The Tuesday with Mike's birthday

 Hi,

Had a good day at work working next to Shoshana - and she went and got me an iced latte from the work cafe when my meetings were stopping me from getting one.

Work iced latte from Shoshana

After work we walked to The Embassy and got there in time to settle in and watch Disclosure Day. 5.15pm. Danita and Nick were also seeing it (happy birthday Danita for today!) so we said hello to them.

Movie tickets

The movie was interesting. A bit of a Spielberg indulgence from my point of view. Good plot. Emily Blunt was amazing as always and carried the movie through the more hamfisted parts. But it did need more focus on execution in places. It felt like similarly with George Lucas's later movies, there was nobody there willing to challenge the Great Mr Spielberg's screenplay and suggest how it could be tightened and improved.

But I was entertained.

It finished at 7.50pm so we had to hop it to Koji Restaurant. Toby called to wish Mike a happy birthday too. 

The dinner was superb. We both got the 9 course chef's meal - all plant-based for me, carnivore version for Mike. And it was so good. Creative, but well thought out. Very little in common between mine and Mike's which meant we got to see and taste a huge range of dishes.  Mike got a couple of glasses of a fascinating and delicious chilled red from Alexia Urban Winery in Greytown. All up, $226 - what a bargain for one of the best degustation meals we've ever had! So that was an excellent birthday night out. 

Fave ones for me? The lettuce cups with mushroom and other deliciousness. The miso eggplant. The charred broccoli. Mmmm.

Dinner at Koji

What a menu! We'll try a la carte next time (and there will be a next time)

Ubered home and chatted to the driver a lot about his hybrid Haval. Fed the cats. And fell asleep with a very full stomach.

Up for a bus in with Mike. He had the session with Quentin while I ran on the treadmill. Coffee at Margies on the way to work.

Margies for Wed iced latte

Have a brilliant day.

Love,

Angela

The Friday with a Fielday spontaneous excursion

 Hi,

Mike has already sorted out the weekend blog. And it is his birthday today. Monday is stunning here in Wellington. Serving up the best wintery weather for Mike.

Monday birthday weather

Sourdough

I did make bread when we got home Sunday evening. Yay!

Right.  How was our trip up to Mystery Creek? 

I left our house just after 4.30pm on Thursday in the Subaru. The traffic out to Lower Hutt was terrible. Crawling along the motorway. Probably got to Sally and Andrew's place just before 5.30!  Wow. Said goodbye to Sally and drove over Haywards to Transmission Gully. Filled up at Levin and continued north.

We'd decided to aim for Mangakino and Andrew booked ahead for that as we drove up. The weather was a bit pants. Drizzly rain. Fog - especially up the west side of Taupō. Got into Mangakino at 10:30pm. The accommodation was superb. Lake Maraetai lodge  We parked close to the front door and found our room 21 just opposite. Washed up in the shared bathrooms and fell asleep pretty fast. Andrew had read the weather forecast and like clockwork I woke around 3am with thunderstorms outside.

The lodge

Sunrise is coming

Up at 6am to shower. Nice big shower stall - but my drain was blocked so my Crocs were splashing around a fair bit. Everything packed and back in the car and away just before 7am. Another rainy drive through some windy roads towards Mystery Creek. Maybe 1.5 hours to our destination via some Waikato back roads.

Joined a fast moving line of traffic and into a paddock before 9am. Blue car park. Right next to a huge sign saying just that. We got into our Field day gear (decided to wear my hiking boots) and headed to the gate.

Just inside the gate

Huge

We got through easily and I was gobsmacked by the size immediately. So many vendors selling things. From gumboots to combine harvesters and everything in between. Hoping to get brekkie, we went to The Pantry building. But it was all gourmet style food and drink. We did get a lot of samples though. And a coffee from Rude Coffee.

Rude coffee

We bought some salami there - delicious. And continued outside to find food stalls. Andrew tried on gumboots - but they were too sloppy for his feet. We did get free beanies for his trouble.

I ate a delicious scrambled egg breakfast wrap for brekkie and watched a robot dog on a remote control entertain the crowd while I waited for Andrew to find his brekkie.

Then the day started in earnest. A lot of shops and stalls. I can't even tell you what it was like. All my fave shops in one space. Outdoor gear. Power tools. All sorts of gadgets to automate your farm. Tiny houses. 

The ground was not boggy. Tarseal mainly. Some woodchips in some places - but it was never muddy. We saw a fencing competition - the judge was using a level to check the gate that was hung. And then we watched tractor pulling for quite a while. Crazy.

We found Peter's work stall and Andrew chatted to someone from there. We got lunch from a Lebanese stall - Za'atar wrap. Very nice.

Andrew bought a lot of stuff for his track clearing work. Sturdy gear. Boots. Jackets. A saw. Good fun.

We walked 10km as we meandered around. And by 4pm we were one of the few left - a definite thinning out of the crowd by this stage. Picked up the boots the stall had saved for Andrew, a last taste in The Pantry and then out to the car. By 5pm we were leaving the paddock.

Easy road management meant we were off on our way so fast. Back to the 4 square in Mangakino and then home via Tūrangi Z to fill up. More rain. Probably had rain from Tūrangi to Taihape. But easy driving. Dropped Andrew home at 11.30pm and I was home just after midnight.

Read for a bit and then off to sleep around 3am.  

Such a good time. I would do this again, for sure. Fun!

Thank you for the spontaneous trip, Andrew. It was even more fun than I imagined. Actually, I had imagined an A&P show on steroids. But it was not like that. No livestock to be seen. It was all around vendors selling to farmers. But such effort went into every display. Well done to everyone.

Awesome.

Love,

Angela 

The Wednesday with dinner out for Mike's birthday

 Hi,

Mike gave me a surprise at work yesterday - two Lewis Road iced coffees. Wow! Awesome start to the day.

Got work delivery of Lewis Road iced coffee. Mmmm - thank you

Mike made me an iced latte at work

When I went to the Z cafe with Nichole (new at work), the normal barista was away. But I knew Mike was trained and he was there - so I asked him to show me how to make the coffee. Easy as, bro. It is almost like ours at home. Just need to know the right button to push. Things like the automatic tamper.

Caught up with Gray for lunch - Barb invited me along when he said he was around. And it was such a gorgeous day we went out to eat our sushi in the sun.

He is doing well. Caught up with Sam's news too (wedding in a few weeks in Bali!).

Lunch with Barb and Gray

Mr Go's for tea

After work, Mike and I walked to Mr Go's and met Sally and Andrew there. And we had a delicious dinner - lots of shared plates. And I had a Chengdu Dreaming - lychee flavoured mocktail. Mum would have loved it.

Ubered home. Fed the starving cats. And off to bed. Up for bus in and PT session. Deads 65kg 4 reps x 5 sets. Ooshh.

Long work day - but lunch with Sally (from my old work) as a huge highlight. Sweet! 

Weekend for me soon. Mike is away to Ohakune (yes, again) so I am #1 cat feeder. They will love me.

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with a surprise dinner for Mike by Janine

 Hi,

Tuesday was great because Janine had organised a surprise dinner for Mike with some of his mates and Sally too - and it went off without a hitch and Mike was so happy.

Work iced latte

John!  What are you posting on FB?  Hahahah

Surprise dinner @ Huxley for Mike - thank you Janine

This is despite work getting in the mix and nearly scuppering Janine's best laid plans.  Mike had a lot of work to do before he left.  I was going to Spin, but realised Janine expected me for dinner at Huxley.  So I changed my plan and Mike still changed into running gear to join Janine for the end of her long run and a small run for his first one for a while.

I made it to Huxley just before they got there.  Anna and Daniel were already there and Sally arrived just after Mike and Janine.

Andrew was oddly too busy to attend.  Aha.  Now we know why.  But, at the time, we were clueless.  Just normal busy times for him.  We thought.

Anyway - Huxley is great.  Chelsea our wait person was superb.  We ate pizzas and some sort of hot dog style dessert.  All very tasty.  Thank you, Janine.

Went home very happy.  And full.

Wednesday morning in the capital

Woke up to hear the news of a covid positive person visiting Wellington from Sydney over the weekend just gone.  Waiting to hear of the places of interest.  Might be the last time I am in the office for a bit if it all turns to worms.

Let's see, eh?  Got my haircut today.  Typical.  The last time I had an appointment for a haircut I had to cancel and we went into level 4 lockdown that day.  I sense  bit of deja vu.

Right.  Have an awesome day.  Stay safe.  Mask up.  Stay home if you're sick.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with Mike's birthday

 Hi,

Mike was so looking forward to his birthday dinner after a hard day at work.  He even got some beers in with work mates before dinner started.  Hahah.

Meanwhile, I caught up with Juliet and Barb and we enjoyed the iced latte that Cuckoo offers.  Scrumptious.

Cuckoo

It's near perfection

Sally beat us to Dockside but I wasn't too far behind her.  Managed to haul Mike away from beers to join us.  Andrew was also pretty early considering his workload.

Ready for dinner

And it was so worth it.  Dinner was superb.  Three of us had the vegetarian degustation menu.  Mike had the meat version.  5 courses.  All good (except why put alcohol in a cheesecake???  Mike ate mine).

One of the courses - tofu kofta

Home in an Uber at 9pm and fell into bed.  Up for gym and deadlifts.  Woot!  And Little Peckish for brekkie with Celia, James and Ed.  Choice!  They are all good.

Iced latte @ Little Peckish with the old work mates

Busy day.  Will try for Spin after work.  A bit of cardio after my cold.  Hahah.

Have a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with working from home

 Hi,

Happy birthday to Mike.  Yes, it is a significant birthday.  He's treating it like any other.  That's because he's very mature now. :-p

He walked home from work yesterday evening and we ate a light dinner before settling on the couch.  Mike then proceeded to hook Toby's face into a singing app that animates the pic to sing to a song.  It was slightly disturbing.  And the song was Safety Dance - which I don't like at the best of times.

Our evenings fly by

Smudge curled up next to me on Mike's home office chair

Anyway - off to bed nice and early.  And up for a present before heading into The Lab for brekkie.  Roanne joined us before work so that was good to chat to her.

Happy birthday Mike

Iced latte brekkie date with Mike for his birthday

Moxley wishes Mike a happy birthday

Excited bus people

Birthday boy before his caffeine

Got a degustation dinner @ Dockside with Sally and Andrew after work.  Woot.  Should be lovely.

Have a great day Mike.  You make all my days special - so enjoy this day lots.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with Mike's birthday celebrations

Hi,

What a lovely weekend.  Friday night I rode home to collect Toby and we decided on Indian takeaways.  Yummo.  And no cooking needed.  I collected Mike from work and picked up the dinner.  We watched a dreadful movie (Anchorman - the first one) and the boys chortled all the way through it.  I tried to read.

Up the next morning to get ready for the day.  A few messages were needed for the birthday celebrations.  Mike had to go to work.  Toby and I went into Queensgate for our things.  We got baby shower presents and Mike's major present.

We came home via the supermarket and put away the groceries for tomorrow just in time.  I ordered pizza and Benjamin arrived seconds after Mike.  Mike got changed and we headed off to Capitol for dinner.  It was soooooo good!  My meal was scrumptious.  Mike chose Capitol after I went "I love Capitol.  Would you like to go there?" about three times.  Hahahah.

Panorama of our dinner at Capitol

After that we popped next door and watched Edge of Tomorrow.  Mike didn't want to see it, but nothing else much grabbed our fancy.  He heckled the movie for the first 20 mins until the fighting started.  Then he enjoyed it a bit more.

Back home and dropped Benjamin off before caving into sleep.  Up early to make the slow cooker lunch.  It smelled amazing.  I made this after my sister Shona liked it on Facebook.  Lemon artichoke chicken  I had to leave Mike with a load of prep while I went to Sophie's baby shower.

That was a lot of fun!  Hahahah.  Played a few games, I surreptitiously watched the England v Italy football game, ate lots.  Great fun!  Sophie looks wonderful.  She is due towards the end of July but if she gives birth early, I would not be surprised!  I got her to pose next to her arcade console.  Mike and Toby need to come and visit and play for hours!  And what a lovely view out the window to the south!  Mt Kau Kau is on the horizon.

Sophie and her arcade console.  And her bump.

Back home and I got there in time for dessert.  Caught up with Col and Iona which was a lovely surprise.  They pointed out it was their first time at our house!  Wow.  Remiss of us.  And they also pointed out we haven't been to their "new" house.  Oh dear.

John was away in Auckland with Ramble.  It's hard having a star as your pet.  Ramble has been called up to star in the Auckland production of Annie after his stunning performance in Wellington.

Birthday lunch!

Mike played with his new birthday present (a laptop) in the afternoon and we went to bed to watch Cosmos with Toby before lights out.  I was exhausted!

Up early to give Mike his present today!  Happy birthday to Mike!  Toby was so sleepy he said he'd stay in bed and just listen!  Hahahah.

Sleepy Mike opens his present

 I rode in and left with a slight drizzle.  I thought it was dry!  But as I rode in further, it rained harder.  Oh dear!  Typical Mike birthday weather.

Have a wonderful day!  Wish Mike a happy birthday if you want to make his day!

Love,
Angela

Good morning on Wed, Jun 16

Happy birthday to Mike!  Hooray!

Toby's first day back at school went well last night and we had a relaxing evening at home.  This morning Toby was up early and Mike got breakfast in bed and opened his presents.  You can see Toby's card for him.  They were both very proud.

Busy at work today.  All caught up in stuff.  You get that.

Karate and tennis tonight for Toby and then off to celebrate Mike's birthday in town.  Mike is leading a day tramp soon so he'll be running in to collect a sheet of punters at tramping club and then finding his bag he left there last week.  Oops.

Should be a good night out.

Have a great day!  Think of Mike having fun at work on his birthday.

Love,
Angela