The Monday back at work while the top of the north island is still under deluge

 Hi,

While I worked from home (WFH) yesterday, wee Smudge curled up on Mike's seat and slept. Well, okay - she was on my seat and I didn't want to disturb her, so I wheeled her off to the side and used Mike's chair. The cats own me!

Smudge keeping me company

Got through the day at work and then headed off the Newlands to meet Juliet for Spin there. 6pm. They got about 16 punters and the instructor used to be at Willis St as I recognised him.  I liked him.

We got hot and sweaty. See my stats below. Hahahah. Going to be our regular.

Spin w Juliet @ Newlands

Salad for tea

Stats from spin

Collecting KQF number plates.  This was 701.

Came home - spotted a number plate close to our one. I have seen one near our house only 1 number away.

Made tea - delicious salad. Mike got home not long after. Into bed. Slept well. Up for a ride into work and then PT session in the sauna that was masquerading as a gym.

Maureen says it is 98% humidity.

Okay.

Still - it is better than the hammering Auckland and the north are getting - even now. More red and orange warnings. I hope they get away with it today.

Have a fantastic day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend in Wellington with Mike away tramping and floods for Auckland

 Hi,

What a weekend! I did get a haircut on Friday and caught up with Andrew at Machete after it. That was good - saw Paul as he left work for the day just as I walked there. Also picked up some groceries - eggs mainly. And iced coffees. Hahahah. It is eggageddon so we always buy eggs when we're low in case therre are none when you go to get some. Not that I have seen any issues here in Wellington. But I just want to say that every day is iced lattegeddon!  

Mojo iced latte goodness on Friday

Friday night challenge

Mike stayed out for a few drinks after work - I am sure it was to plan the nuances of the weekend tramp. And Friday night turned out to be a bit of a rain Armageddon for Auckland. They got so much rain - it really hammered them. Flash flooding when the systems got overwhelmed - and people lost their lives swept into culverts and debris causing havoc. Terrible news. Checked on the people I know - and they all seem to have got off lightly - thank goodness.

Sending them a lot of aroha right now.

Friday night tea without Mike

Not helping

Smudge snuggles

Saturday saw Mike up early and away for his trapline weekend with Turere lodge and about 25 other people. Good on him!

I chilled at home in the rain.

Thunder coming

Moxley chills on me

Still working on the puzzle

Mike got home Sunday evening and washed his gear and himself. That was the longest patch of dry weather all weekend for us. Except we only had drizzle - not the deluge seen elsewhere up north.

Mike was asleep by 7.30pm! I made kiwi crisps and came to bed.

Made kiwi crisps

Lewis Road iced latte for the win

Up for work - WFH today. Got spin with Juliet after work. We're going to Newlands (Thorndon is getting renovated). And Sally is seeing Quentin today! I am very excited about this - I hope she enjoys it and gets some good tips out of it.

Right. Time for the working week to kick in!

Have a great week ahead. Look after yourselves and your loved ones.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with a big move for Chelsea

 Hi,

Big day yesterday. Phew! Started well with a delicious iced latte with Laura at work. The weather was so good we sat out on the balcony with the harbour behind us like a millpond.

Iced latte at work with Laura

How nice is this weather?

In the afternoon I had to duck up to the specialist in Kelburn so I caught the cable car. With a lot of tourists. There was a cruise ship in town.

Saw my specialist. Benign mole - but the type that could cause issues later. So off it comes. Booked in for 8.30am Feb 9th.

Cable car to my appointment

Showing Mike I am heading to my bike in the work garage

Back at work and busy until Mike left at 4.45. I was not far behind him. He got on a ghost 13 immediately. So I thought he'd beat me home. But the eBike powered up the hill and I beat him home handily. He was still at the 1.5km mark (we run to some garages for a 3km round trip) from home.

Huge banana capsicum

Trailer on the back

We stuffed some food in and then grabbed a trailer from Vivian St Z and headed to Chelsea's flat. There were no parks available but some handy yellow lines. So we parked there with hazard lights on. Chelsea and Mike ferried stuff down the lift to the front door. And I ferried them from there into the car and trailer.

We got to her new flat (Stoke St in Newtown) and unloaded the trailer and car. Most went into the garage as her room was up 3 flights of stairs. We got the trailer back to Vivian St at 8.20pm before it turned into a pumpkin. Back for a big car load from the old flat. And that was the last of it apart from some cables Chelsea can grab at any time. Chelsea's new flat looks lovely. Newish. Nice and close to stuff. We have friends around the corner that have lived there for many years. So it must be a cool place.

By this stage there was no room for me in the car. So I ubered home and left Mike and Chelsea to the last load. Hopefully that went well. Mike got home and we fell into a deep sleep. Hot and sticky night.

Up for a ride in and gym session. Woot.

Weekend beckons - for me. Mike is off tramping. I have a few things to get done.

Take care.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with Float

 Hi,

I got up for the bus that never came. I thought after anniversary day the buses would go back to normal. But - no. Waited for my 6.16 bus and it never came. Too late to do much about it by then. So an online session with Quentin and work from home was the end result.

Quentin smashed my glutes and calves. I can feel it now as I type here at work on Wednesday morning. Hahah. Good work, Quentin.

We did a thing after work yesterday. Quentin and Courtney had bought us a couples Float session at Float Well. So we booked it in and last night was our session.

Float Well Wellington

Waiting for a bus that never came

A pic from Float's website that shows what we did

We drove in and parked on Wakefield St and wandered into the James Smith building. Found Float Well, buried in the depths of level 1 of the building. The chap at reception was lovely. Took us through the rules and tips. 

We got our own private room with the pod and a shower. Very nice shower - rain style. With a drain at the edge so the rest of the floor did not get soaked. Genius! We could shampoo and body wash - but no conditioner as it leaves oils in the water.

Ear plugs in (before you get wet, so they tuck in well) and then we stepped into the pod. The lights in the room have a motion detector so they go out after a few minutes.

We got in with the pod lights on. And it was really salty - so you float easily. We relaxed and I turned out the lights so we were in completely darkness. We tried the music and decided against it.

An hour passed so fast! I had no idea. It was very relaxing. Warm - not hot. Every now and then I would bump against the side or against Mike. But it was barely noticeable.

A speaker announced the end of our session. We got out and showered and headed away. We'd totally do that again. Thank you Quentin and Courtney.

Back home and sorted my stuff for my working day and off to bed nice and early. Good sleep. Up to ride in. Gorgeous weather again.

In some good news, Toby and Tessa have secured a flat for this year. Woot!

Hope your day is a good one.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with a most excellent road trip to Auckland and back

 Hi,

We had such a good weekend - hosted by the Sampson clan up in Auckland and treated so well. Thank you so much! The weather co-operated - it was like visiting Australia in many ways.

Cats enjoy the sunshine before we head north

Calves love 'em

We picked Chelsea up from outside her flat at 4.30pm on Thursday - after getting a bit mixed up with the pick up location. We were stuck in traffic for a bit right in the middle of town. But we were away by 5pm. The expressway bypass is now open through to just north of Otaki. So good! At this time of the day it must cut out about 40 mins of your journey I reckon.

Road trip!

Mike and I switched drivers at Waiouru and I tackled the Desert Road and then up the western side of Taupo. But it was dark, and started raining (the only rain we got the entire weekend) and the hot day meant the rain turned into fog when it hit the road. So I had rising fog, sometimes pelting rain, and an unfamiliar road. I wasn't really enjoying the driving until I hit the Hamilton expressway and the 110km speed limit! Oosshh!

We pulled into Lesley and Wally's driveway at 12.30am. Not too bad a trip. We fell into bed (thank you, Brennan, for giving up your bed for us and sleeping on the couch!) and was out like a light.

Mike was up (with Lesley and Wally) for the working day on Friday. So I tackled the St Luke's mall with Jason, Brennan and Chelsea. It was probably a 25 min walk and it was pretty hot. So we stopped at a cafe not far from their house for sustenance. 

Cafe near our Auckland base!

Slurp!

We got the things we needed at the mall - quite the eclectic mix of things. Wallets. Socks. Groceries. Generally mooched around for a bit and then headed back.

St Luke's mall is just like being in Aus

We stopped at Crave for lunch and convinced Mike to come out as it was lunch time. He joined us as we finished and got his lunch after a short wait.  Then he drove Brennan home and the rest of us continued the walk back.

Cafe Crave on our way home

Mmmmm

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed as people finished the working week. Off to bed at a reasonable hour because it was park run the next morning.

Mike and I got up and it was a beautiful day. We walked the 40 mins to Western Springs - enjoying the birds on the lake with their chicks.

Western Springs park

Run, Mike, run!

Mike did the park run - my calf was tender so I didn't run. He did a good time - around 32 mins. I like this park run - it is very pretty.

We popped into the Auckland Zoo for a coffee afterwards - but they had no iced latte. They are missing a trick there.

Walking back home

Wally got me a delicious home made iced latte

But we walked home and I got a delicious one from Wally. So there, Auckland Zoo!  Way better I am sure of it.  :-)

Wally and I ducked out to the supermarket and got picnic provisions. Then we drove to Cornwall Park - which is conveniently on the other side of the hill from Roz's place.  So I pinged her and she was free and took Yasmin out for a walk to see us! So happy to see her. And Yasmin. Roz is good - she caught up with me and Mike as we munched our way through picnic goodness. Yasmin is such a great wee pup - 7 months old now.

Hannah also turned up with her boyfriend Sean. And we all played Heads Up before Hannah left and we decided to tackle the hill. Mainly to let the picnic food digest!

Hey there wee Yasmin!

Picnic time!

We climb Maungkiekie

Band photo at the top

Jason crashes in the long grass

Back home and we watched more Amazing Race when Mike went out to see Sally and Andrew and Jason and Chelsea went to a party. Hahah.

Into bed and up for the big day! Yes, Meatloaf the Musical. The reason we were up in the big smoke. We caught the train in ($2 for a paper ticket from the station - woot!) and met Sally and Andrew at Britomart. Got some cabinet food from Amaro cafe and sat in a square and ate it. Nice eggplant roll and good coffee.

Iced latte from Amaro cafe in Britomart

Then it was time. Well, okay, we were early for the musical. We got in and got our seats super early. And when it kicked off, Mike was not disappointed.

Waiting for the musical

Mike is excited!

For me, it was partly awesome, partly terrible and mostly good. The actors were great! The stage production was great. It is just sometime Steinman has terrible taste in music. Hahahah. They played Mike's fave Air Supply song. And there was a truly awful duet at one stage. But the rest was pretty good.

Crowd gathers

We all went to Burger Burger afterwards and had an excellent meal. I got an Impossible burger pattie in lettuce! Yum!

Sally and Andrew headed back to their hotel (they stayed in Chamfy's building!!) and we walked the 4km home. 50 mins later and a good walk to understand where they all live in relation to downtown Auckland and we were back at home. Sweet!

Walk home after some food at Burger Burger

Selfie as we walk home

It was SingStar night. Wally got out the old SingStar and hooked it up (I think it is on PS4 and they have moved to PS5 at the Sampson household - but they did get it working!).

Sing Star night!

Okay - back at Spark Arena

And again at half time

For some reason I stayed up until 1.30am with Jason, Brennan and Chelsea playing Articulate and Heads Up while Chelsea baked cookies!

Next day was a working day in Auckland so Lesley and Wally were up and working by the time I got up. Bit of brekkie and a shower and we were ready to head home by 10:10am!

Cafe in Whakamaru on our way home

Such a great weekend, it was sad to head away. But we threw our gear into the Focus and said our goodbyes and then we were off. Lovely day. Headed back the way we came and Mike drove the whole way. We stopped just after the control gates on the mighty Waikato at Whakamaru and had some lunch before doing the final push. Got some snacks and fuel at Waiouru though.  Listened to podcasts the entire way. 

Dropped Chelsea home at about 6.30pm. And we were greeting the cats not too long after.

Good to sleep in our own bed again - as always when you get back from somewhere. But it did make me appreciate good friends. Felt very welcome and at home in Auckland - where I usually feel like a tourist.

Have a great week ahead. Short week for us.

Love,

Angela