The Monday at work

Hi,

Brrr - what a cold snap we have here.  I went to Spin after work and Mike was kind enough to come in and collect me.  I chatted to Vanessa as I waited for him because she was up for work again.

Towel shaming.  Something is not quite working.  But the chocolates are soooo good.

Home made burgers - this is a mushroom one for me

Cooked burgers when we got home - they were very good.  Toby got one for his lunchbox today.

I left early this morning to walk to Spin and met Vanessa for it.  Woot!  Good fun!

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Wellington with climbing

Hi,

My weekend was kinda good - could have done more around the house.  But hey - why would I start bucking a trend now?

The only thing I achieved was I took photos of the new garden for you to see - in broad daylight rather than those fuzzy nighttime ones I have shown you.  See below.

Saturday was lazier than I anticipated.  Oops.  No painting done at all.  But we did get out for dinner before dropping into a party at Jo's house. 

Sunday I collected Jo from her place at 11.15am and we went to The Botantist for brunch.  Yum.  Good iced coffee - not sweet at all and not bitter.

Where should I put my feet?

Someone looks happy and someone looks more concerned than anything else

And I went climbing for the first time in forever.  The fact that the last time I did a lot of climbing was outdoors and before Jo was born did actually show.  But I had a lot of fun and keen to go again. 

Winter is here! Monday morning brrrrr

My photos are out of sequence.  This was this morning's hailstorm!  Wow!  People and cars were taking things gingerly.

The Botantist for brunch Sunday - good iced coffee

Daffodils in daylight

Garden looking mighty fine!

I can see it being great - soon.  Once the building is finally all finished

More garden

Even more garden

Ok - last garden shot for today

Towel shaming chocolate

Friday iced latte

Ok - two iced lattes on Friday

Right.  The boys have a short week this week.  They have Friday off and they are on the 2am ferry Friday morning for their road trip to Dunedin.

I am on cat duty. 

Hope your week is a good one!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with nothing much

Hi,

I got a chance to have a coffee with Anjali and Sreejith during the morning yesterday - yay!  They move into their new house on Queens Birthday weekend!  Oossshh!  Good on them.  They have bought in Avalon.  Nice work.

Purple shirt Thursday iced latte @ Machete

Was busy at work until really late with a bit of a messy issue.  You get that.  Mike kindly came in to get me!  How nice is he?

I can't wait to see our garden in the daylight this weekend!  Woot!  It looks so good.  Need to paint the laundry so we can get the tub and doors in. 

And I might be going climbing Saturday afternoon.  Goodness knows how that will go given I haven't done it for 20 years.

Have a great weekend.

love,
Angela

The Wednesday with stuff

Hi,

Had a super fast day at work - guess that's what happens when it is madness.  Takes a blink and it's gone.  I did catch up with Andrew to hear about various things he is doing with Sally.  They are also busy.

Iced latte with Andrew

I had a PT session at the gym yesterday morning and now I have a routine to try besides Spin classes and yoga (and a bit of Just Dance every now and then).  I'll give it a go today because work has stuff on during the Spin classes.

Mike collected me from work after his bottling session and we got home.  I cooked sushi for the boys while he sorted out his bottles of beer and my bike.  By the time he got back from fiddling in the garage, I was serving it.  So despite our late home time, we did eat ok.

Then - into bed.  Up early for my ride into work.  And the day stretches ahead.  Hope your day is a good one!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with crazy work

Hi,

What a mad day at work.  But, at the end of the day, when I got home to cook tea for Toby - we had plants in our garden.  And it looks amazing.

Before I got home though, my day had been bedlam - with an iced latte with Bronwyn to discuss work to break the insanity.

Iced latte with Bronwyn

When I got home, I was gobsmacked.  And the plant team manager (Brooke) had amazed me by planting a wee bunch of daffodils now - and hiding more that I will see come next Spring.  How cool is that?  I may have pushed her to swap out non-natives for natives, and them promptly said how much I like daffodils in the Spring.  A legacy of my time in London, I think.

The entire garden looks fantastic - and I can't wait to see it in daylight this weekend.  Woot!  Thank you Allworks.

I have daffodils!

Towel shaming number 3

The towel shaming above was actually the evening before last - and I got fancy chocolates.  Oddly, there was no towel on the bed when I got home last night.  To me, that could mean two things.  One:  Mike has learned I don't want damp towels on the bed.  Or two:  Mike never had a shower yesterday before work.

Now I know there are Mike-lovers out there who firmly believe Mike can do no wrong.  And I certainly am first to agree that I won the spouse sweepstakes and got the best man in the entire world.  But, I am actually going with explanation two - unless proven otherwise.  Hahahahah!

Look at our garden!

Top garden

Yes, I am a happy woman.  I have gardening notes to follow - and a vege patch to plant out soon.

Bring it on!

Love,
Angela

The Monday back at work

Hi,

We get plants today!

The planting team will come today and when I get home, the front yard should look completely different.

Toby has a short day at school today - he finishes at midday.  He will likely get to see the planting in action.  Ooohhhhh.

And we did a thing at work - ShadowTech

Yesterday was busy at work.  Lots of things happening - one of which was ShadowTech.  This is where young women at high school get to shadow women in IT jobs.  We had three young women from a school in Lower Hutt.  I hope they found it interesting.  At least Michelle found them some notebooks and pens to take home.  Oossshhh.

Got to the gym after work as work hours were too hectic.  And then met Mike at the Grand bus stop and caught a 14 home with him.  Cooked tea.  Toby had prepped the veges component of the meal.  We worked like a boss team!

Fell into bed but had a rather restless sleep.  There's always tonight to catch up on any lost Zzz's.

Have a fantastic day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend with Lesley and Wally in town

Hi,

What a whirlwind social weekend - and it was such fun.  Made me connect with my inner (very deeply buried) extrovert self.

Met Lesley and Wally off their plane late on Friday and settled them into Marion's flat for their holiday birthday weekend!  Wally celebrated his birthday on Sunday!  Woot!  We chatted to them for a while before leaving them to enjoy the place to themselves.

Saturday we were up for brunch with Lesley and Wally at Thunderbird - and joined by Celia and James.  Very pleasant morning.  Mike and Toby went to the gym for the afternoon.

Alpacas!  Courtesy of Beth and Chris

Last undergrowth removed - it looks so good

Bucket list achieved!

Smudge looking mighty fine - and a wee bit dusty

Ethan arrived for an overnight with Toby and Mike and I headed to Sprig and Fern (after sorting out pizza for the boys).  I left everyone there (dropped a woman called Kate off at her place) and went to visit Celia and Eva's birthday party.  Celia's parents were there too helping with the smooth running of the after-Zelandia stuff.  We set up the telescope and all the girls did the requisite "oohhhh" and "ahhhh" as they all looked at Jupiter.  Easy to see the bands and the 4 Galilean satellites.

Dropped Celia's parents home and crashed into bed.  Up for Yum Cha with Sally, Andrew, Anita and JR.  Toby loved it - I really appreciate how Anita and JR make Toby feel included when he is in their company.

Back home and then off to Beth and Chris's place to say hello, feed the alpacas and try and start an old motorbike.  Mike got a ride on a ride-on mower, fulfilling a bucket list moment.

Dropped Lesley and Wally at the airport, got some groceries and home to bed.  Oooshhh!  What fun!

Have an awesome week!

Love,
Angela