Obama-Me Go ahead. You know you wanna..

This Much I Know Sodastream Is The Boys Can you remember Sodastream? When I was a kid, I wanted my parents to get one so badly. Making your own carbonated beverages? Are you kidding? I wanted to get busy with the fizzy in the worst way possible. I would have donated a limb to the cause if I'd have thought it helped. When TSO and I set up home together here in NZ we found one in Farmers one day and stood, looked at it, then at each other and went "fuck yeah!" We've been living with our 'Stream for over a year and I cannot recommend it enough. Forget orangeade, ginger beer, whatever - what about sparkling water? What about never running out of fresh Tonic to make love to the bottle of Bombay Sapphire in the freezer? What about the side benefits of no plastic bottles going into the landfills? Great stuff - and the gas bottles for it are freely, cheaply available almost anywhere, even though it may not seem they are... Bamboo Is My New Lover When Rory was born, we bought this little singlet for him that claimed to be made of 95% bamboo and 5% spandex. It's proven to be the best thing out - it's soft, keeps its shape, and feels like luxury. We saw some sheets made of bamboo fabric with a high thread count in a Christmas sale at Nood and, on a whim, decided to get them, hoping perhaps they'd feel even half as soft as Googie's singlet. Boyohboy - did they deliver? I am dreaming of bedtime from about 12.15pm every day and positively whimper with anticipation as I ready for lights out. I couldn't be happier with them and plan to never ever sleep on anything else unless I'm away from home. I've always loved bamboo - wrote an article on it once and fell in love with its utilitarian charms, renewability and unpretentious strength. This just makes me love the big green bastard all the more. It's the little things...

Roundup Well, Ive been an absent friend, friends. I've been on a bit of a roadtrip covering a fair bit of the south island. We left on Dec 15th and got back yesterday, the 31st. New Year's Eve was a muted affair - TSO and I and a bottle of bubbly, along with a dire struggle to stay awake long enough to wish each other a happy new year. We'd been up early and traveling all day but you know, I'm over going out and needing to make a effort at celebrations. Anyway, New Year in New Zealand is a bit strange - usually we'd be camping so wouldn't know any better but last night I realized there's no televised celebrations or any kind of special programming. I suppose it's good that people are instead outside doing something nice. It's great to be back in our little clifftop nest and it was amazing to be on the ferry, sailing past looking up at our home, after spending the last few months looking down at the ferries from the back here. Anyway, when the accounts are toted up and all is said and done - 2008 wasn't the worst year of my life, I'd say. This picture about sums up. It's us, in an orchard in Cromwell, picking delicious, juicy cherries on Boxing Day. I'll try and be a bit better at this blogging thing in 2009.