Falling off the band wagon...

Holy crap, I just noticed we've only posted twice in 2009 and 12 times in 2008. Great way to keep the readers interested huh! ;-)

Heres a snap of me, Max, Mike and Schnicker at Turoa resort in NZ

And we're back! yeow!

Geek on Wheels!

Too funny not to post - the geek on wheels! We're up in Waitangi at a tech conference and what should I see go whizzing past the hotel room but many, many, geeks on wheels.. one of which was Rich!! Needless to say, I think these contraptions are HILARIOUS looking... the same can be said for the riders :o)

Can you tell we're busy working?!?!

Disclaimer: Since the Litmos biz has become our all-consuming thing that we 'do', this poor blog (aptly representing our personal life) has been put on hold :oD apologies!!

Richie and I are both very well, working hard of course, but playing hard when we get any opportunity! Most Sundays (which is our official day off) we get out to Woodhill Mountain Bike park for some action which is super fun. Ripping around on the trails out there amongst all the trees is the best way ever to break out of work mode. It's really only good out there in the winter though, when it rains a bit, as it's a sand base. So as soon as summer arrives it'll be back to the beach and planning camping trips - yay!

Travel hasn't featured much this year, or last year either, whick feels very strange. But we did go away camping at Easter down at the Coromandel which was beautiful - Waikawau Bay. Plus, we snuck in a weekend in Sydney for Foz's 40th birthday (of the couple Foz & Mitch - Whistler buddies) in May and caught up with heaps of the usual suspects including Amanda, Katia, Gueza and Craig. And just 2 weeks ago we managed to fit in a weekend at the snow and scored 2 blue bird days in a row - with a decent amount of snow - at Turoa! Fun fun fun.. :o)

I had to have a major op in the past few weeks so that wasn't cool at all but I'm on the mend now, and it did mean I was super spoiled by having my parents fly in to town to help look after me. Plus, my sis was also in NZ at the time, for her own reasons, so it was a great family catch up. We haven't all been together since February '08 so were well overdue!

Not too much else to relate in news, lots of worky stuff but I won't bore you with the details. We really aren't sure what our plans are for the coming year when it comes to travel or life in general, but I know we're in the mood to shake things up a lot, so stay tuned!

If you are reading this - thank you! However, we'd understand if you didn't ever check back here anymore seeing as we went from regular posts to what looks like maybe twice in a year!! YIKES. Anyway, if you are hanging in there with us (yay!), let me know what you're up to - maybe it will give us some ideas!?! :o)

Here's hoping life is fun, happy and exciting wherever you are!

Nic & Rich xx

Merry Christmas & Rockin' New Year 2009!!

Wowzers, I really don't know how the year has escaped us and suddenly we're just a few days before Christmas! I wonder if it's been as speedy for everyone else??! One minute we're living the dream in Whistler, next thing we're here in Auckland working our butts off and it's almost been a year because it's Christmas has rolled around again!

So, the quick round-up is the best option. We're still living in Devonport in Auckland (NZ) and we are not sure when we'll head out at this stage. The plan was to stay a year but then with all that has happened with our business we think it's worth investing some more time. NZ has proved to be a great place to spread the word and we've picked up some cool new customers and made some wicked connections.


I (Nic) just finished up my job with the Foundation of the Blind on Friday and am now full time on our business - yay! Is the pressure on or what?!?!

The Fougie's (my folks) are over from the Gold Coast at the moment visiting us and staying for Christmas which will be at the Chety's this year. Should be a great ol' shindig with about 30 rellies dropping by throughout the day. Then on the 27th Richie and I head north (5hr drive) to Ahipara for a week of camping and trying desperately hard not to check our email every 2 seconds hehe :o) - it's hard to stop!!

Now that should be fun, it's our first holiday since we arrived in Auckland on Jan 16th this year! There'll be atleast 10 of us camping and in a bach (beach house), at the bottom of 90 Mile Beach so I think surfing, chilling, beers and bbqs are on the menu for the week.. Can't wait!!!

Then we're back on to it in the new year, revived and ready to kick some butt and take some names! Yeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa


Just a few pics from the top - Rich & I camping in Tawharanui end of October, snow near the Chateau on an August weekend at Turangi, Rich with a bug over on Waiheke Island February and the two of us on a bike ride with the iconic Auckland Sky Tower behind us in November.

I hope you guys are all lovin' life and rockin along. We hope next years plans involve some travel so that we can get exploring again & catch up with some of you. But in the mean time, have a wicked time over the Christmas & New Years break.

Lotsa love, Rich & Nic xxx

Long time, no love!! How did it get to Sept?!

Wow, I can't believe it's been over 2 months since my last post..I can't believe it's almost SEPTEMBER!! We have been OUT OF CONTROL busy these last 9 weeks.. Turned out, as per my post below, that we made it on to the reality show (yay!), and are still filming for another 2 weeks.

It has been nuts.. Our learning curve has been straight up, vertical even, and we've been privileged to meet with some real big names in marketing, business development and all sorts of other things we hadn't thought a business needed :o) hehe.


The show will air in New Zealand on TVNZ in October. We're in the final few weeks of the show now and have some serious challenges on our plate to wind up the comp. We have to increase the BUZZ around our product and get traffic soaring, so it's a huge ask.. But then the other 3 companies have equally hard things to accomplish.

Oh oh - in other exciting news we will finally move out of the home office and in to our own office space!! I say 'we' but really I still work full time for the Blind. Just do nights & wknds on our stuff. While Rich works full time on our software, and does nights & wknds doing contract work for Whistler Blackcomb! busybusy.. We have a new junior developer on board and our old partner Dan has upped and quit his job in London and jumps on a plane next week to come back & work with us too - YIPPPEE!

Anyhoo - enough business chit chat. Rich and I, shockingly, seem capable of nothing else these days - BORING!!


Here's a few photos of last weekend in Sydney, we managed a fleeting visit on the back of a conference I was attending for my real job at RNZFB ;o)


(no caption needed)

Me, Pip & Gueza out in the city

Eating in Darlinghurst: Rich, Katia, Craig, Me, Amanda

Me & Craig at dinner

Rich and his lil' sis Amanda walking the coast

On the Manly ferry

Me & Amanda

Buddies from Whistler: Foz, Me, Mitch & Rich in Manly

reality

We were invited to pitch our software to a panel of 5 judges on Saturday - man it was so nerve racking!! It's for a reality tv show of all things.. We will find out next week if we made the cut from the 20 shortlisted companies down to the 10 who kick off the elimination style show..

Fingers crossed! The exposure we could get would be priceless even if we only made it that far!


Anyhoo.. not much else in the way of news. Gorgeous Vikki had her baby 2 weeks ago now, little Riley, so I'll have to post a photo of the happy little family!!





Nicxx

Maori Bay

The west side!.. this is Maori Bay... 35 mins from the big smoke. Our bud John lives out this way, surf, sun and sandy beaches for miles...



ps... the rock out in the sea is white on top due to the big birds from the Gannet colony crapping all over it.. thats a lot of poop!

Morning View..

Its a tuff life!... this is the view we have when we walk out the front door. This was taken just after Rich sent me on my way, with a packed lunch to my ferry to scoot across the waterway to the big smoke for work :o)

A Friday morning in Wellington

Killer sunrise yesterday morning in Welly.. was waiting with a coffee and glazzy hung over eyes for a conference to start in Te Papa (NZs best museum or something like that.. )


Yep.. so thats it.. nothing else to say..

oh.. no i didnt see the giant squid.. but had some pretty darn tootin calamari for lunch.. hmmmm.. hey wait a minute!

Rich