Back home again

Well, I have to say my return home was marred by a splitting headache by the time I got home - serves me right by not taking any tablets when I got home last night, and it worsened during the night, so I had a bad sleep ... finally got up at 6.30am and took some Nurofen, and went back to bed for 3 more hours, and it's definitely taken the majority of the pain away. I know the reason for this one - tension of leaving home again ... I felt fine when I left, and even no upsets at the airport, but during the flight the headache started coming on - not helped by trying not to shed a few tears at the end of the movie, King Kong LOL. Anyway, now I have to get back into my 'normal' life again ... I have to say that the only downside to the trip was Dad's lack of participation in Mum's birthday, which made me really angry with him - but then again, that's my Dad 'to a T' ... but even though I know that, it still disappoints me for Mum's sake. But, I got over it, and actually enjoyed having some 'family time' each work day evening while we all watched the UK Classic Millionaire on TV and tried to guess the answers - it became a nightly ritual that was enjoyed by all. We've never really done things as a family all together, so such smalls things as that give me a certain amount of pleasure, even though they're relatively insignificant things.

As for the last day in Auckland, what can I say about it? Sheer magic!! :D I had the most wonderful day with Nicki and Kerry - it's such a shame we didn't live closer, as I'd love to have them as stitching buddies :) Nicki and I met up at The Embroiderer in Birkenhead, and had the most wonderful time - we spent quite some time oohing and ahhing over the stitched models, stroking threads, and poring through charts ... as well as chatting and getting to know each other a little bit - I was as nervous as heck beforehand, as I'm actually really shy meeting new people (most people don't believe me, though!), but I felt really at ease with Nicki, and most of the time couldn't work out where the "off" switch was and didn't stop talking LOL. I really wish The Embroiderer was here in Melbourne, though - it's my favourite LNS in the whole world (to date anyway, of all those I've physically visited) ... if anyone is visiting Auckland, you really do have to take the time to pop in. Believe it or not, though, both Nicki and I were very disciplined (OK, Nicki a bit more than myself) ... although I just bought 2 charts - one from the bargain bin for my charity squares, and a Prairie Schooler santa chart for Mum to stitch (plus I bought the DMC she needed from Spotlight before I flew home yesterday, along with a Clover cutter, and I gave her my embroidery scissors and scissor fob I had with me ... I'd already bought over some cuts of aida for her in my suitcase, so now she's pretty much set up for a wee while).

After our LNS fix we went back to Nicki's place where I met Martin and we had a lovely lunch ... and we went to town looking through Nicki's stitching stash, WIP's and the wonderful exhanges Nicki has received (which are all beautiful, BTW) ... but the highlight for me was seeing Nicki's WIP's - the photos truly don't do them justice! I fell in love heart and soul with The Token - it really does take your breath away ... all stitched over-one in that sumptuous colour, it's absolutely glorious! And the HAED's are amazing too - they really take your breath away in real life.

We finally had to drag ourselves away, though, and we drove over to meet with Kerry and her gorgeous son Marcus ... and yet again I got to drool over some beautiful stitching - it was wonderful to see Kerry's framed pieces in the flesh, as well as seeing some of her new designs in progress stitched over-one (sorry ladies, I don't think you'll convert me to that style of stitching though ... not for a while anyway LOL - although I did say to Mum I wanted to re-stitch my green tree frog over-one hmmm) ... looking forward to seeing them growing over time :) Then we had a cuppa and nattered on for ages about stitching, and blogs, and life in general ... it was absolutely wonderful! I never thought to take photos of us, which is a bit dumb, and I only thought about it the next day - I was too busy chatting and enjoying the company that it didn't cross my mind ... oops ...

So, I want to thank you Nicki and Kerry for a truly magical day - and a wonderful way to finish my time in Auckland, and the day just flew past ... it was awesome to meet you both, and I hope it won't be the last time :D {{hugs}}

Anyway, back to reality today - but I'm going to 'start' the day (it's now 11am haha) with a bit of retail therapy where I don't have to spend any money - I have a pile of mail that was due to arrive last week, including back orders from SB&B, my Melanie's Exchange parcel, and Mystery Bits from SB&B (I succumbed and signed up now I'm back on shift work) ... so I'm off to put petrol in the car and pick it all up, as well as getting in some grocery essentials as the fridge is totally bare. I'll post piccies probably tomorrow, as I still have a few things to do today and may not get time (plus I'll have to let the drool dry off first haha) ... then tomorrow I'm back out to the airport again to go and pick up my freight boxes of 'stuff'. It's amazing - I only arrived last night, but here I am sitting at my computer desk looking out the side windows, and I don't feel I've been anywhere already ... was it all a dream? Nope, it definitely did happen, and I have 644 new unread emails to prove it ... I don't want to check the blog subscription figures yet ... perhaps tomorrow ... ;P

(Updated) ... Well, I guess I'm not going anywhere for a while ... just went outside to start the car up, and it's not starting - I assume it's the battery, although the power locking etc is still working ... I guess a call to the RACV is in order - better get it fixed before the Post Office closes, or I'll be upset haha ... ho hum, it's good to be back ... hmmm ;P