Sad day....

Oops, my blogging roll seems to have hit a quiet spot!
Last Sunday was a bit of a sad day :( After about 7 years and  three different premises  I finally held our last crop in Southoe. I have been running the crop since Anna has been concentrating on her photography business but sadly it's not really practical to run a crop 40 miles from where you live when you can't drive! This was proved on Sunday when my train journey took an hour compared to the normal half hour and my train home was cancelled completely! Huge thanks to Kerry who drove me to Stevenage where Geoff came to get me.
Anyway, we had a lovely day, scrapping and reminiscing about people who had come and gone over the years.It seems very weird that I will probably never see most of them again! And then there are the wonderful friends I have made along the way :) Boo hoo.....  Anyway,I did my 2012 pages for March (and no I haven't done February's yet....!) and that was pretty much it .I did an extra 6 x 12 insert this month though as I seemed to have lots that I wanted to remember.
All in all it's been pretty quiet recently.The weather has been hideous with rain every day for the last two weeks.I will be glad when it's May and there will be no more April showers (read down pours...) I think that Holly and I have probably missed the bluebells by now :(
This week Geoff has had his wedding ring cut off in preparation for his MRI scan in a couple of weeks,as there is no way he could take it off .Holly was a bit concerned and suggested that we write 'I am married' in the dent around the finger left by the ring in case people didn't realise...bless!
During the Easter holidays the girls and I went over to Anna's on the train for a quick visit. We had a very nice afternoon tea with cupcakes courtesy of Holly (Hummingbird black bottomed cupcakes - yum!) ,cucumber sandwiches and scones,jam and cream :)Slightly concerned at how grown up these two are starting to look though...!

I have no idea what is going on with my blog layout as it's looking all over the place when I preview it so apologies in advance if things are where they shouldn't be!

Red Carpet

Sorry, a few more photos from Sunday! We went for a walk round to the Royal Opera House to see the red carpet after the pre show had finished.As we got there they were starting to move back all the barriers and take down all the signage etc. They didn't waste much time!




Since then I have felt in 'musical' mode and really want to go back and see Wicked (yet) again !

Today both girls went back to school :( I don't feel like I saw that much of them during the holidays ,what with the 'mad week' and working :( How long til the next break?!

Late yesterday after I had finished work Holly and I went with my Dad to Money Hole, where all the bluebells were last year,as Holly wanted to go and climb the trees (!!) Sadly the bluebells are only just starting to come out so I was a bit disappointed,but she had a good time climbing!

Back to London....again!

This afternoon Em and I had an amazing afternoon, back in Covent Garden...yep,again! Thanks to the wonder of Facebook we knew that there was a pre-show to the Olivier Theatre Awards being held there before the awards ceremony. We got there just before 3.30 when the sound check rehearsals were taking place and to our excitement managed to get right near the front :) Em was so excited as it was being hosted by Louise Dearman,who played Glinda in Wicked when we went for her birthday last October ,along with Neil Fox. We saw performances from Les Miserables, Stomp ,Billy Elliott,Chicago ,Louise Dearman and our favourite Wicked :) We were so close it was brilliant,despite the rain,hail and freezing cold wind!And even better was that it was free, a real treat for the price of our train fare :)
Stomp
Louise Dearman

Matt Willis and Rachel Tucker from Wicked

Rachel Tucker from Wicked

The award ceremony was being shown on two big screens but as there wasn't any sound we went for a wander to see the red carpet before coming home,happy but frozen :) I will share some more photos in another post soon :)

London part 2...

Last week seems like an age ago already,so I need to write this somewhere before I forget everything!
Om Wednesday Em didn't have to be at the theatre til the afternoon,so I went to work in the normal and then went to London with Em.On this day she was working backstage so didn't finish til late again.I didn't really fancy travelling into London late to meet her,so by going up with her in the afternoon I had a lot of time to fill! I had managed to book to see Legally Blonde without it costing a fortune (it was it's final week in the west end)I'd wanted to see it for ages .I have to admit that it was a bit like watching a movie about Sharpay (if you have kids that loved High School Musical you'll know what I mean!)Although I enjoyed it, I didn't come out thinking 'I want to go again!' the way I do when I've seen Wicked.
I spent the afternoon generally wandering :) I spent lots of time taking photos of the eggs,went for a bit of retail therapy in Primark in Oxford Street,went to see Cleopatra's needle,treated myself to a McDonalds and walked miles!

One of my favourite eggs... Hanging eggs!
I was glad of the chance to sit and rest my feet for a couple of hours in the theatre :) The Savoy Theatre wasn't far from where Em was so I walked as quick as I could once Legally Blonde finished and got there just as she was coming out :) She had a great evening, though she didn't get any photos or her programme signed because she was too busy 'hanging out' with everyone ! I have obviously taught her nothing...!!

Thursday was another mad day! I had booked tickets to take Holly and Em to see The Muppets for what I thought was this Thursday,only to realise on the Tuesday that I'd booked them for last Thursday -doh! So Em went into London on her own as I had to work,I then finished and went straight to the cinema with Holly and her friend,passed them both on to Geoff after the film and got a train straight into London to meet Em .And then webt to work again for a couple of hours. To say I was bit tired Thursday night was an under statement...!

Happy Easter!

I think I have forgotten about Easter to a certain extent,as we haven't really done much about it the last couple of years.Last year the kitchen was being done and the house was in chaos and the year before that we were in Florida so we didn't do anything Easter-y . The weather here is miserable too which isn't helping! Yesterday we had our usual egg hunt at Mum & Dad's,it was freezing compared to last year when it was warm and sunny and we had a barbecue .Holly and I made some Easter nest cupcakes to take with us which were very nice :)

We decided earlier it would be nice to have a roast later,so I am very thankful for our local corner shop where I managed to bag the last chicken :)
We don't have much planned for this week after all the running around last week.The one thing I did have booked I had booked for last week by accident (luckily I realised in time and we still managed to go!).I will be back soon with the rest of our London exploits :)

Mad four days.....

As I mentioned a few posts back,Em was booked on a four day work experience course this week with the Ambassador Theatre group.The course consisted of two days of talks and workshops ,one day was held at the Lyceum Theatre and the other day at the Trafalgar Studios,The other two days were spent working in a theatre,one day/evening front of house and the other backstage during the performance.Em got to go to The Playhouse Theatre where Dreamboats and Petticoats is performed :) Although the two girls that got to work at Wicked were the envy of everyone else, because it is a much bigger show from what Em said I don't think they got to see as much. Em got to meet and the cast and chat with them...though she didn't get photos with them or get her programme signed as she was too busy chatting to them!



Anyway, on the Monday we all went in London.Once Em had checked in I went and met Geoff and Holly in Covent Garden (they travelled after 9.30 - off peak!) While I was waiting for them I had a look round at the eggs that were on display as part of the Big Egg Hunt. When they arrived,we the spent a bit of time wandering round the markets and watching the street performers. We then went on to Selfridges as Holly wanted to go for a cupcake at Lola's :)

After a wander round Carnaby Street and a visit to Primark (at Geoff's request!) we has lunch sat outside near Marble Arch.The weather was gorgeous so we we sat in Hyde for a while resting our feet before meeting Em and going for tea in Pizza Hut :)
On Tuesday I took Em into London for her first day at the Playhouse.I then came home and went to work for a few hours before going back to see Dreamboats and Petticoats in the evening and collecting Em after the show.
It was quite funny waiting for her by the stage door as there was a group of very excited screamy girls waiting for one of the actors to come out who used to be in a boyband (but I have forgotten his name!)
By the time we got home Em was shattered! I will be back with part 2 tomorrow!