we heart marshall.

Once upon a time Penny and I confessed to each other that we were both a little bit in love with Marshall Eriksen.

Fortunately there were no hard feelings about us both being in love with a fictional character. And anyway, if I had to have a sister wife I'd want it to be Penny.

Upon discussion we came to the conclusion that every girl should have a Marshall in their lives. And let's face it, we were both a bit jealous of Lily.

Here are just five reasons why we all need a Marshall Eriksen in our lives.

1. The Olive Theory. You know the whole Marshall hates olives, Lily loves olives and that's what makes them such a great couple? Yeah, well, Marshall is just pretending to not like olives because Lily loves them. Basically what I'm trying to say is, I want a guy who will let me order a bowl of olives at Nandos and not expect me to share them with him.

2. He narrates his life through song. How could you not love this?

3. He cares about the environment. Someone has to and I'm not very good at recycling.

4. Marshall is apparently of Scandinavian decent. I hear all the best people are of Scandinavian decent. This can only be a good thing.

5. He makes up games. Marshgammon. Let's face it, you'd never get bored with Marshall. And every group of friends needs a games master. I made up a card game back in 2004. It was called "Marianne Orndal's Made Up Card Game". I have the rules written in my journal. Let me know if you ever want to play.

Anyone know a real life Marshall?

Bank Holiday Weekend: an instagram tale.

How much does a hipster weigh? An instagram. 

Ba dum tssshhh.

It's been an action packed weekend. They're the best type of weekends. 

On Friday there was flowers and dancing.

Thank you to my lovely Channie for the beautiful flowers she sent me.

Earlier in the week a bright green envelope arrived. Green could only mean one thing.

Kelly-Anne.

Inside was the most amazing and thoughtful card. 

I miss my NZ girls. 

When Penny and I arrived at the dance on Friday there were about 5 people there.

Nobody on the dancefloor. So we had a dance party for two in the foyer. 

But these lovely ladies showed up so it was all good. 

Saturday saw manicures, shopping and dancing.

We got our nails did and shopped. Nothing better than a spot of retail therapy. Some woman managed to squirt her ketchup all over Kendal's clothes and hair and all over the wall. I'm laughing just thinking about it. 

Back at the flat we watched An Affair to Remember. 

All that needs to be said is: Carey Grant. Swoon. 

Another evening at Copacabana. Eventful as ever. There was a guy who recognised me from last time who pretty much forced me to dance with him. It was awkward to say the least. Unfortunately the next stranger who forced me to dance with him was even more awkward. So much to the extent that I was never going to dance again. And it had nothing to do with guilty feet lacking rhythm. 

Sunday was a day for church, family time, walking and 3 in a bed. 

At church I taught youth sunday school and felt it went really well. At least I thought so.

I was also called as an advisor in young womens.

I'll be honest, I don't really know what my calling entails. 

After church the family went over to Alex and Clairebear's for dinner.

They are moving to Liverpool next weekend where Alex is beginning work as a barrister (proud of you bruv) and Claire is starting her PGCE. We'd gathered for a final meal in their humble abode. Claire made a delicious dinner and Becky had made rhubarb crumble. It was delicious B, I promise.

Before dinner I managed to win a round of Smartass. It was a proud moment for me. 

One of mine and Becky's favourite past times - self portraits. Isn't my sister beautiful?

After dinner I went to meet everyone as Dunham Massey. 

Bravery award to me for walking past deer on my own. 

That's kinda a big deal. 

Back at the boy's house we played a ridiculous card game. One I'm still trying to understand. 

That night I shared a bed with Leah and Sophia. We all had tales to tell the next morning much to each other's embarrassment. 

Finally bank holiday Monday involved a hike and shopping. Again.

We headed over to Edale in the Peak District for a hike. At some points it felt more like a rock climb and it totally ruined my manicure. Worth it though. 

Oh and it rained. And I thought it would be a good idea not to wear my waterproof all the time. 

The climb: 

So eating lunch was quite traumatic. I'm tucking into my club sandwich when the other half of my sandwich goes flying and ends up in a puddle. Worst moment ever. Then the sheep invaded.

Yes I was scared.

When my mum got home from work we headed over to the Trafford Centre. I finally got to go to Forever 21 and had to stop myself buying their entire jewelery department. Managed to limit it to only two necklaces. And a top. And a cardigan.

This weekend was enough to make me want to quit my job and just be a bum. 

It would be so much easier.

efy = wow.

In the unlikely event that you haven't heard, last week I was a counsellor at EFY.

To sum the week up in one word: wow.

It's difficult to write about EFY without getting all cheesy, so I will do my best to keep it to a minimum. I won't bore you with an itinerary of what went down, don't worry. There are also some experiences I had on EFY which are very personal and special to me and I don't feel like this blog is the forum to share that with you. So apologies if it feels like a long synopsis, but I'm doing it for your benefit - I promise!

I was a participant at EFY in 2006 and I loved every minute of it. It was a difficult time of my life; dealing with divorce, getting dumped, disappointing a-level results, the anticipation of moving to uni. I was a little bit fragile to say the least. But I came away from that week feeling better than I ever had before and I was ready to take on the world. That week I had received answers to questions that I'd never even thought to ask before. And so when the opportunity came up to be a counsellor this year, I jumped at the chance. I wanted help someone get the answers I got.

In the run up to EFY the nerves began to creep in. It's hard to explain my fears but I think they were all rooted in self doubt. Looking back I see now that I had no need to worry but let's face it, worrying is what I do best.

When I finally met all my girls I knew there was nothing I needed to worry about. They were wonderful girls. And for some bizarre reason they actually liked me. And when we got together as a company I just knew we had some amazing youth.

Wednesday night was games night and I don't think I've ever laughed so much.

The youth really could not be bothered about the banner and cheer to start with. And they ended up in the final cheer off. So proud.

HEAR MY VOICE! Say what? Say what?

Pizza night was the best. Sitting in our jammies, eating a load of junk food and talking about boys. I felt like I was 14 again.

Oh yeah. Did I mention of the girls ended up getting injured on games night and spend the rest of the week in a wheel chair? Well, that happened.

Thursday was a tough day. But the youth made it worth it.

Our youth were only 14 and 15 years old and it was humbling to learn so much from them through our gospel study, devotionals, their testimonies and examples. One thing I was in awe of was how obedient they were and I saw the blessings in action for the decision they made.  I had to wonder if I ever was as strong as these youth were when I was their age and I know the answer is no.

It's crazy how much love you can have for someone, how much you can care for them and how hard it is to say goodbye when you've only known them a week.

I know I was only there for a week, but I miss the bubble I lived in. It's not the same being home, I'm no longer waking up to love notes. There's not any girls to wake up. I don't even eat breakfast! Oh and then there's that endlessly fun thing called work.

I'm grateful that I was able to serve. I'm grateful for the love that was shown. I'm grateful for my coco Alex. But most of all, I'm grateful for my dear youth.

hello...

I bet you were wondering if I would ever blog again.

Well I'm back, for now, after a number of (not so) subtle requests that I start up again. I'm looking at you Miss Linehan.

I guess I will need to change the purpose and description of this blog because I'm no longer reporting on my travels. Sad face. I didn't think that anyone would be interested in my weekend escapades here in the UK but apparently they are. So here we are again.

I've been back in rainy old Manchester for coming up to four months and oh my, it's flown by. And to say I'm not missing New Zealand would be a big fat lie. Sometimes I feel like I'm just waiting for the day that I'm going to go back. And I know that it's not going to be happening anytime soon. It's strange to just leave a life behind like that. But I've been doing my best (and mostly failing) at keeping in touch with all my NZ whanau.

Never before have I been so grateful for things such as Facebook, Skype, FaceTime, Viber and Voxer. With these things I wake up to daily messages from my beloved friends and I also get to see their beautiful faces regularly.

This is what Amanda looks like while she's brushing her teeth. Just in case you were wondering. 

So I was watching Amanda get ready for work (got a bit jealous of her cereal, not gonna lie) and she reminded me that it had been a year to the day since our Rangitoto adventure. With it being a year since that, it also means that it was also my birthday yesterday, which was pretty uneventful. If you speak to my mother, please laugh at her for forgetting my birthday - she loves it. One year closer to the scary age, but far enough away to still feel young. 

So what have I been doing since returning to England I hear you ask. 

The answer is a lot. 

The majority of my time has been consumed with work. But there's been a lot of catching up with friends. A lot of food. Making new friends. A lot of Olympics watched (on tv of course). There's been EFY.

Because pictures say it better than I ever could, here we go. 

So there we go.