The weekend that was long and had Iona and Col visiting and Kaustubh and Aparajita

 Hi,

What a weekend. I did work a bit on Friday so it was not as long as it might have been. Hahah. But Friday was still pretty busy.

Up early Friday for the dentist at CityDentists. Teeth all good. Yay!

Off to the gym to see Quentin for the first time in ages. 37.5 bench with him. Then we had brekkie together at Smith the Grocer. It was so nicer to chill with Quentin.

Back home to get things sorted. Then fed the cats and drove to Tom's place to meet Elly ahead of the rugby. Tom cooked tea for us - mushroom risotto. The mushrooms were foraged so there was some concern discussed - but they were foraged by experts at Hillside, so we figured they were good. And the risotto was delicious. Thank you.

Tom is also renovating. He showed me this kitchen scales. We used to have the same thing in Dovecote Ave. Ours were red though. 

Blast from the past at Tom's place

Demo by me

Tom kindly dropped me and Elly at the station for the rugby and we wandered into the stadium for the 7pm kick off. Australia versus England.

We had very good seats for this game. Not many punters at the stadium for international rugby. Maybe 1500 people. But they were up for it. I was super keen to see Australia get up for it. But they did not. England are a tough team - all professional now. And Aussie still doesn't pay their women.

At the rugby

Elly and I take our seat

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

So still the pyro display had smoke rings

There was not a breath of wind in Wellington. The flames that lined the rugby field left smoke rings in the air.

I tried to take pics to prove that sometimes it is not blowing a gale in Wellington.

More smoke rings

Tom picked us up after the game from New World and I was back at home before I knew it. Iona and Col had arrived and made themselves a cup of tea. We chatted for a bit and then bed!

Cats enjoy the sun

Up to watch the rugby at 8am and make brekkie for us. Semi final - All Blacks v Argentina. And the All Blacks were on fire! Smashed them.

Iona and Col headed to Helen's place to check on things (Helen is away). And I tidied and got ready for the rugby later in the day.

Lunch was asparagus courtesy of Iona and Col. And then Tom came to collect us all for the rugby. Ta Tom. Again!

We all bought some merch before the first game kicked off. Beanies with Black Ferns on them. I was happy. We met Handles (an old friend of Iona and Col's) on the concourse and as we chatted, we said we had seen a few daffodils arrive for the Wales v Canada game. And as we spoke, another daffodil walked in. And I said: hey, I know that daffodil.

Hahah. Paula was here to support her team. And Steph and Joycie were with her. So I got a lot of hugs!

Back again for the Black Ferns game

Got our merch!

Anthem time

Rugby was awesome. Not many people were there. We wondered if it would fill up more for the Black Ferns v France game. And yes, it did. But still not that many. Maybe a quarter of the stadium? So - 7k? Dunno. But it was a tad disappointing to see such a poor turn out.

Canada thrashed Wales. As expected, tbh. At half time I spotted Alice Soper down to our left. She's a rugby commentator specifically for women's rugby really. We were up and dancing in our seats (Iona and Col were super keen on dancing!) and she looked back up at us. And Iona and I both noticed and gave a wee wave to her.

So she wandered up and chatted to us. Then interviewed us on her LIVE feed. Hahahah. She was so nice. Col wanted her autograph but we had no paper or pen. And I mentioned AFL womens - and she remembered that I messaged her about it 2 years ago! Wow. She said she ignores most of the DMs as she gets a lot of men behaving badly. And apologised for missing my message. How cool was that?

Iona was a bit worried about sitting outside of our assigned seats for the Black Ferns game so we went to our allocated seats. Which were behind the try line. Behind the dead ball line, actually. 

And then the main event kicked off. Elly and I scurried to better seats on the 22 instead of behind the goals and watched the entire game from there. Iona and Col joined us at half time.

Black Ferns v France was huge. Black Ferns were rusty. Ball handling was a little hit and miss. Ruby Tui was massive - every time she got her hands on the ball she made an impact. The crowd yelled louder for that too.

The final result was a win to France by 1 point. But it flattered the Black Ferns, I feel. Anyway - it was such a good time. I loved it all.

Tom picked us up again. He is a champ. So we were home by 10pm, easily. We watched something and then went to bed.

Up for Sunday. Watched the other semi - England v South Africa. What a game. Brutal. And I do not know how SA got back to win that by one point. They trailed the entire game except for the last 4 mins.

Iona and I dress the same

Watching the arborists in the trees below

Iona and Col went to visit their friends Pat and Val. And I entertained wee Aaria, and her parents. Hahah. So good to see Kaustubh and Aparajita. They are all looking fabulous. Wee Aaria is such a cutie. Walking around like the wee toddler she is. We had some lunch. But Aaria never really settled to eat. Moxley was quite the attraction too. And eventually she got a little cusping. And they took her away. I got a pic later with her fast asleep in the car seat. Hahah. Loved seeing them all.

Hello my lovely visitors

Iona and Col got back and then we headed out to meet Sally at Lower Hutt City Fitness gym. Did some bench but I was struggling, I have to say.

Sunday afternoon at the gym

Just for AJ - I made kiwi crisps with his chocolate bar he got for me. Awwww

Then to Sally's place and we started (and finished) Deadloch. OMG. It was 1.30am by the time we got home. Hahah. I slept through a few episodes.  #3 and #8 were mostly missing for me. And I think I snoozed in some others. But Iona and Col loved it. And the parts I saw made me laugh. Again.

Up early to take Iona and Col to the airport. Left them there around 8.50am and then into town for gym with Quentin.

Iced latte with Sally on Monday after the gym 

Smudge looking regal

Home to clean the outside of the garage with the new Wet & Forget Rapid product. Let's see if that works. And then washing and what not.

Mike got back around 4pm. And we dried his gear and did more washing. Hahah.

He has a cold now. Bit of a cough. And he might not be getting better just yet. Let's see.

I rode in this morning. First time in almost a month. Wow.

Had PT with Quentin. 82.5kg deads. So good.

I will give Spin a miss today after work. But maybe Wed or Thurs I will give it a go.

Have a great week.

Love,

Angela