woman gives birth to 17lb (7.75kg) baby

Oh my goodness. They grow em big in Russia..

Check this and this out!

dove advertising campaigns

I love what Dove are doing with their advertising campaigns - there is a real appreciation for REAL women, old and young, thin and curvaceous.

Their new campaign is 'pro-age' - appreciating the older woman. Real women, real bodies, not photo shopped, not digitally enhanced - just REAL, lumps, curves, wrinkles and all.

A lot of advertising companies could learn a lot from Dove - they really are paving the way..

The new ad does have nudity (tastefully done), but still the women are naked but you don't see anything rude...

Dove I commend you!

my documentary on the new zealand kiwi

Yes I obviously had a lot of time on my hands!!!! Watch out David Attenborough! This isn't the best quality video, I didn't realise that I could increase the quality.



Stay tuned for more videos..

glorifying anorexia?

This is one of two new posters from a new campaign for No-l-ita - the photographs were taken by the guy behind a lot of controversial Benetton billboards!!! Find out more here. I know what they are trying to do but to me it is distasteful and almost glorifying anorexia by making this lady a pin up on billboards! I am NOT a fan!

why their are so many sheep in NZ - the truth!

So..... as we all know - or if you didn't know there are a LOT of sheep in New Zealand. While I was there I decided to take it upon myself to find out WHY! (well not really the driver on a day trip we did told us - but that doesn't sounds as exciting does it!)

So did you know that in NZ they breed the sheep to have twins ...... It is the norm for sheep to have twin lambs and the exception for sheep to have one lamb!!!

Well I never! - you can now all sleep at night now you know why their are so many sheep in New Zealand.

The End!

fun with ruth and the fam

Last night SP, Kym and I all went to Ruth and AB's house for dinner. Ruth, Kym and I all got together a bit earlier for coffee, milkshakes and banana bread which was lovely (I think it is going to become a tradition - even though we have only done it twice). I took my camera and got some great shots of our little god-daughter and the gorgeous boys. See below. I so love hanging out with Ruth, AB and their family - they are a real joy and I will miss them when they move. But we will plan on seeing them very regularly! It was also fun to catch up with Kym - our fellow god-parent!

Some of the photos below with me and the boys were taken by the boy that you can't see in the picture, they all wanted to try - they are cute and they did a good job - I think we have a couple of budding photographers in our midst.

SP and I love you guys heaps!

holidays = fantastic! God = good!

I have a list of things to write about but I just haven't had the time to write down everything buzzing in my head.

Firstly though I would thoroughly like to recommend holidays. I feel refreshed and it feels good. Before I left everything was an effort, everything was hard, my fuse was shorter than it normally would be, I didn't have the energy or desire to do things that I would normally love to do, SP and I were 'existing', I didn't have many interesting things to write about and I was finding prayer and reading God's word hard.

It is amazing what a holiday can do! We won't be leaving it that long between holidays again = lesson learnt.

I feel totaly different - Nixter has reentered the building! Not to say I was a totally different person but my energy levels and desires were overtaken with tiredness... I have been praying more and God has rekindled a joy in my heart. There have been certain things that have been on my heart to pray for and if I wake up in the night I start to pray or when I am going to sleep I pray - I love that!

SP and I are having more fun and have had the opportunity and time on our holidays to reconnect and just hang out.

Bible Study was great on Thursday (Rev 8-11), I know if you read it you might wonder how I get the word 'great' from this passage, but really God is a merciful God who loves us and has chosen us for himself. Even though there are horrendous things we see in this world and even though life can be really hard at times - the fact that God has sent his son to save us who don't deserve saving is AMAZING! He has spared us!

There are many things I want to say here but I have just got to work so I it will have to wait until later or the weekend.

Praise God for holidays and his mercy!

Have a great Friday.

i think he is still my fav.....

..... but I kinda like Carl and Matt too!

a little taster

As we arrived back fairly late on Sunday night and had to wash clothes, go shopping etc I haven't had time to really sort out my pics or fix up the ones with dust marks on, BUT here are a few to check out until I get my rear into gear (that rhymes!)

If you click on them you can see them in a bigger format. Enjoy!

photography frustrations

A few weeks before we went away I had to take our Canon 300D Digital SLR to get the sensor cleaned as there were marks showing up in our photos, I got home after taking it to be cleaned took a few pics and noticed that their were still marks - Hummmph! I called them up straight away and they told me to take it back and they would clean it again for me at no additional charge. This seemed to work! Hoorah!

So while holidaying in NZ we had some issues with things getting on the lens or sensor (to be honest I am not really sure how it all works and where the dust ends up?!?) thus marks were showing up on our photos. Grrrrrrr. As were taking a lot of scenery shots the marks really stand out.

So I called Canon today and they said that this happens, (we have had our camera 18 months and some friends have the same camera and have never had to have it cleaned) – this is our third time. We are careful when changing the lenses (which we don’t do very often) and keep the camera stored in a camera bag,

Anyhoo, the man at Canon told me that it would be a good idea to get a ‘Bulb Blower’, so it looks like I will. I was wondering if there are any other budding or pro photographers out there who might have some advice about what to get to clean the inside and about how to minimize this happening. It is really frustrating to see things all over your pretty photos - I am hoping photo shop might help fix up the little marks but I would rather know how to clean the camera or prevent this happening so I don't have to spend time photo shopping our pics!

I have only recently started getting into photography but I am really hoping to maybe do a course of some kind very soon and start taking it more seriously so I would love any top tips!

Nixter = a little bit disappointed about her camera and photo's!

did ya miss me?

Yes folks - she is back. Back and a little bit tired - how's that you might ask, she just got back from 2 weeks of holidays?!?!?!?

I really am rested but yesterday was a massive drive and then we had the flight home. We left my friend's parents house in New Plymouth early and then had a 6 hour drive to Auckland, did a quick drive by (not shooting - think more a quick look around) of Auckland and then it was off to the airport. We got home last night at 9pm ish which was 11pm NZ time - so we were a bit like zombies. BUT today I am feeling better just a bit tired from yesterday but all in all, all is well.

NZ has to be one of the most beautiful and diverse countries I have been too, it was breathtaking. God has created an amazingly beautiful world for us to enjoy... I have so much to say but I don't know where to start, I have pictures and I also have some video - not great quality video as it is from my phone, I took about an hours worth of video so I will try and get that edited then up and running on my computer to give you all an idea of our what we did on our trip and a bit of a look at how stunning NZ is..

I hope all you are all well, I will try and get caught up on my blog reading this week, it might take me a while but I will get there.

Will sort some pictures out tonight and hopefully get them up soon. Look forward to reading about what you have been up too these last few weeks!

tomorrow, tomorrow, i love ya tomorrow..

... you're only a day awayyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Yes that is a Annie song and yes I do need a holiday!!!

Only one more sleep until we fly to NZ and I still can't believe it. We have a few things to do today, including packing! Then we are off..

It such a relief for both of us to be off work for two weeks and we have time to relax and chill out..

This will probably be my last post until we get back so please pray for us as we fly and also as we drive - we will be doing a lot of driving during our trips and prayers would be appreciated!!

Ta Ta For Now!!!! I look forward to sharing all about our trip when we get back!