I went to the SPCA today to get a kitten.

Somehow, I ended up coming home with two of them...


Gaige (the tabby) and Lilith. Those of you who play Borderlands will get where I got the names from. They are currently exhausted on the bed, after running around and around my room non-stop for the last hour.

In other news, I finally got my driver's license. Wrote a couple of blogs about my trip to Brazil.

What's everyone up to over the holidays?

Well, I'm here. After what was arguably the world's worst plane trip (half way through I developed a fever, and started throwing up), and 29 hours in transit, I am totally in Brazil. Time for a shower and some sleep.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!

My job

is sending

me

to

Brazil!!

For three whole weeks in October/November, I will be touring coffee farms, learning more about production and harvesting methods, and hanging out on Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza. FAF is an amazing farm, started by a family who wanted to show the rest of Brazil that coffee farming could be profitable, while also maintaining a sustainable, ecologically and socially sound business model. I will have just missed the coffee harvest, but I'll get to spend a lot of time with Felipe Croce, a total expert on fermentation, which is something I've wanted to learn more about for ages.

Warning! Photo-Heavy blog ahead!! I've put everything in spoilers, for anyone on a slow connection.

You know, it's been ages since I looked at any of the sets on this site. I tend to go straight for the groups and boards these days.

In honour of staying home sick in my pyjamas, here's a list of some of the latest hopefuls sets in member review which caught my eye:

I'm going to be kind of scarce around here until the new year, since I'm down in CHCH visiting family and friends. It's been an awesome trip.

I just got finished with a mammoth 6 1/2 hour tattoo session, which has resulted in an absolutely stunning piece of work on my leg/hip. I'll post pictures later. I'm totally in love.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday so far.

Edit: Here they are!




Designed and inked by Fiona Skipper of Absolution in Christchurch.

Aw, thanks so much to everyone who left birthday wishes on my blog. It was such a sweet surprise to see them! I had a great day, even though I had to go to work. My boss brought me flowers, and I baked some cookies to take in for everyone. I decided I didn't really want to go out in the rain for dinner, so we just got thai take-aways and watched movies. Oh man, Lilo & Stitch makes me cry like a baby every time I see it. Also, Tekkon Kinreet is the coolest, weirdest, loveliest thing I have ever seen.

I started my new job on Monday. I am now the official Wellington Barista Trainer for Coffee Supreme, one of the largest and most prestigious roasting companies in New Zealand. It's kind of a big deal for me. I basically just geek out on coffee all day long, which pretty much makes it my dream job. I'll be starting to train and plan for the Barista Championships pretty soon, too.

I cut all my hair off, and dyed it. Pictures!






and... yeah...

From a recent photoshoot with Kaveh Kardan.

Photographer- Daniel Minson
Hair/MakeUp/Styling- Gracie Hart (me!)
Photo editing- Gracie Hart

Incidentally, these are the mystery shoes that turned up on my doorstep...

This is quite strange but... did anyone on here happen to buy me some shoes from my wishlist? A mystery package arrived on my doorstep with a PO box return address and some shoes in my size inside. They're really sexy- I'll add some pics later- but I have no idea where they came from. I don't even think I've ever posted my wishlist on here (I tend to think it's kind of tacky, unless it's your birthday), but I just can't think where they might have come from.