Busy Weekend (Feb 19-21)

     Last weekend was pretty busy. Friday afternoon I worked then I was planning on going to the Lantern Festival with Bevan and some friends from uni. I was really excited about the festival because it moved from Albert Park to the Auckland Domain. There was also rumour that they had lots of new lanterns because the Domain is much bigger than Albert Park. I have really enjoyed the Lantern Festival the past two years and it reminds me how long I've lived her.

The Museum in the Domain that had special
lighting for the lantern festival. 

Panda Lanterns! These are the only ones I saw.
I don't remember seeing them last year.
The pandas are on a teeter totter but they look
a bit sad. 

     Due to some poor communication I didn't get to the lantern festival until 9:30. By the time I met my friends they were all hungry and wanted to eat. We wandered around the food stalls for about an hour. Then we set off to see the lanterns...right as they were turning them off and shutting it down for the evening. I only got to see the panda lanterns that were next to the food stalls. I was pretty bummed but there wasn't a lot I could do at that point.
     Saturday I got up and went to the ocean swim clinic I have been going to all summer. It was a technical set which was really hard because we did so many drills. By the end of it I was absolutely exhausted. There was a bomb threat at Mission Bay (where swim clinic is) while we were swimming so they had closed off most of the park and the beach. I had planned to run after swim clinic but they had closed the side walks and there were loads of police around so I decided not to. Instead I went home, had a shower and a nap then got ready for Bevan's sisters engagement party.

Bev and I at the engagement party

     Bevan's sister, Emma is engaged to Josh. They are both really nice. Bevan came to pick me up and we ran to get a few last minute things for Emma. We got to the engagement party about an hour after it started. The engagement party was at the Marine Center in Browns Bay. It was nice because the building is right on the beach. I didn't know any one there expect Bevan's family. I got to meet his Aunt and Uncle. They were very nice. Emma had some games set up like guess the number of kisses in a jar and a quiz about the couple. She also had a photo booth set up that had an instax camera. I have a cute picture of Bev and I from it. I tried to take a picture of it for the blog but they are all kind of blurry. I mostly hung out with Bev and his parents and chatted. It was pretty nice. At the end of the party we stayed to help tidy up then had pizza with Bevan's family for dinner.
      Sunday I relaxed and got ready for a busy week. I have Masters Orientation this week and next week my program officially starts!