Wedding bells and thank God.

So how I find myself photographing weddings, I don't know. Well, that's a lie, I'm sure I could figure it out. Try the following formula:

Take a little bit of 'Oh you've got a nice camera', mixed with 'oh so you take nice photographs?', add a little bit of 'yeah, I've photographed here and there', and apparently you've got yourself a wedding photographer!

The dramatic, life-changing experience began on a mild, Wednesday afternoon. OK so it wasn't life changing. And the temperature was much warmer than mild. I was, however suffering from a mild head-cold at the time, so my senses and perception of events may have been slightly heightened, skewed, etc.

I was to be shooting at a Wedding Rehearsal in preparation for the Big Day. The 25 minute drive out to the venue in Kumeu was made more tolerable by the fact that I managed to fit in a 90 minute surf before the rehearsal began.

The rehearsal went swimmingly. Gorgeous venue. Took some nice shots. The vows and things were to happen outside in the early afternoon sun... so my only concern was the shadows. I couldn't find my flash - it seemed I had left it 7 hours away back home in Wellington... The Wedding planner informed me that in the unlikely event of rain, the formalities would be moved indoors. I put all my energy into those two words 'unlikely event'. And prayed for sun.

Sunday (The Big Day)
I awake and I have a headache. It's Sunday and my alarm is singing to me, so it must be around 9am. As I come into consciousness, I notice the sound of falling water. Is someone in the shower? No... as I rub the sleep from my eyes and kick my covers off in frustration, I realise it is raining outside. Did I say raining? I meant fucking pissing down with rain. If I squeeze my eyes shut, maybe I'll vanish into a different time and place. No such luck. I drag myself out of bed and mope around the kitchen for an hour wondering what.the.fuck is the best thing to do.

It's 10:30am. I call Jade. She's creative, got a camera and is usually up for random activities suggested by me at stupidly short notice. She agrees to come help! Snap: First smile of the day.

I think hard about the flash and where it might be. My brain returns fuzzy hazy unclear garble and suggests to me that I go back to sleep. I ignore my brain and turn to Google.

"where can i buy a cheap pentax flash in nz?" I ask it.

It tells me there is something for sale on Trade Me, but it turns out it's not what I am looking for. Go figure.

The wedding starts at 3:30pm. I tell Jade to meet me there at 3pm. I get there at 3:20pm.

As I get further out west, the rain stops. The clouds don't look so heavy, and the sun begins to shine through them, giving a splendid 'studio lighting' type appearance to the day. I just hope they didn't make the call already to move everything inside!

They didn't. The Wedding Planner greets me with enthusiasm and asks me if the light is OK. I cannot stop grinning... it.is.unbelievable.

Sudden interuption by my mobile phone reminds me to switch it off... but I check the text message just before I do. It's from Mum: 'found flash.'

Sigh. Chuckle. Smile.

Kimya

It's 3pm and I'm rushing to Wellington airport.

It's raining - so the plants are getting fed and the lakes are getting full.

The sky is grey - so I remember the dorky quote that is on the inspirational calendar hanging in my bathroom that my Grandma bought us for Xmas last year: A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition. And I smile.

I am to be arriving in Auckland at 5:15pm. 2 hours after my friends arrived from Christchurch to meet me. I hate being late... but it seems to be inevitable at this point.

I arrive in Auckland to find it still raining. And I am greeted by my beautiful friends Sam and Tessa. They are en route to Montreal to become WOOFers (google it) for a wee while and then settle down and hopefully have wee french speaking babies.

They bought me tickets to see Kimya Dawson because it is my birthday on Thursday and because we all like Kimya Dawson.

The only problem for me is I am having a hard time being really present to all that is going on. I have a presentation tomorrow that I do not feel prepared for. I shush the voice in my head and try to focus.

So Sam, Tessa and I are collected by our other beautiful friends Kylie and Jordan. Jordan is driving their recently repaired motor vehicle. Which is evidently not so repaired as it chooses to crap out on the motorway. With 5 people crammed in along with Sam and Tessa's entire life possessions, Jordan managed to stay calm and collected and guide us along the motorway shoulder with hazard lights blinking and arms out windows etc etc. I actually filmed the whole thing but looking back, there were some expressions of frustration that probably don't need to be shared with the world. So imagine the hilariousness/stressfulness of it all if you will :)

So I spent much of dinner sucking on edamame, talking on the phone and working on my presentation - much to the disgust of my friends (and myself). We did, however, manage to squeeze in a good chat about Spore.

The Kimya Dawson Concert was everything I didn't expect and more.

It was held in the Auckland Girls Grammar School Hall... possibly the least intimate venue imaginable and Kimya reminded us of this with frequent comments like 'i feel like i'm back at school doing a recital' and 'i'm nervous'. Humbling!

The gig opened with a very enjoyable show by 'The Teacups'. A cute indie/anime trio, one was full Indonesian, one was half Indonesian and one was no Indonesian. Their music made me want to dance and open curtains to bright sunshine and cook breakfast.

Followed by a french dude who I think was Kimya's husband.. (?). He told us he was brought in to 'break up the cuteness'. Which he did successfully... end of story.

And then finally Kimya tiptoed onto stage... and put me into a world of big trees, animals, sleeping bags and pillows (i forgot i was in an auditorium...and i forgot about my presentation).

Unfortunately for the teens sitting behind us, Kimya didn't play 'Loose Lips' until the very end - the teens had to leave early to catch their ferry. This was also unfortunate for half the crowd who were probably waking up early for school the next day, were getting collected by parents, or who had fallen asleep on their parents lap in the duration of the night.

We left happy. And Kimya told us she wants to come back to NZ and play in our houses in the spring and have barbeques. Unlucky for Sam and Tessa who will be in minus 20 degree weather in Montreal...

Kylie, Tessa, Jordan and Sam outside the concert venue.

pizzas

I made delicious pizzas last night. (i'm modest like that...)

For the record (and maybe for Adele?) here are some of my regular topping combinations (in order of putting them on the pizza). I should come up with names for them.

-tomato paste
-mozzarella cheese (sprinkle some on the before the toppings)
-mushrooms (lots of them)
-chopped olives (lots of them)
-chopped sun-dried tomatoes (not too many)
-mozzarella cheese

-tomato paste
-mozzarella cheese (sprinkle some on the before the toppings)
-mushrooms (lots of them)
-Camembert
-cranberry sauce
-Smoked chicken (or not, to leave it vege)
-mozzarella cheese

-tomato paste
-mozzarella cheese (sprinkle some on the before the toppings)
-dessicated coconut (sprinkle over cheese)
-sliced banana
-chopped mango
-Smoked chicken (or not, to leave it vege)
-apricot/mango sauce or spicy mango chutney
-mozzarella cheese
-natural cashew nuts (sprinkle over just before it's finished cooking)
-natural yogurt (pour over just as it comes out of the oven)

For the bases there are many options... sometimes I use wholemeal pita bread. Sometimes I use turkish bread, or flat-bread. Sometimes I make my own (water, yeast, flour and sugar... real easy).

Cook at 200degrees celcius fan-bake for 10-12 minutes.

So I'm feeling fabulous!!!!

Not really though. I finished my detox yesterday, and it went something like this:

9am: I awake to the smell of pancakes. Automatically, my mind conjures up images involving hot pancakes, maple syrup, blueberries, yogurt, my mouth, saliva, chewing, swallowing etc. Until the realisation hits me that I'm ON A DETOX. (aka NO SWEET SWEET DELICIOUS MMMMM FOOD). Furious, I storm downstairs demanding an explanation for such a cruel act. I notice that Paul (my father) has innocently set me a place at the table.

I explain (again) that I'm on a detox. He pleads ignorance. I forgive him. End result: I'm sitting at the table slowly munching on my oats+water, while Ingrid and Paul sit next to me, happily gorging on fluffy white pancakes.

6pm: Matthew and I are returning from a walk on the beach with Leia. He suggests we stop for food. I suggest Pizza (again, it's an reflex thought). We stop at this place called 'Dante's - We make, you bake'. The idea is quite self explanatory... for $15, they spend 2 minutes putting the pizza together and suffocating it in plastic glad-wrap - then you take it home and bake it for 10 minutes. Cool. But I'm not allowed cheese or gluten. So I pay (Matt pays) $2 extra for a gluten free base and they remove the cheese (surely they could have canceled each other out? I mean, why the 2 bucks?)

Anyway, so we get home and pop our pizzas in the oven. Mine - gluten free, artichokes, olives, onion and tomato. Matt's - smoked chicken, cranberry, mozzarella, camembert, sourdough base. Which pizza do you think looked the most delectable and smelt the most delicious as they were removed from the oven? It definitely wasn't the dried up, sans-cheese, crumbly gluten-free-base pizza (aka MINE.)

But today is a new day. Today is MONDAY. Today is NO MORE DETOX day.

Although, strangely, I haven't been overly excited to jump on the bread wagon. Or the milk wagon either for that matter. I had a coffee this morning. Which was nice. But I haven't had one since. I have this new awareness of my body I think. I look at food and I think 'what's going to happen to you when you get inside me? will I use you? Or will you blob around and make it difficult for me to go toilet?' Yes... so there's some insight into what goes on in my head!

I wonder how long this new feeling will last...