Back in the swing of things

The roadtrip was long but good, the course I did was fantastic, and Parachute was awesome! AND I had my birthday in the middle of it all :) Here's the short-winded version...

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My puppy was sad that we were packing everything up except for him :(

The trip was long, well it felt alot longer than the 7 hours I predicted. I can't remember what time we arrived, but it was in time to grab a quick bite to eat, and then fall into bed. I managed to do nearly everything I mentioned I would do on the trip, so I was happy!

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The music course that we did was so worth the trip. It was called InTune, run by Vision College, and it focussed on worship leading from a musical p.o.v.

Music to practise at the end of Day One - two of the eight songs we had to learn...

We started with a guest speaker each morning, then a theory session, followed by instrument tuition (I took my bass guitar) and then gathering into an 'ensemble' to work on our songs, with a final 'performance' to the group on Friday morning. It was great to get loads of practical skills to bring back :)

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My new toy!

After school one day I couldn't resist dragging mum to the nearest Spotlight so I could make the most of a short VIP members sale - and I bought myself an early birthday present! I'm so excited to start using it! I'm sure for the most part it will be used for hemming pants and that kind of thing, but I have dabbled in a little patchwork before, so i'm hoping to get back into that.

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Special birthday cupcakes that my sister made for me before we left - complete with stunning cupcake holder!

Then it was my birthday! I was treated to embarrassment a suprise when my dad stood up and got the whole class to sing me happy birthday... ok I admit, it was lovely! I even had a gorgeous rose delivered to me while I was in my bass tuition class!

And I was taken to dine-in Pizza Hutt for dinner - there are none left in Wellington now, so that was an awesome treat!

My AWESOME birthday present!

As for my birthday present, I was lucky enough to get a Knit Picks interchangable needle set, which i've wanted since I first heard about them! Thanks to Morag from Vintage Purls for sending them up to my mum so quickly :)

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This already full-on week was then followed by a long weekend at Parachute 09 - a Christian music festival with loads of bands and speakers.

Rapture Ruckus!!! And Dr Bob :)

These were two of my favourite acts over the weekend - Brad from Rapture Ruckus is from Wellington (the only hip hop artist i'm a fan of!) and Dr Bob plays 12 bar blues, which stood out from the rest of the pop/rock line up.

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So, that's the story of my week! As you can imagine now, i'm absolutely shattered, but still managing to get through work. I'm off again for another long weekend on Friday afternoon, so i'm loving the quiet nights until then! I'll leave you with this - my stash enhancement from the week away - just cheap acrylic, but i'm going to start making toys!

Acrylic joy :)