i'm lovin it

some of you might know, but a part of me working on the mcdonald's account requires that i have a "restaurant orientation day."  that's basically a fancy way of saying, i have to spend a day working in a mcdonald's store.  sounds like a day of observation at first i'm sure, but the restaurant orientation is actually the real deal.  you flip burgers, you make fries, you take orders, and even handle the drive thru window.  it's pretty extreme but it's a global requirement of anyone who works on the business, so everyone at corporate and all agencies have had a day in the store to better understand the business.

unfortunately i don't have any photos of me in uniform (i didn't get to wear one which i was very disappointed about) or any shocking secrets to reveal.  i was actually pretty excited going in thinking that i would get to wear a mcdonald's visor, find out what is in the big mac sauce, AND get off work at 4.

what i did learn, was that working at mcdonald's is pretty hard work.  particularly between the hours of 12 - 2 pm - the dreaded lunch hour.  the employees were really nice and very helpful when i didn't know what i was doing, but i've never experienced a more stressful two hours of work.  every meal is really made to order - from toasting the bun to adding the salad bits to cooking the meat patties - and there's the added pressure of a third party company that checks in on the stores regularly as an undercover customer to ensure that each store is meeting the high mcdonald's standards.  it's a great system, and really efficient, but i've never seen people move so fast as lunch time in the store.

luckily, i found my strength early in drinks (it's more complicated than it sounds) and desserts (definitely more complicated than it sounds) so that was my station during the peak time.  pretty sure i made an extra strawberry shake by accident and made a few below par sundaes, but i survived and only got chocolate sauce on my hands so i'd say all in all it was a success.

i'm pretty much just thankful this didn't happen (and i figure wordy posts are boring so may as well end on a youtube video): http://youtu.be/wdCsfzzSj8Y

martha's backyard

i've been hearing about this one shop since i arrived in new zealand, and today my flatmate and i took our first trip there.  martha's backyard is auckland's "american shop" offering us brand foods, candy, beauty products, cleaning products, and clothing.

you're probably wondering why i would even be interested in visiting a store like this and walking in i honestly thought i wouldn't be phased by seeing a store full of products that i've been around for the past 25 years. i've been so excited with trying all the new foods here in nz (probably obvious from the majority content of this blog), the thought of going back to american brands seemed kind of boring. but upon entering, i found that this is basically a store filled with items that were either staple grocery purchases for me for the past few years (i.e. crystal hot sauce) or my absolute favorite foods growing up (i.e. funfetti cake mix). so i went a little nuts.

strange how you don't remember how much you miss wheat thins until they're right in front of you... and you're screaming... and people are slowly moving their children away from you...

the front of the shop - super flash.

my wares.

everybody move to the back of the bus

so, just a quick warning, as this will be my first whiney blog post. feel free to stop reading if this isn't your thing, but i just wanted to be upfront about it.  today's topic: public transportation in new zealand.

before i arrived in NZ, i was warned that i needed a car as the public transportation here was "shit." like most warnings i've received in my life, however, i casually ignored this assuming i'd be able to figure it out.  this time i should have listened.

granted, i've been accustomed to the fantastically convenient public transportation of new york city, but i still think that there is room to complain even if this weren't the case. there are regularly running buses in the city that have stops at most of the major areas, however, the trouble is figuring out which bus to take and from where.  instead of the "downtown" or "uptown" directional instructions i'm used to, each bus is called "inner" or "outer" and usually has the name of an area of the city on it.  sounds easier than it is, as the area that is usually chosen for the bus is one that all bus lines go to, so pretty hard to figure out which direction each bus is going to.

thankfully, they have a website with a journey planner which is supposed to function similar to a hopstop.  unfortunately, instead of giving directions on where the bus stop is based on cross streets, the website delivers the bus station number that appears in a tiny corner of the tiny little glass bus shelters. not exactly helpful when the purpose of my being on the website is that i'm not familiar with the bus system.

anyway, all complaints aside, i conquered my fear of public transport and actually managed to master the bus system this past week to meet up with a few friends in mission bay to watch some football (yes, american football!).  i had a few minutes while i waited for my friends to pick me up from the bus stop and took a few shots of the beach at mission bay, which hopefully makes up partly for my long-ish tale of public transport woes.

good morning!

just the view outside my window today.  the sky was so pretty it almost distracts from the motorway outside my window...

confessions of a shopaholic

it's no secret i love to shop, and i sincerely doubt this sets me apart somehow from the rest of the female population.  so i was pretty excited when coming to a new country to learn about all the different shops and designers that are available here that might not be available in the us.

shopping in new zealand, however, is a bit tricky. there are some really great shops like karen walker, ruby boutique, storm, decjuba, witchery, juliette hogan, and sass & bide (to name WAY more than a few).  they have beautiful clothing and about a million things i want to buy while i'm here.  it just seems that everything is astronomically expensive compared to what i'm used to.  for example, most dresses of bloomingdales quality that would typically run around $200 - $300 seem to be more around $600 - $700.

even the "bargain" brands are pretty pricey around here.  stores like glassons, portman's, and dotti with cool clothes at forever 21 quality, sell dresses as high as $160.  tatty's, a second hand store that carries nice brand name clothing, sells h&m and forever 21 shirts for $40-$60. (!!!) granted, it's difficult to get these items here in NZ as they don't have the stores, but selling used clothing for more than the original price is pretty insane.

luckily, i've managed to save up my pennies and purchase a couple of gems...

realizing this doesn't look very appealing in a photo, but this is a cropped cut-out poncho from decjuba. gotta love a one size fits all item.

high-waisted shorts from ruby boutique. i can't resists a peace sign button.

maxi skirt from glassons.  it doesn't look very appealing in the photo, however it's fully sheer and has a short black mini skirt as a slip underneath so it looks pret-ty cool on. and don't you worry - i'll be tucking in/belting over that elastic waistband..

and finally, the most beautiful dress EVER that i coveted for about 3 months before breaking down and purchasing from karen walker. sigh...perhaps she'll make an appearance at krystle's wedding in march?

walking in auckland

just a quick post with a couple of shots i took on franklin road while on a walk with my flatmate friday after work. looks like spring is right around the corner...

r & v

last week i had the opportunity to go to a soundcheck for rhythm and vines.  honestly, when i was first invited i wasn't quite sure what this meant, but i signed up anyway because hey, who am i to turn down plans?

rhythm and vines is an annual music festival here in gisborne that goes for three days ending on new years eve.  so, one might think that the soundcheck is a small venue event where the line up plays music to prepare for the big event - complete with "check 1, 2s" and "test tests," but it was actually a mini- concert of sorts and they announced the official line up for the big show in december.

the music is a lot of dance/electronica/hip hip type stuff, so i'm sure you can imagine it was an interesting crowd.  i was with a few co-workers (who are normal i promise) but in general i'd say most of the people there were still in some sort of school - whether that be high school or uni - and even more were on some kind of drugs.

i've never felt so old in my life as when a girl in front of me had a bag of what looked to me like little colored lego blocks confiscated from her and was ushered away by the police (meaning, they weren't lego blocks...).  which reminds me, i have been meaning to google what the heck kind of drugs look like lego blocks - anyone have any clue? kids these days.

anyway, after a brief cavity search at the door, we got into the venue and it was packed.  i won't lie, i'll listen to a bit of electronica music every once in awhile, but i'm not full on into that genre so i had pretty low expectations of the event, but the crowd was so enthusiastic it was hard not to get sucked in.

here's a little snapshot of the crowd from the VIP section....that i was in....being a VIP....

untz, untz, untz