In the land of Geeks

It seems that I have reached the point in my blogging life where I’d like my blog to look better, have more features and go faster. The common wisdom on these matters is that you need to go it alone and build your own.

As if I haven’t had enough of building things I've taken the plunge and got myself a new virtual Domestic Executive HQ. Let's just say it's going to take time and given I'm in Geek territory and it's all news to me I'm sure there'll be lots of experimentation before I get it right.

I'll tell you where to find me in at my new web-place when I'm not going to embarress myself!

Normal blogging resumes tomorrow.

Domestic Executive tensions

Being a Domestic Executive is not always as simple as people might think. The dream was an idyllic lifestyle pottering around at home, doing a few chores and fitting in a spot of paid work occasionally.

Seems that the pressures to complete both Domestic and the Executive are not that dissimilar from how it's been in my past employed life. There is always more to do than there is time to do it.

Having struggled a bit in the last three weeks to get on top of my massive to do list I've decided I need a new way of tackling things. As you might expect from a list obesssive the key thing is to find a new way of organising the list to make it seem more achievable and enable you to tick more things off.

Has it worked? Partly. I've actually got through more of the list this week so it feels like more progress but it doesn't get away from the fact that the days still pass in a flash and the list gets added to each night making the list the same length as the day before.

So the plan from now is to actually get the chores done as early in the day before I sit down to work through the office work. If I don't it can be lunch time and the day is running out.

I'm also trying out a new routine for catering. Taking a leaf from Nigella's express cooking techniques I'm trying to get ahead of the arrangements so that it doesn't seem like such a rush in the evenings to feed and walk dogs, do commuter run and get a fantastic supper on the table that would be worthy of a TV series.

So bloggers it's a poor excuse for getting behind with my blog posts this week but blogging comes after washing, cleaning, office work but before ironing!

PS - I start the new blogging routine next week!

Easter break

Ophs, sorry bloggers, forgot to tell you I was taking a break. You guessed it, to Hawkes Bay. We returned to Cape South where we've been going every Easter since we came to NZ to live. Once again it didn't disappoint.

We dined at Craggy Range Winery (reported as one of the world's best dining spots), went to the cricket, watched the sea at Ocean Beach and generally chilled out in one of the most idyllic places you can find.

Lots to blog about so hold onto your hats!

Bloggers welcome

Just in case you've been visiting this week and found not much to read you should now be able to catch up with the domestic-executive musings as I've finally got the blog posts up to date. Sorry about the interuption in service, hopefully things will be better from today!

Photoblogging backlog

Well bloggers I'm afraid that my holiday photoblogging is going to be pretty restricted until Bob comes back from his South Island tour - he's been the master photographer and I need to pinch some of his images to give you a real flavour of Golden Bay. In the meantime, here's a taste of the marvellous views.

Abel Tasman from the Headland Walk

Golden Bay looking across the deer farm

Ligar Bay from the veranda where I spent a lot of time!

That's when I wasn't in classic sofa pose - yes had required inside for the sun which kept streaming in!

Out of “blog” message

It's time for this Domestic Executive to take a holiday – yes a proper, get away from it all – break away from home. We're taking Fortnum and Mason back to their first home to live with another 7 basset hounds for the week whilst MT, I and parents head off to Golden Bay.

Golden Bay is in one of the most beautiful parts of New Zealand, top of the south island. For more see http://www.goldenbay.net.nz/en/guide.html We're staying in the Villars of Legar Bay and you can check this out at http://www.villasofligarbay.co.nz/

There is no sky TV, no DVD so we're packing the radio, petanque set and maybe a pack of cards. Not to mention the mountain of magazines and books I've been longing to read but never seem awake enough or have enough time to curl up and enjoy.

Whilst we are away the house is being invaded by builders again. They are going to remedy the broken under tile heating, dodgy plastering and wallpapering and hopefully completing the painting outside and in. I imagine that it will take a couple of days to take the dust away from the rest of the house when we're back. Fingers crossed that they manage to complete everything without any major hitches.

Since my last blog it's been the usual domestic executive business. I've got back into coaching with my two private clients and spent a day with Catapult colleagues, firstly, listening to Australia's youngest person to climb Mount Everest and then an afternoon bonding as a team. It was so tiring to engage the brain in ways that I haven't done for a while. It was fun too but I think it was my in-laws who had the most fun back at base puppy sitting with Fortnum and Mason. By all accounts they were terribly well behaved (the puppies that is) and a good time was had by all.

Brace yourself for when I return and there will be a mountain load of photo blogging from Golden Bay and tales of Fortnum and Mason's return to their roots.

Festive Domesticity

I know that this sounds like a cheap excuse for not blogging but it really has been full on. Festive domesticity is always a challenge but for this domestic executive in this year it's been more challenging than most.

Fortunatly my just in time methodology served me well and we didn't miss out on any of the essential festive treats. We had presents to unwrap, food to scoff and plenty to drink. Also, we found the fancy china from our secret storage place and dusted off the Christmas decorations to put a bit of festive cheer.

Now I am ready to relax. To live for the moment and not the ones coming up. I am officially on domestic executive leave and looking forward to enjoying some sights and r&r to recharge the batteries.

With this new found time I might actually find some time to do some blogging more regularly, now that would be a novelty eh!

Spring cold

It's an official excuse for not blogging for a few days - I've been struck down with a lurgy. I think it's just a bad cold but as you get older you get less resilient to even the common cold. Having been as grumpy as a girl can be I became officially ill on Monday and have been off work ever since.

Weekend was productive, if not that much fun.

We went furniture shopping to Masterton (on other side of hill about 1.5 hours drive) and found exactly what we wanted without much fuss. Beats trogging up and down Thorndon Quay, the lifestyle quarter of Wellington. Looks like we can afford two set of sofas for the price of one we looked at in Wellington. The best thing is that they do curtains and stuff too so we're getting a price for them to get them made up and fitted too. Since we don't have close neighbours these are less of a priority but nevertheless I am sure that even the sheep want some privacy from us parading around the bathroom!

Sunday was birthday treat for Naomi. We're so over buying useless presents for each other I treated us both to seeing the NZ ballet instead. It was a smashing performance of Cinderella - a real crowd pleaser! I was finding it hard to breathe by this point and even turned down ice cream in the interval (that's how rotten I felt). The last time I saw ballet it was £5 tickets during Paul Hamlyn Week at the Royal Opera House - Giselle I think. We had stall tickets about 4 rows back so it was real close up. At the St James Theatre New Zealand we were up in the god seats that gave you vertigo to look down (or maybe that was the cold kicking in). Still, good night was had by all.

Am sure I'll be back on the mend and may break myself gently tomorrow by working from home. Let's see if I can improve blogging performance again!

Yup, still here

I know it's been a while. I've been crook. Flu don't you know. So bad I had to stay off work.

But I'm back and entering that manic phase a couple of days before a holiday trying to get everything done in time and kidding myself in the process that I really will get it all done. Yes, we're off to a warmer place for a week.

This domestic executive hasn't been loitering though. I'm full steam ahead with my countdown to life post 26 September. I know people didn't believe I would but I've decided to cut lose of the clutches of full time employment and fly solo as planned. I am going to put together a proposal for my new boss on some project work I can continue with on a part time flexible basis but otherwise I'm handing the reins to someone else on for the day to day management of the Communications Office.

It's all rather exciting really as I've managed to hook up with a couple of branding boys who do fantastic work and they've asked me to join their team. I'll still work self employed and build my personal brand but otherwise leave the empire building to them. After all, I've got visitors to think about!

With flu, major presentations at work and thinking about the future it has been a hectic time. Another poor excuse for not blogging but really, it's been very dull. I'm still hunting paint colours, carpets and wallpaper but that is almost done too!

The house is still there and progress being made. The painter rang to check outside paint colours so I know there are still people working up there. We've not been up recently because the weather has just simply been awful and because we can't get inside the thought of peering through windows isn't my idea of fun. I'm working on the principle that seeing progress next time we'll get a real sense of things moving on. I do know that the wall linings with Gib Board (plasterboard) has started and this was a worry because it's been so we we weren't sure if the council would give sign off. But, the lovely Upper Hutt Council building inspectors did!

Talking about Council's we've just put in for planning permission to build our barn/garage. It's going to be a red heritage barn. OK its not quite the boutique accommodation I was planning but we need something to garage the car and keep all Martin's new outdoor boys toys safe and sound in. There is plenty of room to expand the accommodation on site but for the moment we're going to stick to putting up the barn. Hopefully we'll get the go ahead pretty quickly and work can start on site.

In the wider kiwi world not much happening apart from wintery weather. Oh yes and public scandal where political advisors intervened on the appointment of a Communications Manager in the Ministry of Environment. The kiwi $ is sailing higher and higher which is good for me but hopefully by the time visitors start arriving someone will have got a grip on the economy. Winter sales are on in the shops and people at work are taking very long holidays for trips to the northern hemisphere. Pity its been raining in the UK too!

Anyway, won't ramble any more but thought it was time to show a presence. Will see if we can improve the photoblogging with reports from the Great Barrier Reef, Tropical Rainforest and well just the beach! Palm Cove here I come!

Not gone walkabout

No I'm not gone Australian and gone walkabout. It's been a difficult last week or so with bitterly cold weather, gadding about to Christchurch, rubbish time at work and a busy weekend at the Theatre and choosing stuff for house.

Excuses, excuses I hear you cry. No, just reasons.

No houseblogging this week either. The short story to that is that they have now locked down the house and we're unable to access it until we've agreed terms with the builder about when we can do this. We're suposed to be accompanied on all our visits which is quite challenging given that we can't get up there during the week.

Good news is that we've concluded most of the decisions on the house. Just need to choose paint colours and kitchen tiles and that will be it for the immediacy. Can't face the paint colours yet that requires a level of stamina that I just don't have at the moment!

I need a few days to clear the space in my head and hopefully I can get back into more regular blogging with news and views about kiwi land. For the moment, you'll just have to accept my apologies and look forward to my reports of going to Hamilton on Thursday, a new adventure to look forward to.

Only hope the tornados and torrential rain have gone by then.

Domestic fit out

OK, I know I've become very tardy with my blogging in recent weeks. The fact of the matter is that being a domestic executive is sooooo time consuming. I've got two full time jobs at the moment, the one that earns the money and the one that spends it.

I've been totally engrossed in planning and researching fittings and fixtures for the house. Getting what you want requires total obsession with the detail and however good the architect and builders are, it's down to you to get the specification, sourcing and pricing nailed down.

At last we've made huge progress in this regard after my Godsend Father sent over the Fired Earth catalogue from the UK in which to harrass suppliers in New Zealand. Many a conversation, starts and ends with "I want it to look like that", pointing furiously to the glitzy homey pictures of English country homes. Funny that in New Zealand people are looking at me as if I am completely barmy. The rest of the conversations are usually interspersed with "How much? You're joking aren't you......"; "It takes how long to get here.......?"; "Well I know that that's how kiwi's do it but I'm not a kiwi so please can you explain again......!". It's exhausting and frustrating and it's consuming my life.

But, light is starting to appear like through the mangaroa tunnel. See http://domestic-executive.blogspot.com/2007/03/photoblogging-tunnel-gully.html

Floor tiles, carpets, woodflooring now picked. Plumbing fittings and tapware selected and two fallings out the with builders on pricing. Kitchen still in progress as we're now sourcing English made units that can be supplied and fitted cheaper than those built and made in Wellington (if you can work that out let me know!). Wardrobes decided on although we really aren't doing it the kiwi way (who wants to fill their house with MDF and formica cupboards?). Electric plan drawn up (that's really going to sting when with the bill comes in) and joinery units specified (not so cheap and nasty now).

The search now commences for the holy grail of bathroom accessories and heated towel rails that don't look like they've come from $stretcher but at $stretcher prices. I will need a holiday before deciding on paint colours.

We've also have a wonderful garden landscaping plan which is very exciting and makes a change from thinking about bathrooms and kitchens. The landscaper got the design nailed first time. Funny that it's a Brit that's done it .... a concidence perhaps?

Shattered domesticity

Apologies readers for the genuine break in blogging this week. Our computer decided to have a meltdown which has been an all consuming worry. The offending hard disk is still sitting in limbo for a recovery operation but we're up and running again in the meantime.

I've often mentioned how important the internet is to our daily lives - reading papers, downloading podcasts, emailing etc. When all that activity was curtailed it was like losing all the furniture in your living room. Although we were still able to use the laptop it isn't like having the master computer working in the ways it normally should.

Still, its over now and I'm determined not to morn the lost files. Well not yet at least. Big lesson learned about back up etc but thinking about what might have been is not a good path to take.

Another busy week for this executive domestic counting down to home working. Mid week bombshell is that my immediate boss is leaving so we'll be all change in a couple of months. I'm delighted for her but that means lots of deals to be done with her before she leaves to make sure that the final home run for me it's littered with stops and starts from the new person.

I've also been investing in being a domestic executive this week but topping up my coach training and networking furiously for future clients. Hopefully that will pay off in time. I've got two clients at work now which is keeping the skills ticking over week by week and have just finished my executive coach training which has lasted 12 weeks.

But as they say, all work and no play so the housebuild preparations are still taking up a lot of time and with garden designs to think about now it's all go.

What comes around....

Avid readers of my blog may remember earlier in the year that this executive-domestic managed new heights of frustration with interference and mind changing of colossal proportions by the powers to be where I work. But, hey I got over it at the time so that's all good.

So almost 6 months later looks like people have seen the light and I'm back on the case to bring life back into the leadership team. Bring life back because as my boss said to me this week "communications is the oxygen of leadership". I figured that he was at last ready to listen and engage so it’s been a little manic dusting off all that material and planning done earlier in the year.

The cliché goes that it’s a woman's prerogative to change their minds. But no, this rule also seems to apply to CEOs, MPs and PMs. As a good public servant I just roll with the punches and move on as much as I can.

Since there is always a high risk that people might change their mind over the weekend I’m employing my new laid back approach. Not working the weekend to impress the boss on Monday but waiting to impress on Tuesday instead!

Work and house building has been all consuming in the last couple of weeks but hopefully new excitements to come next week that I’ll be able to report on – we’re seeing plans from the landscaper, a quiet leadership seminar to support (first step to coach networking for business purposes) and the prospect of a $10 talkathon next week!

Fastrack rush hour

Plenty to celebrate this week the the bypass opened in Wellington. After months of traffic congestion when they only opened one section going one direction they've finally opened the other.

Reportedly traffic is flowing much better in town and it can take at least 3 minutes off the journey to the airport! Still, it will come in handy for when I do my first official visitor airport run in December when my parents arrive to see us.

I can't take conversations about rush hour seriously here in Wellington. Generally speaking the rush is only to the coupon parking (only $4 for the day) and unless you keep milkman hours you're unlikely to get those spots. Otherwise you may have to wait at a few traffic lights or perhaps a pedestrian crossing.

OK when it rains it does get busier on the roads, no doubt about that, but when you're commuting time is less than 15 minutes it's hardly anything to get too stressed about.

As all things in NZ you get used to the smaller scale. And after all, small is beautiful too!

Snoozy NZ

Increasing numbers of people are returning to work but someone there are parts of NZ that are still on snooze mode.

For example, last week our train line to Wellington from Khandallah was still running on a special summer timetable leaving me bemused when the train didn't turn up when I thought. Newspapers are still as thin as ever (although the price hasn't changed) and there is no morning report (NZ's answer to the Today programme) and we're stuck with smooching summer tunes from the beach boys to listen to in the morning and ever increasingly exciting episodes (not) of Harry Wakatipu to listen to. [For those just not in the know, Harry Wakatipu is a greedy old packhorse that accompanies a 12-year old Urewera hunter with a moustache on his travels across the backcountry]

Rumour has it that NZ will remain in slumber land until at least Waitangi Day (6th February) and then everything will grind back into action and much will return to normal.

From a personal perspective it feels like things are already starting to ramp up - my once quiet moments in the office and escapes to catch a few rays of sun are drying up rapidly. Also, pressures to get things moving on the house are plenty and keeping on top of the paperwork, lawyers and builders is almost a full time job in itself.

Hard to believe where time goes and we're already through January - luckily for many New Zealanders they are still at the bach (beach house), camping or tramping without a care in the world. I've made this mistake this year but think I'll turn native next and take off January to follow the crowds to be part of snoozy NZ.

Something to smile about

This evening is an auspicious occasion that needs loud celebration. The sun is out, it's 24 degrees in Khandallah and MT and I have come home to sit on our decking for the first time ever. Yes, summer may have arrived.

It's been lousy for the last couple of days which has only made the return to work much more miserable. Then, quite by surprise there was a rush to my side of the office with the crowds wanting to rubberneck at the rays of sunshine outside the window. This precipitated a stampede of people to take long morning tea breaks on the park lawns in front of our building. These then stretched into long lunches and to cap it all, I stretched to a long afternoon tea.

You may think that this is strange behaviour but when you consider that for most wellingtonians this is the first sign of summer since summer began it's understandable that people want to grab the rays whilst they can. The office started to decant at about 4pm with furtive calls on mobiles making arrangements for evening BBQs and beach parties.

It's amazing how different the world looks when the sun is shining. Who knows what will happen tomorrow so best make the most of it whilst we can!

Post party blues

After the excitement of partying last week I was looking forward to a few quiet days to prepare myself for the holidays looming. Trouble is, I think I've slowed down too quickly and now struggling to get going at all.

At first I thought it must just be an age thing and adjusting to the southern hemisphere seasons but talking to a few people today made me realise that it's just because my batteries are flat. It's been over 4 months since MT and I had a proper holiday and that is falling behind our usual pattern of not going more than three months for a break. In thinking about all this it's made us realise how big a year we've had!

The fact we've sold our home, brought our chattels to the other side of the world, left behind family and friends, had to start new jobs and put up with months of anguish about land buying and house building has simply been absorbed and I think we are both now starting to feel the pain a little.

Still, no time to dwell on such matters - still got the Christmas shopping to finish, find a landscape architect and complete another 10 days in the office before we can finally relent. With 2.5 weeks of work over Christmas it will be plenty of time to recharge the batteries and then we'll return to being at peace with the world again. Well we might do if England do better at the Cricket!

Now don't tell me there's no global warming

I was pretty excited about this at the time but things with the house took over blog space and then I forgot to mention it. Sorry about the delay but here's the evidence that there must be global warming or some other weather phenomena.


Icebergs have been floating off New Zealand for the first time since 1930. They arrived about 3 weeks ago (middle of November) having travelled from Antarctica for the last five years. But, when they reached New Zealand's warmer waters they started to dissolve more rapidly. They'd been moving about two kilometres a day.


The icebergs were visible from the hills of Dunedin on the south of the South Island but as you might expect for some people that wasn't enough. One of the local television stations sent a reporter and cameraman to view the berg; they descended onto the berg and sent the footage and reported from the berg itself.


After that little escapade the berg broke into two pieces and got smaller by the day. The larger of the two icebergs was about 300 metres long and 100 metres high. Tourist flights were plentiful as people clammered to see this unusal sight.