The Thursday with nothing much

Hi,


At least Thursday was less of a whirlwind than the other days so far this week.  I did manage to pick up some key groceries and cart them all home on the bus with me.

Unsuspecting client wore a purple shirt on Thursday - like twins!

Spotto - a yellow car parked outside work!

Mike celebrated the end of the project he has been on - and now phase 2 kicks in.  So I never saw him until close to midnight.  And really, I am not sure you could call it "see him".  More heard him with sleepy ears than saw him through my eyelids.  Can you have sleepy ears?

Anyway, this morning he may need his cooked brekkie to help him get through his morning.

Mum cooked a great dinner last night - tuna pasta bake.  Toby ate it!  Ooohhh - I'd love to get that on our menu but in the past Toby has not enjoyed it.  Maybe all that bacon was the key.

I have leftovers for lunch.  Mmmmm.

Last day of birthday month for those June birthday people.  Enjoy that!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a birthday celebration

Hi,

What a lovely day yesterday.  Mum found Toby while they were both wandering around town about 4.30pm and they made their way to the cafe at The Embassy.  I got there just after 5pm and we chatted away before heading to Capitol for dinner.

Andrew and Sally arrived not long after 6pm and Mike wasn't too far away.  We had the yummiest meal.  I got the beetroot risotto while Mike, Mum and Toby had the beef fillet.  Toby declared it the best ever (I think this has pushed my steak meal out of his top 5 now) and promptly asked if he could order another one.  Wow!  Sally had salmon (and said it was delicious) and Andrew had the lamb shank (also very tasty).

We followed it all with dessert.  And Toby fell in love with their chocolate fondant dessert.  It's the best.

A lovely birthday celebration.

We Ubered home while Sally and Andrew went to the train station.  Fell into bed in a coma.  I feel a little achy, but not enough to keep me in bed.  Although I suspect I could sleep most of the day away.

Enjoy your day.  I am already looking forward to getting home.  Zzzzzzz.

Tomorrow is the end of the big birthday month.  June is popular.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with a flu jab and Jess heading home

Hi,

I did get a coffee catch up with Rex during the morning.  Highlight of the working day, that's for sure.  And after getting up at 4.30am to get Jess to the airport, the coffee may have been very welcome.

Iced latte at the place that starts with "M"

It was scrumptious.  Just ice, coffee, milk and a bit of sugar.  Mmmmm.

Anyway, the car had a new battery installed during the day so I walked there to collect it, and drove back through such busy traffic.  The Hurricanes were playing the Lions at the cake tin, so the place was packed.  Took me ages to find Mike near the Z and continue on the slow crawl home.

Mum had cooked tea - mmmmmm.  We all liked the pasta.

And this morning is Mum's birthday.  How cool is that?  We're off to Capitol tonight at 6pm if anyone wants to join us.

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The Monday with Jane

Hi,

It's not often you get to spend the evening with Jane Goodall.  We got tickets ages back for this event, and when Mum planned her trip for Andrew's big birthday bash, we grabbed an extra ticket.  It did mean Jess, Toby, Mum and I sat together and Mike had to sit all on his lonesome.  But I noticed Ed from work found him at one point and chatted away to him.

The stage

Jane was very interesting.  She talked for the best part of an hour and made it seem like 20 minutes.  Explained about how her mother had always encouraged her to do what she wanted.  The story of 1 year old Jane bringing a handful of earthworms into her bed to watch them was very entertaining.  As was the 4 year old Jane's attempt to figure out how eggs came out of hens.  She hid in a hutch for the best part of a day and into the evening, waiting patiently to see what would happen when a hen eventually came in to lay (as in the meantime her family called the police and launched a missing persons search).

The interview in the second half wasn't perhaps as good as the talk but I suspect the interviewer was finding her groove and never had enough time to hit it.

Q: (five minutes of talking). A: No, not really.

We got home late and were up early.  4.30am.  Groan.  Dropped Jess off at the airport and shared a croissant with her before seeing her to her gate and onto the plane.  She should be approaching Auckland as I type this sentence.  It was great to see her and she is welcome any time back here.  She can text us if she wants to come down, and we'll sort it out. Now I am super early at work.  Mike and I took the Subaru back to the house and switched cars.  We started the Focus with the new battery charge pack Mike bought and headed back.

So Mike is at the Ford/Mazda dealer waiting for a battery and eyeing up MX5s, apparently.  I am at work very early.

No Mike! You can't have it!

Right.  Time for a hot chocolate and the day to start.

Have a lovely day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with Jess and Mum

Hi,

What a whirlwind weekend in our house!  And I just wrote the date down at work and realised it is Michelle's birthday.  Happy birthday Missyshell.

Cold weather but not cold enough to miss out on an iced latte

I finally caught up with Mary on Friday and enjoyed an iced latte with her at that cafe that starts with "M".

Friday night saw Mike and I at the airport waiting for Jess's flight to arrive.  It was delayed 45 mins so by the time we got home at 11.15 or so I was ready for bed!

Saturday was madness.  Up late for brekkie in Petone and packed cafes saw us at Go Bang where we discovered it was a vegetarian cafe.  No bacon for Toby.  It was all good though.

Ran some messages and then back to our place and before we knew it, it was time to head away to Sreejith's house for dinner.

Toby and Jess stayed home to eat pizza and watch movies - although they ended up playing games as far as I know.

We enjoyed everyone's company and Mike "watched" the rugby on the Stuff feed - calling out the scores as the game progressed.

We dropped Ebby and his wife home on The Terrace before heading to the airport to try out sleeping in the back before my mother's flight got in.  We got to a quiet part of the carpark around 10.30pm and fell asleep.  Well, I read.  Mike slept though.

Mum hadn't ticked the box saying she had prescription drugs with her and that caused some delay for her while exiting customs.  But soon we were greeting her and getting the car for our trip home.  Asleep by 2am!

Lamb stir fry

He stole my phone and took heaps of selfies

1am and Mum arrives - Toby is sleeping in the lounge

Sunday saw Mike heading away to Brekkie for a Meetup group and I cooked mushrooms, pancakes and bacon for Toby and Jess.

Jess and Toby went to see Baywatch at the Reading cinemas and by all accounts (well, Toby's) it was good fun.  Jess then met her friends for some event at Vic uni and Mike collected her late.

Mum and I cooked tea - lamb stir fry.  And then it was time for bed.

Up early to watch the Assen MotoGP.  Go Rossi - he won!

Tonight is the big event - An evening with Dr Jane Goodall.  At Michael Fowler.  Can't wait!

Have a great week!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday of calm before crazy weekends

Hi,

After a mad day at work yesterday I went home with Mike on the bus.  I cooked tea with him as my sous chef and we enjoyed burgers with turkey mince patties and picked zucchini and slaw.  I quite enjoyed it.

My burger about to get smooshed together and gobbled up

Christine popped in briefly to pick up a few things.  She avoided eye contact with Mike at all costs due to his relaxed approach to clothing in the evenings when he isn't expecting company.  Bwhahahah!  He was fine - just maybe missing some trousers, and if he stayed sitting eating his tea, no one would ever know.  Just like news readers.  Right?

Jess arrives tonight and we're all very excited.  She's here for Jane Goodall on Monday night with us all.  We do have to make the spare bed.

And as Mum turns up tomorrow night, we have to hose out Toby's room because Mike and I will sleep in there.  I'm not sure how he sleeps in that mess.

The weekend is going to be fun!

Have an awesome one whatever you get up to!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a frantic day

Hi,

Not sure I hardly saw my desk yesterday.  Hahahah.  I spent two hours talking non-stop at a client in the morning, saw Mike briefly and then stuffed lunch down while in another meeting.  It was just that sort of day.

But I rode home and made tea for me and Toby.  Chicken laksa.  Toby said the chicken was good.  Mike enjoyed his when he got home.

Tea cooking

And served - chicken laksa

My ride in this morning was good fun too.  Bit more cloudy and there is a hint of rain today.  But at least my day looks less busy.  I might get some work done that is piling up.

Thursday already.  And Friday Jess arrives for the weekend to come to Jane Goodall with us.  And Mum arrives Saturday night for a few weeks.  It is very exciting.

Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with nothing much

Hi,

I caught the bus home and texted Mike so he knew what bus to jump on and travel home with me.  But someone else is immune to my super powers and sat next to me the stop before Mike got on.  What is happening?

Anyway - Ange was with him so we had a sociable bus ride home.  Caught up with Ange's news.  She did the Lion encounter at the zoo last weekend and fed a lion a steak.  Wow!  She also fed Smudge.  She enjoyed both.  Hahahahah.

I cooked tea - we had fish tonight.  It was really rather scrumptious.

Yummy fish dinner

And this morning I was stunned to see the crescent moon and Venus very close to each other.  It was absolutely brilliant.  Clear skies.  And magic.

Right.  Time to sort out a few things.  Hope you have a great day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with nothing much

Hi,

My powers on the bus are diminishing.  I am usually the only person left with a seat next to me by the time the bus gets into town.  I must give off those don't-sit-next-to-me-I-bite vibes.  Or something.  Maybe I channel Roz's bus vibes - she told me she has a technique for looking so fierce no one sits next to her.  Hahahah.

Anyway - those powers are gone!  Monday and this morning, a woman chose to sit next to me when there were ample seats left.   It's like she can't feel my super powers.  OMG!  She is my kryptonite!  Well, I never actually looked at her, but it is possible it was the same woman each day.  There can't be two people invulnerable to my super power.

I am going to contemplate my new vulnerable state over a cup of tea.  I think the obvious answer is to ride my bicycle again.  At least I can't share that with anyone.

Toby was sick yesterday but seems ok again now.  We ate simply last night as he wasn't up for a big meal.

This morning's run was really funny.  Well, the run itself was ok.  A crisp still morning with stunning clear skies.  Venus is shining like a diamond.  Anyway - the funny bit is my running application went mad and recorded 5.1 km in the 21 minutes instead of 3.1km.  It recorded I ran at some blistering time of 3 mins per kilometre.  The clear skies must have played havoc with the GPS.

I also had a faux pas on my texting yesterday.  My Swype (which I love) uses the X key and the ! key as one and the same.  I can switch between the two uses of that key by pressing that X for slightly longer and it knows that I really want the ! to come up.

I was texting Sreejith - as you do when you are trying to tee up a Spin class visit - and I wanted to express my dissatisfaction at something.  So I typed "Gah".  And you can't say "gah" without an exclamation mark.  It was the final word in my text.  And I kept my finger on the X to switch it to a bang (!) and then hit send.

But...  I obviously mis-timed my key press because it came out as a X right at the end.  I basically blew a kiss at the end of my text to my work colleague.  Mortified!

Time to find that cup of tea.  Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with Mike's birthday fun in Martinborough

Hi,

Cars and house

After a weird start to the weekend, we had a great time.  And then a weird, similar ending.  The AA got the Focus running - flat battery.  Declared the original battery in there all good.  So Toby and I packed it up completely and drove over the hill to Martinborough and settled into the house.  It was cold at the summit, as the snowflake lit up on the dashboard showing a 4C temperature outside.  Brrrr.

Mike landed at 10pm and also headed over the hill in the Forester.  He got to the house at 11.40pm.  So I got 20 minutes of his birthday with him!

Birthday milk!

We decided to have presents in the morning.  A lazy start to the Saturday with a new shirt and socks for Mike, followed by brekkie at the Village Cafe in Martinborough.

The day was stunning, so Mike and I spent a lot of time sitting in the sun on the porch.  Off to Cafe Medici for dinner.  Scrumptious.  And I watched the Lions versus Maori All Blacks till close to midnight.

Foggy morning run

Next morning I eventually got out of bed for a run.  A hopeless but very pleasant run.  It was very cold - and foggy.

Inside the house - Toby calls it Tatooine

When we made to leave, the Focus failed to start again.  Another AA call.  And the neighbour lent us some jumper cables so we started the Focus from the Subaru.  The AA came and declared the battery no good.

Mike and Toby drove back - and needed a jump start in the petrol station in Upper Hutt.  I grabbed groceries from New World on the way home.

Ange had looked after Smudge really well.  As had Christine.  The house was looking good!  Thank you - both!

Another year older for Mike.  He's trying in vain to catch me!  Hahahah.

Have a great week!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with a trivia night

Hi,

Ok - so it was a complete surprise to me that the trivia night I said yes to a few weeks back was actually last night.  Lucky Sally keeps me in line.  I arranged some pizza to get delivered to Toby once he was home and he loved that!  Hahah.

And, to make sure it was a good night, we came second!  Ooossshhh!  If only I had known that face was Beyonce.  I should have known I had no clue.  I don't know the point difference between first and second place - but it might have made the difference.

It was fun.  Sally and Andrew and some of their colleagues.  In fact Scott was the chap that lives in Rochester St and walks his dog around by us.  We went home in an Uber together after.  Sarah and Paul rounded out our team.  Must have been a good mix.

Right.  Time for the weekend to come fast!  It's Mike's birthday today so we're off to celebrate int he straw bale house in Martinborough.  Once he gets back from Auckland.  Late today.  Maybe 10.30.

Unfortunately the car is broken.  I suspect a flat battery.  So when I get home today after a late working day, I will ring the AA and hopefully get that sorted.  I'll pack while waiting.  And sort out the cycling gear and telescope for me.  And stuff for the weekend in general.

If the car starts, I will pile into it and head away.  If it is dead in the water, I am likely to wait for Mike and we'll just  be late to Martinborough.

See?  I have a plan!

Can't wait.  Happy birthday to Mike.  Yay!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with nothing much

Hi,


I got myself some new shoes to replace my worn out work shoes.  Hopefully it doesn't take long to walk them in and they become as comfortable as my last pair.

New boots

I got a lift home with Mike after work and it was delightful to have dinner ready for us when we stepped in.  Thank you Christine.

After that Mike and I went to fill up the Forester in Karori and I made him come with me as we drove around trying to find the source of the green lights we saw last week from Mairangi Road.

We narrowed it down to the block Marsden school was in and walked in to find their reception area lit up in green panels.  We took photographic evidence for Toby that it was indeed Marsden (I said as much when we spotted it last week).

Found the green

Mike was up early this morning to catch his flight to Auckland.  He's there today and tomorrow.  He drove to the airport and ended up taking the Forester because the Focus wouldn't start.

Leaves me with a slight issue of getting two bikes and a telescope to Martinborough on Friday evening with no car.

Time to call the AA tonight I think.

Have an awesome day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with a good ride home

Hi,

After a long day at work (with the dental hygienist appointment at 7am remember) I rode home and enjoyed fairly good conditions.  The rain had stopped during the day and it was just a light wind.  Nothing of note.

I met Mike briefly on Willis St before his tramping meeting on my way home - that was nice.  I cooked pizzas with Christine - pork mince meatballs.  Pretty good.

Pizzas cooking

Blurry pizzas served up

By the time Mike got home for his tea it was late and I fell into bed really.  Zzzzzz.

Had a run this morning - but my feet felt like they were encased in lead shoes rather than the actual light running shoes they were clad in.  Still, I did it, and it is part of getting back into the routine.

My ride in was lovely.  The wind has dropped to nothing and Venus was bright in the sky.  Got a lunch run planned too.  Let's hope that eventuates.  Exercise is the key to everything.  Right, Mike?

Have a fantastic day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with Christine

Hi,

After a long day I met Mike unexpectedly after work and drove home with him.  Toby had hurt himself again at school - but wasn't in need of hospital treatment.  Yay!  However we did want to see him.

Chicken schnitzel - although the name of the actual recipe was far fancier

I cooked tea and Christine arrived for her stay.  We all ate and then it was time for bed.  I was up early and riding into work to get here in time for my 7am dental hygienist appointment.  Yes - 7am!  How weird is that?  I hope he or she is a morning person!

Have a brilliant day at whatever you are doing today!

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Wellington

Hi,

We picked up our new car.  And sold our Corolla to Sally and Andrew.  All done and dusted.  I tried any excuse to drive it over the weekend.  It's very nice.

Proud car owner of a Forester

I also got my feet pampered which was rather nice.  Mike dropped me off and went on his beer tramp from midday Saturday until around 9pm.

My toes!

Wellington on a gorgeous day

Sunday saw us tidying a bit and collecting Toby from Molly's house after a 40 hour famine sleepover.  We saw their feast-ending meal at 12pm on Sunday.

The working week started with a MotoGP race - Catalunya.  Sunny, hot day and Rossi managed to hold on for 8th place.

Mike is off to Auckland for Thurs and Fri.  Yep - I won't see him much for his birthday on Friday.  He's not due to fly into Wellington until 10pm and then he has to drive to the house we have rented for the weekend in Martinborough.  It may be Saturday by the time I see him!

Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with a follow up hospital visit for Toby

Hi,

I left a hectic working day to Uber to the hospital to meet Toby for his follow up hand therapy appointment.  They were running late there (30 mins late) so Toby and I passed the time with him asking me what the capital city of such-and-such was.  The US state capitals was too easy for me, so Toby switched to random countries in the world and I found that a lot harder.  Not sure of his list of countries as some I had never heard of!

I may have also played with his long hair at one point.  And took photos.  He may hate me later if he ever sees this.

Mum - what have you done???

And he shook his head and his normal hair style magically appeared

Fish dinner

I sent him home via Uber and stayed to work back my longer "lunch break" and eventually rode home.

Cooked tea when I got home - fish dinner time.  It was good.  And Mike ate his when he got in.

As I rode down the hill this morning a motorcyclist slowed down as they passed me and shouted that my back light wasn't very good.  It was looking dim when I turned it on in the garage and sure enough - it was even dimmer when I looked at the next lights.  So I have bought some new ones.  I will be a beacon on my way home tonight.

Toby has the 40 hour famine this weekend.  Good luck to him for that.  It starts at 8pm tonight and goes until Sunday lunch time.

And Mike has the beer tramp tomorrow.  It's a busy weekend.

Happy birthday weekend for some.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday in Auckland

Hi,

I had a lovely brekkie with Roz in Onehunga.  Thank you for your hospitality.  Much appreciated.

Iced latte time in Mojos

It was good

Spotto!  A yellow boat!

After another busy day I grabbed an Uber to the airport and got there in plenty of time for my 7pm flight.  The time passed quickly and I jumped into a taxi and was home by 8:40pm.

I could have slept longer though!  :-)

Meeting Toby at the hospital today for his hand therapist appointment.  And trying to figure out how we collect our new car!

Right.  Time for the day to kick in.  I am swearing off iced coffees for a while.  Back to my monthly quota.  Apart from the Lewis Road one.  I am allowed that one.

Have an awesome day.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday in Auckland

Hi,

I spent the evening with Roz and enjoyed dinner at the local Macs pub.  Had a great sleep and Roz was kind enough to get up early on her day off and have brekkie with me too.

Harbour is stunning

 I caught the train from Onehunga to Britomart (fighting with the ticket machine at the station again) and then walked through the Viaduct to work.

Tourist time!

Looking stunning, Auckland

Tasting iced coffees all over town

Tourist!

Iced coffee in Onehunga

I love Auckland!

Have a wonderful day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend with the Queens Birthday

Hi,

Turns out perhaps all I did over the long weekend was drink iced coffees.  Hahahah!

Iced coffee 1 on Friday

Iced coffee 2 on Friday

Anyway, Friday night I went out to the art show again with Celia, James and Mike.  We enjoyed wandering around and then Mike and I headed home to see Toby.

Saturday was spent thinking about tidying the house.  I thought about it from time to time.  Honest!

Sunday we had Wonder Woman booked in around 6pm.  Mike dropped me and Toby in town while he went to the airport to collect Sally and Andrew from their Nelson weekend.  I also got Toby to Joe's Garage before the movie was scheduled to start.  We enjoyed fries together and an iced chocolate for Toby and an iced coffee for me.  Eventually Mike texted to say he was at the cinema so we headed over. Vivienne and John arrived at the Embassy and we enjoyed the movie.  Well, I did!  It was mighty!

We then popped into Slim Daveys for dinner - very nice!  I'd go back there.  Mind you, it was 9pm by the time we got there, so it made for a late dinner.

Close up of Joe's Garage iced coffee - still good!

First sip of Joe's iced coffee for quite some time

Lunch!

I made lunch based on a recipe I saw in Facebook and it turned out quite well.  Kumara with egg and spinach.  Yum!  Baked in the oven.

Monday was exciting.  Mike and I bought a new car!  A wine coloured Forester (Subaru).  We pick it up later this week.  Yay!  Time to move the silver bullet on.  \

We popped in to see Josh for dinner - Toby said it was the best steak he had ever eaten.  He ate everything and beat both Emerson and Duncan to cleaning his plate.  Josh asked what the new car's name might be.  Not sure - but "Claret" came to mind.  Or maybe 'Red Stuff" because that is what I call my sparkling grape juice drink.  Hahahah.

I am up in Auckland today and tomorrow.  Busy times.  I hope the boys eat ok while I am away.  Yikes!  My flight was delayed due to fog in Auckland.  We circled New Plymouth a few times in a holding pattern.  I could tell because sometimes the sun came in the left side of the plane!  And it did that multiple times!

Hahahah!

Have a fantastic day.  I get to see Roz later.  Woot!  And Wally tomorrow.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with an art show visit

Hi,


Ok - after a busy day at work while Mike was entertaining Wally in Auckland (yeah, yeah - he says it was work, but it always seems like he manages to squash in a bit of fun each time he visits), I did get to visit the Art Show in Wellington.

One of my faves

I am a bit of a pleb when it comes to art.  I know what I like - and it usually runs to scenery of places that mean something to me.  Nothing too abstract really.  So I was unsure what I would make of last night.  Our work is a gold partner and we needed some numbers to meet with clients and wander around a special showing before it opened to the wider public.  I got to go!  And I loved it!  A wide variety of art work.  And in the end, my favourite was slightly abstract (it's the one in the photo - on the top!).

Anyway, I stayed longer than I thought I would.  Mike's plane was delayed and he was late home.  Toby has the day off today - teacher only day.  Armageddon is on tomorrow - Mike and Toby are going.  And we're all off to see Wonder Woman on Sunday evening.

Monday is our public holiday here - for the Queen's birthday.

Have a lovely weekend.  Enjoy it lots.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday wtih stuff

Hi,

After I got home yesterday and cooked tea for Toby, it was nice to cuddle up to read for a while.  Mike was home when I got home, because Mike and Toby had been to visit the hospital for Toby's splinted thumb.  Apparently he has a new splint and a visit to the hand therapy specialist next week.

Mike wonders if hand therapy is where someone will ask Toby's thumb if its feelings are ok.

Anyway....  I cooked tea and Mike went for tramping meetings.  By the time he got back, I was in bed.  With the electric blanket on a nuclear setting to ward of hypothermia.

Bus ride in this morning because I am off to a work function.  We're sponsoring the Art Show this year and clients get to go early to it tonight.  I am representing.

Mike is in AKL after getting up at some horrendous hour.  Back tonight.

Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela