The Thursday with nothing much

Hi,


At least Thursday was less of a whirlwind than the other days so far this week.  I did manage to pick up some key groceries and cart them all home on the bus with me.

Unsuspecting client wore a purple shirt on Thursday - like twins!

Spotto - a yellow car parked outside work!

Mike celebrated the end of the project he has been on - and now phase 2 kicks in.  So I never saw him until close to midnight.  And really, I am not sure you could call it "see him".  More heard him with sleepy ears than saw him through my eyelids.  Can you have sleepy ears?

Anyway, this morning he may need his cooked brekkie to help him get through his morning.

Mum cooked a great dinner last night - tuna pasta bake.  Toby ate it!  Ooohhh - I'd love to get that on our menu but in the past Toby has not enjoyed it.  Maybe all that bacon was the key.

I have leftovers for lunch.  Mmmmm.

Last day of birthday month for those June birthday people.  Enjoy that!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a birthday celebration

Hi,

What a lovely day yesterday.  Mum found Toby while they were both wandering around town about 4.30pm and they made their way to the cafe at The Embassy.  I got there just after 5pm and we chatted away before heading to Capitol for dinner.

Andrew and Sally arrived not long after 6pm and Mike wasn't too far away.  We had the yummiest meal.  I got the beetroot risotto while Mike, Mum and Toby had the beef fillet.  Toby declared it the best ever (I think this has pushed my steak meal out of his top 5 now) and promptly asked if he could order another one.  Wow!  Sally had salmon (and said it was delicious) and Andrew had the lamb shank (also very tasty).

We followed it all with dessert.  And Toby fell in love with their chocolate fondant dessert.  It's the best.

A lovely birthday celebration.

We Ubered home while Sally and Andrew went to the train station.  Fell into bed in a coma.  I feel a little achy, but not enough to keep me in bed.  Although I suspect I could sleep most of the day away.

Enjoy your day.  I am already looking forward to getting home.  Zzzzzzz.

Tomorrow is the end of the big birthday month.  June is popular.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with a flu jab and Jess heading home

Hi,

I did get a coffee catch up with Rex during the morning.  Highlight of the working day, that's for sure.  And after getting up at 4.30am to get Jess to the airport, the coffee may have been very welcome.

Iced latte at the place that starts with "M"

It was scrumptious.  Just ice, coffee, milk and a bit of sugar.  Mmmmm.

Anyway, the car had a new battery installed during the day so I walked there to collect it, and drove back through such busy traffic.  The Hurricanes were playing the Lions at the cake tin, so the place was packed.  Took me ages to find Mike near the Z and continue on the slow crawl home.

Mum had cooked tea - mmmmmm.  We all liked the pasta.

And this morning is Mum's birthday.  How cool is that?  We're off to Capitol tonight at 6pm if anyone wants to join us.

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The Monday with Jane

Hi,

It's not often you get to spend the evening with Jane Goodall.  We got tickets ages back for this event, and when Mum planned her trip for Andrew's big birthday bash, we grabbed an extra ticket.  It did mean Jess, Toby, Mum and I sat together and Mike had to sit all on his lonesome.  But I noticed Ed from work found him at one point and chatted away to him.

The stage

Jane was very interesting.  She talked for the best part of an hour and made it seem like 20 minutes.  Explained about how her mother had always encouraged her to do what she wanted.  The story of 1 year old Jane bringing a handful of earthworms into her bed to watch them was very entertaining.  As was the 4 year old Jane's attempt to figure out how eggs came out of hens.  She hid in a hutch for the best part of a day and into the evening, waiting patiently to see what would happen when a hen eventually came in to lay (as in the meantime her family called the police and launched a missing persons search).

The interview in the second half wasn't perhaps as good as the talk but I suspect the interviewer was finding her groove and never had enough time to hit it.

Q: (five minutes of talking). A: No, not really.

We got home late and were up early.  4.30am.  Groan.  Dropped Jess off at the airport and shared a croissant with her before seeing her to her gate and onto the plane.  She should be approaching Auckland as I type this sentence.  It was great to see her and she is welcome any time back here.  She can text us if she wants to come down, and we'll sort it out. Now I am super early at work.  Mike and I took the Subaru back to the house and switched cars.  We started the Focus with the new battery charge pack Mike bought and headed back.

So Mike is at the Ford/Mazda dealer waiting for a battery and eyeing up MX5s, apparently.  I am at work very early.

No Mike! You can't have it!

Right.  Time for a hot chocolate and the day to start.

Have a lovely day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with Jess and Mum

Hi,

What a whirlwind weekend in our house!  And I just wrote the date down at work and realised it is Michelle's birthday.  Happy birthday Missyshell.

Cold weather but not cold enough to miss out on an iced latte

I finally caught up with Mary on Friday and enjoyed an iced latte with her at that cafe that starts with "M".

Friday night saw Mike and I at the airport waiting for Jess's flight to arrive.  It was delayed 45 mins so by the time we got home at 11.15 or so I was ready for bed!

Saturday was madness.  Up late for brekkie in Petone and packed cafes saw us at Go Bang where we discovered it was a vegetarian cafe.  No bacon for Toby.  It was all good though.

Ran some messages and then back to our place and before we knew it, it was time to head away to Sreejith's house for dinner.

Toby and Jess stayed home to eat pizza and watch movies - although they ended up playing games as far as I know.

We enjoyed everyone's company and Mike "watched" the rugby on the Stuff feed - calling out the scores as the game progressed.

We dropped Ebby and his wife home on The Terrace before heading to the airport to try out sleeping in the back before my mother's flight got in.  We got to a quiet part of the carpark around 10.30pm and fell asleep.  Well, I read.  Mike slept though.

Mum hadn't ticked the box saying she had prescription drugs with her and that caused some delay for her while exiting customs.  But soon we were greeting her and getting the car for our trip home.  Asleep by 2am!

Lamb stir fry

He stole my phone and took heaps of selfies

1am and Mum arrives - Toby is sleeping in the lounge

Sunday saw Mike heading away to Brekkie for a Meetup group and I cooked mushrooms, pancakes and bacon for Toby and Jess.

Jess and Toby went to see Baywatch at the Reading cinemas and by all accounts (well, Toby's) it was good fun.  Jess then met her friends for some event at Vic uni and Mike collected her late.

Mum and I cooked tea - lamb stir fry.  And then it was time for bed.

Up early to watch the Assen MotoGP.  Go Rossi - he won!

Tonight is the big event - An evening with Dr Jane Goodall.  At Michael Fowler.  Can't wait!

Have a great week!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday of calm before crazy weekends

Hi,

After a mad day at work yesterday I went home with Mike on the bus.  I cooked tea with him as my sous chef and we enjoyed burgers with turkey mince patties and picked zucchini and slaw.  I quite enjoyed it.

My burger about to get smooshed together and gobbled up

Christine popped in briefly to pick up a few things.  She avoided eye contact with Mike at all costs due to his relaxed approach to clothing in the evenings when he isn't expecting company.  Bwhahahah!  He was fine - just maybe missing some trousers, and if he stayed sitting eating his tea, no one would ever know.  Just like news readers.  Right?

Jess arrives tonight and we're all very excited.  She's here for Jane Goodall on Monday night with us all.  We do have to make the spare bed.

And as Mum turns up tomorrow night, we have to hose out Toby's room because Mike and I will sleep in there.  I'm not sure how he sleeps in that mess.

The weekend is going to be fun!

Have an awesome one whatever you get up to!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a frantic day

Hi,

Not sure I hardly saw my desk yesterday.  Hahahah.  I spent two hours talking non-stop at a client in the morning, saw Mike briefly and then stuffed lunch down while in another meeting.  It was just that sort of day.

But I rode home and made tea for me and Toby.  Chicken laksa.  Toby said the chicken was good.  Mike enjoyed his when he got home.

Tea cooking

And served - chicken laksa

My ride in this morning was good fun too.  Bit more cloudy and there is a hint of rain today.  But at least my day looks less busy.  I might get some work done that is piling up.

Thursday already.  And Friday Jess arrives for the weekend to come to Jane Goodall with us.  And Mum arrives Saturday night for a few weeks.  It is very exciting.

Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela