May 2012 » Nectarine NZ

Bek’s working on a new sign for Cafe Mirabelle

News

May 292012

Café Mirabelle is one of Carterton's delights! While I could blather on endlessly about the joys of their Pain Au Chocolat and Warm Goat's Cheese Salad, Melissa Q speaks far more eloquently than me about Mirabelle in her short online review:

Cafe Mirabelle never fails to delight with its gorgeous authentic French ambience, Parisian maitre’d (who is the husband of the classical French-trained chef) and consistently superb food. The food is inspiring, beautifully presented, and always tastes incredible.

Anyway, Bek's painting a new sign for them. Or possibly an old one. While it's looking all fresh and sparkly now, the plan is to give it a good bit of distressing and weathering, to maintain that rustic French charm. Or so I'm told.

I don't care, as long as the food remains so impeccably fabulous!

Irena Stenner website

News, Website Portfolio

May 212012

Irena Stenner allows the astounding creative power of the right brain functions to flourish with her art-based team-building workshops!

As Irena says, "We live in a world dominated by left-brain thinking and are only just starting to discover how innovative, wise and creative our right-brain intelligence is. Not only does it help find unique and innovative solutions to problems, it also generates a sense of well-being and builds connections between people and joy. This in turn leads to productive, positive and sustainable workplaces."

In my own travels, I've found that trying to get the mix of the left brain (with its analytical and logical processes) working in concert with the creative and lateral right brain is a tricky balancing act, but can be very rewarding. Some of my friends would no doubt posit that it's especially impressive for someone appears at times to have only half a brain. Given that some theories suggest we only use 10% of our brain capacity, then a quick trip via calculus would put the final tally at somewhere around Π/2.71, I figure (accurate only to 8 decimal places).

Anyhoo... Irena's workshops are fab, what people produce in them is amazing, her own artwork's gorgeous, and we're pretty happy with the site we put together to tell the world about her! www.irenastenner.com

Irena Stenner Website - The Art of Team Building

Wairarapa Montessori website

News, Website Portfolio

May 062012

The Wairarapa Montessori Children’s House offers a peaceful and orderly environment that fosters a love of learning. It is based around a structured curriculum, supported by Montessori-trained teachers and special Montessori learning equipment.

Our own kids are at the Montessori School at South End in Carterton, so we're quite familiar with what a Montessori education has to offer. Having also served on the board at Carterton School for 4 years, I believe that so much of primary schooling is about personality; if children are happy in their school environment, they'll learn and thrive.

For some kids that's a mainstream environment, for others it's something like Montessori. In fact, we're fairly lucky that we have a diverse range of options in our neighbourhood. A solid grounding in core curriculum subjects is vital, but I also love seeing them extending themselves with practical skills: cooking, gardening, cleaning, and taking responsibility.

Montessori has been great for our kids. If you're considering it for yours, give Pauline a bell at Wairarapa Montessori Children’s House on 06 370 1471!

www.wairarapamontessori.co.nz

Wairarapa Montessori website by Nectarine

Emma Bass website

News, Website Portfolio

May 042012

Award-winning photographer Emma Bass applies her talents to a diverse range of subject matter. Her world is visual… light and colour are her lifeblood.

Emma's images have graced the covers of New Zealand Grace, New Zealand Weddings, North & South, Pro Design, Listener and Next. She has won eight NZAIPP (New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers) Silver awards, four Gold Kodak awards and two Silver APIA awards.

Emma's work is astounding, so we were very pleased to created a site for her. By using WordPress and the NextGen Gallery plug-in, we've made it easy for Emma to update, organise and caption the images herself, and she's leapt into blogging with enthusiasm!

Her fabulous IMPERFECT exhibition opens tonight at Black Asterisk Gallery in Auckland, so if you're around, make sure you head in for a look!

www.emmabass.co.nz

Site by Nectarine