See you there!

A massive apology to all fans and rreaders of whatslauraupto.com for the lack of posts for over a month. I know, shocking and unacceptable behaviour!!

My excuses: Carzy business of Christmas tour, lack of access to internet, illness and busyness of Christmas and sheer lazyness of not getting round to writing posts.

I shall do my best to update in the coming days.

Thanks for your patience!!!

Had a nice lie in and spent the morning getting ready to go out! We had our office Christmas Dinner at The Quays, round the back of Basildon Festival Leisure Park. We were provided with ridiculous hats and crackers with the most bizarre ‘presents’ inside. I got a small plastic silver trumpet, that was the most normal! Had tomato soup for starters, turkey for main and profiteroles with fudge sauce instead of chocolate! Interesting, but nice! Rachel, Ollie and I then went to the cinema to see ‘Four Christmases’. Hmmm. Wasn’t as good as i’d hoped, could have been funnier, but wasn’t too bad. Think I’ll stick with Love Actually and The Holiday as essential Christmas Chick Flicks! Spent the evening doing some internet shopping and of course watching Holby City (aaaah dilemma. She finally kissed him, but then she’s been flirting with his son and she doesn’t know he has a son….what to do!).

Wednesday

Slept in. Slowly got ready whilst a coffee morning went on downstairs. I came down for the last 15mins or so and met some lovely people with some fascinating stories! Helped clear up and had a couple of chocolate biscuits mmmm. Then Rachel picked me up at 12.45 and we went to the office for a meeting on how to make MTC shorter. We managed to remove 8mins from the schedule…and add 5. Then we travelled all the way to Basildon (took like 10mins!) and had to wait for an OAP fitness class to finish before we could set up. We had 30mins less than normal to set up, but of course we managed! Were able to suspend the mirrorball at the front of the stage and have two lights on it. Looked fab! Dinner was lasagne and apple pie. Was a little nervous that all the lines has fallen out of my head during the two days off, but not to worry! My biggest battle was getting the voice in my head to shut up! Few technical hitches but hopefully no-one noticed! Rachel nearly slipped over on stage and i got wedged between two flats, and almost walked into a flat but no major disaster! We were all packed and loaded by 11pm, and was home by 11.20pm, result!

Thursday

Today has been looming in the back of my mind for ages. My designated essay writing day. I actually quite enjoy writing them, it’s just the thought of it that fills me with gloom. So i stayed in bed for as long as possible. Got up at 10.45am, took my time getting ready – baggy jeans, hoodie, no makeup, no hair straightening day (and as it turned out quite accidentally, no deodorant day :s), had breakfast, tidied my room, emptied my bin, put out some washing, decided to go into town to get some bits and see if the library had any helpful books, came back from town and it was lunchtime, had lunch – spicy butternut squash and sweet potato soup with fresh crusty bread….mmmmm so good! Stacked the dishwasher, then it was 2pm and I really couldn’t put it off any longer. Switched on the study computer…checked my email, went on Facebook, rang Mum, ordered Delirious tickets…then finally did some research! Printed out 24 pages of stuff and photocopied pages from books, then sat with my 3 different coloured highlighters (Green, Orange and Yellow if you’re interested, I can’t find my pink one) and went through everything. Moved into the conservatory to start writing…and my computer connected to an unprotected wireless network!!! So…facebook, emails etc….then started writing! Managed an hour and a half then it was time for neighbours! (not much of interest to share) Then spoke to Lewis who is poorly Poor thing. Then dinner – dessert was Tiramisu which I’ve never had before and it’s quite nice! Then back to work. Have now got all my content, just needs rearranging and sense making! Have eaten lots of dark chocolate today. I don’t like dark chocolate. But i’m discovering if you eat a lot of something you start to like it. Like now i don’t need sugar in my coffee.

Got up at 10.30am…ah bliss! Slowly got ready, cooked myself fried egg and beans on toast, added a new page to my blog and was then picked up at 12.45pm. Picked up the van from the office and Rachel, Ollie and myself travelled to Sawbridgeworth, listening to Christmas songs and singing at the tops of our voices (Me and Rachel, Ollie just shakes his head in dismay). We got to the church just before 2pm and was greeted by a guy who looked at our van and said ‘wow, you got a load of guys in the back there?’ to which Rachel replies ‘I wish!’ and then hastily feels she has to explain herself ‘erm, to help us unload all the equipment…’ Haha, funniest moment!!
We met Dan and David there and spent the afternoon setting up, working around the pews and immovable lecturn, but wasn’t all that bad. We had a nice little room and our own loo backstage…going up in the world! Dinner was a chicken casserole, bread and blueberries and cream.
Show started at 7pm and went very well. Not as many mistakes as the previous night which was good! Backstage during the show we had many an interesting conversation including the best way of going to the loo as quietly as possible…
After the show we chatted to the people there, mainly from the church itself but heard some really encouraging stories of people who had brought friends/relatives and were interested by it, or it had slightly changed their perceptions of Christians!
Packed down and started loading at 10.40. I was chief shouter outer of the order in which things needed to be loaded, tis great fun bossing the boys about!
Got back to the office about 12pm, nice crunchy frosty leaves to jump on, Rachel’s car to de-ice and a slightly unnerving moment when she found a pair of gloves on her front seat which didn’t belong to any of us…but then Ollie realised they were his!
Home by 12.20, jumped into bed and couldn’t sleep because I was cold, so i suppose got to sleep about 1.15am!

Monday

Alarm went off at 8.10am, snoozed it til 8.30am and then got up, got ready, left the house at 9.30am and the trains worked perfectly and i was in Chelmsford by 10.10am! Did some Christmas shopping, met Lewis about 10.50, we had coffee and then spent a few hours Christmas shopping – including eating a Marks and Sparks Christmas Sandwich (pretty good, but not as good as the Sainsbury ones me and Lois used to have whilst Christmas shopping for Superdrug makeup. aah, those were the days!) Left Chelmsford at 3.40pm, back at Bob and Julies just after 5pm, watched Neighbours (so predictable, yet shocking at the same time!!), had dinner (Gammon, veg and jacket potato mmmm and a raspberry/chocolate/creamy cakey thing) and watched Love Actually. Ahhh feel christmassy and warm and slushy inside!

Seriously, too much change!!!!

Left home at 10.45, then Rachel, Ollie, Dan and I travelled to Barking, arriving at Abbey Community Centre just before 12. We met David there and a few people from the Church helped us unload. We then spent the next four hours setting up everything at a fairly relaxed pace! By 4.30pm everything was done so we prayed and sat drinking tea/coffee/hot water with lemon/peppermint tea before dinner just after 5pm. Dinner was amazing; chicken in a lemony herby marinade, roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips, sweet potato, mushrooms and leeks, followed by homemade profiteroles and strawberries dipped in chocolate. Mmmmm!!

The show started at 7pm and there were about 50 people there. It all went very well, well nobody would have known our minor mistakes anyway!! I really enjoyed performing, so much better with an audience than rehearsals! The show finished at 9pm (ran half an hour longer than anticipated) and we got changed into our ‘meet and greet the people’ clothes and had drinks and mince pies while we chatted to people. Started packing down about 10pm, loaded at 10,40pm, left at 11pm, back at the office by 11.40pm, home by 12am, in bed by 12.10am!

All in all a great first tour date!!

So, Wednesday.

Opti-Weds, bit of a short one this week, Taste were away (except Matt), few people ill, so it was Me, Ollie, Matt, Lucy, Ami (who was ill and threw up) and Jeni (who was very tired). So we did some bits and pieces, I did the worship session which I think went ok, we read the first chapter of the book ‘Don’t Waste Your Life’ by John Piper, which was very good, prayed in groups and then left and I was home by 2pm! Did some stuff at home and then decided to go for a run! Yes you did read that right! Well it was run/powerwalk on the way, and powerwalking on the way back. Was quite envigorating though. Had a nice bath to reward myself. Spent the evening doing bits and pieces and then bed!

Thursday

Randomly woke up in the middle of the night to see I had a text from Rachel telling me she would pick me up at 8.15, so had to change my alarm a whole half an hour earlier. Ugh. Anyway off to Rayleigh for tech rehearsals! Set up the whole kit and spent the day going through all the bits of the Christmas Show with lights, sound and mirrorball!

Got back home just before 6pm, had dinner and a nice lazy evening.

Friday

Not so early today, in Rayleigh for 10am (after some issues getting the van out: ) and a full run through of the show. By the time we had sorted technical problems out and packed down it was 4pm, so back to the office, then back home by 5pm! Really not much exciting stuff to tell today and I don’t want to give away any of the secrets of the show! Watched Neighbours…tut tut Susan and Karl!, had dinner and coffee profiteroles for pudding…quite nice! Then watched a double bill of Hollyoaks…ooh the Warren/Mandy/Louise storyline heats up! Then went to the bathroom and all the lights went out…powercut. Ooh how exciting! We found a torch and lit some candles, not sure i’ve ever been for a wee by candle light before… but the power came back on all too soon!

So good night’s sleep tonight as the tour kicks off tomorrow in Barking. Woo!!! Christmas here we come!!!

Well Friday was a long day of working hard. From 9.30am-11.30am. Phew. Then i got the train back to Braintree! Had hot dogs and cheese at Lewis’s (how many people now fancy hot dogs?!) and then sat down quietly for the afternoon while Lewis worked. I did some Christmas shopping online, well more browsing and working out than buying!

Then went to K4J, had fun there. Did a reflection story on the paralysed man being lowered through the roof which went fairly well, they were a bit chatty though! Then we had A2J which Aaron led, talking about depression, suicide and emotions. We split into boys and girls at one point – girls talked about periods, which made all the boys giggle when we had to feedback! We played the After Eight (or in our case Tesco Value After Dinner Mint) game where you place one on your forehead and have to get it into your mouth without using your hands. i.e. wiggling your face. Hilarious to watch. Lewis won, surprise surprise, despite me trying to sabotage his attepmts!! Was a good night, got back about half 11 in the end.

Saturday

Lazy morning, Lewis made yummy egg and bacon rolls for Brunch and Wendy’s friends came over for a bit. We went into town in the afternoon to get some bits, i witnessed a bit of an argument in New Look, the police came in and everything! Then went back and did some present wrapping then went round to Sarah’s for dinner and after bathing and dressing Maddie and Emi, Sarah and Matt went out and left me in charge! Us 3 girls had cuddles on the sofa and then after some persuasion and eventually getting into bed with Maddie and her getting me in a headlock and shouting ‘NO’ everytime I tried to get out, Maddie went to sleep. Then I fed Emi and put her to bed and had a nice evening by myself drinking hot chocolate, watching some episodes of Hollyoaks and X Factor (Do I even need to comment on Britney’s performance?! Shocking. And Ruth probably shouldn’t have gone.) and trying to work out what the limited edition mystery Revels flavour is. Having tasted several but not being able to work it out I have to look up on the internet. Strawberry. Really?! How unimaginative and un-strawberry tasting. Silly. Then Emi screamed so brought her down to wind her and have some sleepy snuggles. Then Lewis came back from his Camp meeting (metting about camp, not….yeh.) and then Sarah and Matt came back and i relayed all the evenings events and then went back to get some sleep!

Sunday

Got up and ironed Lewis’s shirt (hear that Mum, I IRONED!!!! and burnt my thumb in the process), had Frosties for breakfast and went to Church for 9.30am. Church was good,I went up into Sunday School with Maddie and we made a star decoration for the Christmas Tree. Chatted to some people after Church and then went back to Lewis’s for Wendy’s stew and treacle pudding and custard mmmmmm. Then went round to Sarah’s and picked Maddie up with the intent to go swimming but there was a gala on, so we went to Starbucks for coffee and biscuits, walked round Freeport looking at the lights and then drove to the park where we played in the dark and Lewis got stuck on the slide. Funny. We then went back to Sarah’s and watched the George Yard Firework display from the kitchen window – Maddie was not nearly as impressed as we were – then back to church for 5.30pm for the evening service. Chatted to a few different people after the service then Lewis took me back to Billericay (via McDonalds – they’ve stopped donig Bacon Cheeseburger’s at the Braintree one….WHAT!!!! But we did somehow end up with an extra cheeseburger!).

Monday

Picked up at 8.40 by Rachel and we went to the office. COLD. I finally printed my newsletters yay!!! Then the internet went down so we went shopping. For props. Spent £18 on chocolate coins! (Come to a show – we give out chocolate coins!) Went back and it was lunchtime and i spent the afternoon folding my newsletter, writing names and notes and envelopes and sticknig stamps.

Then in the evening I went to Ignite, Sawyer’s Women’s ministry meeting, met some lovely people, drank mulled wine (non-alcoholic for me!), ate nibbles and sang some songs round the piano (that bit was slightly cringey but funny!!). Got home after 10 and went to bed!

Tuesday

Got up at 8.40, got a text from Rachel saying she’d pick me up at 12.35. So…what to do with my morning! I finished off allllll my newsletters and then went into town to post them. Bought some effervescent echinacea (Mum you must be so proud of me) to ward off the bugs which are lurking in the back of my head. Got back and had some carrot and coriander soup with Julie and then Rachel picked me up. We went to the Barn and met David, then from 1pm-3.30pm we went through the sketches with Ollie doing sound cues. Then we packed up and went home. Spent the rest of the day (with a brief interlude for dinner) preparing and finalising stuff for the worship session on Wednesday, watching Holby City (what IS Jac upto?!), dissecting Holby City on the phone to Mum and then having Sarah ring me to complain that Mum was too busy talking to me to talk to her. That’s because i’m the favourite daughter…..haha.

Please see my new Christmas Tour page…please come!!!

This is very cool!

I want to try and beat the current comments record on this post! Please comment! Laura might let me write some more…

The bigger the words the more Laura uses them! Hmm.. she does use the word ‘went’ and ‘back’ and ‘home’ a lot! A challenge for you all. Who can make the most interesting sentence out of these words? The prize is a mention in Laura’s blog!!

Bye for now!