Glad to be Home!

This is some of my stash of freebies from CHA which, above, includes a 12 x 12 pad from Graphic45, Tsukineko ink pads and reinkers, pliers, Prima flowers and papers, etc., etc., ... below are all the totes I was given by many of the manufacturers. I also bought quite an amount so you can understand why I wore 6 layers of clothes to come home! Well .. really it was incase we were stranded due to the snow, in NY or diverted to anywhere cold!!

Arrived Friday morning in good old Blighty (that's a slang and very fond term for homeland England, incase you don't know) after an eventful flight. 

In LAX Carol was taken to another place and given the full search treatment to her bags and her person so it was not too pleasant. With lots of crafty bits and bobs in her cases it took ages as they dusted and checked over every item. Eventually focusing on the Martha Stewart score boards in there so I don't know if they thought they were hollow and holding illegal substances. Luckily they did repack her cases but we barely got to the gate before boarding was announced.

In JFK we boarded and waited for takeoff for nearly an hour then had to get off with all our baggage as there was a problem with the cabin air pressure. Worry, worry..... so another wait before we finally took off, 90 mins late, for a VERY turbulent flight due to all the storms across USA. Amazingly, the plane made up time and we arrived home only 20 minutes late from sunny LA to cold wet Manchester.

CHA was a wonderful experience after a relaxing and fun visit to our friends in the San Fernanado Valley but it really is good to be home.

I loved the warm open friendliness of all the people we met and all the wonders we saw in that different world apart but I'm glad to get back to life without air conditioning drying out my lips, skin and hair. It's lovely to have cold drinks without more ice than liquid, fresh cooked food, a lovely cup of tea, and most of all my DH... I really missed him. Oh yes... it's good to speak and hear REAL English too. I'm longing for fish and CHIPS!!!! real chips, not crisps, fresh cooked CHIPS not skinny fries!!!

Thanks to Carol introducing me to Melatonin, which we took on flights outbound and homeward, I slept solid Friday night from 11.30pm until 9am, bringing me right back to the UK time scale, then I went to Victoria Stampers on Saturday for a full day's workshop. No jet lag, feel fine and slept last night from midnight until almost noon today. Last us trip I was a zombie for 3 weeks and it put me off flying long haul.

A few more CHA treasures....

 These acrylic memory books are a really excellent idea.

 Claudine Helmuth's retro style stamps and new rocker blocks (these work so well and even if you get excess ink round the image the ridge on the rocker stops it transferring to the card when stamped)

 Save all your cotton reels for this great idea

Some of Wendy Vecchi's great artwork

I'll keep adding CHA pics day to day until I run out but here's a place we loved ...

we visited Golden Spoon where Mary treated us to their specialty, low fat absolutely delicious frozen yoghurt.....

 Mary, Neet, Jo and Caz

If you ever spot a Golden Spoon  be sure to pop in as it was the most delicious and lowest calorie item I ate in America.

So many flavours and lots more choices of toppings. I chose fresh strawberries and blueberries for mine but the lovely server, Josh, let me sample, for free, 4 other ice creams and about 10 toppings, so much so that I could only manage to eat a mini serving that was paid for!

 All served with the Golden Spoons by the lovely, charming young guy we all fell for..... Josh!
 I bet there's a pic on Neet's blog of him.