Earley, Reading Seminar - 28 April 07

M'enfin!

Which means, "At blummin' last you big ol' procrastinator!" in French. Yes it does. True story.

So off Julia and I went to Reading a week ago last Friday for our Shape Up for Design seminar there. I picked up my mate Simon in Cardiff on the way (as we have mutual friends there (The Smiths) AND they live right behind (literally RIGHT behind) our other friends' house where Ju and I were staying. AND Celyn was playing with said Smith children on the Saturday. Small world, ain't it.

We arrived and then I had heart failure for we all became aware that one parcel that I'd ordered to arrive at my friends' house had duly been delivered, but *hyperventilate* the other, full of Bazzill cardstock and buttons, had been delivered and then TAKEN AWAY AGAIN *reaches for paper bag* by the dimwits that are DHL. Never mind...Shaun and Judith introduced Julia and me to the delights of Buzz to take our minds off of it. Blummin' marvellous game and I shall be purchasing our own family copy in the not too distant future. Julia already has! LOL We had such a laugh playing it. I highly recommend it.

I awoke at 5.40am on Saturday in a bit of a stress about the Bazzill that we DEFINITELY needed for the kits that day (yeah, yeah...so I should have ordered it further beforehand... give the girl a break... I had just organised a retreat too ya know!). I decided that since I was up I should make good use of my morning and zipped off to Savacentre (all Reading people will know where I mean by that!) and was wandering around picking up juice and cakes (for the seminar) and flowers (for my friends) and hair bobbles and a school pinafore dress (for Zoe and Celyn) before the clock had struck 7! Best time of day to shop...there was hardly a soul in there! And I was back before anyone in the Pine house was awake still. We always stay at the Pine's house when we do seminars up there and (amusing side story) Julia walked out of her (downstairs) bedroom, walked straight over to the appropriate cereal cupboard, opened it and as she stood there staring at the boxes on offer, said, "I think I've stayed here too many times. I know where they keep their cereals!"

Well we laughed anyway.

On the very stroke of 9am I was hopping from one foot to the other outside the DHL office (I think I (obnoxiously) rang the doorbell 3 times on the very stroke of the hour). I reeeeeeally needed to pick up 'that' parcel and be back at the seminar hall by 9.15! First problem was that it was addressed to The Pines and not me, so I had to convince the Gestapo-esque woman behind the desk that the parcel was in fact MINE. And then she wanted me to produce some sort of ID with my name and address on. I just looked at her (how I kept myself from raising my voice even slightly is beyond me) and said, "I don't usually carry my gas bill with me around the country. I don't live here. I live in Swansea" *said through teeth that were starting to grit* and then *smiling as sweetly as I could muster* "But here are several debit cards...see!" *thrust* She did relent, not without a headmistress type telling off which included the immortal "...just this once...but NEXT time..." but I had legged it out of the office with my package of Bazzill before she could change her mind.

And after that the day went swimmingly. Our hall was fabulous...airy, spacious, full of light...and we had a room full of lovely scrappers from all over the South/South-East. We gave spot prizes for our favourite versions of each of the class layouts. Here's one little group of winners (although Erica of The ScrapCafe looks like she's been on the sherry during lunch. Sssh. Don't tell. Hic!).

It was a thoroughly good day and everyone has said how much they enjoyed it. Also big shout out for La Baguettes in Blagrave Street who delivered our lunch for us. In NAMED BAGS. Oh how much time and faffing they did save us. AND they were delicious baguettes (etc.) too.

After the seminar we went back to pick up Celyn and Simon who (separately) had also had a lovely time all day. One had slobbed on the sofa watching football with mate Andy (I'll let you guess whether that was Si or Celyn...) and the other had played merrily with the Smith children and Zoe Pine (who is just lushety lush...Celyn adores her). Rachel Smith (who was born just a few weeks after Celyn...Christina Smith and I were pregnant together and used to waddle into the central swimming pool once a week to blob about in the water together) cried buckets when Celyn left. Must go back again soon for her to have another play date with them. Before we headed back up the M4, I grabbed some shots of the kids in the Smith's back garden

Will 'Fresh Prince' Smith, Zoe, Celyn and Rachel - such fab kids!

As we left Reading I once again pulled into Savacentre for petrol and some food and realised that I was actually completely hanging...I HAD been awake since 5.40am remember. So Simon drove home. Which was exceedingly exciting at first, as his car (a little Suzuki) is, like, run on rubber bands, and my Renault is a 1.8. Va Va Voooom is right! He got the hang of it by the time we got to...ooo...Swindon. *And breathe*

We stayed at Si's brother and SIL's house (Rob & Katie-Jane's) that night in East Wales (which meant I didn't have to drive so far home in one go). I was so tired by the time we got there I parked about 5 feet away from the kerb and Rob was so embarrassed he had to go out and move it "in case my neighbours think I've got a patient from the mental home staying here." LOL

Anyway...sorry to burble on. My blog is also my diary of sorts, so you get all the bits inbetween as well as the scrapping! Church the next day was in Caerphilly ward which is held in the Ysgol Cymraeg (Welsh School) in Caerphilly. And, did you know (for I saw it on a display) that bananas don't grow on trees? They grow on HERB BUSHES. I never knew that! And Celyn learnt stuff too. This is our conversation on the drive home later that Sunday (which my LDS friends will find more amusing perhaps):

Celyn: *suddenly says out of the blue* Angels don't have wings.

Me: No they don't. Did you talk about that in Primary today?

Celyn: Yes. They just appear and disappear.

Me: Did you talk about the Angel Moroni [from The Book of Mormon]

Celyn: Yes

Me: Oh cool. What did he do then?

Celyn: *adamantly* Nothing!! He just appeared and disappeared.

So, it was a great few days, even if I was tireder than the last sausage roll at a party.

I shall blog some more tomorrow, about our upcoming Scrappers Unlimited events. I'm off to sleep on my new bed now :D M'enfin!