I'm not a huge fan of cooking reality tv shows (or reality tv shows in general actually) but I must admit I did get very excited a few months ago when a client asked us to organise a 4 day long cooking event to launch a new fresh food wing in a shopping centre in Queensland...which meant that I would have the opportunity to meet somebody that I have a huge celebrity crush on.
Manu Feildel. Oh how I love listening to your french accent! I don't know what it is about an accent but they get me every time (sorry Timmy... I do love your Aussie twang too!)
I've been working really hard to pull everything together for this event. It's been challenging to say the least but I eventually got there after many long hours.
I flew to Brisbane just for the first day to ensure that everything ran smoothly. The night before I was due to fly I didn't sleep well at all. I kept waking every hour or so with silly things running through my mind...had I forgotten this, did I remember to do that, all these scenarios ran through my head of what could go wrong. I always do this the night before a big event.
Because my flight was so early in the morning Ella stayed the night at nanny and poppy's. I never worry when mum is looking after Ella, but this time when I drove away, I felt strange. I instantly missed her and had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I think I just felt differently because this time I was not just up the road, or a short car trip away from her, I was going to be hours away from her and not able to get home if I needed to for some reason.
I had an interesting flight to Brisbane, sandwiched in between two rather large businessmen, one of whom fell asleep and kept mumbling and twitching in his sleep. I usually always fall asleep on planes, but suddenly I wondered, what if I mumble and twitch in my sleep?! I stayed awake.
I arrived at the venue a little nervous about meeting Manu but he was very down to earth and friendly. He's definitely not a shy man!
The event was a huge success which drew a massive crowd so the client was happy, aside from one slight slip up during the day which was completely not my fault, but we won't go into that here.
We drove back to the airport in the afternoon. I had managed to remain professional the whole day and not act like some crazy, desperate, giggling fan but when we got out of the car I had to ask to have a photo with him. Mum would have killed me if I didn't get a photo with him after all!
It was such a long day and I was so looking forward to going home. Manu flew business class of course, but poor little old me was booked on a Jetstar flight. I was early for my flight so got some dinner, answered some emails and messages and then moseyed on down to the gate. I shouldn't have been surprised but it turns out that my flight was delayed by nearly two hours! No announcement as to why there was such a huge delay and not one staff member came to the gate to let everyone waiting know what was happening. All I wanted to do was go home, pick up Ella and give her an enormous hug. And then put my head down to rest. I'd been awake since 5am and on my feet all day running around making sure everything was ok so all I wanted to do was sleep.
Eventually we boarded the plane and the ride home went by quickly which was good. I had driven to the airport and for some reason whenever I got into that huge carpark I always have trouble finding my car. I am pretty good with directions and I even took down exactly where I had parked, but yet again, I walked around the car park for about 15 minutes before I found it and happily drove home.
Ella was fast asleep when I got home. I just wanted to poke her to wake her up so we could have a cuddle but instead I just watched her breathing gently and smelled her sweet hair.
Mum and dad were still awake - they usually go to bed at about 9pm so I was surprised they were still up when I got home at around 11pm. Dad had a huge grin on his face and proudly told me how good Ella had been with him. Dad doesn't get to see her all that often and the last few times that Ella has seen him she has absolutely gone wild. Her little body shakes, she sobs uncontrollably. She's just starting to become wary of people she's not that familiar with and dad also has a big bushy beard so I think that freaks her out a little bit too. But he beamed that she had been "poppy's girl" this time and hadn't cried once. I was so pleased because I could see his poor heart breaking every time she reacted so negatively around him.
So now that this big event is over I can relax just a little bit now. Next week will be busy but after that we will be on the downward slope and back into less frantic times. I can't wait for my days to be that little bit slower where I don't feel like that crazy Tasmanian Devil cartoon character buzzing around constantly.
I am looking forward to slowing down and just being able to breathe. And the next time I am feeling a little overwhelmed with the chaos that is work, I'll just look at the picture of myself and Manu! Sigh...
And this cheeky monkey never ceases to put a smile on my face either. Lately she's been doing this weird thing with her tongue all the time...
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