The beginnings

Kia ora koutou, Welcome to you all.

Sometimes life has a funny way of bringing you to decisions unknowingly as you follow a wave to see where it ends up. As I sit at my dining room table, ignoring all the things that should be happening in my house; the dishes that seem never to end, those that I have dealt to; instead of diligently being washed, have instead been haphazardly added to the dishwasher in a way that always irritates my husband who seems to have perfectionism in this one area. Or the crumbs that still dot the dining table, staring back at me, a reminder of breakfast not long ago and my daughter’s innate ability to spread her cornflakes everywhere except in her mouth before rushing off to the next activity. Wasn’t this something that improved once they turned eight?? My disdain for housework is always balanced by my subconscious desire for tidiness, so I know it will get done, but for now, figuring out how to make a website is just more interesting!

At the end of last year, I said goodbye to my wonderful security blanket of permanent work in architecture, leaving behind colleagues I love, to explore the possibilities of just doing my own thing for a while. No plan, just an urge to be set free; to explore, and to learn new things. Some have called me brave, quickly following with the questions of ‘What will you do?’ and sometimes with well-meaning suggestions of what I could do. I usually, smile and shrug it off as my own little version of a mid-life crisis and respond with ‘ I’m not sure yet’. I know I am extremely fortunate. I have a wonderful supportive husband, who is working to make sure those cornflakes can still be strewn over the table and that I don’t feel the rush of the next step until it perhaps finds itself.

On this website I hope to share a little of what I have been involved with in the last 20 or so years of my career, what is in progress, and perhaps, what is to come.
The first step will be bringing to the world a little writing project that I have been working on together with my amazing friend and pouako Matiu Tahi to bring some aspects of Te Ao Māori to the community. Beyond that, I will keep following the waves, the wind, and the sunshine (and some rain please – my poor garden needs it!)

Aroha nui ki a koutou, Much love to you all

Charlotte