Introducing Caffeinated Weka

It's a new year. New challenges. New excitement. New adventures ... and maybe time for a change. Today, Café Chick becomes Caffeinated Weka.

It's a name I've been mulling over for a few months now, trying it on for size and thinking about whether or not I'd make the move. I wondered on Café Chick's 6th birthday whether it was time to grow up a bit; it's harder to kid myself and others that I still lead the life that someone with the name of Café Chick would. Then, today, it was all on; suddenly I was looking for new blog templates, Twitter headers and themes, lining up some of my favourite things for a mugshot and the transformation was happening! *gulp*

Don't get me wrong: I have thoroughly enjoyed being Café Chick and I'm still her underneath. I won't be changing this blog's URL (too complicated!) and will probably keep the Twitter account name, even though I have a new handle and look now. I don't want to 'lose' anyone I've met and got to know online - and it's still just me here, after all. But I expect there will be a transition time as I gradually update all my online accounts.

So why Caffeinated Weka? The caffeinated part is (probably) obvious. I like good coffee and it's always been part of my family's way of life. Coffee is my one little indulgence that I look forward to and enjoy on most days. In times gone past, good coffee has got me through years of working ridiculous hours, late night study sessions, juggling several jobs, as well as endless good times and heartaches with family and friends (theirs and mine).

The weka part may not be so apparent. This bird is native to a part of the world where my father's family comes from. They are cheeky, inquisitive and don't stop in their quest to acquire the finer things in life. My first weka encounter came as a seven-year-old. I was fascinated to watch one sneak inside my grandparents' house and steal half a bar of Sunlight soap. Many years later, we now have photos of a weka wandering into my cousin's house while my sister-in-law was getting ready to marry my brother. We were a bit late to the wedding as she and my nephew were captivated by this cheeky bird ducking out from underneath the trampoline to pop in and out of the house, just like she lived there herself!

Doing a quick search to see if there are any other "Caffeinated Weka" out in the big wide online world, I discovered that someone had taken a photo of a weka eyeing up a cup of coffee - and that's when I knew that this is who I'd become ... except I needed a new picture of things that this caffeinated weka loves to indulge in.

Some of this Caffeinated Weka's indulgences

So, this transformation is a work in progress; the look will no doubt evolve in the next wee while. I look forward to sharing my adventures as a Caffeinated Weka in Wellington.