Christmas in July

We decided to have an Xmas in July party last month because...well...we needed an excuse to have a party in July! Plus, our xmas decorations had not yet arrived at Christmas-time last year, it's now Winter here, and....oh let's face it - we just wanted to have another party!

So, we decorated the house and even put up the tree! I made a pumpkin cheesecake and other guests brought all kinds of yummy treats - including fruit cake. Oh, how I love fruit cake! Seriously!

We even exchanged gifts 'secret Santa' style while listening to modern xmas carols (think Barenaked Ladies and Blink 182...)

Here are the "before" pictures:





And some party pics:





And time for the secret santa presents:




Loren was quite triumphant when he stole the coveted beer for the third time, making it "safe"!



And finally, the aftermath:

Simpsons Movie

Saw the Simpsons Movie last night! And now my new favorite song is:

"Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig
Does whatever a Spider-Pig does
Can he swing, from a web?
No he can't, he's a pig."

Ha! =)

Oy!

Not a Maori exclamation, but I'll give you some of those in a minute! Sorry I've lagged behind, folks. You know the saying, though, 'when you go on holiday, you work twice as hard the week or so before holiday and twice as hard when you come back.'

So, I wanted to start out with these phrases because they are dirty, but decided instead to end the week with them. Not that it's the end of the week right now, but it's the eve of hump day and that's close enough. ;)


Here goes:

Wanker = Pokotiwha
Poor-caw-tee-far

Bitch = Witi
Witty

[wait a minute...I thought they were complimenting my humor!]

Fuckhead = Upokoai
oo-pook-or-eye

More Māori

Hi everyone! Sorry I skipped a post yesterday - I was actually slammed at work, and was at the office until very very late.

So, then, I'll have to do TWO phrases today to make up for it!

First, we'll do some geography. We live on the North Island of New Zealand:

Te Ika a Māui
Te Ee-ka ah Mo-wee

Aotearoa
Ah-or-te-ah-raw-ah

Aotearoa is the most commonly used name for New Zealand, which literally means "Land of the long white cloud". However, the translation book I just bought also gives this Maori pronunciation for New Zealand:

Niu Tireni
New Tee-re-nee

How about the seasons, next?

Winter (currently here in NZ)= Hotoke
Haw-taw-ke

Summer (currently in the Northern Hemisphere) = Raumati
Row-mutty

Spring = Koanga
Caw-unga

Autumn/Fall = Ngāhuru
Nah-hoo-roo