Taupo beckons!

Angela left for Taupo this morning in the Corolla, on a fine sunny morning.  She's over halfway there now - it's a beautiful driving day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a beautiful cycling-160km-as-fast-as-you-can day.  Forecast is for some pesky norwesters, though, which will make it challenging for the weak and ensure that Angela and Andrew both place better than they otherwise would have.

Andrew and Sally are also on their way up.  Toby and I will head off around 4pm in the MX5, and drive like the wind with the top down and the music on loud (if Toby lets me).  Should be great!

The Wednesday with work

Hi,

What a busy evening I had in the end.  Turns out a client had an automated process that was anything but working automatically.  I pushed 500 records through one at a time, every minute.  Yes - it did take ages.  Yes - I was at work until late.  Hahahah.

But Mike and Toby took pity on me and came and collected me late from work.  That was a nice surprise. Slept well.  Mike left early to head into work and I drove in so Mike has the car for logistics tonight.

I'll pack tonight and leave early tomorrow to head to Taupo.  Mike and Toby will come at the other end of the day.  Yes, we are unfortunately maximising our carbon footprint to get there.

Have a wonderful day.  Still a bit yucky here in Wellington.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with nothing

Hi,

I rode home and escaped any rain.  Lucky for me.  Not quite so lucky this morning though, as I got a little wet riding in.  Also had a close call on The Terrace as a taxi blocked the road and I made to go around it and a car I was following made to go around it too, and decided to brake at the last minute.  Lucky I noticed and swerved.  The collision at 5km/hr would have been horrific.

Last night was a pleasant evening of cooking a yummy tea, helping Toby with homework and doing a spot of grocery shopping.  Came home and Mike helped me put away the food and we went to bed.  I chatted to Ma on Facebook chat for a while.  I am enjoying the photos from her trip to Canada and the US.  And then I slept like a log.

Have a fantastic day.  Stay dry if you're in Wellington.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with nothing

Hi,

Monday is always a struggle when you have a fabulous weekend.  But I got through it.  Got to 5pm and rode home via Ngauranga Gorge.  It was a decent headwind but I made good time.  I shaved 90 seconds of my previous best time.  Happy with that.

Mike cooked dinner and promised egg fried rice.  But we got lots of veges in it and Toby and I felt a little cheated.  Mike was mildly upset that we didn't think veges with a little bit of egg and rice was quite the same thing as egg fried rice.  Hahahah.  Toby respectfully requested no more stir fries.

It was a fairly relaxing evening - Mike and I managed a bath while Toby chilled out.  Then I put Toby to bed and read for a bit while Mike pretended to work.

This morning's ride in wasn't quite as lovely as it has been but I avoided getting soaked.  The rain last night was pretty heavy.

Have a lovely day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with lovely weather and Toby's survivalist party

Hi,

What a great weekend.  I'm going to have to ask Mike to edit this blog and put photos up from his weekend with Toby and his mates as they celebrated Toby's birthday with a weekend camping in bivvys in the bush.  The photos I saw were amazing.  Toby was really excited by it.  And I commissioned a work colleague to make the cup cakes for his birthday, with a survivalist theme.  Look what she came up with!

Fondant huhu grubs!

Lots of huhu grubs

I work with talented people, that's for sure.  These huhu grubs are on chocolate cupcakes (Toby's favourite) with leaves and logs (flakes!).  They looked amazing - and tasted great too!  All the boys thought so.

Anyhow, while Mike and Toby were having fun in the bush, my weekend was just as much fun (well, maybe apart from the manic 4 hours of housework on Sunday morning).  Friday night I rode out to meet everyone on Petone beach for burgers.  Then I rode home.  It was a lovely evening for it.

Saturday morning I did a bit of grocery shopping for the boys before helping them pack.  Then I was off to drop off Andrew's bike gear and over the hill to Waikanae to collect Aidan.  I caught her boys doing the last bit of packing for Toby's party and then we were all off.  Aidan and I to see the Hunger Games Catching Fire, and the boys to Catchpool to find my boys.

Aidan suggested the Lighthouse at Pauatahanui and it was a lovely wee cinema.  We got there early and Aidan got a late lunch and I had an iced coffee.

Pretty good iced coffee.  Full fat milk or something, but the finish was lovely

I enjoyed the movie a lot.  Far better than most movies I have seen lately.  I think Aidan wasn't too traumatised by it all.  It went for ages!  Nearly 2 and a half hours.

After it was done we went for dinner to Duck Creek.  The weather was glorious and I got a bit of sun.  Aidan made me go get my cap on from the car.  Yeah - I was getting a bit pink.

Wearing a sensible hat

After dinner we were completely full and drove back to Waikanae.  Aidan suggested walking Lulu and it was a perfect way to feel better after such a huge meal.  Lulu loved it.  I heard all about Aidan breaking her ankle when Emerson was 6 months old and on her back in a backpack.  Made for an awkward flight home, being wheeled through the airport with two wee kids on top of her and Josh carrying car seats and backpacks through the airport.  So, to say I had a momentary panic when Aidan disappeared while talking to me, is an understatement.  Fortunately she didn't hurt herself as she fell.  Those dodgy ankles of hers.  And I think I could have got her home as we were actually almost across the road from her house by then.

Back home for a glass of water and a cup of tea.  Josh and Emerson arrived from the party (Emerson was a bit sick) and I headed home with Venus shining brightly overhead.

Sunday morning I did loads of housework and the house looks okay.  Mike and Toby got back with Duncan and Aidan came in to collect him.  Mike got to chat to Aidan finally (he's been missing her company of late).  

Jake came around to play for the afternoon.  Mike and I relaxed.  Cooked a nice dinner.  Relaxing.

Next weekend is the Taupo race.  Very excited.  Have a great week.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with a school thing

Hi,

Wow - the days don't get much better than the run of three days of lovely weather.  Today (Friday) is a low cloud/misty day.  But Thursday was lovely - although the wind had increased.  Mike and I drove to Scots with Toby and Toby took us through recent school projects he has been involved in.  It was a lot of fun.  I also played tennis with Toby in the square.

Mike and Toby dropped me off in town afterwards and I pottered around until I called Mike and that coincided with him coming to get Burger Wisconsin.  So I got a lift home and ate burgers with the boys.

Mike is still a bit sick - it's all about the coughing.  Same as my thing back in mid to late September.  Poor Mike.  It keeps him up at night.  It also keeps me and Toby up too.  Hahah.  But we can roll over and go back to sleep.

This weekend is the most awesome Toby party ever.  Mike is taking Toby and some mates into the bush and they are going to make bivvys and eat weird things.  They will have a few challenges to try and achieve and generally have fun!

Hope you all have a great weekend.
Love,
Angela

Toby's sculpture - it looks pretty cool!

The Wednesday with nothing much

Hi,

After a complicated scenario from Mike involving many permutations to allow me to ride the long way and him to work late and Toby to get collected, I decided the Gilbert plan was far too hard and the Emmerson plan of "I'll go home and collect Toby" was far superior.  So that's what we did.  Mike worked hard and went to tramping club and worked hard pushing his agenda there.

I rode home the short way and got dinner ready.  Toby and I had another pleasant evening.  Homework done.  Doors open.  The wind has got up now though and I have found a new way to avoid luxing.  Open the doors to the deck when the wind is up.  It does create havoc with our loose papers.  But the dust is magically pushed into places you never see again!  The doors to our deck might just mean we have to tidy up more often.  Could be a boon in more ways than one.  Or we might just lose papers.

Tonight we're leaving work early to go to Toby's school for a student led conference.  Not terribly sure what that means.  But it should be fun!  Then home - I might even ride home if I'm feeling super keen.

Mike had a coughing fit in the middle of the night.  So much so that it made him physically sick.  Like happened to me about 6 weeks back with my bad cold.  So I think in a roundabout way, Mike has caught what I had back then.  He woke everyone up.  Toby was funny.  "Mum! he shouted.  "Dad's vomiting".  As if I couldn't tell for some reason.

Mind you, he also woke in the night and went to the toilet.  From his room he came into ours and went into the ensuite.  And turned all the lights on.  Even the one in our room.  People that know our house will realise that Toby has his own door to the ensuite from his room.

I think both my boys are a bit mad.

Anyhow, another lovely day here.  Enjoyed my ride in again.  All over the back of a car coming down the hill.  So much so that I had to pull the anchors on when they unexpectedly stopped for another car.  Hmmm.  Best watch my following distance.

Have a marvellous day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with Mike sick, but at work

Hi,

Yesterday was absolutely glorious in the weather department.  When I rode home (and had the best ride ever - and that was only up the short way!) I threw all the doors open to the deck and started dinner.  Toby got home and we ate tea and he did homework and we had so much time that he did his own thing, and I read in the sun on the deck.

The evening from our deck - just as stunning as the morning

Iced coffee at Gasoline

I did get two iced coffees yesterday.  One at Gasoline with Sophie and one at Joe's Garage with Mark (client).  I was zinging all afternoon.  Maybe that's why I had such a great ride home.

Mike eventually got home after working late.  Apparently he has had a miraculous reaction to the medicine and felt much better.  Right.  He should have stayed home.  But he had loads on.  He woke me up at midnight when he went to bed and he fell asleep soon enough, leaving me awake and wondering what on earth had happened.  I never have any bother going to sleep.  Didn't at 10pm.  But 1am was a different story.  I admired the moonlight bathing me in full moonshine.  I noticed Jupiter rising over the punga at 2.30am.  Eventually, I think I fell asleep again at 3.30.  As a consequence, don't ask me anything hard today.  Hahahahah.

Going to ride home the long way around the bays this evening.  Tag team Mike with Toby so he can go to tramping club.

I might need more iced coffees today.  What a hardship that would be!

There is a cruise ship in and another stunning day here.  I suspect a boat load of people might be beating a path to the door of the immigration office after today!

Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with Mike sick

Hi,

Well, I did have plans for riding home the super long way and I was pretty excited about it.  I thought a ride along the bays and up into Brooklyn and home via Aro would be such fun.  But at 5pm Mike texted me.  And even through the text I could hear the pitiful tone of a man that was beaten.  He wanted me to come straight home to help him out.  He'd been to the doctor during the day and had medicines galore from her.

Mike's haul of medication from the doctor

So, home I went the short way.  Got home and Toby was doing his homework and Mike was lying in bed.  I made dinner.  Mike said he didn't want any.  But oddly enough, when he saw the awesome food I had cooked, he ate loads!

Spinach and feta enchiladas

Don't  tell anyone but I needed guidance on how to cook them.  Over a year ago Aidan had come to our place and cooked up a storm.  She made a Mexican feast on that day.  And chicken enchiladas were one of the things she cooked.  So I determined today was the day I was going to try it.  I admit, she had to text me the basic recipe idea.  But, once I had that, I was in flow and the enchiladas were scrumptious.  I did some chicken ones and vegetarian ones.

This morning is glorious in Wellington.  The sort of day that makes you want to live here.  Oh.  Look!  I do live here!

The view from our dining room this morning

By the time I sat down to breakfast the beautiful hanging clouds in the valley had gone.  My ride in was such fun!  I pedalled for all I was worth down the hill and I may have got to a new maximum speed.  But I couldn't tell, because the wind blurred my eyes.  I started to slow down, but by the time I could blink the tears away, I saw 61 km/hr.  So presumably I was much faster than that.

Mike was going to stay home again today but he is so busy at work with meetings and deadlines that he can't.  So I am going to ride home the short way again and do the Toby evening shift while he works late.  Groan!  He's such a trooper but I hope he doesn't get worse because of it.  He needs to start riding his bike again.  I figure if we take turns riding home the long way over summer, he'd get super fit.

Have a lovely day.  Try not to be jealous of the day we have here in Wellington today!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with Mike sick

Hi,

A weekend in Wellington.  The weather was a little odd.  Misty, drizzly rain and low hanging clouds.  Saturday I got up early and fussed around getting ready for a bike ride.  Int he end I left just after 9am and went to Trentham.  The head wind meant it wasn't as easy as it could have been along SH2.  But after one scary truck passing me and causing my bike to buffet a lot, the rest of the ride was uneventful.

At Trentham I met Nadine, from the project I worked on  last year.  She drove to the station and we rode together around Whitemans Valley.  It was a really nice ride and we saw loads of cyclists.  Back to Trentham and I rode home.  Along SH2 the wind was behind me and I hooned down, sitting comfortably on 30 - 35m/hr.  Up Ngaio Gorge and home.

Mike was sick and slowly getting sicker during the weekend.  This morning he is at home trying to recover.  Poor chap.

But Sunday we pottered around before leaving for family lunch.  Sally put on the best lunch ever!  Well, all her meals are like that.  But the pulled pork in the slow cooker was exceptional!

Buffet style

Good to see everyone too!  Andrew had just got back from an awesome ride from his place, to Whitemans Valley, over the Akatarawas to Waikanae, down to Paekakariki, up over the hill and back home.  Wow.  I want to do that!

Back home to get ready for the week.  I made a nice light tea and we all eventually went to bed.

The week looks reasonably busy.  And this weekend coming in Toby's party weekend.  Hope Mike is okay for that!

Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with a BBQ

Hi,

Thursday turned into a lovely day - lucky for that huge cruise ship in port.  And I notice another one in this morning too (Friday - and it is even lovelier than yesterday).  They will all want to live here after their visits.

I scored a lunch with Aidan yesterday, which was nice.  We ate outside her work as we both had meetings either side of a lunch gap and not a lot of time for anywhere nicer.  It was good to catch up with her news though.  She loves her work, which is a great thing to hear.  My work is quite a different feel to hers at the moment I think.

Josh also dropped off a folder for Sophie at work.  So although I missed Josh, at least I had an excuse to see Sophie.  She thinks the folder is perfect for her work and is very pleased with it.  Josh is stationery master, mind you.  A few requirements elicited from Sophie and he knew what she wanted.  And it turns out, he had it too!  Hahahah.

I rode home after work and found the boys deep into the evening routine already, despite riding home the short way to see more of them.  Mike cooked up a meal on the BBQ and we ate outside on the deck in the sunshine.  Very nice.  Toby interviewed me for homework about my early schooling (Yes!  I did remember things, and yes, I agree.  It was a long time ago now).

Mike and I had a bath and chatted about work and tramping things.  These are the two most exciting things happening in our lives.  Boring, eh?  Hahahah.

Then to bed.  I was asleep pretty fast after I put my book down.  Mike worked late next to me, but I have no recollection of any of that!

This weekend I want to do a long bike ride and meet up with a client to do a wee loop with her.  She is training for an event soon too.  Unfortunately, she has way more sense than me.  Her event is a 40 km thing, unlike my 160km thing.  What was I thinking?  I have asked people to shoot me if I say I'll do Taupo again another year.  Hmmmmm.  I hate to suggest it, but I am thinking I might get an even better time next year.  No!!!  Aaaarrrgghhhh!! Shoot me now!

I need a tea.  All right and proper decisions are made with tea.

Have a fantastic weekend.  Hope your weather is as lovely as here.  Stunning today!
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday in Auckland - but coming home too

Hi,

Auckland was lovely yesterday.  Blue skies, no wind.  I had an okay day in the morning - nice breakfast with a colleague up there.  But she had some bad news about another colleague and got a bit upset.  The food did keep me full all day though.  Huge eggs Benedict.  And cheaper than anywhere in Wellington too.  And, did you guess?  An iced coffee.  The iced coffee here is pretty good.  A bit too sweet to vie for any top honours in my opinion.  But this is the second one I have had there, and it was the same as the first.  They get marks for consistency.

It's entirely possible that the food takes centre stage here.  It was good!

Auckland CBD from the harbour bridge

Yes - I always feel like a tourist in Auckland.  See?  Wonder what the taxi driver thought.  Mind you, he may have been a tourist too as he had no idea how to get to Khyber Pass Road.

Off to the airport and home again.  Scoffed toast before bed.  The breakfast was huge, but not quite huge enough to get me through to Weetbix this morning.

The boys were all good.  The house was a shambles.  Mike says it is far better that I get here and the place obviously barely manages without me, rather than I come home to a spotless, smooth household.  I am actually withholding judgement on that to be honest!  Hahahahah.  You should see the mountain of laundry.  And I had to tidy the kitchen before making lunches.  Wow!

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday in Auckland

Hi,

Auckland is lovely.  I always feel like a tourist when I'm here.  It has all the cues and prompts for an exotic destination.  Far larger than Wellington.  Warmer than Wellington.  Taller buildings.  People everywhere.  Full of people from exciting countries.  Is every waiter in Auckland here on a working holiday or something?

Anyhow, after paying a fortune in taxis all over the city, and for the hotel (what's with that?  Work usually pays for it!), I am contributing to the economy as well.  Hopefully I claim it all back quick-smart.

The work itself is good fun too.  Nice, happy client.  Although my friend Roz says I may have got the only happy client in Auckland.  Hahahah.  We met at the user group session here in Auckland after work.  Roz often goes and given it was on and in a convenient place for dinner afterwards, we decided to go.

Dinner was at The Footstore at the Viaduct.  Very pleasant it was too.  And guess what they made me for after the meal?  Yeah - an iced coffee!

Roz's camera has built-in soft focus look!

It was a really good iced coffee.  Roz has a taste as well.  Mind you, her straw had a hole in it, so she slurped for all she was worth and hardly got anything.  The straw spurted coffee out the side like a ruptured artery.  But she got a taste.  And the next thing she said was "Why don't you like normal coffee?  And what is the difference between this and a cold latte?".  Hahahah.  She stumped me.  Maybe I do like normal coffee after all.  I may have to experiment.

Actually, I think the trouble is, I like coffee within a narrow range of the spectrum.  Tea I can drink anywhere on the spectrum, from weak to strong.  I can even have it with or without milk (if I needed to, under extenuating circumstances).  Sugar even (shudder).  But coffee has to be just right.

Roz dropped me back to the hotel and I got into bed after chatting to Mike and Toby.  Mike forgot to make Toby any lunch yesterday.  Fortunately it coincided with the Spanish morning tea so I think Toby had some food during the day.  Probably made him ravenous for the Burger Wisconsin he and Benjamin had.

This morning is gorgeous here.  Lovely weather.  Looks like today is going to be stunning.  Wish I was on holiday.

Takapuna - and that wee lake

Takapuna beach

Hope you have a wonderful day.  See you back in Wellington this evening!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with nothing much

Hi,

After a normal day at work, I rode home the long way up Ngauranga Gorge.  There was a strong southerly and I reached 38 km/hr along the flat road with my own pedal power.  I don't like the busy road that much, so I wouldn't want to go much faster.  Crazy road.  Loads of parked cars.  Driveways.

I made good time up the hill and got home in one hour and eight seconds.  Not too bad considering the strong southerly for the ride back from Johnsonville.

Mike had dinner on when I got in and we ate.  Toby then told us we had to make churros for his Spanish lesson morning tea.  What fun that was.  Made the dough and a snip in the corner of the snaplock bag and Mike was piping dough into the oil and cooking up a storm.

Dough in a bag

Hey - they look pretty real.  And taste good too.

Off to bed as I had to get up early to catch my flight to Auckland.  Ate Weetbix all alone.  I'd like to make it seem an unusual occurrence, but actually I eat breakfast alone most days.  The boys have a completely different morning routine to me.

Have a lovely day.  I am hoping to see Roz for dinner tonight after work.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with fluid plans - in more ways than one

Hi,

Friday was the weirdest day for weather here.  Started off super foggy in the morning.  So foggy that I could barely make out a cruise ship in port.  And the cruise ship inhabitants probably never realised how lovely Wellington looks as the city was shrouded in fog.  The views from the top of the cable car must have been... underwhelming.  After 1pm, the day cleared up to a stunning day!

Anyhow, the fluid plans of the weekend started almost immediately.  Mind you, we did have ambitious plans for the weekend.  Perhaps it is unsurprising the plans changed.

Aidan contacted me and asked me if I was free to take her home from work a little late.  I changed my evening plans (a party in town with a work colleague) and went home with Mike to collect Toby.  Toby had a good day and found the placement tests a little tricky in places, but overall he seemed okay.  He is in Ferguson House for the rest of his Scots life.  After grabbing the wee green car from home I nipped back into town to collect Aidan and we drove home with the music on and singing.  Stopped at a kebab in Mana and ate hunkered down behind the table so my work colleague who owns the Indian restaurant next door wouldn't see me.  I made it - I think!

Continued the drive to Waikanae with singing and ran into the fog again.  Hanging over the Kapiti Coast.  Weird.  It was like night again.  I got a cup of tea with Aidan and caught up briefly with Josh and the boys.  I don't rate highly over Iron Man television, obviously.  Aidan is already moving contents out of her house and I have some things in the boot to distribute to willing recipients.  We giggled a bit at me giving Aidan a boost up to her high cupboard to fish out boxes of preserving jars.  Perhaps she needs a wee ladder to help her over the next month or so!

Anyhow, the drive back into town was brilliant.  Top down, Venus and the moon looking amazing.  People were letting off fireworks as well, so all in all, it was a great drive back.  Oddly, it was raining on me by the time I drove into the garage.  Wellington is having some weird weather.

Our sleep was interrupted by vomiting Toby at 4am!  And again an hour later.  And again.  So the weekend of camping and cycling in the Wairarapa was shelved in favour of close proximity to a bathroom.  Not long after Mike left to deliver trampers from the railway station to the bottom of the Wairarapa, Toby's other end started as well. Nice.  Impetus for me to get up and start laundry.

I tidied and Toby eventually got an appetite so I made him lunch.  Mike got back quite late and the gorgeous sunshine made me lethargic.  So much so that I lay in the sun all afternoon reading.  The rest of the day passed like that.

Sunday we got up to get ready for the Wadestown House and Garden walk.  I made breakfast for the boys and tidied.  Actually, I think I read a lot.  I have a good series of books to read right now.  In fact, life is getting in the way right now of my books!

Sally came around after lunch and we left to explore the houses.  Had a great time.  Lovely houses.  Lovely gardens.  Had to ring for an ambulance when an elderly lady tripped over a kerb and split her head open and possibly broke her arm.  Horrible.  I saw it all and it makes me cringe even now.  But a nurse was present and she took control.

Sally and I wandered back home after that and nearly saw a car accident on the way.  Back home we jumped in the car and went to see a play for Vivienne's birthday.  Con it was called.  Good stuff.  Off to tea afterwards at Restaurant 88.  Yum!  And then an impromptu iced coffee/dessert stop at Joe's Garage.

Vivienne's new awesome toy - no - not John!  The mini tablet.

Aaahhhh.  Joe's iced coffee.

Andrew tries the iced coffee again - we checked that it was Jan 16th 2013 when he tried it last

Back home to bed.  Toby seems well recovered from his weird sickness.  Thank goodness.  I'm off to Auckland for work tomorrow and Wednesday.  Try to make sure the boys behave themselves in my absence.

Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with dinner and a movie for me

Hi,

I had a lovely evening yesterday.  Met up with Sophie and went to a Vietnamese restaurant not far from the cinemas near Courtney Place.  The food was good - not great, but pretty good.  And an ex work colleague arrived so I said hello to her (Qing from NZTE days).  We also saw Sophie's cousin, Sophie's old boss and a current colleague of mine.  Seems like Thursdays are the night to go out.

We went to see Runner Runner and despite the pleasure of seeing Justin Timberlake for two hours, I found it a little boring.  Bit slow, not a lot of action.  And not terribly original.  Ben Affleck was his handsome self as well.

But I got to drive Sophie home and have finally visited Cannons Creek.  I wanted to stop and take a photo of the "Welcome to Cannons Creek" sign, but Sophie told me someone would steal my phone.  So we kept driving.  Hahahah.  Sang all the way home and cuddled up to Mike and fell asleep!

Toby has a big day at school today.  Placement tests for classes for year 7.  Hope he is okay.

And it was my last session for the toastmasters.  I had a brain implosion because I forgot I was supposed to prepare the table topic items.  I made up the questions before it started (lucky I get in early).  Phew!  All good fun!

But a highlight has been my early morning bike ride or walk in.  And this morning I saw a kōtare on my way in.  I love those little birds.  Makes me happy to see them.

Believe me - that is a kotare

This weekend is exciting.  It's Vivienne's birthday tomorrow.  Happy birthday to Vivienne.  We're off to the Wairarapa to camp and see an air show.  I am going to do a decent bike ride as well.  Sunday we have the Wadestown House and Garden walk and a play to see.  Great weekend.  Can't wait.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with user group

Hi,

After a crazy day at work, ameliorated by an unexpected lunch with Aidan, I wandered over to the user group session.  However, apart from the always excellent conversation with Aidan, I have to comment on the iced coffee I got at the Mojos opposite her work.

This iced coffee at Mojos on Hill St was amazing

I was apprehensive as the two women behind the till were discussing what an iced coffee actually meant.  They asked me questions about it.  Muttering words like "frappe" and "vanilla powder".  I said I'd drink anything I got given.  We sat down and my coffee was pretty quick coming.  It looked unlike any other iced coffee I had ever tried.  But when I took a sip, I knew it had been done to perfection.  Strong on top, and sweet underneath.  No cream, just milk.  Lots of ice.  It was very good indeed.  The roast pumpkin tart on the other hand, would have been inedible if not for the chutney it came with.  Aidan's soup - all good!  Next time:  another iced coffee and their soup!

Anyhow, off to user group and it was good fun.  We had over twenty punters to hear Rami talk about CRM 2013.  Choice!

Mike and Toby picked me up afterwards and I dropped Mike and Toby at tramping club to hear all about munroe bagging in Scotland and I took Fran home.  Had a cup of tea and chatted away.  Then back to collect the boys and home to bed!

I'm off to dinner and a movie tonight with Sophie.  Been looking forward to it all week.  We'll see Runner Runner.  The idea of seeing Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake in the same movie is very alluring.  They are rather nice looking.

The weather is wet here today.  Bit like most of yesterday.  The cruise ship contents yesterday might not have fallen in love with Wellington.  I heard and saw plenty of North American types wandering around town yesterday.

Have a fantastic day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with Guy Fawkes

Hi,

I ran out of time for the long ride home, so took the medium option.  It meant I got home in time to start dinner and I actually even got home before Mike and Toby.  We ate chicken schnitzels (Toby's favourite) to ensure the meat eating diet was fully appreciated.

We managed to get Mike fed and sent off to his tramping club meeting in fairly good time.  Toby and I watched fireworks for a while (we're sure we could see Vivienne and John letting them off - if not them, then their neighbour) before bed.  I actually fell asleep on Toby's floor after reading to him.  Eventually I woke (numbness I think) and dragged myself to bed and fell into another coma.  This one I only woke from when the alarm went off.  Never even stirred when Mike got to bed.

The weather has changed a little, but summer is approaching because it isn't cold at all.  My ride in was good fun as the roads were still dry.  But there is promised rain, and I certainly got a few drops on me.

Tonight is user group.  Yes, those keen observers among you will notice it is now the second Wednesday of the month (and not Thursday).  Thursday clashed for some of our organisers.  I need to do some homework for it.

I intend to ride home the long way after it.  Unless Mike has tramping club plans.

Have the best day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday back at work

Hi,

It was a struggle to get through a Monday at work after such a great weekend.  But I managed to stumble over the finishing line.  Aidan made it far nicer by turning up at my work unexpectedly for a quick walk around to clear cobwebs.

And my ride home made it even better.  The head wind was far stronger and it added two minutes to my previous time.  But oddly that was on the wind assisted part after the huge hill into the headwind.  Go figure!

I got home and Mike was just serving tea.  We are no longer vegetarians.  But now we have Vegetarian Monday.  The rest of the week is meat, meat, meat.  Hahahah.  Apparently Yingjie told Toby his blood group means it's not suitable for a vegetarian diet.  Toby must have mulled this over and when the Sampsons tucked into bacon for breakfast, he decided it was for the good of his health.

Cheese after tea, and I thought I'd show you the ideal cheese to cracker ratio.  Ummmm.  Can you see the cracker? Toby can from that angle...

The ride into work this morning was stunning.  I loved it.  Pedalled super fast down the hill.  Awesome.  The day has a forecast high of 19C.  Wow!  I have my short sleeve shirt on, ready for the heatwave.

Another ride home the long way tonight and Mike has a meeting somewhere for tramping club.  So we have to Toby tag.

Toby also has a half day at school tomorrow because there is a staff funeral.  Fortunately Toby is largely unaffected as he didn't know this teacher.



Have a marvellous day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend in Waiheke that felt like a week

Hi,

What an amazing place Waiheke Island is.  Work had organised the social club big weekend away and the vote came down to a choice between Waiheke and Queenstown.  Whilst I only ever met people that said they voted for Queenstown, we went to the place I voted for.  Mainly because I had never been there.  Queenstown would have been good too - but I know it quite well.

We drove to Toby's school and collected him from the office and headed to the airport, beating most people there.  We checked in and had a spot of lunch.  Unfortunately a family of three on our trip misunderstood the check in process and missed getting their boarding passes.  So we were three down from the start.   As well as one staff member who seemed to have forgotten he'd booked a holiday to Samoa as that was where he was!

We landed in Auckland and met Hannah who took Toby off our hands.  She left as did we on the minivan to Britomart.  Had a lovely dinner at the Viaduct at Waterfront.

Onto the ferry at 7.15pm and we were in Waiheke by 8pm.  Onto the bus and around to the Kina Backpackers at Onetangi Beach and moving into our wee room by 9pm.  Our first room had no linen and Mike wandered out to check out the situation as we'd been told it was supplied.  Sure enough, the owner came in muttering unkind things about interlopers sleeping in the bed without paying and moved us to a new room, made up with sheets!  Choice.

Went for a long walk along the beach in the dark and it was lovely.  Chatted to Paddy most of the way.

Into bed and we tried to sleep in the single top bunk.  Well, Mike managed it and was soon fast sleep.  But I was unable to turn around and eventually poked him and asked him to move to the bottom bunk.  I then slept like a log!

Up to a lovely morning, that turned into a mostly sunny day.

Onetangi Beach by morning light

We had breakfast and then caught the bus to the Ostend market.  I had a croissant recommended to me by Becks and it was good!  Took a photo just for Sally as I think this is her favourite!

This was so scrumptious

Off to the wineries now and a walking tour between five wineries and a lot of wonderful food kept me happy.

Becks photobombs at Wild on Waiheke

Mike enjoying the beer at Stoneyridge

Wine tasting at Te Motu

Food at Stoneyridge - wonderful

The aftermath

Walking winery tour

Back at Onetangi Beach - whose is that gorgeous foot?

Selfie - Mike's long arms are so useful for selfies

My backpack was starting to get heavy with three bottles in it by the time we also went to Obsidian and Castillo Miro.  Five wineries and a little bit of sunburn for me.

Obsidian

Back to a read in the room before dinner at The Beach Front.  Wonderful dinner.  Home to bed!

Up Sunday and off for brunch to Charley Farleys and the best iced coffee I've had for a long time.  I must go back now!

Iced coffee heaven

Checked out of Kina

Caught the bus to the ferry, and Wally collected us from town and off to see their place.  The most relaxing afternoon chatting to them and seeing their new house.  Everyone is growing up.  They all looked wonderful and I miss them all over again now!  Toby had a ball at their place - I could tell.  And he is now officially back on meat.  The Sampsons cured him.  I think it was the bacon!  Hahahah.

The weekend felt like it was 5 days long.  Loved it and I can't wait to go back.  Awesome job work did organising it!

Have a great week!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with Halloween

Hi,

Toby absolutely loves Halloween.  We blame Susan of course for making us visit the States around Halloween when Toby was almost 4.  He was enthralled with the festivities and rates it almost as highly as Christmas.  So, despite the torrential rain last night after work, Mike and Toby prepped for Halloween.

Most years it has been me helping Toby with his costume.  We usually try to put some effort in, starting a week or so out from it.  This year despite being popular for zombies, Toby wanted to be a vampire.  He was a zombie last year and is so cool he's a year ahead of everyone else!

Mike did so well, and Toby helped choose his clothes too.  He looked fabulous.

I was out at the pub with a work colleague leaving, but when I went to ride home, it was hosing down and the team were just about to leave home.  So they popped into town to get me and I became the driver (I scored the awesome job in the pouring rain!).  Dabau and Toby went trick or treating around Wadestown.

Oh yeah - he looks good!

Quite soggy now

The pumpkins guarding our door

The one on the right... 

... and the one on the left

Eventually we got back home and I packed for the weekend away.  We're off with the work social club to Waiheke Island, off the coast of Auckland.  Awesome.  Can't wait.  Toby is flying up and back with us, but staying with the Sampsons!  Wow!  He will love it.

And our Waikanae weekend house (well, not ours exactly - hahahah) has been sold and I'll have to invent all sorts of weird excuses to visit the Waikanae blackberry patch in February now.  Of course, now comes the exciting but slightly panicky "let's find us a house before we're homeless" time for Aidan and Josh.  Fingers crossed.

Enjoy the weekend.
Love,
Angela