The Wednesday with most people's last day at work for the year

Hi,

It was a lovely day yesterday at work.  The craziness finally abated and I only got a few new cases in.  Woot!  And so far today - nothing.

Iced coffee at Verve

Burger Wisconsin in the park

Nom, nom!

Christmas Eve morning in Wellington

The day passed me by in a blur of social coffees and lunch.  Mike and I ubered to Jake's house and collected Toby from his playdate.  Thanks Jake!  My first uber.  And the driver went through a red light on the corner of Bowen and Lambton Quay.  Didn't inspire confidence.

We walked up to Burger Wisconsin and bought burgers and sat in the lovely sunshine in the park and gobbled them down before walking home.

I meant to take Toby to check out houses with Christmas lights but something happened and I fell asleep!  Tonight!

Have a lovely Christmas.  I am on holiday and back on the 5th at work.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with more work

Hi,

Work was work - still crazy.  But I did sneak off to get some shopping done and I also got an iced coffee break in!  Woot!

Mixed Business iced coffee goodness

Mike and I drove home from work just after 5pm and Mike did some homework and I fed the boys a light tea.  I did some washing and tidied up a bit.  Not so you'd notice!  Hahahah.

We went to bed and watched a documentary on the Celts and enjoyed that before falling asleep.  Toby woke up in the night and came to our bed though.  It's a little hard to rationalise scary nightmares when you're half asleep yourself.

Mike and I walked into work this morning and loved it!  The weather is lovely, if a little cool.  I did get a migraine this morning though.  Weirdly.  Wonder why?

Enjoy your day today!  I have to work tomorrow.  For my sins.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with work on

Hi,

Work seemed just as busy as usual - I was hoping for a Christmas week slow down.  Oh well.  We had a long lunch in the sun at the Royal.  I had lentils with mushrooms.  Quite good.  We sat with Mary, Rex and Jo (me and Mike, that is!).  Given it was just outside work, it was often interrupted by work colleagues having a chat to us.

After work, Mike and I walked to the New World and grabbed some food.  We both wanted salad for tea.  We ate asparagus and avocado as a starter and then chicken salad for mains.  Mmmmm.

I'm not sure where the evening went.  I read.  Mike watched science documentaries.  Toby did his own thing in his room.  But when I fell asleep, I was not walking up for anything.  The alarm went off for a wee bit before I realised.

Went for a run but was pretty lethargic.  Oh well.  Hopefully I do better next time I run!  Hahahah.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the lead up to Christmas.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with awesome stuff

Hi,

Mike surprised me by taking me out for dinner on Friday night to Siem Reap.  Yum!  What a way to start the weekend.

I also moved the piano into the lounge so our room now has a bit more space in it.

Up early to take Mike to the airport (and collected Josh on the way) and then the weekend was mine.  I headed home and tidied up a bit before heading out for Christmas shopping in Lower Hutt.  Back home and I couldn't face going into town with the car, so I jumped on the bus.  Did some more shopping and then as I came out of the shop, my bus was right there!  Boom!  Back home.

From there I went out to see Expansion at the Office pub in Newtown.  As I pulled up, Philippa got out of her car.  I offered to drive her home so she had a few drinks.  I caught up with a few of the punters from Mike's trip too.  They all asked after him and Toby.

Home late Saturday and I read for a bit.  Up early for a run and then scooted into work to get something done for Aidan's Christmas present.

I headed to her house for a bagel breakfast and we swapped Christmas presents.  She is off to somewhere to house sit for the Christmas/New Years so I won't see her for another year!  Hahahah.  I had a yummy smoked salmon bagel with capers.  Mmmmm.

I watched Aidan play a violin for a bit.  Lots of fun.  But she does have a long way to go.  If I get a solo performance every month or so, I am guessing I should see progress.

Then we were collected by Ange and went shooting.  Awesome fun!  First time I have shot with Aidan, so that was fun too.  It's usually me watching her.  Which is good too - as I learn by seeing.  But I like doing!

Taking aim!

Ange and I getting ready

Fire at will!

We left after about 1.5 hours of shooting.  I tried Aidan's bow and she doesn't have any sights on hers so my two arrows shot clear over the target and one buried itself in the bank just below the train line!  Yikes.  Apparently I need a different anchor point for bare bow shooting.

From there we stopped off at Caffeind and had lunch.  And Ange and I had iced drinks (chocolate for Ange and coffee for me) and I watched in amazement as Aidan drank a whole latte.  I have never seen her drink coffee before.

Latte

I drove Aidan briefly into town to a music shop and enjoyed the steel string guitars on display.  Oh - I think I'd love one.  She got what she wanted and then I was off home.

Back to the airport to collect Mike, Toby and Mike's mother from the airport and then we were all home in time for dinner.

This morning Mike and I walked into work and we'll walk home later today.  I need to go grocery shopping for Christmas lunch this evening.

Have a wonderful week.  Christmas is coming!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with Star Wars

Hi,

Ok.  I had a day at work.  Busy.  I did see Ange though - back from her holiday.  She had such a great time.

Iced coffee goodness at Home

Don't eat the dice!

My own mints from Las Vegas

I need to catch up more about it.  She loved it all!  And I got some presents.  :-)

But yesterday was all about Star Wars.  Really.  It was.

After pre Christmas drinks at work (thanks Steph!) I walked up to Aidan's house and we got ready to head out for our evening of Star Wars excitement.

Aidan dropped me home after a cup of tea and I collected the car and then collected her from her house.  From there we grabbed Mike and then went to The Library for an extended cocktail hour.

Star Wars fans!

Negroni!

The drinks Mike and Aidan had all seemed to be red in colour.  Dancing Shows?  Something starting with "n".  Negroni?  Anyhow, we chatted for a few hours before Aidan and I dropped Mike home and headed out to Miramar.

At The Library - drinking cocktails

The cinema was strangely quiet really.  We sat for about an hour waiting for the movie to start.  Finally, we were let in and found our seats.  At 12.01am it started!  The audience was very receptive.   They clapped and cheered when various characters appeared and did stuff.  It was long, as 2 hours 16 minutes.  But it went fast.  Admittedly it was hard to keep alert at 2am and the cinema was so warm.  I was boiling hot.

But it was worth it.  It was a great movie.  Aidan analysed it quite a bit in the car on the way home.  I wasn't at my peak of social interaction, being 6 hours past my bedtime by then!

I fell into bed and would have been asleep by 3:05 am.  Hahah.  Slept like the dead - for 3.5 hours.  When my alarm went off, I just lay there, wondering what the noise was.  I don't think I was working at peak efficiency.  Maybe it is more how Mike feels each morning when his alarm goes off...

I rode into work and enjoyed the wake up that provided.

Right.  Time for really get stuck in.

Have a wonderful day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with eating to excess

Hi,

Ok.  So, the day started with breakfast with Mike.  Which is always more substantial than my two Weetbix each morning with some yoghurt.  But what happened after work took things to a new level.

Toby made it to Dunedin just fine and apparently slept well when he got there.  Given it was 9am, it does seem a little odd.  Can you get jet lag from Wellington to Dunedin?

I saw Ilske for the last time before Christmas.  Had an iced coffee at Mixed Business.  She is off on Sunday to Buenos Aires.  Wow!  Hope she has fun.

After work I caught up with Josh for a quick drink at the Royal.  Mike was lured in with me - I think it was the beer.  Not me doing the luring.

Josh had to head off for his next social engagement (it is the season for social madness) so Mike and I went to Munchen - a new German restaurant.  I ordered the Schweinshaxe from the menu and the Californian waitress had no idea what that was.  "Oh, the pork knuckle", she said.  When I pointed.  Mike ordered the crumbed chicken breast, making no attempt to speak any German.

We ate a bread brezel thing before our main.  Which took ages to come.  They actually gave Mike his beer on the house.  But we waited patiently watching others around us get their food.

As we waited, we chatted away.  At one stage I asked Mike what it is about me that he loves the most.  Do you know what he replied?  Awww, shucks.  He said:  "Your attitude.  You are always happy, always have a smile.  And your analytical ability".  He made my day with that comment.  How cool to know that someone loves something that is deep within you.  Something that isn't likely to change because it is so intrinsic.  I was chuffed.  And given Mike knows me the best of anyone on the planet, it was even sweeter to hear it was something that is a part of my personality.  How he managed to get past my feet, I'll never know.  He has iron willpower.

When it came the food was magnificent.  My pork was exceptional.  I ate the whole thing, despite the waitress believing I was going to share.  But this is there the eating to excess comes in.  When I left the restaurant I wasn't uncomfortable with what I had eaten.  What I want to know is:  how come I still feel full??!!  Hahahah.

Wandered home and slept the sleep of the dead.  Got up and walked into work with Mike.  It's a bit rainy today.

But the big new today is:  It is Star Wars day!  I go to the midnight showing of Star Wars tonight.  Woot!  I can't wait.  I am counting down the hours now.  Less than 16 to go now.

Iced coffee

Old versus new

What to choose?

Time to kick start the day with a great cup of tea.  So excited!

Have a brilliant day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with packing for Toby

Hi,

Monday was a lovely day - the weather was perfect (if a little cool still).  I also got a lunch with Aidan - I ate my yummy bread roll in the garden behind parliament and Aidan ate dumplings and we finished off with raspberries.  I do like summer fruit season.

It was so nice I stretched out on the grass to enjoy some sunshine.  And I learned that those biting flies in Australia called March flies are called Horse flies in the US.  For some reason, when I imagine a horse fly, it looked like a miniature pony - with wings!  Like a tiny Pegasus.  Now I know they are boring, bitey, March flies, it is a little less fun in my imagination.

I went to collect Toby's iPad after work and then collected Mike on the way home.  We packed for Toby and Mike and Toby went for a walk.

I think Toby was awfully excited about going to Dunedin today.  He was up at 5.30am when I went to wake him up.  We have dropped him at the airport and he is halfway to Dunedin now.

Toby checks into his flight

Time for a cup of tea.  Mike and I had breakfast at Bethel Woods on the way back to work.  And we saw three other Intergen people at the airport.  Peak flight time, obviously.

Have a marvellous day.

Love,
Angela