Winter is...leaving?

It's been a while since I posted a blog. Life got in the way, as it always does. So here's a little update from Middle Earth....

It's August, which means while the States are baking in 95 degrees and 158% humidity, we're enjoying what the Kiwis call "winter", which is just so laughable to us because most of these people don't know what a real winter is. Winter for North Island Kiwis involves eight weeks of not being able to go swimming. But kite surfing, sailing, hiking....no problem. Just throw on a wind breaker and you're good to go. And snow? What's that? Don't get me wrong, I am LOVING it. I just laugh when a North Island Kiwi complains about the weather here. It's like someone who's never lived in L.A. complaining about the "traffic" in Cleveland. Puh-lease.  ;-)

When we weren't thawing our butts off, we did some hiking to Kaiate Falls, the most quintessential waterfall swimming and jumping hole you've ever seen, and we hiked out to the point at Mt. Maunganui to watch the surfers on a beautiful day. Check out the fun little video we made here.

By the looks of this, you might think we never work. But, we do, I promise. Lately my hula hooping has completely blown up. I have two (soon to be three) classes at a local gym for women, a private rhythmic gymnastic student, and by November I plan to have a DVD made. Matt meanwhile has been slaving away at work trying to get their product launched, with many interesting twists and turns in the process.

We're gunning to buy a little rowboat soon, and our resolve to get a good deal on TradeMe has been bolstered by the fact that we just learned that ORCAS (killer whales) frequent the harbor and bay where we live. They literally swim in our back yard!!!!!!  Oh yeah and there are sting rays, octopus, sharks, and seals. Click here to watch the AMAZING VIDEO shot by my new friend Nathan of his close encounters with Orcas where we live! (You need to be logged into Facebook to watch the video)

In other news, my ornithological photography interest continues. Here are some shots I got recently:

Wild Pukeko

Tui

We still miss all of our friends and family greatly, and we're really hoping to see some of you this Thanksgiving or over Christmas/New Years. Come on over!

Till next time....

Melissa and Matt

Crazy cat lady (and proud of it)

I'm the crazy cat lady without any cats. I spend most of my time working for Happy Cat Sanctuary in New York. Though I love it so much and I consider it my lifelong mission to help the cats in the sanctuary and feral cats wherever I can, it doesn't lend to much interaction with cats. So when Matt told me about the Geyserland Cat Club show in Tauranga, I dragged him there, much to his dismay, to get my fix of fury felines, and I was not disappointed - Maine Coons, Birmans, Siamese, Ragdolls, and even a Sphynx! Watch the video here. Warning: extreme cuteness!

Though these cats are loved and pampered, we must also remember our less-than-perfect feline friends who are left to fend for themselves as strays. If you are interested in adopting a cat, opt to adopt one from a shelter, not a breeder. And heed Bob Barker's message - spay or neuter your cats! And please make a donation to Happy Cat Sanctuary, thank you.

11,315 days without dying

Holy crap, I'm 31.  When the hell did that happen?

When I turned 10, I was excited to finally reach double-digits. At 12, my mom let me go to the mall and put two pieces of metal through my earlobes. At 13, I earned the lofty rank of "teenager." When I hit 17, the state of Delaware thought I was responsible enough to operate a large motor vehicle on my own (hahaha, idiots). At 21 I was finally able to (legally) drink. When I turned 26, I rejoiced when my car insurance premium dropped.

But at 31, all I really wanna do is get the hell out of town for a little while and have some fun, 'cause the next "important" life marker's gonna be just over the hill at 40, so I have nine more birthdays to act like a slightly irresponsible psuedo-adult, which looks like this:

In all honesty, I did not revel in my childhood; the first fourteen years of my life weren't my favorite. When I finally did start having some fun and calling the shots right around age 15, I realized (though not consciously) that, hey, life's pretty awesome, and I need to make up for lost time.

Maybe that's why I haven't had kids yet -- because I've been too busy reclaiming some of the fun I'd missed during my own kid-hood. (Don't worry would-be grandmas and aunties, the kiddies are coming.....but don't go storming Babies R Us for crocheted beanies and nipple shields just yet.)

So what did I do to commemorate my amazing feat of surviving 11,315 days on this Earth without dying?  Hit the BEACH, of course!  I made a little video of our trip to the Coromandel Peninsula, where we visited three world-famous beaches: New Chums, Cathedral, and Hot Water. Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdKZ3w28rqw

The Coromandel Peninsula really portrays New Zealand's tendency for dichotomies. Ya know, the kind of place where you stumble upon a farm tractor parked on the beach.....

....or banana trees across the street from a sheep farm....

....or a peacock begging like a dog for your lunch.....

Thirty-one, here I come!

For the birds

Hey everyone,

It's been about a month since I last posted a blog..... I just didn't have the energy after Amber died. But things are starting to smooth out for Matt and me.  

My tour to Hawaii was really good, though very sad with Amber's passing, and lonely because this year I didn't have any of my bandmates with me.  But I made a lot of contacts and new friends. I had about 9 gigs, including the 33rd Annual Hawaiian Scottish Festival, the 20th anniversary of the North Shore Country Market, and St. Patrick's Day at Kelly O'Neil's Irish Pub. So all in all, a great tour. When I wasn't performing, I communed with the turtles in Haleiwa and spent as much time in the water as I could, asking the Pacific to wash away my sorrow.

When I got back to New Zealand, Matt and I moved down to Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, which is 3 hours southeast of Auckland. We are renting a house on the bay from a lovely family that we met through Airbnb. They are fantastic people and we are so lucky to know them.  

The house backs to a park area where tons of birds can be seen from the window. I was lucky enough to get shots of white faced herons, oystercatchers, and even a sacred kingfisher. It's a bird lover's dream!

Sacred kingfisher

White faced heron

Oystercatchers

White faced heron in flight

Matt loves his job with the dental engineering company.  He rewarded himself by getting a new Breville espresso machine which is AMAZING, and a surfboard (long board).

As the Starks say, "Winter is coming" - even in New Zealand - so there are precious few beach weeks left. 

We hope that our friends and family will plan to come visit us this Christmas break.  December will be here before you know it, and it's summer in NZ in December! Start planning (and saving) now to come visit us down under!  We miss everyone so much!

More blogging to come.... until then,

Love,

Melissa and Matt

Goodbye Amber, rest in peace

Yesterday we lost our baby Amber. She passed away peacefully on March 27. She had stage 3 kidney failure and we felt it best to let her pass without further suffering. I am heartbroken. We think it was a long time coming. Our educated guess is that she had kidney malfunction for years that caused alot of her bathrooms issues and other health issues. We are grateful she had loving people around her for the last months of her life. But I will regret for the rest of my life that I could not be there for her when she closed her eyes.

To commemorate her life, I started a memorial fund to raise donations for Happy Cat Sanctuary, where she lived the last four months of her life happily and with other friend kitties.

Click here to watch the video, read her story, and donate to her memorial fund.

Amber's life had a greater purpose - to bring me and Happy Cat Sanctuary together so we can save even more cats in need. Your donation will go a long way to making that happen. Thank you.

The only thing we have to fear....

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Back in Elkton, I had this famous FDR quote scribbled on our refrigerator dry erase board.  I look back on that time, 6 months ago, remembering just how fearful Matt and I both were about moving to New Zealand.  About what would happen to Amber, our house, our relationship, our friendships, our future. We feared the unknown, seemingly insurmountable achievements, and mammoth to-do lists, not succeeding.  It nearly paralyzed us into not making the leap to emigrate.  Even on the plane to Auckland from Ohio, I had a mini-breakdown. "What the hell am I doing?!" I muttered through uncontrollable sobs. I was so scared.

Now, exactly three months to the day we left, I have some great news - Matt started his new job today, at a company in a little town in Katikati. And, we most likely have a place to live, renting one bedroom of an amazing house in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, from a beautiful, inspirational family. We're literally living in Hobbit land -- the Shire movie set from Lord of the Rings is only 45 minutes from where we will be living/working. YES, DREAMS DO COME TRUE, but not with persistence, sacrifice, and hard work.

I look at the scared "me" of last year, and this new, anything-is-possible "me" of now, and I realize just how right FDR was.  We said NO to fear, YES to possibility, NO to stagnation, YES to growth, NO to safety and comfort, YES to trusting that everything will be okay, NO to giving up, YES to focusing and working hard.

This journey has opened up my eyes to the very real cyclical energies of the Universe, of fate, of loving, of life, of the Divine. These cyclical energies are not "hippy dippy flower power" obscure, fictional ideas. They are real energies that are mathematically PROVEN in art, science, the Universe, design, nature, and composition in the form of Phi, the Golden Number, 1.618033988749895....., the golden ratio, the Fibonacci series. (If you are not familiar with Phi, here are 15 examples in nature to help illustrate this very REAL concept.)

These energies / patterns / pulses exist within us, our bodies, our hearts, our minds, our dreams.  You don't have to fully comprehend them to know that they are real and that they have an influence on your life and in your environment. However, a major road block that prevents us from fulfilling that natural cyclical energy is FEAR.

I have friends and family who often say to me that they're "jealous" of what Matt and I are doing, or that they wish they could do something like we're doing. I am here to tell you that YOU CAN.  You have to ask yourself if the circumstances of your life are actually inhibiting you from making a leap similar to ours, or are you just saying that your life is too difficult right now and using that as the excuse not to do something, even though FEAR is the real reason for your inaction?

This doesn't pertain to just moving abroad.  It pertains to EVERYTHING you do, from moving, to changing careers, to having a child, to starting a business, to going somewhere you've always wanted to go, to dating, to saying "I do" at the altar, to learning something you've always wanted to learn (language, instrument, art form, etc. etc.)  I challenge you to look inward and really ask yourself why you aren't pursuing what you want to do, and try to identify just how much fear is inhibiting that dream.

I'm still afraid every day.  I worry about Amber, Happy Cat Sanctuary, my house.  But I know that life is made of cyclical energies, and if I keep striving to do good and be a good person, then good things will come back to me - because "what goes around, comes around" quite literally - and life will be balanced. It won't always be easy, and shit happens, but I choose to trust those mysterious energies instead of fear them.

"You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is." - Will Rogers

Leaving on a jet plane....in a hurricane

Oh the joys of flying! Cyclone Lusi is currently whipping New Zealand into submission, and I have to be on a plane in 12 hours. Why they have not cancelled my flight I can't comprehend.... I get air sick during slightly bumpy flights. Everyone please pray for me and my stomach, thanks.

For those of you in the vicinity of Honolulu / Waikiki / Oahu in March / April 2014, I hope you will swing by to one or a few of my shows during my fourth annual Hawaii Tour. If you have friends and family on the island, please pass along my tour schedule and let them know. Many shows are free. Aloha!

Sunday March 16, 8:00 pm *
Diamond Head Cove Health Bar
3045 Monsarrat Ave, Honolulu, HI
(808) 732-8744
With Michael Tanenbaum
Free, donations appreciated
* Contingent upon my flight out of Auckland

Monday, March 17, 4:30 p.m.
St. Patrick’s Day Post-Parade Party
Kelly O’Neil’s Irish Pub
311 Lewers St, Honolulu, HI
No cover. With Michael Tanenbaum

Friday, March 21, 10 p.m.
Hard Rock Café
280 Beachwalk, Honolulu, HI
No cover. With Nick Gertsson

Saturday, March 22, 11 a.m.
North Shore Country Market
59 Kamehameha Hwy
Sunset Beach Elementary, Haleiwa, HI
Free.

Saturday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.
Private House Concert
East Honolulu, HI
Donation at door
Here's the deal on this show - I can't tell you exactly where it is for all kinds of privacy reasons, but if you live in Honolulu, this has been a gem of a house concert series for several decades and very well known to locals.  If you want to attend this concert, email me by March 21 at melissacoxmusic@gmail.com for a private invitation and the address. Bring your own wine/beer (no hard liquor) and bring a picnic dinner.

Saturday, March 29, 11 a.m.
North Shore Country Market
59 Kamehameha Hwy
Sunset Beach Elementary, Haleiwa, HI
Free.

Saturday, March 29, 7:00 p.m.
Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church
Youth Ministry Fundraiser & Chili Dinner
5339 Kalanianaole Hwy, Honolulu, HI
Donation at door.

Wednesday, April 2, 5:45 p.m.
Honolulu Botanical Gardens
50 North Vineyard Boulevard, Honolulu, HI 96817
Free. With Michael Tanenbaum and the Hawaii Celtic Pipes & Drums
(808) 522-7066

Saturday, April 5 & Sunday, April 6
Hawaiian Scottish Festival
1201 Ala Moana Blvd
McCoy Pavilion, Ala Moana Beach Park, Honolulu
$1 admission at gate, all ages.
Check http://www.melissacoxmusic.net for Melissa's exact set times at the festival.

Some of my pics from last year's tour...

http://www.MelissaCoxMusic.net

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