The Thursday with date night

Hi,

Ok.  Just between you and me (and the internet bots that crawl anything out there), I am slightly out of sorts.

I had a physio appointment after work and that went well.  I don't need to go back for another two weeks.  Just make sure I do my stretches.

Friday iced latte @ Machete

I met Mike outside and we wandered down to Press Hall for Vegan night.  I had vegan lasagne from Fratellis and it was good.  Mike got vegan dumplings from another place and a tempeh burger from Aroha.  Yingjie came over to say hello too!  Mike reckoned his Aroha burger was delicious and he could eat it every day!  Woot!

We walked down to the train station to buy a ten trip ticket for Toby.  He has planned date day with Tessa for Friday (today).  It is teacher-only day.  They have an appointment at the cat cafe in Petone (where they play with cats) and then back into town and out to Porirua for Godzilla movie.  Awesome date day.  With train trips!

There was a 22 bus leaving in 3 mins from there, so we jumped on and came home.  I packed for the weekend and the boys ....  didn't.

Went to bed and slept like the dead.  So, so good.  Up early to sort out washing and eat breakfast.  Found no milk so decided hot cross buns were a good option.  No butter.  Gah!  Why doesn't anyone tell me when we run out?  Mike got up with this smug look on his face that said he knew where our butter was in the fridge.  He picked up the pasta and found... no butter.  Yeah - I had already checked.

But his face was so cute because he really expected butter there.  Me too, actually.  No idea what happened to that.

Anyway, I then left to drive in.  So we can get away quickly at the end of the day and the boys can finish packing.

Only, to find no car on the street.  Rang Mike.  He was just as surprised.  Then we both realised we had driven in to work yesterday and forgot it.  The excitement of date night.

I now have visions of Toby leaving the car all over the place once he starts driving.  Between the 3 of us, we will have no clue where it is...  Maybe we need a Find My Car app?

So now we will drive home after work.  Pay the double day rate.  And finish packing.  Andrew will be there with his car and transfer the stuff over.  We have the 8.45pm ferry and a cabin booked.  Snooze our way over the Strait.  Drive to Blenheim.  Fall into bed at Iona and Col's house and see what the weekend holds in store.

There you go.  Chaos and fun - all rolled into one.

Enjoy your weekend. We have a long one here.  Queens Birthday and all that.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday that felt like Thursday

Hi,


I know this blog makes my day look like iced latte dates are all I do during the day.  But these are from multiple days and different people.  And I don't drink coffee at any other time during the day.  So - there!  No judgement!

Wednesday morning

Sally (work Sally, not family Sally) took me to the City Art Gallery to see the Semiconductor exhibit at lunch time.  I loved it!

City art gallery - Semiconductor exhibit

Very cool

Also got away for a spontaneous coffee date with James.  Woot!  The Lab - an excellent iced latte.  So long as I hold the shot of caramel.

Yum!

With James G

Thurs morning iced latte

Did get a brekkie with Mike and Andrew this morning after the PT session.  Woot!  Finalised the weekend plans.

Bring on Friday!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with more packed work day

Hi,

I managed to get away for an iced latte yesterday - but didn't get enough time for lunch.  Waaaaaaahhhh!  What sort of crazy is that?

Iced latte goodness

I got home with a few groceries and the house was devoid of life - apart from two cats that were very happy to see me - and so starving.  Not been fed for weeks.  Or so they said.

I fed them.  They love me now.  They don't care about Mike or Toby anymore.  Bwhahahah!

I made my favourite salad and then lay on the couch and read.  Perfect evening.  The wind was pretty strong - so I turned up the heat pump and pretended I was in Samoa (I am reading a Pasifika author and it is set in Samoa - lots of tropical food, freshwater swims and warm evenings).

Mike got home after his session for booking duties (he is upskilling others) and we went to bed fairly quickly.  I was a bit comatose.  Toby got home and I barely woke.

Off to Spin this morning.  That was good fun.

Toby has a day off - teachers strike.

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The Monday back at work

Hi,

Oh - it was lovely to see Kaustubh think of us and bring home spices from India for us.  Chuffed.    I got my very own sari!  Woot!  To me it looks like the colours of the Indian flag.  So - I like that!  What a cool present.  We also ate some Indian sweets. 

Spices!

I pinged Anjali and now we have a project to tackle over the next few months.  Get the sari ready for me to wear to something.  Turns out it needs other bits and pieces (a blouse and some under-skirt thing).

Yesterday was busy, besides the spices and sari interlude.  I never even managed lunch.  :-(   I did see Toby at 4pm and we tried the chemist to see if they could tell us what was wrong with his upper lip.  Looks like a reaction to me.  But - the visit was inconclusive.  We'll keep an eye on it.

But - I did go to Spin after work and then headed home where Mike was just finishing up my dinner.  Ooohhh yeah!  I won, big time!

Went to bed and was exhausted.  Toby came home and I barely registered it.  Up this morning for Spin.  Let's see how that goes.

Have an awesome day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend with many things happening

Hi,

What a great weekend - seriously busy though.  Saturday had Toby out filming and we had the painters around finishing the outside of the house.

Our house looks so much better now.  :-)

Warren Miller - ski film!

Sunday snooze

Mike chopped down some trees in the backyard ahead of the landscapers coming in to make the backyard look prettier.  That kept him busy.

Then Toby came home with mates in tow and they had a sleepover.  Mike left to have tea with Lesley and Wally (yes, I was jealous - but couldn't  leave all those teenagers alone).  They brought me home a key lime pie.  And it was good!!!

Sunday saw a brunch at our house (I had to go get supplies) with teenagers forced downstairs while adults sat upstairs.  Sally, Andrew,, Lesley, Wally, Philippa and Dean.

Philippa stayed back with Paddy the dog and we went for a long walk around Otari bush.  Mike and I probably easily covered 10 km (maybe even more like 11 or 12 by the time we got back home).  2 hours.  Such fun!  We got to Karori cemetery and saw the 800 year old rimu tree on our way.

Walking in Otari bush

Mike, Philippa and Paddy

800 year old Rimu

Iced goodness

Went to see Warren Miller film at the Penthouse (Tessa came too) and enjoyed that.  Dropped her home, collected my bike and fell into bed!

The week ahead beckons.  Enjoy yours!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with stuff and stuff

Hi,

Ok - I found all these pics of me having iced lattes at Machete.  Theoretically it is from Thursday.  But I really don't remember having that many coffees yesterday.

Mind you, yesterday is a bit of a blur.  Hahahah.

I think one of these is from the previous day.  Honest!

I met Mike (I think) in the morning (number 12 with scone - I will title that pic).  Andrew joined us.

Machete

Ok - this one below I have no clue.  No number so probably not Andrew.  I missed Celia all day - so not her.  But I do look rather happy with my lot in life so obviously I was happy to have an iced latte in my hand.

Machete 2

I did go out with Davy (new to work this week), Yosan and Khemry.  Woot!

Aha!  Pic above is from that!  Khemry took my pic on my own before we did the group selfie stuff.  Hahahah.  Phew.  Glad I am not going mad.

Blurry Machete 3

Machete 4

The painter is making our house look amazing!  Look!  Well, ok - it was dark.  But, I hope you get the gist.

House getting painted!

Time to get stuck in for the day.  Friday.  Whoop, whoop!  Lesley and Wally arrive tonight for a weekend getaway.  Triple whoop!  Hoping to get a brekkie date (or more) in there.

Have the best Friday ever.  And a jolly good weekend too.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with dinner with Roz

Hi,

What a crazy day - rinse and repeat.  Such is my life.  My back seemed to grumble a bit more that the day before.  Lucky I have an appointment later today (Thursday).

Weird photo this morning

But I was keen to taste it!

I did pick up my re-soled boots and they are great!  They are slightly different and I scuff the soles as I walk - but I will get used to that.  Yay for having them back.

I went out with Roz for dinner.  Burger Liquor.  Gayan was also down for business, so we caught up with each others' news.  It was good!

Mike picked me up from work afterwards and I fell into a comatose sleep!  Woot!

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with a Te Papa fossil lecture

Hi,

Tuesday - wow.  You came out of nowhere and slammed into me, didn't you?  Before I knew it, my working day was over and I was rushing to Te Papa for a lecture.  Woot!

Always with the fork for stirring

I was rather excited to attend a Te Papa lecture after work on "The give and take of biodiversity" and New Zealand's fossil record by Professor James Crampton.  He is a VicUni lecturer and it was a great session.  An engaged audience listening to his awesome talk.  He tried to answer some open questions that no one really knows the answers for sure.  Over the eons of geological time, there have mostly been microbes on Earth.  But in the last 20% of the Earth's entire history, we ended up with complex life forming.  And there have been quite a few explosions of life through the complex life era (along with some mass extinctions). 

I had a lot of time waiting for the bus to get home so I started to write up my notes from the talk while waiting.  :-)  Bonus time management win!

Got home and Mike was taking people through the booking processes.  So I made some toast as I was starving.  Went to get ready for the next day and Mike wrapped up his meeting.

Slept right through to my alarm.  Wow!  First time in ages.  Drove in so Mike can take his empty bottles to fill up from his brewing session a few weeks back.

Got dinner with Roz tonight - woot!

Bring the day all on!

Love,
Angela

The Monday with late Spin

Hi,

After a busy day at work, with Mike organising lots of house buying admin stuff and attending a refresher for his first aid course, I managed to carve out some time for Spin after work.

The text I got from Mike in the afternoon scared me a bit when it said:  I have an open fracture.  But about 30 seconds later, I realised he was (probably) role playing at his course.

Spin was great as one of my favourite instructors was there in a surprise appearance.  And my back was absolutely fine.  I barely noticed it while I went for it on the bike. 

Finished up and headed back to work to grab my gear.  Two backpacks (and some groceries).  Phew.  Walked to the bus stop and found a work colleague there, surrounded by people.  She had fallen running for the bus and was waiting for an ambulance in a lot of pain.  After some time, there was no sign of the ambulance.

The young woman who had called for it rang back and they basically told her they couldn't find one to dispatch.  Two other young people were there and helping.

They were all so lovely.  And people walking past would ask if they could help and offered things to assist.

But, in the end, I rang for an Uber and the people helped her into the Uber with me and my gear and hers.  And the Uber driver was so nice.  At the ED, he got out and tried to get a wheelchair sorted.

People are nice.

Anyway, she got assessed straight away and sent me home.  She texted me later that night and confirmed her dislocated shoulder.  But she was so stoic - I was impressed with her bravery.  I hope she recovers fast.

I Ubered home from the hospital because... buses!

Mike fed me.  Yum.  And then it was time for bed.

That was my Monday.  Crazy.

Have a lovely day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Nelson and with Eurovision

Hi,

What a weekend - I need a weekend now to recover from that.  Friday saw Mike and I heading to the rugby.  I had completely forgotten about that, so was woefully under-dressed for sitting in a cold stadium for hours.  But Andrew had a spare scarf and gloves - and they made all the difference.

We met Elly and Doro there and enjoyed a local women's game (Oriental-Rongatai versus Northern United).  It was a close game.  Also watched some men's game - Hurricanes v Jaguares.  The Argentinians made the 'canes look average.  Boom!

Feet enjoy the rugby

Got an Uber home and was asleep before too long.  Mike had to get up at 4.30am to take Andrew to Poads Road.

Andrew's weekend was going to be momentous.  He had a plan to knock off the last 3 spot heights in the entire Tararua Forest Park.  Every.  Single.  Spot.  Height.  He has been to them.  I was with Sally and she heard updates from him during the weekend.  He got the first two fairly quickly - and then had a big push to get that last one.  And he did it.  So amazing.  He must be exhausted today.


Mike got home from dropping Andrew off at 8.15am and Sally arrived not long after to pick me up from home.  We headed to the airport and checked in and found the Koru lounge.  I forgot that is how Sally travels - and so yummy to get some nice food ahead of our flight.

We had an easy flight to Nelson - I had a gorgeous view across the sounds.  Picked up the Yaris hire car from Budget and found our way to our first open house.

It was lovely.  Sunny - good views.  Not quite the access we were hoping to have - but not bad.  Onto the next part of our schedule.

Lunch.

Hahah.

Then - off to 61 Davies.  We met Tracey (Chris' partner) and she introduced us at the house to the listing agent, Karen.  And Anita also met us to have a look around.

That's where we were.  This is at Brightwater - a memorial to Rutherford

Bought this house.

Yep - this one.

Turns out it was a lovely house.  Mike called and we took him through on video Skype too.  Eventually, we decided to make an offer.  Via text - because that is how my brain works.  Why talk to someone when you can text?

Tracey was great fun - and took us through without any pressure.  Karen too, mind you.  And such a gorgeous day to see the house at its best, I reckon.  Tracey bikes and we have made tentative plans to explore some trails at a later date.  She thinks we'd get along great - until the Eurovision interlude Sunday morning (see later in the blog).  Now she suspects I am slightly nuts.

As we drove around the coast road, I saw Skull Island (* not its real name) and thought it would be a great pic for Toby to enjoy.  I asked Sally to take the photo as I drove.

She had some trouble with my phone.

Asked Sally to take a photo of Skull Island.  She looks intense

She's getting there!

Wait - that's a blurry pic of me driving.  Not Skull Island.

No - she took just a photo of me as I drove along.  My hand looks great. 

Ok - Sally says the very top of Skull Island is somewhere in this photo - out the back windscreen.  Enjoy that, Toby!

Sally contorted herself to point the phone out the back window as Skull Island disappeared into the distance behind us.  And took a final photo.  If you do some forensic work on this photo above, you can zoom in and see about 12 pixels that may have captured the very top of Skull Island.

So - there you go Toby!  We saw Skull Island.

Had dinner with Sally and Anita at Parts and Service.  Vege options were limited - but it was tasty enough.

Next morning, was Eurovision!  Momo called us and the three of us (me, Mike and Momo) watched the start together.  Thank you Momo - you made it special.

I had to leave before the end.  No WiFi to stream YouTube anymore.  But Mike kept me updated.  Netherlands.  Well done!

Met Tracey at Devilles to sign for the house.  She thinks I am weird as I had to watch Eurovision for as long as possible using the hotel WiFi before meeting her to sign for a house.  She has no idea how normal I am.  :-p

I am the epitome of normality.  Or so I keep telling anyone that will listen.

Seagulls want my iced latte

Devilles for lunch and brekkie and iced lattes.  The iced lattes generated quite the stir with the staff there.  But whatever they concocted - it was good.

I am a little bit freezing in the shade with my iced latte

Nelson Koru to ourselves - thank you Sally!

 Went to Brightwater to see the Ernest Rutherford memorial.  Then took the car back and checked in.  Ate in koru.  Sorted out Queens Birthday logistics.  Boarded flight to WLG.  Sally and I got stuck in stupid traffic due to road works on the quay trying to get me home.  1.5 hours from the airport to home?  I may as well live in Sydney!

Sunday evening saw us (me and Mike) meeting Janine for Burger Fuel for tea (I had some meatless meat pattie - it was good!) before seeing Dr. Jane Goodall speak at Michael Fowler.

Dr Jane - yes - she was marvellous

It was a bit different to two years ago.  That was more:  this is my life.  This was more:  this is how you should do your bit in your life to make things better for the planet.

Totally eat less meat!

Hahahah.

And she kept slipping in "and less dairy" too - but I was trying to ignore that.

There was a young woman from Paraparaumu College that gave an excellent talk on how she is trying to make change happen.

A band that played chill music.  Trinity something.

And then Jesse Mullagan chatted to Dr. Jane Goodall for another 30 mins or so.

Yep - all good fun.

Went home and fell into bed.  Was hard to get up in the morning.  But got to my PT session where Quentin is trying to get my body stronger.  Then physio, where she said the most flattering line I am ever likely to hear (NOT!).  She said (and this is verbatim):  You are not too horrific.

I heard that, and gave some mirthless chuckle, raised my eyebrows and directed my deadliest side eye  at her as I said:  Really?

She tried to backtrack then when she realised what she had said - but waaaaaaayyy too late for that.

Great.  Not too horrific.  That's a lovely thought to take into my week.

Can the week possibly get any worse than that start?  All up from here then!

Enjoy your week.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with a continuing sore back

Hi,

What fun, eh?  My back is still sore.  But I lay flat on my back for a while last night and thought I was cured (or close to it).  But waking this morning, I was back to stiff and sore.  I did have another physio appointment this morning.  That woman is amazing at her job.  I walked back to work, feeling marvellous.

But 30 mins standing at my desk, and I was sore again.  I just need the physio to follow me and loosen me up every 20 mins or so.  Yeah, yeah.  That's a good solution.   :-p

I am glowing!  It was sunstrike!

Did see Andrew ahead of his "big push" to knock off the last of his spot heights.  This is huge!  And the forecast is not playing ball.  Severe gales on the tops.  How rude!  Hope he gets them all.

Meanwhile, Sally and I are off to Nelson to look at houses.  And Mike is entertaining half the internet at our house Sunday morning for Eurovision.

And we have Jane Goodall Sunday night.

OMG - the weekend is action packed.

Have an awesome one wherever you are too.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a sore back and physio

Hi,

I ended up having to go home at midday with my back just going into spasms for no reason.  Well, not "no reason".  I know why.  But nothing I could do seemed to fix it enough for me to sit and work.

I caught the bus home and lay on the floor at home and tried to get comfy.  Seemed to work like that - and the cats were pleased I was constantly at their level.

Cat found a warm spot

Mike got me a physio appointment at 2.20pm so I took the bus back in and saw Niki at Capital Sports Medicine.  She gave me exercises to do - and said my back was pretty stiff.  And that my body was  already trying to compensate for the injury.  Great.

I went home and did my exercises like mad.  Many times.  And again this morning.  I need it fixed.

When I fed the cats last night, the universe tilted a bit.  Smudge usually leaves food in her bowl, and Moxley finishes it off.  But last night, I fed Moxley in the kitchen, took Smudge to her bowl in the bathroom, and fed her there.  I closed the door to the lounge to keep them apart - like usual.  To give Smudge time to eat in peace.

I got distracted with talking to Mum, Dad and Karen (and Tyler and Abby - and saw Scott briefly) on Messenger video.  30 mins later I realised Smudge was still outside the lounge.  I opened the door and checked her food - all gone.

But - in the weirdest thing - Moxley had food left in her bowl. And Smudge came over and ate it.  While Moxley just watched.

Hilarious cat antics

Sunset was on fire

Fiery glow

Sunset was amazing.  Like it was on fire.  My pics were ok - but my social media had some incredible ones.

Iced latte with Mike and Andrew

Cheers!

Iced latte with Mike (and Andrew yesterday).  And I am now heading to Nelson with Sally for the weekend in a house expedition.

Missing Eurovision.  Oh. 

Have an awesome day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday at work

Hi,


Mondays.  Ohhh -they can be so hard, eh?  And that muscle I pulled during my deadlifts?  Ouch! 

Anticipation

I want some!

Met Mike (and two tramping friends - Adam and Preeti) at Higher Taste and had a yummy dinner ahead of the grocery expedition.  Where I saw two yellow cars and took a pic for Toby.  Hahahah.

Double spotto.  I feel like I am playing snooker.  See that white car?

Home for a hot bath to try and relax my back.  Into bed with the electric blanket on the nuclear setting to also heat up my back.  But it acted like a lure to Moxley and she completely stretched out on the bed and enjoyed the heat rising from beneath the duvet.

Joed out on the bed last night

Went to Spin this morning.  Back still sore though.  Mike says it is normal and just my back growing stronger through the pain.

Whatever. 

Sigh.  At least the weather is nice today - and looks good for the next 9 days on the forecast.  Woot!

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend with mothers day

Hi,

What a great weekend - and my mother is recovering well at home now.  Spoke to her a couple of times - it is hard from a distance to know exactly how it is all going.  But she assures me that if I was needed, they would ask me to come over.

Dad has another week off to look after her - and at the rate she is recovering, maybe it will be enough.   Yay.  She has a doctor's appointment on Tuesday which should be a good assessment point.

Friday.  Delicious anticipation...

Sip....

Friday - The Lab iced goodness with Celia

The weekend was great (as you can see above, the only good thing about my Friday was the iced coffee dates - hahahahah!).  Saturday saw Toby away early for filming stuff and Mike and I off to Quentin's group session.

Peaches - or - how to get awesome glutes.  It was hard work.  Good to have Chloe there - we had some fun doing the crab walk together.

Off to the Hutt after that to pick up the DRZ.  Mike ended up thinking my jacket was his and when he got to the bike shop, he had to wriggle into the jacket.  It looked a little like a crop top.  Hahah.  Did the job.  He rode it back to Sally and Andrew's place - as they came back from their bike ride up the Remutaka incline - and we had some lunch.

Back to my work to pick up my bicycle and dirty gym gear and then Mike got home with the DRZ and we put it away.  Its battery needs replacing.  :-(  Next job for it.  But it is running well.

Sunday saw me getting the best scrambled eggs in bed - all from Toby.  With an iced coffee in a tea cup.  That was an unexpected surprise.  Thought it was Rooibos when I saw it.

Best scrambled eggs in bed!

Lazy Sundays

Toby left to join Tessa for more filming work, and Mike had beds to deliver and kiwi aversion training to attend.  Bad Mike - drop that kiwi!!!  (Ok - it was Zoey getting the training - and she was amazing!).

Mike was then off to train others in lodge bookings.  And Tessa and Toby came home and stayed downstairs.  I read on the couch with Moxley deciding my legs were the warmest place to snooze.

And so the weekend passed us by - in all its glory.  The wind and rain hit around 4pm Sunday and stayed through to this morning.  Not pleasant.  I did drive in.  Oops.  Best remember that for my homeward journey.

Enjoy your week ahead. 

Love,
Angela