Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Phew!! Am I knackered! We had such a fab day yesterday, I've spent so far today in something of a daze. The Big Meet was great and it was brilliant to meet up with friends - familiar and not-so. I was really chuffed to have met for the first time two of my all-time forum faves - Nicola (she lives in Canada, you know!) and Rhi who had come all the way from Scotland. Both always seem lovely in their posts on the forum, but you know when you're just wondering if they will be the same in real life, and if not, how will you feel? A bit let-down? Well, they are both as gorgeous and scrummy in real life - hurrah!! And then there was our very own 'Swiss Miss', Nicki all the way from Zug in Switzerland. She is just so fabulously exuberant and is totally the life and soul. She never stops talking (I am so envious - I can't make conversation with anyone, let alone people I have just met!) and gave me the biggest hug when I left - I thought she'd squeeze me in two. What a totally fab bunch of women.

I was sooooo lucky to have been given some thank you gifts for my small part in the organisation of the day. I really didn't do a lot and was very embarrassed to collect my prezzie in front of everyone. I had the most gorgeously sparkly Swarowski crystal bracelet, made by my forum pal Kathy B and also a card. Both the box and card were decorated with copious amounts of Prima 'Got Flowers?' flowers and were so pretty. No idea how she managed to part with them! I also received a bunch of yummy flowers and a £15 voucher for Artbase which is fabby, as I am skint at the moment and this will let me buy scrummy bits to add to my collection of stash. To add to this, I won a raffle prize - a fabbo Sizzix die I have been hankering after and I pulled out a lovely prezzie from the bran tub, thanks to my summer Secret Santa.

I was, once again, amazed at the talent in the room. I am soooo glad I didn't enter the Romance Card competition, as the standard was just so high and I would have had to sneak back to the table to swiftly remove my card before the others spotted it in all it's crapness! I had a little shufty at the 'Show and Tell' table - there were some amazing layouts in scrapbooks (I've given Saffa a lecture about trying to submit her work to mags!), beautiful picture frames, canvasses, board books and more. There were also the quilts, stitched together by Nicki and made up of squares of cross stitching and fabric donated by several forum members. The quilts are for charity and will soon be keeping an o.a.p. warm during the cooler evenings. I was so touched by the generosity and spirit of these ladies, and particularly Sharon, who had wanted to do a project like this for a long time and felt very proud to have finally achieved it.

We went for a meal after the event - I don't think the carvery knew quite what had hit them when all these women (and one man!) walked in! The service was somewhat slow, but at least that gave us more time for chatting. I, for one, had a lovely day and just wish that I had had the confidence to chat to everyone, but I find it really difficult and tend to stick to the people I 'know' as a comfort zone. I hate my shyness and even bought a book on overcoming it once, but still haven't conquered it.

Oh, I did see 'her', by the way. I think she clocked me too, but as soon as she did, I looked away and pretended I hadn't seen her! I'm such a wimp...