March 2023

Hello everybody, welcome to this month’s blog! Lot’s have happened since last month. 🍁🍂 Autumn started at the beginning of march and we’re really feeling the cold now towards the end. I must say I’m a bit scared of Wellington winter since we managed to essentially avoid it last year but we’re here to stay for the whole season this time around. At least I don’t have to worry about my hair flying off…

I have opened commissions for pet portraits! And completed my first order within the first week of announcing it. I’m currently working on a second order and hope to do a portrait a month for the rest of the year. I’ve had inquiries for people’s portraits and I’m quite interested in working with other media too so we’ll see where the portrait commission world takes us to.

I have set up my social media and page for you to look at if you’re interested in inquiring. Check my work and links down below:

Instagram | Facebook

I’ve started some Te Reo (Maori language) and Waiata (Maori song) classes at the beginning of the month. I also joined my Peruvian friends in Wellington to a Folk Peruvian dance class lead by my friend Peter as well as a Business Course at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. I might also join again my friends at Ollin Yoliztli to get back into Folk Mexican dance after all these months away.

It’s quite a few things to jump on all of a sudden, specially because lowkey my goal for this year was to take it easy on the things I put myself through but these are all beautiful opportunities that were put right in front of me so hopefully everything can run smoothly.

I’ve been thinking of applying for a full time job opportunity that presented to me recently and it really goes against my yearly goal just mentioned. I’m a bit scared to be honest but I’ll let you know more about it next month depending on how it pans out.

On another note, my hair has kept growing and it starts looking like a proper pixie cut. Who would’ve thought? Check out all the details on that here:

There was also a bunch of vents happening in Wellington. One of which happened right outside our doorstep almost! That was CubaDupa and it happens to be the biggest open festival in the whole of New Zealand. We managed to squeeze in a few hours on the Sunday repertoire and being my first time, it was such an amazing experience! My friends from Ollin Yoliztli made an apparition and of course, I had to go and take a bunch of pictures. If you want to se more about this fantastic event, all the best pics are on the blog down below.

A few other things that happened this month, at the very beginning… Jono and I were Chili Picking. We have been fruit picking before (Blueberries) but never chili picking. Who would’ve thought there was a chili orchid in New Zealand? And Jono found it by accident while looking at the map for a job he had in the area.

We also made some dumplings with Jono’s family and experimented a bit with the ingredients… Added chipotle to one of the filling options and it was a total success! I’m thinking all sorts of crazy ideas to try next such as mole dumplings?! How’s that for a Mexican / Cantonese fusion bomb? Of course Mole is a bit strong and it’d overpower the traditional fillings but if we put some work into the idea it could be amazing, don’t you think?

I have also tried to cook more on my own and I’ve tried all sorts of dishes. Mainly Mexican dishes I was already familiar with of course. But I also dove into things like falafel, couscous, etc.

On the last week I also made some sweet Mexican empanadas with homegrown peaches from Jono’s mom garden. I’ll perfect it and take some cool pictures before I share the recipe with you but for now, here’s some lowkey photos of what I made:

I also got a new plant or two… I’d normally say don’t tell Jono about it but this time he was there with me and agree to get them. One of them was in clearance so I’d say it was worth it. I’ll soon have a photoshoot of my plants and share them before the autumn / winter weather get the better out of them. Hopefully they all get to make it.