason but stay together for many other reasons ...

TWITTER - the best way to network EVAH ... I FLOVE Twitter -mostly I lurk and read what y'all are doing/talking about, but I reallyenjoy it when I can be on it constant; like when I'm at work ona night shift, then I can have a conversation, I'm looking at you(NixHaw, LwE and Smitten) the most recent fun thing was when you U.S girlswere all at Target getting your BD DVDs and I was following the midnightmadness.

Thanks ladies! Unfortunately I don't seem to have a photo of the three of us together (that was a big FAIL when we went to see Breaking Dawn... clearly too excited to concentrate on the technicalities of photography). But here's one of me and Jul... oh, and Kiwi_Ed. Cos as reluctant as I am, he's part of this machine too.

Note from Kiwi_Ed: Yo, peeps. I'm pissed off. Pissed off that my human did NOT invite me to add to this post. As if she doesn't even care about me. But hey, we all know she doesn't. She brought a god damn CAT into my house. My castle! How dare she. I still haven't figured out what to do about that. So for now, I'm sulking. Good thing she installed a cat door, because now I can sneak out to hunt without her noticing. It's just easier if I'm gone as much as possible. Laters.

Awesome. Like we needed his two cents worth!

So yeah. I don't really feel like I need to add many more words to this post. You know how I feel. I love you all. I say it often enough, I am SO, so grateful for the day I picked up Twilight (thanks, T). Not because it was a great read with an endearing love story, but because it led me to some of the most awesome friends I could ever know. What we have will go on long, long after November 2012. (Oh, and lets not forget fic. Especially slash right now *glares at Meg and Lisa*).

I'll end this post the way I end each day. Looking at photos. I have a large photoboard on my bedroom wall, many of the photos in the post are up there. They are photos of some of the most important people in my life. Many of the people who make this list aren't represented, but only because I haven't met them yet. The photoboard will expand in years to come, trust.

Napa Valley

Seattle

Forks (had to include this!)

San Diego

Las Vegas

San Diego

Olympia

Seattle (couldn't resist!)

P.S. Last week, I passed 30,000 tweets. Since May, 2010. Sheesh! Wordy, much?

 

P.P.S. What's next for TwiKiwi? A blog revamp, coming soon.... watch this space!

Welcome Home, Gorgeous Gus!

On Wednesday last week, I got an email from a colleague, something along the lines of this:

"My brother and his flatmates have a very small kitten called Gary. They're not looking after him properly, and I need to get him out of there. He's gregarious, cuddly, and hungry. He needs a loving home ASAP. Anyone interested?"

Interested? Me? 

I try to put it out of my mind. It wasn't practical for me to have a cat. I travel alot. I work long hours.

And then I opened the attachment and saw THIS:

How I could I say no to that face?

And so, Gary the kitten became mine. I knew from the get-go that I couldn't keep the name. How could I stand on my doorstep and call out for "GARY!" when it was dinner time?

The first stop on the way home was to the vet. My baby was pronounced healthy, and approximately 8-10 weeks old. He was definitely a he, and was definitely INFESTED with fleas. Eww. He had his first vaccinations and will have to go back in a month for the next round. Until then he has to stay inside.

I decided to name him Gus. I don't have a particular reason, just liked it. Seems to suit him too, a little bit cheeky!

The first weekend was really challenging, dealing with the fleas on Gus, Gus's curiosity of exploring everything, and ridding my house of fleas. I had about five showers in two days. Thank goodness those days are behind us.

I've been tweeting heaps of pics, and I feel like one of those new parents who can't stop posting photos of their new babies. Lots of people asked for more, so here you go!

Day 1 - fun with toys

Words with Kittens?

I'm shy

Today. His favourite place is the beanbag.

Now that we've got to know each other a little better, things are going well. I know to close the door to the bedroom to avoid "I want my breakfast" at 4.30am, and he knows (I hope) not to climb the yucca tree in the lounge. He has experienced the wrath of the squirty bottle of water several times when I've found him up in the branches.

I can't wait until he is old enough (and vaccinated enough) to go outside and explore the world. For one thing, it's freakin hot in here, doors and windows closed (thanks, Houdini) in the middle of summer... and for another, roll on the retirement of the litter box! 

So now there's only one member of the family who's not entirely happy....
 

Kiwi Ed came home last night from a week-long absence (probably another bender, who knows) and he is not amused. He's not talking to me. And at the moment, I'm ok with that. I've got a new friend now. Who is much cuddlier.

Holy crow! This is my 99th post! Best I find something great to say for the 100th. It might be a rant. Speaking of, I whined like a BOSS over at It's Whine Thirty today about the Breaking Dawn DVD release in North America. Feel free to check it out HERE.

Jamie, Your Birth is Definitely Something to Celebrate

Yep, you read that right... it's @Jaymes805's birthday!

Not only that, it's her dirty thirtieth birthday. Welcome to the most awesome decade yet, love!

Demanda, Jamie's roomate, BFF and partner in crime, has created a birthday tribute spectacular over at BorderlinePhenomenal... so you should check it out, if you haven't already.

Jamie is a pretty awesome chick. She's one of my best friends in the world. We tweet, we email, we chat during work hours, we just...click. It's like she just GETS me. I love her to pieces.

She has random quirks. She has a cat called Jasper. She needs white noise to sleep. And she is one of the biggest Jackson Rathbone fans there ever lived. She enabled me to meet 100 Monkeys, I mean, wow!

What do you do for people you love on their birthday? Well, embarrass them, of course. Not that all of these images are embarrasing... but anyway. Here is a small pictorial tribute to one of the most fan-fucking-tastic people I know.

Sarah, Jen, Jamie and I. Supermodel much?

Jamie takes me to SLO's tourist highlight. Apparently.

She car-dances with the best of 'em (with Charla, Tom and Kate)

My SLO besties Jamie & Amanda

Jamie, Kiwi-Ed and a pirate*

*maybe Jamie can tell us all how the pirate photo came about in the comments when she reads this. Please note the wolf t-shirt. Coincidence? Hmmm.

So Jamie, happy, happy birthday. I hope you have an amazing day/weekend and I look forward to hearing all about it when we're both on company time.

I love you to pieces and I wish we lived closer together every single day. Roll on, Hawaii 2013!

Flattered by my Fandom Friends

Last Saturday, I celebrated my 32nd birthday.

I knew a few people were aware of my birthday, but I had no idea of what was about to happen, that would absolutely blow. me. away.

You see, some little birdies (I see you, @Jaymes805 and @17ForeverLisa) concocted a plan. A plan to let all of twitterdom know of the occasion, via this little dude above.

The lovely @MissTeJota and I share a birthday. Kinda. You see, hers is January 20th, mine is the 21st. But seeing as I'm in the future, we celebrate on the same day. I know TJ was as overwhelmed to see her TL full of moustachioed kiwis as I was. Perhaps TJ can tell us all about why the kiwi has such a fabulous mo in the comments.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH.

Usually, I wake up to 2-3 twitter mentions each morning, depending on conversations I was part of before going to sleep the night before. On Saturday morning, I had 47 mentions. 47! I was absolutely astonished to see so many amazing well wishes and really awesome, caring tweets.

AND.....

To top it all off, there was more birthday love! The amazing @NixHaw, everyone's favourite South African twitard, wrote this wee post about me. There were tears, I tell you. Tears. She is amazeballs.

Then what else should I spy? @AdonicaSS has a wee surprise up her twitter sleeve too with this avi....

But wait. There's more.....

@SparklyJulNZ, all round BFF in life and Twilight, made this for me..... such a brilliant card from such a brilliant friend. Actually, 'friend' doesn't really do her justice, but on paper, it's all I got.

I spent my birthday surrounded by friends and family, both in person and online. It was perfect. So, thank you all so, so much. I love you all more than you can know.

Amy x

"It's Like VELVET!"

Howdy!

So, People's Choice Awards, huh? We don't get to see it here in NZ, for which I am duly grateful. You see, all the best bits (aka the Rob bits) are at my fingertips thanks to the interwebs and I don't have to sit through the yawnfest that is the rest of the show.

Gee whizz, I wonder what we might all be talking about right now...

Look into my eyes...

 Mmmm. Buzzcut Rob. I REALLY LIKE THIS LOOK.

I know, I know, what about the sex hair? Man's a hairy beast, you know it'll be back. After the Cosmopolis partial shave, I was really hoping for a full shave and was sorely disappointed. Here it is!

I haven't seen any vids from the show yet, but have been perusing Robsessed for the latest in HQ pics...

Cheeky smile

And how about this for the greatest moment in Betty's life? Hmm, possibly not.. but I can imagine a certain polite young man from England would have been on his best behaviour hanging out with the glorious Ms. White...

She's rapt!

I also noticed Boy's been beefin' up a little. I wonder if it's for a role? Maybe that's what the haircut is for too? The possibilities are endless... MafiaRob? CriminalOnTheRunRob? *sigh*

You want some Badass?

All this talk of buzzcuts reminds me of a very important time in my life. I know I've told you about my Shave before but imma take this opportunity to revel in the proudness a little more. The longer it's been since I did this, the more I can't believe I did!

I work for a national cancer charity and in April 2008, I lost my locks. And raised more thank $3000.

scary

Holy shit! there's no hair on my head!

What a poser

Everyone, and I mean everyone, wants to touch your head when you're a chick with no hair. You can check out my YouTube clip here, if you so wish.

And what did it feel like? Everyone said "It's like VELVET!"

So, to close this miscellaneous ramble, I invite you to stare at these pictures and imagine running your hands over this gorgeous head.... and feeling the velvet....

 *buzzgasm out*

Girls are Awesome, Boys are Dicks*

*Except Rob. He's not a dick. Although he'd like us to get off his. I heard he floats on a cloud and pisses rainbows. Disclaimer out.

Pretty edit stolen from here.

OK I so just got sidetracked by google images... Right. What am I here to say? I promise this post is not about Rob's dick... although, hmmm....

Shit.         Focus!

Oh yes. Girls are so fuckawesome. I mean that in a heterosexual, girl power, we rule the world kinda way. Like these ladies did...

You see, I got to thinking about this recently when I was recalling several conversations I had with a friend of mine. You might know her, you might not. But I'm not gonna tell you who I'm talking about so it's really a moot point.

You should listen to this song while you read this post. If you're a regular here, you'll know it's a favourite of mine.

Girls stick together, through thick and thin. Especially when talking about boys. My friend and I have been supporting each other a lot through various man issues, and when we were chatting the other day we laughed about how, when everything's great, we are all "Ooh, aah, he's so dreamy" and then when everything is shit, we're all "Bastard. I never liked him. Arsehole".

Between the two of us, we've each supported one other through dating, a new relationship, and a breakup. Or, in one case, a what's-going-on-I'm-in-limbo situation. No matter what, we will always back each other. If she is pissed off at a guy, I'm pissed off at him. If she is in love with him, I will listen gladly to her raving. I would like to warn him I'll grind his balls into meatloaf if he hurts her, so, yeah, I reckon she's important to me. And I'll go out on a limb here and say she hopefully feels the same about me.

We live in different time zones. I can email her at stupid o'clock, and she's there. She can HeyTell me at work, and I will sneak into an empty office to message her back. The moral of the story is, through all of these situations, it amazes me just how fucking loyal we can be to each other.

Granted, I know there are right bitches out there, but in MY circle of friends, my girls are amazing.

I love that, no matter what is going on with  men  douchbags, we stick together. 

I googled 'girls talk about boys' and this is what I got. Eeek!

Let's start with my RL friends. Loyal to the bitter end. There is a group of six of us from university days... cripes, graduation was eleven years ago and we're still tight. In fact, this was how I came to know the gorgeous @SparklyJulNZ. But that's off the topic. This group of six girls, although at times we've been spread all over the world, can get together, even once a year or less, and we're as close as anything. Of course, some of us are closer than others (i.e. the other four know nothing about fan fiction that Jul and I devour) but in general, we will all always be there for one another.

And then there's the whole other world of my twi-friends. My twatwaffles. My h00rs. Let's face it, you've gotta be a closeknit group to call someone else a whore and it be a compliment, right?

Thanks @ChloeCougar!

I LOVE that no matter what time of the day, what day of the week (insert snarky comment about being Future Girl here) there is always someone on Twitter, and if you need to have a rant, you can. Free for all. These can be people who know nothing about you, apart from a made up name and a 2cm square picture (that may or may not be your preferential pic of Rob) who can become the greatest friends in the world.

I really didn't start writing this post to wax lyrical about how awesome we are, but it turns out, that's exactly what I'm doing. Girls really do rock! My cousin is currently staying with me, she is home from Europe. I haven't seen her in more than three years, yet, we can have conversations about the most important, close-to-our-heart things, and it's great. And she's not even the cousin I'm close to! I don't have any males in my generation in my family (brothers or cousins), or any close (straight) male friends who aren't my friends because they're married to my friends (does that even make sense?). So, I can only speculate, but I'm guessing if I sat one down on the couch and moaned about my love life, he'd either run a mile, grunt, or focus on the TV (or all three).

 You know what? I haven't said HAPPY NEW YEAR. I guess in a round-about way, this post is really a celebration of friendships, both RL and twi, and what better way to start 2012 than with a celebration of our awesomeness.

Go ahead, share some awesome in the comments. Thank you for reading.