The Thursday with date night

 Hi,

What a funny day Thursday was.  Work was fine (as you can see, it wasn't busy in the office) and I had an appointment at 5.45pm.  Went there and then jumped on a bus and sped back to the other end of town.

Work pic

Met Mike at Newkor for date night.  And scrumptious it was too.  The manager knew Mike by name and asked me why I hadn't come on Sunday night for the karaoke night with Toby and his mates.

Hahahah.

Date night at Newkor and we spotted Doro out with workmates

Mike spotted Doro out with her workmates as we were eating.  Wellington is a small place after all.  Mike and I decided against our own karaoke session and headed home by Uber.

Didn't sleep super well.  Way too warm.  :-p

Up early for meeting Andrew at Gales cafe (opposite the Portlander).  Cheap and cheerful.  

I don't think my arms are long enough

Did that work?

Then dropped Andrew at work - Mike headed off to his day of Christmas events.  He is finished work for the year.  I headed home as I have work today and up to Christmas Eve.

Selfie with Lewis Road in the home office

Today is one of the most gorgeous days you will ever see in Wellington.  Beautiful.  I hope your weekend is a good one.  Sally gets home after her adventures up north.  I have seen some pics and that looked like a wonderful trip.  Best put that on the bucket list for a decent exploration one day.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with stuff and stuff

 Hi,

Okay - my pics are going to make it look like all I do is crawl through all the cafes in Wellington supping on iced lattes.

Jo and Rex at La Cloche.  Mmmm, dessert iced coffee

I caught up with Jo and Rex for our last chance to hug ahead of the Christmas break.  They will head north for a bit. Their house build is progressing - they are hoping the slab gets poured this week.  Fingers crossed. 

Back to work and indecision for lunch meant I just went to get a bagel.  And an iced latte.  The young woman serving (not Caitlyn - another woman) asked me my name and said her mother is called Angela.  I said it was a Mum age kinda name.  Hahah.

Lunch iced latte - Ugly Bagels

Went to Spin after work and Mike collected me after it.  Woot.  He went to get a ladder and I cooked tea for Toby.

We now have a ladder that can reach our spouting.  Mike is not allowed to use it without supervision.

Toby was supervising

Up early for my last PT session for the year.  Boxing.  Quentin really wants me to hit him.  I keep saying no.  But he makes a big difference in my life so - thank you for the year that was 2020.  Online sessions through lockdown.  Always cheerful.  Kind.  Yet making the difference needed.

Showered at the gym for the first time.  Then off to brekkie with James, Ed and Celia.  Woot!  

It's all about the iced latte

Last butties and avo brekkie before Christmas

James is getting a puppy.  A wee black cocker spaniel.  I saw a photo.  I think I love wee Spyro already.

Good day here.  Yay.  Date night with Mike tonight.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with no spin because it is at a different time on Tuesdays compared to other days

 Hi,

Busy day at work but I did get away for lunch with Kirsty, Ellie and Barb.  And we sat in the sun to eat it.  Such a great view watching SUP and kayakers play in the most gorgeous of conditions.  Blue sky, no wind, flat, blue sea.

Iced latte with Barb

Being photo bombed

The afternoon saw my colleagues talking about Love Languages.  Yeah - I was not keen either.  But when they described it to me, I said I was a touch person.  They told me to do the quiz.  I am a touch person.

Hahah.

Anyway - headed to Spin for 6pm.  Tuesday nights I am usually at AFL training.  So it was a surprise to find out that on Tuesdays the 1 hour Spin class starts at 5.30pm instead of 6pm like all the other evenings.  Oh.

Walked home - and up through some bush.  Such a lovely evening.

My commute home

Jumped in the car, armed with tomato sauce and a jersey for Mike and met him, Andrew and a surprise guest (Elly) at the chippy at New World.   We got the dinner and headed to Petone to eat on the beach.

Fish n chips on the beach

Aw - looking pretty, Wellington

Lovely.  Back to drop Andrew off and eat more plums (mmmmmm) and then out to Kenepuru to drop Elly at her car at her work.  And home to bed.

Toby was out until 10.30pm.

Up early for brekkie this morning with Roanne and Juliet.  But the cafe (Mosscafe) doesn't do iced lattes.  They are so out of touch and living in the 90s.

Busy day today.  Have a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Monday back at work

 Hi,

What a crazy busy day.  So much so that it is hard to remember today is only Tuesday.  Worked from home and just went from meeting to meeting, really.

Moxley cuddled in the blanket

Kicking the footy

But we did go down to the park after work and after tea and after Mike got home and kicked the footy around for ages.  It was such fun.  Tessa is really good at it.

Our tree 2020

Fell into bed pretty early and up for PT session Tuesday morning.  My calf is still giving me gyp so we worked on it at the gym.  Got a lot to do.

Tuesday is a stunner

Spin after work.  Let's see how that goes.

Sally is enjoying the far north of the country.  Her pics are beautiful.  Mangrove coastline in Hokianga harbour.  What a huge inlet of water.

Have a great day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with Toby turning 18 and my grand final

 Hi,

Friday saw Tejas leaving and heading off on his next adventure.  A few weeks down south before moving to Melbourne.  Good luck, Tejas.

Last iced coffee with Tejas

Chris always gets the straw up his nose

Bye Tejas

I was walking home after work when I wandered past Andrew's work and on the off chance, I pinged him.  Turns out he was having "an early night" and was almost done.  So I waited for him and then wwe caught up on news and wandered off to the Sprig and Fern to meet Sally.  She was there with Paul and John and we had a drink before the three of us went to Cosa Nostra.  The food was good and I saw lots of photos from Sally's trips.

Uber home for me.

When I got home I saw the awesome cake Tessa had made for Toby - hiding in the fridge.  It looked amazing.

Toby's cake hiding in plain sight

I got up early Saturday for a one hour session with Quentin.  It was cardio.  Boxing and the new machines - Ube.  One was like a grinder on a huge yacht.  One was a farmer carry.  And the last one was a bike that you needed to punch with your arms too.

Plus other cardio things when that wasn't enough.  I lasted 45 mins before we switched to something less active.

Moxley loves my sweaty wraps

Toby gets a great brekkie

Tessa was making brekkie for Toby when I got home.  And then it was present time.

Present time

DnD dice

Surprise!  Sleep shorts

We went out to Aro and got a Christmas tree.  Yay.  Toby and Tessa decorated it.  Makes the house smell great!

Model Smudge

Stunning morning for Toby's birthday

Later, Sally and Andrew came around for cake and more presents for Toby.  The cake was superb.  It was chocolate with a middle layer of cheesecake.  OMG.  Yum!

Toby buying his first beer.  They asked for ID.

We went out to Portlander for dinner.  Toby bought his first beer at the bar.  Heineken for anyone wondering.

After a lovely meal (still not a lot for vegetarians) we wandered home.  Crashed into bed.

His drinks his first bought beer

Dinner at Portlander

Up for brekkie ahead of the Grand Final.  

Mike selfie

Posing ahead of the Grand Final

Toby and Tessa came too - and I met Quentin, Andrew and Celia there.  Andrew and Quentin were there for the entire game.  Mike ran 15.5km - the furthest he has ever run - while the game was on.

I compare taping with Izzy

Conditions were overcast with a slight easterly

BJ had way more taping!

But my game was not to be.  I was kicking a ball around for a while, then a light run.  But during other warm ups, my calf played up.  And I tried again, but this time it was way worse.  So I was on the sidelines for the entire game.

I was a bit upset by this.  But Pete the coach was lovely.  Kept me interested in the game - I was in the huddles and he asked my opinion on a few things.  He also let me run on for the last minute.  So - thank you, Pete.

The game was so tight in the first three quarters.  2 goals each and only a behind difference.  But in the last quarter, with the slight wind advantage, the Tigers stormed out ahead.  3 goals saw it pull ahead.

34 to 13.  But it was close at 3/4 time.

I am so pleased I have done this - but I totally need to be running fit for this.  Work to do on that front.

All smiles at the end

Back to Sally and Andrew's place via zany Zeus (for a quick lunch) and plum picking.  Sally was heading to Kerikeri for her next adventure and she landed safe and sound while we were eating lunch.

After getting plenty of plums and lemons (and eating many!) we headed home.  Mike, Toby and Tessa went out to Newkor for karaoke night.  It seems like it was very successful.  Mike loved the food downstairs.

Toby and his mates went out afterwards and Mike came home.  I think they were all fine.  :-)

And the last full working week ahead of Christmas.  I am working up to Christmas Eve but Mike is off from Friday afternoon.

Take care - have a great week.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with not a lot

 Hi,

I had a scratchy throat but today (Friday) there is no sign of it.  So - yay!  I did work from home though just to be sure.

Totally smitten with our kitten.  Okay - cat.  But that doesn't rhyme.

Tessa is funny

Toby went out after the cleaners had been and I popped into his room and laughed to see Tessa has to cover up all the LED lights in his room.  Mike - let's see if we can either move them or use duct tape to cover off the lights.

It looks like Friday has cracked the run of bad weather.  It's sunny!  Woot!

Have a great weekend.  Toby's birthday tomorrow.  He's 18.  Yeah - I can't believe it either.  Mike and I will go to the gym for a PT session in the morning (Quentin promised cardio - oh!) before presents with Toby.  Then we have dinner out in the evening.  And I think he has a karaoke night booked for Sunday with his mates.  Hahahah.  Cool!

And it is Grand Final weekend.  12.30pm Hutt Rec Park.  Sunday.  Woot.  Come on the Saints.  And the Tigers.  Because I seem to be in the Tigers.  So I guess I must support the Tigers if that is the team I am in.  But that goes against my programming.

Have a great weekend.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with spin

 Hi,

The weather has turned into some approximation of a humid, tropical destination.  Its like Brisbane.  Or Kathmandu.  Or Bangkok.  But 15C cooler.  :-)

The sheets feel clammy at night and it is not pleasant.  If only we had a fan - right Mike?  Bwhahahah.

Iced latte @ Mojo with Barb

I did snaffle some of Barb's time for an iced latte in the morning.  And what's more - we all headed out (Juliet and Jaimee-lee too) for lunch at Funicular.  Mmmm.  They are so funny there.  Tasty food.  But the service (while good) feels like a Wellington cafe version of Fawlty Towers.  A different feel to last time we visited - but we were told the kitchen was swamped (one other person eating) and cabinet food was the best choice.  Okay.  Hahah.

In their defence, there was a queue by the time we finished ordering.

Ate a protein bar late in the day.  It was... sustaining.

Tried this protein bar

Off to Spin, then into New World with Mike and home with him with some groceries.  Bed to toss and turn in the muggy heat of the night. 

Scratchy throat means I am staying home today (Thurs).  So an online session with Quentin this morning.

Online PT session this morning

Quentin looking happy

Back to the rainy weather

Busy day at work today.  Woot!  Should fly by.

Have an awesome day.

Love,

Angela