Mid-year recap

I’ve been doing these mid-year recaps the past few years and it’s time for me to write 2024’s one. The first half of the year has flown by pretty quickly and I’ve had a good mix of ups and downs. This is a great way for my to remember the highlights, notable memories.

I reread my recap last year and so much has changed just in this past year alone! 2024 so far has been more relaxed compared to 2023 when I did so much travel. We’ve stayed in NZ but had at least one trip away so far this year.

Let’s start off with some general life updates:

Health

I’ll start off with a health update as my other recaps did too. Last year I mentioned high cortisol and copper. That’s still ongoing which is strange because I’ve done quite a bit to make sure my stress levels are low and that I’m not taking anything with copper in it. I wish this has been resolved but I’m still figuring this out.

A new health thing that cropped up this year was my gallbladder. 2 months ago, I woke up with searing pain in my abdomen. A series of tests and ultrasound later, I’ve got a gallstone. I will eventually have to get it taken out but unless I have another painful attack, I just have to manage it with food. We also found something else that needs to be further assessed but I’m not comfortable talking about this yet. So far I’ve spent close to $800 on doctor’s visits and tests.

Also recently, I hurt my right foot so I’m seeing a podiatrist to sort it out. The older I get, the more I realise how true the saying “health is wealth” is. Good health is such a luxury.

Work

Work has been generally good. I still enjoy what I do and the value I add. However, my work is changing very soon. It’s bittersweet having to say goodbye to my lovely small team. With this upcoming change, there’s a bit of unknown but I also welcome the new opportunities that it may bring.

Moving on to the highlights, here’s what I’ve been up to the past few months:

January

January means my birthday so it’s always a nice start to the year. I had dinner at Azabu in Mission Bay. Then I had brunch with my family at Milford Motel.

I went to my Uni friend Rhezza’s hens do. We did ceramic painting at Clay Friends in Matakana then had lunch at Plume. Then at night we went to Caluzzi for the cabaret dinner and show. It was a great day and the cup I painted turned out well!

Towards the end of January we also attended a wedding and an engagement party for Max’s work mates. The wedding we went to was in Markovina Estate. The engagement party was for Max’s boss. I like that we got a nice polaroid photo of us that sadly we couldn’t take but we got a professional photographer photo of us there as well.

I also pierced my ears in January. I had my seconds done which I’ve wanted to do for a long time so I’m glad I finally did it. I also built a lot of Lego flowers as Max and Joan gifted them to me for my birthday. I love my lego flowers! Max basically gifted my the Lego bouquet and bonsai. They’re so pretty!

February

In Feb, we had another wedding back at Markovina Estate and it was for my friend Rhezza. I’m not great at taking photos during the events we’ve attended but it’s also because I was enjoying it in the moment rather than being on my phone. It was a beautiful sunny day and I loved what I wore which was an Aje two piece floral set.

Feb was also the beginning of my reformer pilates era. I’ve tried reformer pilates before but I stopped after a while because of the cost. I couldn’t justify a gym membership and reformer pilates together. With my high cortisol, I’ve been advised to do more low-impact exercises. When this studio had their Feb Challenge which made it $10 per class (20 classes for $200 for the whole month), I signed up straight away. I’ve been going since Feb. I really enjoy it and I feel stronger and better. It’s hard but I’ve loved it and I look forward to going 4-5x a week.

  • Takapuna food trucks. I love summer in Takapuna because there are so many events on. Hapunan was in this food truck event so we had their delicious food and Bear Gelato.
  • We watched James Roque’s new comedy show Champorado.
  • We continued our Valentine’s Day tradition of a picnic dinner. We don’t like going out for dinner on this day as they mark it up and we like our simple tradition of going to the beach and having a picnic. We went back to Devonport.
  • Another event in Takapuna that I enjoyed was the outdoor movies. We watched the Barbie movie.

Feb also has my sister’s birthday so we celebrated that by having dinner at Nanam then brunch with family at Lulu’s Cafe. Joan and I also had lunch at Jungle8 then we checked out the Guo Pei exhibit at the Auckland Art Gallery. The exhibit was amazing.

March

March had the ITZY concert. ITZY is a kpop girl group and they were good! Joan and I had dinner at Gemmi first. We had so much food then Miann for dessert.

Towards the end of March through to the first week of April, we went to Kaikōura. I’ll do a separate post about this trip but it was a great trip. Kaikōura is beautiful. We saw so many seals and also did some whale watching.

  • I went to the Superette warehouse sale and I got 2 amazing things for a great bargain. I got the pink Helmut Lang sleeveless blazer which was originally $799! I also got a cropped Viktoria & Woods blazer that was originally $650.
  • I also started my Tikanga course this month. I’ve been learning te reo for the past few years. I’ve completed levels 1-4 but I didn’t think I was ready for the big jump that is Level 5 so I decided to study Tikanga instead. It’s home-based learning so I do it on my own time and they send all the resources. I’ve passed my first kete so far!
  • Definitely not a highlight but a notable one. We took Bucket to the vet as she was wheezing and I knew something was up. Turns out, she had grass stuck up her nose and throat. She had to be under to get it out and the vet said he has never seen grass that long stuck in an animal before. She’s lost her outside privileges as she managed to do this within minutes of being in the garden.

April

April was pretty chill after we got back from our Kaikōura and Hamner Springs trip.

  • We had a team lunch at Gochu then we checked out Te Wharekura. If you’re in the city and by Commercial Bay and Ferry terminal area, definitely check out Te Wharekura to know more about Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Auckland city’s history.
  • I also went to Laura’s birthday and housewarming party and made friends with their cat Bandit.
  • Towards the end of April, I randomly woke up in the wee hours of Sunday morning with abdominal pain.

May

  • At the very start of the month, I cut my hair short. I had such an urge to chop my hair off. I almost did it myself because I was sick of my longer hair but I thankfully didn’t. I just randomly went to one of the Asian salons near work and got a haircut. I love this length. It’s my ideal length and I was so happy to have shorter hair again.
  • May was also the start of my multiple doctor visits and tests after my abdominal pain.
  • Lots of lovely beach walks happened too since the weather was still great. I also switched from coffee to matcha every morning. I think it’s better for my cortisol and I started finding coffee too strong.

2 exciting events were in Takapuna this month:

  • Hikoco opened in Takapuna and I went in during their opening weekend and got a free Tocobo lip mask. I love Hikoco and it’s where I get most of my skincare.
  • The Takapuna Filipino Festival also happened which was amazing to see BUT it was so hectic and busy. It’s great to see how many people supported this festival but for those wanting food, the lines were so long and many sold out quickly. I hope there would be another one though.

  • I won movie tickets to see Challengers in Takapuna Beachside Cinemas. I took Joan and we had dinner at my fave Sakebar Nippon, had dessert at Duck Island then watched the movie. I enjoyed the movie, it was interesting and we love Zendaya.
  • Then it was Father’s Day. We had a family dinner at Ajisen Ramen in Takapuna. They’re pretty good and big servings too.

  • It was Auckland Writers Festival this month and I managed to go to one event: Bonnie Garmus’ talk. I absolutely loved readin Lessons in Chemistry so I was glad I was able to attend and listen to her talk. We then had lunch at Gloria’s then before heading home, I got some Potato Corner fries.
  • Max and I had date night. We had an early dinner at Khu Khu in the city. The food was great and it’s Thai vegetarian/vegan dishes! Then we watched a comedy show for the Comedy Festival. We watched Brendon Green. It was a nice night out.

June

I’m writing this June part on the day that my car got stolen so what a start to this update! That’s the biggest thing to happen this month but besides this nuisance, there were still good things that happened.

  • At the start of the month, I bought a walking pad from FB Marketplace. Sadly I couldn’t use it on that first week because I hurt my foot and ended up seeing a podiatrist for it. My foot is better and I’ve been able to use my walking pad since. I love it! I got it half price and it works well in the study. I’ve been wanting one for months and it’s great for this winter season when it’s cold and rainy to go out for a walk. I can also move it to my standing desk and use it while working.
  • Due to my walking pad, I had a re-arrange of the study. There were two desks in here but Max rarely works from home anymore while I mostly do so the study is basically where I spend a lot of time in at home. I took the extra desk out, used Max’s dual screens to update my wfh desk situation and reorganised my shelves. I like how it turned out. It’s still a work in progress but happy with it so far.

I mentioned above that we have some work changes so my team went for a lunch at Boda through First Table and we had a great meal with a nice view. We also did a Secret Santa gift thing between us. I got some lovely gifts. Then we I also finally tried the famous hot chocolate from Cocoa Wilds with toasted marshmallow. It was pretty good.

One Saturday in June, we had a fairly busy day in the city:

  • Lunch at Paskatsu. This is a new place in Lorne St. They do katsu and pasta. The serving size is huge! It was good.
  • Got coffee from Receptionist.
  • Did some shopping at Coach.
  • Checked out the Hair and Beauty Expo. This is an industry event but I was given free tickets by The PR Shop. I’ve been a few years ago and I wanted to go because I love doing gel nails at home and I knew that there would be different gel polish brands in the expo. I got a pretty good haul from it!

June was great for Filipino food in Takapuna!

  • Hapunan was back in Goodside Smales Farm in June so I obviously had to go and support them. Their food is so good!
  • Takapuna Sunday markets also has 2 Filipino food stalls now. Eatsworth has been in the markets for a few months and they do Filipino breakfasts. The Ma’nhu Kitchen is new and I found out over the weekend. They do more traditional Filipino food and hot taho!

  • I discovered something new this month. I’ve been going to Relaxology in Takapuna for quite some time. They’re good, affordable and always have availability. When I hurt my foot, I thought I’d get a nice massage and I ended up getting a full body 90min massage with foot spa and face massage. It seems like this specific treatment unlocked a different space they had. It was more luxe and relaxing than their usual space. It was amazing!
  • I also had a few lunch catch-ups with people. I’ve found out Elliot Stables De Niro restaurant have truffle pasta and I’ve had it twice since.
  • Max and I also had date night at Toktok Takapuna. Great food and cocktails as per usual.
  • Max also bought a pottery wheel off Trademe so he can do some wheel throwing at home. He is good at pottery/ceramics so now he can have a little studio in the garage.

I think that’s it for my mid-year recap. It’s a lot and I liked to focus on the highlights. Yes it hasn’t all been great but this is a good reminder for me that life has still been pretty good. Despite some changes, issues and hiccups, I’ve have some good moments this first half of the year.

I also wanted to share my favourite things/products/items I’ve loved so far but this post is already way too long so I’ll save that for another post. I’ll end this one with our cats: Turbo, Pubble and Bucket. They are doing better than when we moved in. They’re not besties but they can coexist in the house. Bucket is so cuddly, she smothers me when I’m on the couch. She loves a left shoulder. Pubble has the cutest chirpy purr. Turbo is still soft and cunning and he loves sleeping on the bed every night with us.

My next life update should hopefully be better. I’m hoping for a new car (due to my stolen one), better health and more good memories. Fingers crossed!

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