Did you miss me?

I hope so!!! ;-) Anyhoo I am back from my little jaunt to Chester. It was a conference for work and the first conference I have been on for 5 years!!! I like going to conferences as they always make me enthusiastic for my job which is lacking seriously of late. It is a brill opportunity to update knowledge and network. Sadly networking was limited as there were only some 60 or 70 delegates which is just the smallest number I have ever heard of. Still I managed to pick up some props for teaching and updated my knowledge a bit. There were a couple of very interesting speakers who presented work I am going to follow up on as it was quite interesting and relevant to lots of my teaching. I did not go alone Paula was with me and we joked a bit about what I would blog about our trip. We did get a little lost (well not really lost more side tracked) not sure if that was my fault as the map reader or the AA instructions but we were at one point heading for Peterborough rather than Chester!!! Anyway we got to the hotel had a fab dinner and then crashed! The conference was Friday and Saturday but we managed to get a little shopping time in on Friday afternoon! I bought my raclett cheese so Tony and I can have a raclet (sp?) sometime soon. Paula was quite worried about the smell but the cheese was very well behaved!!!
We left the conference early as Paula's sister was rushed to hospital with appendicitus and it was a 5 hour journey. It was not an emergency to get home but we wanted to be on our way in case of any problems!
I have posted a couple of pictures of Chester!!! I have now just found out that I was very close to one of my friends off Frit Happens which I am completely gutted about I could have met up!!! I know where she lives roughly but my geography is so crap I did not realise that it was near to where I was going! :-(

The picture I have posted today is my first attempt at an idea that has been poottling around my brain for a little over a year now! It is an Art Clay pendant with one of my handmade glass beads floating in the middle! There are a few things that need refining but I am very pleased with it! Please excuse the cruddy picture it is taken with my mobile but hopefully you get the idea!!!
Right gotta go, hubby home and we have a trip to Asda to keep us amused!!!

TTFN x