The weekend with work skiing

Hi,

What a great weekend.  Even if I did miss Toby for great portions of it.  Friday lunchtime saw Sreejith follow through on his commitment to the spin instructor to help take the class.  He was up front and centre and did soooooo well.  I couldn't have kept up that pace.  And he matched the instructor like they planned it!

Chenda and I left work and got our car out of Clifton Terrace and headed to the train station.  We put our gear in the van and headed to J'ville to swap to the van and collect the others.  Prasad and his family were in the van, along with Ariel and Gareth.

We had a slow drive up.  1 hour to Paekakariki.  Phew!  But we were in the lodge by 11pm.  After staying up to help Sreejith come up, it was 1am by the time I fell into bed.  And possibly drinking three cans of V in the evening wasn't my best idea.  I had to read for an hour before I fell asleep.

Up fairly early and away skiing.  I found Rex and Matt and skied with them for an hour before sticking to Tennants Valley for a while.  No crowds meant I could ski happily on the lower mountain and there was lovely snow.  But I headed up to the new Delta chair and enjoyed the Turtle run for the rest of the day.

Squinting against the sunshine!

Selfie having fun in the whiteout

Sreejith getting ready

And...with Scotty and they co-ordinate like they planned it!

By 2pm I was exhausted - never stopping for lunch or anything.  Wandered back to the lodge and read and maybe fell asleep for a bit.

Dinner was scrumptious.  Justin's wife Christelle and her friend cooked tea and Justin was the sous chef.  Roast vege, chicken and broccoli in mountains of cheese sauce with rice.  Mmmmm.

We headed down to Tussock at 7.30pm to meet the other work colleagues.  Sreejith has a 4WD Land Rover and it made light work of the thick snow.  But by the time we got to the pub, my workmates were leaving.

We headed back to their lodge and drank beer (well, some of us did), and played games.  Codenames is a new game I quite enjoyed.  I drove back up the hill and had fun trying to park in carpark 1 before giving up and going to carpark 2.

Another late night saw a late start to my ski day.  10am by the time I got my first run in.  But I headed up to Delta chair as soon as I could.  The sun came through a wee bit for my first few runs and the powder was fantastic!  Had a ball.

Came down early to help Mike with the packing up.  He had done pretty much everything so I got a well wanted shower.  It was slow getting everyone in the van and was 3.30pm by the time we left.  Picked up Chenda from the F&B lodge and headed home.

Prasad's wee daughter was car sick a lot.  Poor wee thing.  But she would puke into a bag her dad held, and then be chirpy happy enough.  Back home and I picked up groceries before collecting Mike from Lower Hutt where he had dropped off the van.

Awesome weekend!  Can't wait for more skiing now.  Better wash my gear - I have another trip this coming weekend to Mt Hutt with Andrew.  Woot!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with bits and pieces

Hi,

I got chocolates at work today!  Thanks Ed.  And Sally (at work) said I should try the purple one.  To match my shirt.  Done!

Purple chocolate with purple shirt

Got home late but Mike jumped on the same late bus as me.  We cooked tea together and then it was time for bed.  The chicken katsu was pretty good.  Mike has leftovers for lunch.

Chicken katsu

Off to Ruapehu after work today for the work ski trip.  Woot!  Weather looks pants though.  Hopefully I get some skiing in.

Have a lovely weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with not much but I did get to the gym

Hi,

Mike had some crazy day yesterday that finally ended at 2am this morning.  Jeepers!  He will be having coffee injected to get him through the day today.

My day was busy too.  But I did get to the gym after work to make up for a lack of space during the day to get any exercise in.  The after work spin class is 60 minutes of effort (the lunch ones are 45 mins).  That extra 15 mins does make a difference.  It's a bit tough slogging through a full hour.

I got home and Mike had sorted pizza for Toby.  He was happy with his lot in life.  Chomping on pizza and sipping fizzy drink.  Hahahah.  Way better than what his mother cooks him usually.

I packed for the ski weekend.  So tonight I can pop my gear into town for our Friday getaway efforts.  Although how I get from work to the train station with all the gear is still slightly nebulous.

Did some laundry (because I am away for the weekend, it needs to be done along the way or there will be a mountain of laundry by Sunday night).

I got some chocolates from a colleague who just got back from a quick trip to the UK.  How sweet!

Right.  Time for the day to turn crazy.

Have a good one!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday that felt like Thursday

Hi,

Like a Thursday, but without the purple shirt.  Seriously, how does a week do that?  Anyway, let's see.  How did my fake Tuesday pan out?

Busy working day, but I did carve out an hour for Spin.  I would like to say Sreejith joined me, but the instructor shouted at one point to remind him to scratch Sreejith's name off the attendee list because he spent more time outside on his phone than on the bike.  Hahahah.

Got home (with my skis that I had carried in - couldn't find the bindings I wanted) and cooked tea for Toby.  Mike had an evening tramp on - with dinner afterwards.  Cool idea and somehow the weather co-operated.

I think that's about it for my Tuesday.  Nothing too unusual in the scheme of things.  Normal, normal.  I am looking forward to the weekend - it's the work ski trip.  Not that the snow is any good or the forecast looks great.  But an excuse to get in the snow and grab a run or two finally.  Woot!  I haven't had a season start this late for me in years.

Enjoy your day!

Love,
Angela

The Monday at work

Hi,

What a day.  And it was only a normal working day.  Felt like two.  I kept trying to remember if it was Wednesday today or not.  No - it's not.  Hahahah.

I got home and started dinner.  Toby was feeling much better although he was asleep on the couch when I got home.  Fish cakes for tea.  I liked them quite a lot and Mike has them in his lunch today.

Fish cake dinner

Weird sauteed broccoli with peas as a side dish.  Tasted ok if I screwed up my eyes and pretended the peas weren't in there.

The evening disappeared in a blur and I was in bed before I knew it.  But something went wrong and I didn't sleep very well.  I think I slept better than I did.  I don't feel too out of it.

Wet here today.  Yucky wet.

Right - time for tea and to get really stuck in.  As opposed to this pre-tea work that is trying to get the day into shape, but work gets getting in the way of the work.  How does that happen?  Weirdness.

My new skis are here with me at work.  I need to take them in for new bindings.  Oooohhh.  They are gorgeous.

Have a brilliant day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Wellington with Beervana for Mike

Hi,

We watched a movie together on Friday night at home.  Drive - I think that was what is was called.  Very violent.  Made me squeal at one point.  The boys both thought it was good.

A pint of home made iced coffee

Saturday saw me and Mike off to town for brekkie at Americanos and then me to the spa for an appointment and Mike off to work before his Beervana fun with Andrew and Josh.

I got a lot of drunken texts and photos as the day progressed.  Mike got home at 6.45 or so and was full of praise for the event as well as exhausted and wanted to go to bed.  Hahah.  I made him watch a movie with me before we fell asleep at a far more sensible time.

Sunday was a lazy day for me.  Laundry and reading.  Mike did taxes.  It took him over 8 hours.  Sounded hideous.

Monday morning saw me at yoga for the 5th week in a row.  Not sure I am improving but today, for the last ten minutes, we lay on our backs with the lights out and our eyes closed.  Totally happy with that form of yoga!   "Just relax" she says.  "Zzzzzzz", I say.

Toby is off sick with a cold today.  Hopefully he is good to go to school tomorrow.

Enjoy your week.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with Mike coming back

Hi,


I managed to get away for a nice lunch with Sally M (from work) and she then took me to the City Gallery for some relief from the working day.  There was an exhibition of 100 chairs.  I quite enjoyed that.

Guitar chair

Iced coffee @ Home with Mike

This was way cool!

Also checked out some art work that was computer based.  I rather enjoyed that too.  I took a photo of it and timed it for the dolphin leaping out of the water.

Went to the gym after work and then walked to Hong Kee Chinese restaurant to meet Mike in his taxi coming back from the airport.  Got home and cooked some tea for Toby.

Busy, busy.  But nice to collapse into bed at the end of it all.

The weekend is coming.  Not quite fast enough, but it is coming.  Mike has Beervana fun and games.  That is about it for organised things.

Hope your weekend is fun.

Love,
Angela