Don't blink - part one

And another 2 months has gone by....

It is amazing to me how quickly the time goes by and how much has gone on in the last few months.
I kept trying to get back to the blog and post, but I never managed to find the spare time. So much to share that this will be the first half of a two part post.

Since the last post I have been back to China - twice, back to Los Angeles, we have celebrated Myztyc's first birthday, Halloween and our 16th Wedding Anniversary, I saw Prince Charles, attended AnimFX, and we celebrated the Hobbit Premiere.

.. and now we are only 5 days away from Xmas!

For our 16th Anniversary we went to one of our favorite restaurants - Crazy Horse. We celebrated a few days late to be able to take advantage of the two for one steak dinners! It was delicious. And then we went over to Strawberry Faire for the best dessert in New Zealand - Chocolate Madness.

Halloween was fun. Weta Digital threw their annual bash. The theme was "ApocOlympics".
Eric and I went as the Transylvanian Ping Pong team. After the Apocalypse, ping pong became a blood sport. Overall the consumes, which are usually spectacular by the Weta folks, were not as good as last year. We attributed that to two things. 1. the party coincided with the "Born Project" show, which is a charity event held to raise money for the local neonatal unit. It is put on by Richard and Tania Taylor and many of the Weta folks are involved. And 2. many of the digital folk have been working away crazy hours to get The Hobbit movie finished in time for the World Premiere.


Then Prince Charles was to visit Wellington and Weta Workshop specifically. It was quite the scene. We were asked not to post photos so I won't - sorry. But it was really interesting having him here. He was very friendly. And very interested in talking with artists and hearing about how things were created. I just thought it was great to see both Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor together.

AnimFX 2012 - I took a day off to attend which was a much needed break. On top of everything else going on, work has been very busy as we are releasing new products almost daily in preparation for the launch of the movie! We are also planning to set-up another store down on the water front for the 5 days before the premiere as part of The Hobbit Artisan Market.

AnimFx is a small conference (mentioned in earlier posts) this was my 3rd, and it was great to see and catch up with old friends and co-workers. As well as meet some great new industry professionals.

It ended on Saturday the 17th. And on Sunday, I flew to Los Angeles for another quick visit with the family. I was hoping to spend some quality time with everyone over the week of Thanksgiving. Unfortunately my nephew Tanner went back into the hospital the night after I arrived. I did spend some nice time with family and friends, but not exactly what I had hoped for. It is a tough time for everyone.
And we can't help but feel helpless. But the hugs help and being able to hug in person makes all the difference.

We hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with those you love.
There is always something to be thankful for.

Hugs to all,
Stacy & Eric

ps- part two to follow soon.