The Monday back at work

 Hi,

It was so cold at work yesterday that I never took an iced latte pic.  Because I had a hot chocolate instead.  That is how cold it was.

So - Monday came and went in a sea of work.  With no pics to show for it.

Sunrise

Panorama of the harbour Tuesday morning

But things did happen.  I got a haircut at midday with Sarah (haven't had a haircut since Jan 2020) and even got a wee undercut at the nape of my neck.  You can't tell.  I used to have it way back in Muswell Hill days with my bob back then.

Work was busy.  And afterwards I went to the dental hygienist.  Got my teeth back into shape with much chipping off of tartar.  Or something.  But - all good.  And now I am smiling everywhere I go.  You need to show off your teeth after you have sacrificed so much for them.

I love the dentist.

I blame my mother. She loves dentists too.

Off home and Mike had cooked tea with Toby.  Chicken schnitzels for them and leftovers for me.  Mmmm.

Fell into bed and I had a great sleep.  But I still feel sleepy.  Not sure why.  Up for PT session - paused bench.  I did one rep of 40kg.  Then back to paused bench at 35kg.

Busy day today at work.  Last day of Toby and Tessa here.  I will miss them.  But it has been busy since they came up.  I hope they enjoyed it.

Have a wonderful day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with a party

 Hi,

Friday saw Callan and Andrew having birthdays and we ended up at two pubs after work to help celebrate.  Even though the plan was to go home and cook lots for the party.

Lunch with Angie

Went to Bin44 with work mates and stayed for a relatively short time.  Then headed to Thistle and met up with Sally and a load of her friends for Andrew's dinner.  JR and Anita were there - as well as Paul and others.  Andrew was coming a tad later.  By the time Mike and I left we did actually see Andrew briefly.

Home to cook.  Mike was very keen.  We got a full tray of vegetarian lasagne made.  And the rest of the items would be good for Saturday morning.

Mike making party lasagne Friday night

Iona arrived at 1am off the ferry and I was so asleep when she rang my phone.  I woke with a huge fright because I knew she would be late and left my phone off silent.  I never hear my phone ring - so the noise was unusual.  But it did wake me up!  Unlike her text and her knocking.  Oops.

Stumbled around getting her sorted in the spare room and from the distance of Monday morning I apologise that the duvet was probably not warm enough and I should have put the heater on for her.  She is stoic.

Up to collect Col from the airport at 8am and off to Maranui for brekkie.  Then collected the cake from Jo and Rex and had a quick catch up with them.  Jo is leaving TTP!  Ooohhh.  Off to Somerset as a BA.  Good on her.

Saturday turning it on for Mike's party

Maranui iced latte goodness

Col and I had a big explanation of Maori constellation stories.  With actions.

Back home and Mike had most things sorted - Iona and I finished off a few things (luckily Iona makes awesome potato salad with tahini and yoghurt! Because - no mayo!!).  Then Iona and Col left for 40WLW with the first lot of food while Mike shoveled gravel for Maarten for an hour.

Then we were all off.  Tessa arrived just in time for a hand with putting things in the car.  Mike got back and we headed to 40WLW.

Wee Mike!

Party

Party!

Awesome cake

Some confusion collecting Polly (she had left the back door unlocked at her place and the shed wide open, but eventually we understood she had walked to the party and left things like that - so we locked up and also went to join the party).

The party was great fun.  Lovely day for it.  t-shirt weather - if you could stay in the sun.  Shade was still cold.

There was ample food and drink and the nibbles were perfect.  Thank you so much to everyone for coming to celebrate Mike's big milestone.  We chatted to Karen during the cake cutting too.  

We left at 6pm and watched a movie with Toby and Tessa before bed.  We did ring Ma at that point too - to say hi.   Up Sunday to make Toby and Tessa brekkie (leftover sausages!).

Iona and Col came by at 1.30pm and I dropped them both at the airport.  Then back and Toby and Tessa wanted to go to Scopa.  So we did that - and met Sally and Andrew there.  Ate a bit then Toby and Sally went to Fast and Furious 9 while we dropped Tessa home then Andrew home.  Collected Polly and brought her back to our place for tea.

Had leftovers.  And then Mike took her home - and collected Toby.  All perfect logistics.

But what a big weekend.  I need a day to recover.  :-)

Awesome weather.  Lovely company.  Thank you to everyone.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with work stuff and grocery shopping

 Hi,

Happy birthday to Andrew and Callan.  Woot!

Thursday saw a spontaneous iced latte visit with Roanne and an unexpected Ellie guest appearance.  Great way to start the day off.  Mmmmm.

Ugly bagel iced latte

Snap!

Crazy day at work with a late function for me running to 6pm.  Fortunately Mike got away at a decent time to get a head start on the grocery shopping for his own party.  Yeah - it is a shame for him.  I got distracted chatting to Celia after work.  She is doing well - it has been a wee while since I saw her.  

Mt Vic looking mighty fine last night

Moxley hiding under the duvet

Smudge happy on top

Toby made dinner for us (spag bol) and it was almost ready when we got home.  Just needed some thickening with tomato paste and it was ready.  

I had already eaten at the work function.  Woot!

Off to bed and the cats were definitely cold - they were both cuddled up with us again.  One under the duvet and one on top.  Perfect way to separate them.  Hahahah

Good morning birthday people!  Wellington cranking up the good weather for you

Up for an early bus with Mike.  He has a few things before his potato cake brekkie.  I just went to work.  Hahah.

Work iced latte

Weekend is so close I can almost taste it.  Baking tonight for Mike's party.  Jo has baked a cake - I cannot wait to see that.  She is so clever.  Mmmmm.  It's party time!

Bring it all on!

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with not a lot of Toby

 Hi,

Well, one day of Toby and he was off with his mates.  Hahah.  Toby who?  Anyway, I got home after work and ate some leftover pizza.  No one was home.  Toby and Tessa were out and Tessa had plans to stay with her Dad.

I finally left at 8pm to go grocery shopping.  It was so late.  What was I thinking, delaying it till then?  Anyway, when I finished, I texted Andrew, in case he wanted a lift home.  But surely he was home already?  No.  He was just finishing some after work meeting thing.  So I took him home and caught up with him.  Yep - he is busy.  Next question?   Hahah.

Home to unload groceries and hang out the wash.  I guess I was a tiny bit productive.

Mike got home late after a good catch up with Josh.  We heard all about his news.  Well, Mike did.  Then when Mike got home, I heard it all.  Mike was very happy finally catching up with Josh.

Had a hopeless sleep.  The cats were both lying on my side of the bed.  I reckon it broke my sleep.

Serious home made iced latte pic

Changing the walls at work.  I am sure I can see Boba Fett

Cat magnet

Today sees a busy day at work. Apparently I am on a "speed dating" panel for a new programme of work.  Hoping like mad the other leads are way more interesting than me as a date.  Not super keen on this idea.  But - work makes you do things out of your comfort zone.

More grocery shopping needed tonight.  And Friday night will be cooking night for Saturday.  Hahah.

Have a great Thursday.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with working from home

 Hi,

Turns out I forgot to blog yesterday.  But only one of my loyal readers actually asked about it.  So, now I know my loyal readership is exactly one person.

Thank you Roz.  :-p  This is dedicated to you.

Bwhahahah.

I guess I was so excited that Toby and Tessa were due to visit (and Mike was also flying back from his trip) that I forgot to blog.  I kept an eye on the weather here (for flights arriving) and the two places down south where the flights were departing.

Toby's flight was delayed 30 mins.  But not bad considering.

Tuesday home made iced latte

Made bread for Toby and Tessa for their lunch

Sleety snow on the furniture

Cats wait for Toby and Tessa with me

They arrived safely just after midday and ubered here through the freezing rain.  The cats were just as excited as me and peered out the door to see what was happening.

The cats knew Toby.  Smudge was skittish - but definitely allowed a pat or two.  It was nice to see.  They tucked into soup and fresh bread and I went back to work downstairs.

Back in our old room with two cats!

We headed to Bin44 to meet Mike and David (Tessa's dad) after work and enjoyed dinner there.  Mike got there nice and early with his suitcase.

Ate lots.  Chatted lots.  Saw Roanne there.  Headed home in the car.  Snuggled into bed in our old room.  It was far easier to move us back as we haven't really moved into Toby's old room.  We just sleep there.

Hahah.

Up for a bus into work for the first time in a week or so.

Chatting to colleagues like I have been on a desert island for a year.  Hahah.

Right.  There you go.  A blog post just for you, Roz.

Lots of love,

Angela

The weekend with level 2 and lots of rain and no Mike

 Hi,

Happy birthday today, Ma.  I love you lots.

What a funny old weekend.  We went to the gym for boot camp.  With level 2 that means restricted numbers.  So we had to book in ahead of time (I did it late Friday - booked in Mike's one by reaching over his sleeping body to grab his phone and tapping away to use his gym app and securing a slot for him.  All without disturbing his sleep.) and bring our own resistance bands and mat etc.  We were all distanced and had to wipe down everything between sets.

It went really well.  Good on Quentin and Joel.

Back home for Mike to grab a few things, then off to the airport.  The weather was so bad - the harbour was whipped up to a frenzy.  Mike leapt out at the airport and checked in while I headed home.  He was very early (there were delays due to covid - probably because staff were self-isolating from the exposure here over the previous weekend and there was potential for reduced numbers) so enjoyed some coffee before his flight to Queenstown.

Level 2 means baking. ANZAC biscuits

Meanwhile - I made biscuits and bread.  And macaroni cheese for tea.

And bread too.

So cold the cats wanted to snuggle all the time

Andrew popped around to watch a movie with me.  We chose poorly.  Like - really poorly.  Beowulf and Grendal.  Do not watch it.  Wish we hadn't.  Poor dialogue.  Poor editing (I was confused a lot of the time).  Not enough amazing sword fighting.  Just hacking, really.  Anyway - it passed the time.  Mike called too so we chatted with him for a bit as a nice interlude from the movie.  Hahah.

Andrew headed home through the rainy night and I settled into a warm bed.  Best place with weather like this really.  Slept well. 

Up for Sunday.  Appointment in town and back home without tackling the supermarket under level 2 conditions.  The govt decided to extend Wellington's level 2 for another 2 days to midnight Tuesday.  Very sensible.  But so far nothing has shown up in Wellington.

Cleaned my bike from last weekend's dirt duathlon.  It was very dirty.  Hosed it down.  Degreased it.  Then dried and lubed it.  Hope it works well for July 25th!

Didn't do a lot else.  Chatted to Mike.  Read a book.  Luxed a bit.  Watched a decent movie I had never seen before.  Whip it.  Loads of good actors in it.  Why didn't we watch that the previous night?  

Into bed quite early.  Chatted online to Ma and Karen.  Covid spreading over there again.  Sydney is locked down.  

Up early for an online PT session with Quentin.  Wished Ma a happy birthday via our chat - I will try and call later today.  

Good morning Ma!  Happy birthday...

...from clear but cool and windy Wellington

Pay attention to me

Smudge patrols the balustrade

Time to kick start the working week.  Hopefully no covid pops up in Wellington.

Have a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday working from home

 Hi,

Level 2 so we're working from home to minimise any chance of spreading covid if it exists in the community.  And that means bread making.  Mike got stuck in and the house smelled heavenly as the bread cooked away all morning.

Mike's bread

Looking good

The cats seem happy that we're at home.  They all slept in the home office with us at various times.  I think Mike has a pic of them both on the spare bed behind us.

Moxley gets up from a sleep in the patch of sun

The cats seem to move around the house, either following us or following the sun - and sleep.

Thursday home made iced latte

The commute home was pretty easy.  No traffic on the stairs except Moxley.  We had some tea and a bath.  Chatted away to each other.  Played with Alexa.  She couldn't hear the letter A.  We discovered this because as we played a quiz game, she never heard us if the answer was "A".  B & C were just fine.  A?  Nope.  Another quiz game was weird.  Despite answering the right thing, she would say we had it wrong and then give us the answer - which was exactly what we had said.

The bath time just flew by!

:-p

Off to bed and a good sleep before up for a lovely brekkie from Mike.  Scrambled eggs.  Mmmm.

Friday home made iced latte

Another day at work here at home.  Mike has something in town after work - I might drop him off so it is an easy, crowd-free trip in for him.

Weekend looms.  Supposed to be flying to Queenstown.  We'll make a call on that today, I imagine.

Have a great day.  Enjoy your weekend.

Love,

Angela