The Thursday with Mike packing for his tramp

 Hi,

Mike and I worked from home on Thursday.  He worked through lunch and started early so he could finish early.  He packed for his tramp and left at about 4pm.  The plan?  Leave the car at Janine's house, take Janine's car to the Kawekas.  Do a 4 day tramp over a lot of the tops.  Drive home Monday.

Cat and ball

Cat and ball part 2

And I think today is Janine's birthday.  So happy birthday to her.  If the weather is like Wellington weather today, she is having the best tramping day.

Lovely morning for a walk to work

I walked into work and enjoyed that.  Got an iced latte with Juliet @ Mojo.  Great start to the day.  Busy through the day and then - 3 days to myself.  Woot!

Juliet and I enjoy a Friday iced latte

No AFL.  It is Labour Day weekend.  If the weather stays good I might walk up to the Skyline track.  Take a lunch.  

Other than that - housework and cat feeding.  Hahah.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday off work

 Hi,

Spent the day reading and baking and watching the cat as she explored the backyard.  Feeling much better now.  

The day was lovely enough that we had some lunch out on the deck.

Lunch in the sun

Moxley looking cute

Moxley exploring the garden on her leash

Smudge looking cute

Mike went out after work for a tramp up Mt Vic and ended up committing to several tramps.  Hahah.  He can't say no.

He didn't get home until late - and I was fast asleep.  

Up for PT session at the gym.  Leg day.  :-)

Back home and working from home again.  Mike is heading away after work for a long tramp with Janine.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with AFL training

 Hi,

Tuesday was a full on day at work (although working from home).  Mike and I were both busy.  But we made a good getaway after work and drove through crazy traffic to get to AFL training at Martin Luckie park.

Pic from Saturday's game

Mike explored Mt Albert on his run while I was in training.  I have a cool bruise on my knee.  Awesome!

After the training we decided to pop into The Ramen Shop for dinner.  Best idea!  We had a lovely bowl of ramen and I was transported back to Japan for 30 minutes.  :-)

Dinner at The Ramen Shop after AFL

Cats are happy on our bed

Woke up feeling blah so today is a sick day for me.  Doesn't happen often.  Hope things are much better after a day reading and drinking lots of water.  Headaches are much better if you are hydrated.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The Monday working from home

 Hi,

The cats joined me in the spare room as I worked from home and seemed to be willing to be fairly close to each other as they slept.

Mike did a 5km run after work and planned his Labour Day weekend tramp with Janine.  Sounds like a lot of fun.  Kawekas.  Lots of climbing up to the tops.

Cats are voluntarily close to each other

A ball of cat

Banana bread

The bananas that were slowly deteriorating into brown sludge ended up in a banana bread.  It was cooling on the bench when Mike got home with Andrew in tow and some fish n chips (with no fish - but a corn fritter and a spring roll).

So we ate tea together, with Mike watching, catching up on the day's events.

Andrew left in an Uber around 8.15pm and we were not long out of bed.  Slept well.  Up for my PT session with Quentin.  I now have an hour on Tuesday mornings with him.  Dead lifts and bench.  Phew.

Have an awesome day.  AFL training tonight after work.  Mike may run again.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with AFL and Mike tramping

 Hi,

What a busy time, eh?  I did catch up with Kirsty for an iced latte on Friday.  We totally do not do that often enough.  Also went back to Mojo for lunch with a bunch of people.  That was amusing.  

Friday iced latte

After work, went with Mike to Fork and Brewer and met ex colleagues.  Sreejith had his leaving drinks there.  Had a ginger beer then dragged Mike to The Green Man for the AFL social night.  We were one of the first there, joining Denise, Chloe and Sam.  In the end there would have been 10 of us I guess.  And we chatted for ages.  Thank you for organising that.

The whole idea was the unveil the new guernseys but they have been delayed at customs.  But the sponsor provided a bar tab.  And we ate and drank our way through that.

Back to Fork and Brewer to say goodbye and then Uber home.

Cats touching!

Prognosis is poor

Up for boot camp in Frank Kitts park on a gorgeous morning.  Then home to finish packing for Mike's tramp to Waerenga hut.  We left home at 12pm and were at the Catchpool carpark by 12.45pm.

Random selfie tramping with Mike

Time to give me my phone back

Lunch at Midway bridge

Walked to Midway bridge and enjoyed a lunch in the sun.  It was weird to be eating there without Toby.  

Climbing the tree Toby always climbed

Posing

Love this walk

Ferns

Tramping

I left Mike just above the river and headed back.  Got to the car at 1520 and was home before 1600.  

Surrounded by cats

Cute

Sunday saw me up after only 5 hours sleep.  Groan!  Ate brekkie then headed to Hutt Park for AFL. Another close game that we lost by 6 points.  Gah!

Mike arrived when we were playing, having been dropped off by someone else from their tramping trip.  He did a 3km run before our game finished.  We tried to go out to a cafe but they were full.  Headed home for lunch.  

In the evening Andrew collected me and we went to the Embassy to see The Alpinist.  I heard about Andrew's slightly unusual day at work on Super Saturday (vaxathon) where he drove around taking a key person to various events.

Back to the movie... It was an amazing film about a young Canadian climber doing new routes solo and shattering the conventions.  But in a surprise move, the end of the film was about his death on a remote peak in Alaska.  Avalanche - while climbing with a buddy and using rope.  Tragic.

Off to see The Alpinist

On that sobering note, Andrew dropped me home and I crept into bed next to Mike, happily fast asleep after his tramping weekend.

Busy week at work.  Hope you have a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with aikido

 Hi,

Busy day at work.  Instead of going out and stretching my social abilities beyond the pale (I am going out after work on Friday) I headed home instead.

Mike had detected my resilience was wearing thinner than usual and sent me flowers at work.  Awwww.  He's lovely.  Thank you.  They are stunning and now they are sitting on the dining table at home, I see them often.

Flowers from the loveliest man in the world

In a vase at home

Ate too much tea and then drove out to Lower Hutt at 6.06pm.  Got the Celia's house at 6.30pm and we walked to the dojo for the second week of aikido.

Far less women there than the week before.  But great fun.  Not sure I will learn anything, really.  But I am enjoying myself, nonetheless.

Walked back home at 8.30pm and jumped in the car and headed to town to a) get fuel for the car and b) collect Mike from his fun social activity with Janine and all those mates.

He left his pub and met me at the petrol station.  We headed home and fell into bed.  With the heat pump on.  Hahahah.

Friday is stunning

The cats decide our bed is best

Up for Friday morning and it is a stunning day in the capital. Mike is off to brekkie in town.  I ate at home and took the later bus in.  Left the cats snuggled on our bed.  Hahahah.

The weekend is close now.  Sreejith's last day at Intergen.  Wow.  We will catch up with him after work.  And I have an AFL social event in town too.

As I said:  busy social life.  

Mike is off to Waerenga hut with some friends after boot camp tomorrow.  I will walk in with him and then walk out.  Sunday is AFL.  And Mike will come out of the bush some time early Sunday.  I have a movie with Andrew on Sunday night.  The Alpinist.

And that is about it.

Phew.

Have an awesome day.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with a new heat pump and a coffee machine

 Hi,

We had the heat pump installers come around yesterday to get the heat pump into the big downstairs bedroom.  The outside unit is down the side of the house between us and Juliette.  That room is now toasty pie warm.

It probably took them 3 hours, I guess.  Maybe a tad more.  

The upstairs heat pump also had its motor replaced - now it is quiet as it heats upstairs.  Our house is a very pleasant place to be right now.

Moxley tries to get my attention

I jumped out to collect our new coffee machine from the Ninja Barista place in Kaiwharawhara.  meanwhile Mike had to go to bed with a migraine.  It's a shame for him.

New machine

Made Mike lunch when I got back and the tradies had all left.  Worked through to 7.30pm as I had a late meeting.  Made dinner for me and Mike before that late meeting though.  Asparagus rolls with haloumi.  That is so delicious.

Off to bed in the warm bedroom.  Hahahah.

I was so excited to get Mike a coffee this morning.  Made two as the grinder was set to coarse for plunger coffee for the first one.

He liked his coffee but I want to experiment further with the machine.  And run the drawback through when I get home so it stays in top condition.

Cheese scone and iced latte @ Legato

Into town and gym this morning (leg day - oosshh).  At work and got a cheese scone session in with Barb and Juliet.  Mmmm.  Saw Dan P there.  Hahah.

Have an awesome day.

Love,

Angela