Starstruck....

On Tuesday Em and I went for an early birthday theatre trip for the pair of us:) We both wanted to see Chicago ,but when they announced it was closing on September 1st it got moved up our wish list of things we want to go and see! I booked the tickets as part of Kids Week.This, and Get Into London Theatre are great ways of booking great value tickets as you can see where the seats are available and choose them yourself :)
Anyway, Em was very excited when Robin Cousins came out to see her before the show,after she'd tweeted him earlier in the day!We also spoke to a couple of other cast members before and after the show and they were all really friendly :)

As we had gone in to London early we had time to go the stage door at Wicked ,to see if we could get Em & Holly's programmes signed (I didn't have one of the current cast :( )We did feel a bit daft and at times a bit like stalkers! But it was worth it as we met all three leads ,one of which is Rachel Tucker who currently plays Elphaba,and who is Em's theatrical 'heroine' !! To say she was over the moon would be an understatement! Needless to say the photo she took of me is totally blurred from her shaky hands!

Seeing Chicago is the start of a 'musical' month for me :) Next week I am off to see Wicked as an early birthday present with Geoff,tickets were booked way back earlier in the year :) And at the end of September I am going to see Blood Brothers with Em as my birthday present from her :)Just a little bit excited :D

Wowsers....

Last week was results for week for Em :) I will admit to finding the whole exam thing totally confusing as it is so different from when I was at school! Back then it was two years of work and then one of results at the end of it,far simpler! Anyway, although Em got lots of results ,only one of them was a final one,for her Graphics,and the rest all go towards next years final results.She did really well,getting 2 A's ,7 A's and 2 B's :) To say we are proud is an understatement! Em is not someone who walks into an exam room and gets full marks,she has really worked her butt off for these results and I am so proud that all her hard work paid off :)

Whizzing by

As per usual the summer holidays have whizzed by and the girls will be back at school in less than two weeks :( I have been juggling working and making sure the girls see their friends and trying to do stuff with them.The last two weekends the weather has been way too hot to do anything though - I know,you just can't win!
Last week we took a trip to Hitchin Lavender field with my dad :) As with last year it was really sunny so I have a fair few 'squinty' photos from the sunshine! Sunflower picking is now included in the admission price so we came home with loads! My photos really weren't that great,but here are a couple :)

The school shopping is now all done - thank goodness! Tomorrow Em gets her Year !0 results including her final grades for her Graphics exam - yikes!
We have finally got Holly sorted out with a proper phone ready for the new term.I honestly don't think I've ever heard her scream as loudly as she did today when Geoff gave it to her! (It was a surprise!) It's the first time she has had a new phone as her others have been hand downs (not that she has really needed or used them much!)Just need to sort her out with a door key and she will be ready for independence....sort of!!

Getting into the Olympic spirit :)

Today i decided to take a trip into London with girls to join in with the Olympic spirit the nation is currently enjoying :) WE usually do a day trip to London during the holidays but as Geoff isn't up to walking far we hadn't planned one this year.However it seemed a shame to miss out on everything that is going on so I decided a bit last minute (yesterday!) that I'd take them to Hyde Park today as it was my day off and the weather forecast looked ok :)
The train and underground were pretty much the quietest I have been on ,this afternoon Kings Cross was almost deserted!
Anyway,going today meant that we got to watch the cycling part of the Men's Triathlon :)My photos are pretty rubbish as I had my camera on the wrong settings,but I did manage to get the Brownlee brothers both in one picture ,albeit it slightly blurry!

I hadn't realised that all the big screens and Cadbury House were all enclosed and classed as a 'venue' ie they had the same rules as the Olympic Park.This meant not being allowed to take any food or drink in with us :( Fine if you're only there a short while but if you were there all day it would cost a bomb ! (£7 for a cheese burger,£2 for a bottle of water!)Also the queue for Cadbury House was almost 2 hours by the time we got there!

Instead we decided to walk to Victoria and visit McDonalds for lunch which was decidedly cheaper! From there we got the tube to Tower Hill to go and see the Olympic rings on Tower Bridge :) I had a nightmare with my Canon camera which refused to focus on anything :( I realised when I got home that the focus button had got knocked in my bag from auto focus to manual focus - oops! Luckily I had my trusty Fuji with me which I still always take out with me as the zoom is so good!
I'm glad we went as the girls can say there were there,when they are older :) We came home with loads of maps which the London Ambassadors freely hand out everywhere you go :) You can't fault the signage on the tube and train stations or the helpfulness of the staff and Ambassadors :)

Finally!

After a fair while not doing anything vaguely crafty I have done a layout! When Holly left school we made a little mini book for her best friend full of photos from each year they have known each other :) Stupidly I forgot to take photos ,but rummaging through all my stuff made me want to actually sit down and use some of it!Having bought the new Echo Park collection,I thought I;d better try and use some of the This & that range that I bought a while back and hadn't yet touched.

I even added lots of writing,as I am trying to move away from the 'pretty picture,no details ' type layouts I have so many of!I'm still looking at it thinking it needs 'more' on it,but I just don't know what to add so we'll stick with the less is more attitude!The photo is one I took the day after Holly had finished school.Papers are all from the Echo Park This & That Girl range and the title is a mix of Thickers :) Hopefully I will get round to catching up on my 2012 album soon and scrapping some holiday photos :)