The Monday with shut up and dance

 Hi,

Busy times indeed. Worked from home and enjoyed a Lewis Road iced coffee. :-)  Cats were happy,

Lewis Road at home

After work I drove into town and parked near Dixon St. It was time for Shut Up and Dance with Barb, Juliet, Anne and me. And it was such fun. Burlesque was the style. Lots of shimmy and grinding. Hahah.

Anne and the Wellington iconic bucket fountain

Mike met us afterwards and Anne and I wandered off to Cuba St and Aroy Thai for tea. Then dropped Anne off at her hotel and we went home and to bed.

Good sleep again. Up for ride in (cold - brr) and PT session with Quentin. Squats. 55kg. 4 x 4. My legs were wobbly.

Busy again at work. Hope you have a brilliant day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with aurora everywhere and Iona up here and Eurovision on and this is not unconnected

 Hi,

Friday was the most stunning day here in Wellington. I was up early ish to get the bikes ready for a ride with Iona. Spring Challenge training. Except, it was 10am by the time I left here. And we needed a coffee so when we got to Paekakariki, we went to a cafe and enjoyed a pastry and a delicious coffee.

Loved the sunlight coming through the windows

Bikes ready

Paekakariki iced latte

Oh - Kapiti! You look gorgeous

Then we were off to explore. From Queen Elizabeth park, we went up to the north, but trying to get off onto gravel and farm roads when we could. I used no electrons! We had such fun.

Love this view

Where are you?

Bridge to somewhere

Selfie

Here I am!

Let's go!

Dropped Iona back at Tawa and headed home at 2pm. Put the bikes away and changed my shoes and then went into East Day Spa to use my Christmas voucher.

Feet pampered

Looking good

A very nice hour-long foot session. Mmmm. Thank you Mike. And thank you spa person. My feet look amazing. And she even found my left littlest toenail was there. Grown back after the tramping punishment. So I did not need a discount for only having 9 toenails. Hahahah.

Mike collected me from the spa after his work finished. And we drove home. And Sarah, Hamish and Ryan turned up for pizza night.

Moxley loves me

Saturday night saw us sleep in. I got French toast from Mike. Wow. And then we had Sally and Andrew visit for lunch. Choice!

French toast from Mike

Moxley is so asleep

Brunch!

Iona came over and we dragged her grocery shopping for Eurovision on Sunday. Before bundling her in the car for aurora hunting. The aurora alerts I often watch had predicted a huge solar storm. And just before it kicked in to epic levels, the cloud came over. Gah!

I saw a bz of -38 and a kp of 8! Those are huge numbers. We got to the car park just 200m west of Owhiro Bay and parked up. It was fairly full. The sky looked a little unusual. So I took a pic using my Raw camera app. And I was astonished to see it showed a fully red sky. To the naked eye, it looked like the clouds had a hint of a red blush. Nothing like my camera showed.

South Coast aurora

I could see this with my naked eye

Surf and aurora

I absolutely loved it. We stood watching for about 1.5 hours. Then drove up to Woodridge to see if that was above the cloud cover. But the light pollution from there was not much good. Off home and off to bed.

Aurora over Toby's bedroom

Toby got to see the aurora from his house! He looked out above his room - and there it was!

It was Eurovision the next morning, after all. So we got a good sleep in. Up at 6am to get the food ready. And we were on!

Sunday morning is Eurovision

And it starts!

Brekkie disappearing

Punters

We had Wally, Brennan and Jason turn up to experience the Eurovision spectacular. Sarah was a tad late - but not too much. And Maarten and Irina arrived just as we got halfway through the countries. They caught up pretty quick.

All entranced

Iona was up after a good sleep. And Ange was knocking on the door early. We had 10 of us. And it was an amazing Eurovision. The Netherlands was disqualified 2 hours before it - controversy. I heard the Swiss one and after 2 bars, said it was terrible. It won! Finland had no pants on for theirs.

What am I even watching? Finland has no pants on!

Went out to Hillside Kitchen for a degustation lunch at 1pm. So good. Sally, Andrew, me, Mike and Iona. Delicious. We chatted away. Every course was delicious. Best one - maybe the onion and lime soup. I know! Sounds weird, right? So, so good.

We took Iona to the airport for her flight and then Mike and I sat in the back of the car at the beach to see if we could spot the aurora again.

Sunday aurora hunting - relaxed style

We ate chippes and read books. Toby rang and we saw for ourselves how bad his hand, foot and mouth virus was. His wee face is covered in sores. His feet look terrible! OMG. He is still quite miserable. But he chatted away to us for about 30 mins as we lay in the car. Wished me a happy mother's day. Awww. I wish I could help him as he recovers from this.

We saw nothing of the aurors this time! But I loved just being there with Mike and absorbing the atmosphere. It was full of people keen to see this amazing natural phenomenon.  Eventually we gave up with the low kp and Bz numbers and went home and off to bed. I had the best, long sleep in ages!

Such an awesome weekend. Eurovision. Aurora. Iona. Cycling. Eating. Loved every minute of it. Thank you.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday in Auckland

 Hi,

Well, I have already told you I was in Auckland for work yesterday. Up and down just for the day. First time back in Auckland for ages. Wandered around like an awe-struck tourist. Kept peering at One Tree Hill out the window at work. It was such a stunning day there.

After work, I went for a short walk with Anne and Karin to a Mexican place in Ellerslie. We had a great time there, chatting away and sharing food. But - I took no pics! There is no evidence of this.

Just after 7 (or so) we paid and left and I got an Uber very quickly to the airport. Said goodbye to Anne and Karin (and they are here next week too!) and was at the airport very speedily.

Sat at my gate for an hour and then got on. Plane was only about 3/4 full. Touched down in Wellington slightly ahead of schedule at 2200. Got an Uber (they now have a pick up closer to the exit - yay!) and home to climb into bed with Mike before 2300. Woot!

Big day. So I sorted out gym with Quentin from home - and at midday. And moved my coffee date with Dave to the week of 27th May. Turns out he is away for 2 weeks. My bad! But the wintry weather today also has me kind of glad I am at home. Hahah.

Iona is here this weekend. Bike ride tomorrow with her. Spring challenge training. And Eurovision this weekend.

I am in some gym shorts of Mike's as I sit at my desk. And I look like a dork. Glad no one here is to see me.

Hail Thurs morning

Moxley was funny. She watched the bouncing hailstones like she wanted to chase them. Readers: I did not open the door.

Home made iced latte

The door strike plate caught my t shirt

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with work and the Wednesday with Auckland

 Hi,

I rode home after a crazy day at work to feed the cats and make myself tea. It was just me because Mike was doing MeetUp tramping things. And walking up Mt Vic for fun after that. Possibly with drinks.

So I made myself French Toast for tea. And it was delicious. Like custard. Mmmm. I packed for my day on Wednesday and went to bed. It was one of those days that meant my brain was still running. So I roused myself to read a bit more.

Around 2300 Mike got home. He realised I was still awake. So on came the loud music in our bedroom. At this stage I was getting up in 5 hours time - at 4am. He was in the mood for a full download on his evening - with music and dance.

Anyway - got so sleep. Then up before my alarm to shower and get ready. Chelsea collected me with her BYD Mevo just before 5am and we got to the airport by 5.15am.

My car nemesis

We're at work in AKL

Easy flight and Uber to work from the airport. Ellerslie way. Very nice workplace. We did some prep and ate some food. 

Good iced latte under work

Spot the Auckland tourist

Loved the workshop. Well facilitated. And got a lot more food to eat. Busy as, bro.

Anne knows me!

Now at a desk catching up on the fun that has happened without me. All good. I hope.

Right. Hope you have had a good Wednesday. I have tea with workmates here before my Uber to the airport for my late flight home.

Take care.

Love,

Angela

The Monday back at work

 Hi,

Monday was a blur. So busy. And I apologise for the lack of cat content. I will do better. Promise.

Morning at home iced latte

I got up to the garage gym for a lunch session. First time in the squat rack - and it felt pretty good. Light weights for me - 40kg. Just to test it all out. Did 4 sets.

Lunch squats - 40kg

And a bit of bench press

And then did some light bench too.

I drove to Spin after work - did the 30 mins there and enjoyed it. Still getting back to that routine. Juliet stood me up. Said her boss needed her more than me. I mean... really? Hahahah.

Mike met me after his run and we drove back home. Had some tea. And I swept away all the stuff on the table and we got stuck into the jigsaw that has been there since Christmas.

Did the jigsaw after tea

And finished it

This tricky puzzle has no border and 5 confusing extra pieces

We found where they went

And we finished it. Woot! Got to bed and slept well. Up for my ride into town. And PT session with Quentin. Dead lifts. 90kg. That is heavy. 5 sets x 2 reps. Hmmm.

Work is busy. Dave (in my posts yesterday) has his 30 year work anniversary this week. OMG. Goals! I will take him for a coffee date - if I can get any of his time.

Have an awesome day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with me staying at home

 Hi,

Thursday night saw us attend work drinks - and we got Dave to come out. Woot! Caught up with him. And I did ride home successfully - despite starting with only one bar left. Phew!

Work drinks

Hey Dave!

Kaitoke

Friday morning I headed to town to pick up Debbie and Shoshana from their hotel and whisk them away to the Wairarapa for the day.

Shoshana is messing with Debbie

Stopped at Kaitoke to see Rivendell. Shoshana enjoyed that a lot. She has lots of pics of... trees.

Fungi

Stonehenge - what does it mean?

Then off to Stonehenge Aotearoa. Such a great day for it. Stunning. Lots of info from the woman at reception there.

Mystic energies lift me off my feet

Seven sisters and Debbie

Lunch at Poppies

Then over to Poppy's for a delicious lunch platter. Debbie had her own meat one too. Hahah.

Wow!

I got a whole walnut out of its shell

Last view back

Up Saturday to go to Park Run at Waitangi park. Mike ran with me and I got a wee bit faster again. And then he ran to The Botanist. Woot!

Off to park run

Hot work

Mike is finished the 5k with me - and about to run to Lyall Bay

Waiting at The Botanist for Mike

Iced latte

Coffee

Brekkie

May the fourth seems to have sapped me

Garage gym time with Sally

Sally and Andrew came over to our place and Andrew got a few tools for a working bee at his mother's place. Sally and I did a workout. Woot!

Oosshh

Lightweight!

Then off to Mega for some stuff - and Sally walked home from there. Back home to chill - for the rest of the weekend!

Moxley

Iced latte

Snoozing on the laptop

Sunday sleep in

Am I really wearing my boots in, if I am just on the couch?

Banana bread time

Made some banana bread - and tidied the house. But not a lot else for me. Ready for the week ahead. I am up in AKL for the day on Wednesday for work. Up and back!

Have a great week.

Love,

Angela