The Thursday with dinner out after work

 Hi,

Thursday ended up being huge! Mike reached his yearly running goal of 500 miles, or 805km. And he was so fast - awesome pace in his 5k run.

I did notice the pic of us with Larraine made her Instagram holiday post. But it makes Mike and I look really weird for dressing exactly the same as each other. Hahah.

We made Larraine's holiday set of pics

Everyone is in Wellington for the Christmas party tonight so after work, Mike went for his run to finally crack his yearly run goal and I walked to Joe's Garage to meet up with the out of towners. Anne and Karin arrived, closely followed by Mike after his run. Emma came after getting a tad lost finding her hotel to check in. And we had a lovely tea. Just as we finished, Helen from the P&C team turned up. I had seen her as I left work to walk to Joe's and asked if she wanted to come. She did! Good to chat to her and get to know her a wee bit more.

It was late by the time we all finished nattering. The bus was a good 23 mins away so Mike got an Uber. We fed the cats and went to bed.

Friday morning iced latte

Up for a bus in with Mike and a coffee at the French Kiss cart on my way to work. Woot. Christmas party tonight. Big bike ride with Maureen Saturday afternoon up Mt Kaukau. And a lot of messages. I really want to finish the stairs!

Have a great weekend.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with work and stairs

 Hi,

I caught up briefly with Dave as I went in search of an iced coffee. French Kiss cart had a huge queue, so Margies got my custom. Dave was happy about that,

Margies iced latte with Dave

Squashed in a hot yoga session with Erin across lunch. And had lunch afterwards with her too. She is good. A few options to keep her interested.

Post yoga iced latte with Erin

Cats survey all they own - mainly me

Rode home and got sorted then started painting the risers again. I did get them all sanded and one coat on. Yay. Mike got home just as I finished. So we ate the fresh bread I baked and headed to bed.

Another coat on the stairs

Sourdough

Smudge slept here

Morning view of the stairs

Smudge was on top of the wee white couch by our bed when I got up. So cute, snuggled into a wee ball. Awwww.  My cat content readers will be happy.

A few Auckland people are down for the Christmas party tomorrow. So we have dinner out tonight with some of them. Yay!

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday working from home

 Hi,

What do you mean, I took no photos at all yesterday? Those cats were so cute - how could I have missed the chance to take their pics?

Turns out that I did just that. I did take 2 photos but you have no need to see a wood chip Mike needs to glue back into place or the concrete beside the door to the pit that seems to be getting worse.

Wait. Let me show you that last pic. I can crowd source whether I need to fix it or not.

The concrete next to the pit door

It has exposed the old rebar inside. Maybe I just need to bog it. 

Anyway. Work was work. The day was lovely. The doors were open. The cats were happy. Mike got home after his run with Callan (he has about 4km to go to finish his 805km for the year!!!) and found all the stuff I needed to get the stair project back underway. But we watched YouTube and the evening vanished. But I do know a lot more about the Victoria tube line now.

Off to bed. Fell asleep in seconds. Up for a morning at home, eating my porridge and playing with the cats and getting my bread shaped and into the fridge for a bake tonight.

Managed a paltry 30 push ups before I rode in. At 7.45am it is busy! Terrible ride in playing in the traffic.

Yoga at lunch time today. Then ride home after work. Mike has his architect forum to run. Groceries should arrive (yay - hopefully I get some Lewis Road iced coffee. No, I mean hopefully we get milk and cat food and essential things like that). Feed the cats. Feed myself. Then start the stairs.

Day will be grand!

Enjoy yours.

Love,

Angela

The Monday working from home in Dunedin

 Hi,

We caught up with Hamish, Sarah and Ryan at the Otago museum in our 1 hour lunch break. Mike drove down and we ran in. Said hello. Gobbled food. Caught up briefly on all the good news (new job, new car, holiday plans) and then we ran back to the car and home for more meetings.

Quick lunch date with the James family at Otago Museum

The museum cafe does a good iced latte

Finished work and got an Uber to the airport. Nice and fast but I wonder if the driver was on his first Uber trip to the airport. He took that last 90 degree bend very fast and we ended up crossing the lanes to the other side. Lucky nothing was coming.

We did not hug the Uber driver at the new Maximum Hug spot.  This made the news a month or so back.

Max hug time at Dunedin airport

Easy flight to Chc with a fast turnaround there (45 mins) to get back on the same plane (same pilots, different hosts) and head to Wellington. Landed early both times (southerly helped). Got an Uber home.

Fed the cats. Mike played with the cats. Then a restless, warm night.

Mike headed to town to meet Roanne. I did my PT session online in the garage.  40kg bench. 5 reps x 4 sets. Then with the bar, narrow grip. 5 x 4. Shoulder press. 40 push ups. Upright rows. Core. It was a lot.

Home made iced latte on Tuesday

At home today. Got a lot of meetings. Then stairs tonight, Make bread. Busy. Loved the quick trip to Dunedin though. Well worth it to see Polly and Larraine and everyone. 

Have a great day! Enjoy the week ahead.

Love,

Angela

The weekend in Dunedin

 Hi,

What a lovely weekend. We flew to Dunedin direct from Wellington on Thursday night. Quite a late flight - 7.45pm. 

Got the shuttle from the airport to Highgate. And by this time it was 9.30pm so off to bed fairly quickly.

Sourdough for Dunedin

Friday Mike had to work. And I did not do very much at all. Hahah.

View from Roslyn

Copper iced latte

Saturday saw us up for Park run in the gardens. We left here and pulled into the very empty car park at 7.30am. Walked to the start and chatted to some people before the 8am kick off. And while it was a very hard run (two laps down at the bottom then two laps up some steep hills at the top) I managed to knock about 6 mins off my January 20th run here. Yay!

Very nice iced latte

Toby exploring the Blue Mountains

Lovely sunset

Toby and the Blue Mountains

Walking to Park Run

And finished

Museum iced latte

After the park run, Mike did another 5k to get closer to his yearly total. Polly and I went to the Museum cafe to wait for Larraine and her family. Mike got there and then her family all turned up. We met Tyler (her son) and his kids (Saxon and Hudson) and Judy and Robert came too. Caught up with all the news.

cheers!

Hey Larraine

All the family

We headed away at midday to help Mike's cousin Richard with some stuff in his garage. And then home to chill.

View Sunday from Roslyn

Another day another run

Sunday we got up and did a run while Polly was at church. Met her at No 7 Balmac for brunch. Very delicious.

No 7 Balmac

Mmmmmmm

St Clair

Home for a bit. Did some videos of Polly looking at stuff in the house. Then off to St Clair for a wee walk and some tea.

Beach cafe

Sun hitting Mt Cargill

Back home and off to bed. Up Monday for work. Flight to Chc this evening, then onto Wellington.

Great fun here in Dunedin.

Enjoy your week ahead.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday back at work

 Hi,

Turns out I forgot to blog yesterday morning. No idea how that happened apart from just being busy. But I rode in Tuesday morning in lovely weather and had to come down Murphy to avoid parliament (I usually ride right through parliament grounds). The hikoi was kicking off from Waitangi Park at 9am and heading to the Beehive for a midday protest. Massive crowds expected and public transport chaos. 

Early morning hikoi

I was early (6.30am) and saw a few early people heading to the park. Woot! I headed to the gym. Met Quentin. Did incline bench (25kg 4 x 4) then normal bench (35kg 4  x 4 ).

Back to Margies to have brekkie with Maureen. Then back to work. 

Caught up with Maureen after gym

Left work at 11.45am to head to the Beehive. Sally and Andrew were already there - staked out a bit of lawn nice and early. We couldn't get that close. The place was packed. And such a good crowd. Families. Elderly. Everyone in-between. Gang members walked through the crowds. We could not hear a thing from the grounds. Barely indistinguishable voices on the loudspeakers.

But I am so glad so many people voted with their feet against this Treaty bill. Let's all submit on it to let our voices be heard. The ruling government seems to be trying to diminish the way this feels to the majority of people that live in Aotearoa.

Lunch hikoi

So many people

Like, a lot

We were there

I headed back to work at 1pm. The crowd departed after their message was given. So proud of the way it was run.

After work, Mike and I went to Joes Garage for tea and he practised his Great Walks talk. Then we went to TTC clubrooms and he presented his talk there.

David from Nepal was there. He asked after Toby. We went to Nepal with him in 2015. He was the person that fell in his shower and broke his wrist 2 hours after landing in Kathmandu. But Expansion took him on his own tour and looked after him.

Hey David

Mike's talk was so good. Perfectly timed too. He got a book on the history of the TTC as a gift. Awww. People came up to me and said how good his talk was.

We walked to the bus stop in Courtney Place and got home just after 9pm. Fed the cats. Into bed. Slept so well.

Up at 7am. Showered. Washing done. Ate my cold soaked porridge (yum). And bussed into town. 

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Love,

Angela

The migraine in Sydney

 Mike got a migraine at 4am after Tyler's 21st.  Luckily he was able to sleep it off ok. 

The Tuesday with a BBQ after work

 Hi,

Okay - I took no pics of the BBQ. I will have to explain it in great detail for you all instead. I noticed yesterday that the WCC Christmas tree has gone up on the waterfront. Yay!

Christmas is here!

PT session was hard. Bench. 42.5 4 reps x 4 sets. But I think I hurt my shoulder. Waaah. And I have a sore lower back from all the driving. Nothing is going well with my body this week. 

Iced latte with Mike

I also managed to convince Mike to join me for an iced latte before work meetings kicked in. That was nice. The weather weas lovely yesterday.

Sourdough

Rode home and put the bread on and got ready for the BBQ. Amy had a lot of venison she hunted to eat before her flight tomorrow. She is off to live in France. We met Matieu and some of Amy's friends from Warwick St (Isaac, Milly and wee baby Arlo). Janine was there and Andrew came too!

Mike cooked up a storm. The BBQ was running flat out for ages. With such a lovely evening, we had the doors all open. Once the sun dropped down it did get chilly. But by then wee Arlo was getting cross. So they took him home. Amy and Matieu and Janine headed away then too. We chatted to Andrew for a while. Hearing about his track work and discussing the stairs a bit.

But eventually he had to head away (I might have been yawning). He took a lot of leftovers. And the fresh sourdough.

Ange is coming to look after the cats this weekend. Better tidy the house tomorrow morning. We have a flight at 3pm. Mike will WFH and we can go to the airport from here.

Enjoy your weekend. 

Love,

Angela

The Monday back at work

 Hi,

Busy at work - but it was good to WFH. I tried the washing machine and it did not leak all over the place (Mike had moved it away for the renovation work and back again).

Also got to hang out with the cats.

Moxley with me in the office

Another coat on

3 coats on the top 2 steps

After work I did more coats on the stairs. We decided to fill them all - so I did that at the end. The risers are rough and look better with filler in the cracks.

I did jump out to see the dentist for my appointment at 6pm. And Mike grabbed some groceries and met me afterwards at the car. Good efficient planning.

Off to bed. And up for PT session this morning. My ride in was lovely. Nice and still here this morning.

We have people coming for a BBQ tonight at home. Woot. Amy is off to France.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend in Auckland for hockey

 Hi,

What an amazing weekend. Mike walked me to the car at 4.30pm (parked at the early bird car park by Bluebridge for $18) and I was off to collect Jill from Paraparaumu very soon after that. Easy drive out there. Found her house and then we were off up north.

Filled up in Levin and then got to Taihape and found the Gretna Hotel. It is an old building on the corner where the SH1 does a 90 degree bend as it goes through town. We found reception in the public bar and got our keys. The rooms were all upstairs with shared bathrooms.

Gretna Hotel in Taihape

My room for $59

We grabbed our gear and dropped it in the room. Checked the bar food out - but not a lot of vegetarian options. So off to Roast Cottage for a roast veg dinner.

Roast Cottage for tea

Back to our rooms for bed. I was ready for a good sleep. The room was clean and tidy. There was a big blowie in the room - but it settled down and didn't cause me any headaches. At 9pm there was a lot of noise as punters left the pub and chatted below my window on the footpath. They all then revved their cars as they left. Hahah.

Bye wee room

Up for a shower (good shower - with a front door as the shower door) and then met Jill and we left Taihape nice and early.

Iced latte

Great view of the maunga as we passed Waiouru. Good route up the Desert Road. Brekkie in Turangi. Where I had an iced latte.

Then into Auckland up SH32 and then SH1. Found the hockey stadium and enjoyed a great game against Germany with Erin's team finding their mojo in patches of good play. But it was 7-0 to Germany in the end.

Go Scotland!

Erin's team takes on Germany

Selfie

We chilled while Erin took an ice bath. Hahahah. Looked - cold. Then headed to our AirBnB in Browns Bay. The place was a wee self-contained flat under the main house. And at the end of their steep driveway, was a 150m walk to the beach. Across the road was Woolworths. And the wee town itself had a lot of outside pubs and cafes. So nice. Great spot.

View from Browns Bay

Shadows

Nice Air BnB

Relaxing evening eating and reading. Had a great sleep. Up for an early game for Erin's team against Australia. Erin was on fire! The sun was shining. The rugby was on (All Blacks v Ireland in Dublin). Magic day.

Erin's team lost 3 - 0 to Australia. But they kept them under wraps for huge passages of play. And the goalie was amazing. The Alliance team even had some close scoring opportunities.

I might need to crop this

Saturday morning v Australia

Roz and Oaklin

Roz turned up as we watched the kiwi men. I met Oaklin. She is a gorgeous wee pup in the Roz Guide Dog puppy training programme.  :-)  

She is so good

Watching with Erin

Anne turned up later too. So we all watched games together - really good to have Erin's expert commentary. Jill and I spent a lot of time wondering why penalty corners were given before we at with Erin to understand it more. Seems as though people's feet get in the way a lot!

Such a great time. Good to catch up with Anne and Roz. Erin and her team will continue to worry these other teams and they might get some upsets in by the end of the week. Woot!

Roz headed away after Oaklin was so good sleeping under her seat in the stands. Wow. What a good wee dog. And we milled around watching some games before Anne decided to brave the traffic to get all the way back over to the south eastern parts of Auckland. Good on her for getting there!

Said goodbye to Erin too. And headed back to Browns Bay for the evening. Relaxed again with some food from the sushi place and Woolies. 

Good sleep. Up early and away by 7.30am. Easy drive to Pokeno. Met up with Kaustubh and Arapita and wee Aaria. Aaria is a wee cutie. I got an iced latte from Kaustubh. Mmmm. God to catch up with them. They are off to India soon for their summer holiday.

Nice home made iced latte

Rumbly tums in Tokoroa

Our AirBnB in Browns Bay

We headed away at 9.40am and stopped for lunch at Tokoroa. And then nothing but petrol at Waiouru to stop us from getting to Wellington.

Dropped Jill home. Got home and heard about Mike's adventures with his half marathon Sunday morning on Kapiti coast. And laundry progress with Lewis.

Yay!

Mighty weekend.

Go Erin! Smash the teams this week.

Love,

Angela