Day 302 - Places to Wait

Today I went to the Japanese Embassy in Wellington for what, I suppose is their version of Eiga Sai, where they show one Japanese movie every last Tuesday and Thursday of each month. The movie I saw was Swing Girls, and it started at 6:30pm. It ended around 8:30pm, which meant that I missed the last bus I needed to take. My sister and her fiance E were nice enough to pick me up, and I sat on this bench as I waited for them. BTW, it was only around 9pm, but the area was already a ghost town. My sister tells me that's really normal.

Day 301 - Chocolate and Cream Cheese

So we loved the cream cheese icing of the red velvet cupcakes so much, but the red velvet cupcake itself is too difficult to make. So my sister made normal chocolate cake instead, and just put the cream cheese icing on it. The idea to put candy sprinkles on it was mine. Because I just love candy sprinkles. They're delicious, and they're very pretty.

Day 300 - Something You Don't See Everyday

Pandas and this mascot in Civic Square in Wellington CBD. There was an event promoting tourism in China and I guess that means pandas walking around. It was all very nice, there were food booths selling dumplings and everything.

Day 299 - Dairy

I don't know why, but they call convenient stores "Dairy" here. Anyway, this is the one across the bus stop nearest my sister's house. Although I wait for the bus often, I've only been inside it once. I bought a cookie. :)

Day 298 - Photo Subject

One of the best uses for pets, I have found, is that they are neutral topics of conversation, or that no one will think too much about your being anti-social when you're playing with them, and that they're the easiest to convince to be a subject for your photos. I don't mean that they're easy to take a photo of, but at least when you take photos of them sleeping and post it on the internet, you're not a bad person for doing so, and they're not going to complain about it. ;)

So this is Gianni, my sister's parents-in-law's dog. He's very nice and easy to take care of. He's trained and everything. Also, very cute, as you can see.

Day 297 - Laptop on Loan

Because I am poor, I have to borrow my sister's fiance E's laptop while I'm here. Lucky for me, he's got laptops coming out of his ears, so lending me this one for a few months doesn't interrupt his computer needs. At least, I hope not. Points if you can tell what movie is currently playing (not many points though because it's kind of obvious).

P.S. I think the red wall background is quite good for photo shoots. Maybe.

Day 296 - Red Velvet Cupcakes

My favorite cupcakes! Ordinarily, I'd go to Sonja's Cupcakes at Serendra for them, but since that's not an option at the moment (and those cupcakes are too expensive anyway), my sister was kind enough to find a recipe on the internet and make them. They were kind of hard to make, but really really yummy. I want more!

Day 295 - Old Bank Arcade

One of the reasons why I'm not too fond of SM Malls is because they're so boring. White walls and shops without character. This Old Bank Arcade in Wellington City is really something. Tell me you don't like shopping in a place like this. Even when you're not buying anything, at least you're seeing something pretty. Look at that ceiling decoration. :)

Day 294 - Creamy Garlic Potatoes

Look! It's a dish I made by myself! Well, more or less. My sister Z and her fiance E helped with the oil and the cheese and the milk and the oven. So all I really did was cut up potatoes and put them in a tray. But that's already more than I usually do in the kitchen so, yay me! Sort of.

This dish is called Creamy Garlic Potatoes. I first found out about it when we had it at The Coffee Farm House during a teambuilding event with my former officemates. It tasted so good, we didn't want to finish eating. Seriously, we stayed for like 2 hours in the dining hall. Of course, this thing that we did didn't taste exactly the same as that dish, but it was still really good. :)

Day 293 - D.I.Y. Invitations

Why pay when you can do it yourself, or better, get someone to do it for you for free? Right? It's enjoyable for me to layout words and cut up paper anyway. :)

Day 292 - Roll Down the Hill

In the school I went to for elementary and high school education, there was a small hill near the library. When I was in kindergarten (or actually until I got to Grade 6, and probably until high school if only I was allowed), my friends and I used to go there all the time to play. Sometimes, when we were in our P.E. uniform (and therefore not in a skirt), we would roll down, not caring about the grass that would stain our uniform, or even, the pain.

When I saw the hill again recently, it looked very small. Way smaller than how I remembered it. I guess when you're a kid things really are bigger. And also, they'd built a cement pathway down the middle of the hill and put a "Butterfly Park" on it so it actually did get smaller. Pffft. "Progress" sucks.

Anyway, this is the hill in Staglands, a park in New Zealand where deer could roam free and children can play with them. It's a very big hill. And I wish the hill in the school I went to was as big. Then again, at the time I went to school there, it felt like it was this big.

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P.S. It has been more than a year now since I first started this project, but obviously, I didn't take one photo for each day, otherwise I would've been finished before today. No matter. 365 is just a number. Technically, there are 365 and 1/4 days in a year anyway, and whoever said that the 365 days for this project needed to be consecutive and within just 1 year? :P LOL. Me and my excuses.