2.54 Walk around the bays

I ran/walked the 7km AMI Round the Bays fun run/walk. The weather was slightly cool and overcast - great event weather. I kinda wish that I'd done some running training as I wanted to run more. I signed up as part of the Les Mills team which was a great idea. I do these events for 2 reasons - 1. to run on the road. I fucking love running on the road. (Especially in the middle so as to avoid the camber.); 2. To eat a sausage inna bread. YUM.

2.61 Buy some yellow things that I can wear

I have a yellow singlet, a yellow scarf, a yellow belt, and yellow nailpolish. I'd really like some yellow shoes at some point as well. (I have blue jandals with yellow straps which are okay for now.) I never thought I suited yellow but it turns out I don't suit mustard. Bright yellow is good. #socheerful

2.95 Take a cake to work

Done. My work colleague gave me some lemons so I made a madeira cake. It uses lemon zest. It wasn't very lemony (I like a lot of lemon) so to make up for it I iced it in virulent yellow lemon icing.Next time I'm going to pour lemon syrup over it.
Points to note about madeira cake:
- Firm cake. Almost like it's gone stale, even when fresh.
- Great with tea.
- Sometimes eaten for breakfast.

2.42 Complete a year of te reo classes

Just signed up for the second year - Advanced Beginners. I signed up with Te Ataarangi who use full immersion (except for tea time). It was fantastic! The teaching style is very caring and patient. Get something wrong - no worries, give it another go after cracking up at it. My favourite thing was to watch other people change from saying hardly anything in a quiet voice, to being much stronger in their presentation. So now I can understand basic sentences - the day I realised I could understand the welcome speeches at work was the day everything changed for me. I need to learn some more vocab though.
Ka rawe!

2.92 Read The Tales of the Otori Trilogy

The three books that make up the trilogy are Across The Nightingale Floor, Grass For His Pillow, Brilliance Of The Moon. Author Lian Hearn has written a compelling story based in feudal Japan. It's magical realism, at once hopeful and inevitably tragic. I liked it very much.

2.24 Go to a tweetup

I went to the #WGTNBNO2012 at the Little Beer Quarter. Saw some people I hadn't seen for ages, met some people who I've never met in person. Everyone was lovely, looked fabulous. Made a lunch date with some tweeps. Left while the Chiefs were winning. Good night out.

2.14 Join a gym

Lucked into a transfer membership so have joined a Les Mills. So far so good.
Top three characteristics of going to the gym
1. Lots of laundry.
2. Hunger.
3. Fun.

2.72 Read five books suggested in 'The Happiness Project'

Going gray: what I learned about sex, work, motherhood, authenticity, and everything else that really matters by Anne Kreamer (Memoir)  Interesting if a little 'rah-rah gray is great'. I am skeptical about the reported attitudes to people with gray hair (having said that, I know a few people who look AMAZING with gray hair.) Has inspired me to leave my Rogue-style gray to grow out.

The happiness hypothesis: finding modern truth in ancient wisdom by Jonathan Haidt (Psychology) Leads the reader through different philosophies and thinking about happiness. Main takeaway: the elephant (unconscious, willful) and the rider (conscious, willed.) The elephant and the rider can be both good and bad depending on the situation.Will read again.

Happy all the time by Laurie Colwin (Fiction) A very sweet book about romance, love, and relationships.

The story of a soul by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (Memoir) Talked up in The Happiness Project. Did not meet my expectations. Full of flowery religious writing and humble-brags which annoyed me. Feel somehow lesser because the story (terminally ill young woman chooses to be nice to everyone, mostly _not_ saying or behaving in a certain way) is a lovely one.

Stumbling on happiness by Daniel Gilbert (Psychology) Hilarious. Lots of gems in this book. Probably one that I will purchase at some stage. Main takeaway: Thinking about the future is influenced by the present. I am so influenced by the present that worrying about something (e.g. money) means that I do not have any spare processing power to think about other things. The present is all consuming.

2.02 See the Old Bank Clock

The Old Bank Arcade clock tells the story of the building site in four clockwork scenes every hour, on the hour. There's something pretty special about seeing it go through the little animations. Not many people in Wellington know it exists (according to the Wellington walking tour guide who was there at the same time as us.) Grab a coffee from Smith the Grocer and take it upstairs with you.

2.62 Buy a bookcase

Purchased three tiny bookcases instead of one giant one. I still need a couple more to corral everything but things are definitely tidier. I like the options that having three gives me. They aren't very tall which I think is pretty safe if there's a major earthquake. If I had enough space I could stack them, fixed to each other with magnets.