Interests

When viola player Anne Draffin tells people she plays in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO), occasionally she still gets asked 'what's your real job?', but it is getting better, she says and laughs.

An American blog writer's take on some recent facts - which nation is indeed the 'Greatest Nation on Earth'? It seems it is no longer a title held by America, so which country took the crown? Looks like we did!

From the author of the incredibly successful book The Shack comes the equally thought-provoking Cross Roads.

January hasn't quite been the chilled out month it usually is with our new Labrador puppy, Abby. But I managed to squeeze in a few books to review in between retrieving all the objects from between her teeth which she managed to find around the house.

Paul Holmes created for himself a broadcasting and communicating legend the likes of which this country had never seen and which, because of changes in media technology, we'll never see again.

Woohoo, the cold, lonely days of winter are behind us. Nobody wants to hibernate and snuggle inside watching TV anymore - we want to go out!

If you are looking for a book that a lot of Kiwis will enjoy reading this Christmas, pick up Joelle Thomson's 'The Wild Bunch' profiling 18 of the leading trailblazers and ground breakers in our relatively young, but incredibly successful wine industry.

Most people who run their own business may be experiencing the pre-Christmas rush and put their marketing on the backburner. But with the increased use of technology, Christmas is the best time to be on Social Media.

Family life for Mia Channing has always been a carefully orchestrated balancing act. But with change in the air, Mia is forced to confront the role she's played all these years and to take the risk, finally, of being true to herself.

At the very first chance, Bob's friends corner him and ask, "Bob, how'd you get the trophy girlfriend?". Bob replies, "Girlfriend? She's my wife!".