Sat Sep 17 - Last night, in my big push to get ready for the event, I got my laundry done first, since not only was I at the end of my clean clothing, it would also give me a restful hour to work on lucet cords. Finished my grocery shopping, sat up late working on the remaining lucet cords, and even got several of the charms sewn on before I finally had to crash at 1:15 am.

I managed to wake at 4:45 am, shower, dress, pack, and hit the road by 6:00 am. I wanted to be on the road by 5:30, but 6 was close enough. And there were no traffic snarls, so I got on site by 7:10 am. This was incredibly important, since I was in charge of marking out where everyone got to set up for the event.

All those things I mentioned on Thursday that I needed to finish? Several plumb fled from my head entirely. One, I never did remember to find the Sable Oak medallions (an award from our local shire) and paint any more. Two, I never did remember that I was going to create a restaurant map. Half way down the freeway, early early this morning, I remembered about the maps and swore and cursed spontaneously. Once I was already on site, someone asked me about the award medallions, and I merely gasped, covered my mouth, and my eyes popped out of my head. Good thing they're attached.

But besides those tiny details, today was actually a blast. I was actually the second person on site, and Aran and I got the site layout organized fairly quickly. I brought a large flip-chart (from back in the days of teaching Sunday School and being a Technical Trainer, I love keeping a flip-chart on hand) and was able to set up a "You Are Here, Go Set Up There" map before most people were on site. We made the ranger happy early in the morning, which was important since is the first time we've used this State Beach, and we'd like to be able to return again.

Once everyone was organized for setup, I had just enough time to get my things set up, set out, cleaned up, and dressed, and it was time for Court to start. They awarded Sable Oaks to Luzia and Elizabeth Greene, and a Court Baronacy to Aran. There are some AoA's that *weren't* awarded, that disappoints me, but I'm going to see what I can do about that for the future. I just have to find out what events certain people plan to attend, and see what I can do.

Mary Taran and Alyce saved my behind, massively, by working needle and thread at lightning speed. They finished all the Consort favors in time for presentations, for which I declared they were my "Heroines of Splendooooor!"—and the Premier Members of that Order, in fact. Hope had all the "Bruise Balm" pots done—the herbal guild had brewed up some essential oils and herbs, mixed with beeswax, to make a salve that helps heal bruises quickly. I purchased little 4 oz salve pots online, dark blue with white lids, and they turned out marvelously. The ladies of the court had handkerchiefs for consort gifts and cookies for fighter gifts, and the Court was impressed that Darach had gifts too.

I never realized that that Court did the gifts, and thought the hosting group did them. This was why we had Consort favors (all those lucet cords with charms) and the Fighter favors (the bruise balm). I need to find out who all helped make all the balm, so I can send thank you cards to everyone. Well, needless to say we impressed Her Majesty and the ladies of Her Court, by having all these items available. And I guessed correctly—there were about 40 sets of fighters/consorts in Lists, and we made 50 of everything. We were really lucky, because the court only made 39 handkerchiefs.

The day itself went *really* fast, and I have no idea how it flew by so quickly. I never did get around to volunteering for heraldry or field marshalling, but this was probably all well and good that I didn't. I was so exhausted and so sore (from all the walking in new shoes yesterday), that it was all I could do to relax with friends and walk around a little bit. Miryam has been expanding her custom jewelry business significantly, and I fell in love with some lapis lazuli small rectangular beads she has. So I decided to commission a bracelet from two strands of the beads, and it came out to only $15. I may have to commission more jewelry!

I spent a good portion of the afternoon hanging out with Lorissa, Flavia & John, Robert du Bois, and other old-timers. We created a "Team OverAchievers" for a History of the Kingdom trivia quiz and had an absolute blast together. I love this household of people, and I love hanging out with them.

Renata sought me out to give me a personal gift for running the Spice game last week at Angels Anniversary, which was a huge surprise for me. I just was doing what I always do, and to get so many spontaneous gifts of thanks is almost embarassing. Lovely, but makes me blush. [It was a little jar of medieval spices blended together, which I look forward to finding out how to use.]

Then I tried my hand at backgammon again, and again Raphael kicked my behind soundly at the game, twice! Even *with* strategy hints on a few moves. *heavy sigh* I'm going to need to start reading game strategy books, to just hold my own if I'm going to hang out at a Gaming Inn.

Finally, when it was time to clean up and leave, my roomie surprised me by taking down and packing up my dayshade when I wasn't looking. She had helped me set it up, and remembered every little idiosyncrasy about my methodology and took it down and put it away exactly the way I would. Have I mentioned lately that I have one of the coolest roomies in the world?

Let's see, who all went out to dinner together? Saul, his sister Shoshana, her friend Lauren, me, my roomie Mel, and our friend Raz. We went for Thai Peruvian—a misleading restaurant name because it's not a blend of the food types, but apparently owned by a married couple (of the two ethnicities) so the menu includes Thai food or Peruvian food. Everyone opted for Thai, and we had a lovely dinner. Poor Saul's food was forgotten, so he was served really late, and even though they forgot to *take* my order until the first food was being served, I got my food right away.

Afterwards, everyone headed out to their respective homes and I went over to Dayle's to crash. I wasn't sure how long they would be at their dinner, so I curled up on one of the couches to catch a nap before everyone came back. I could have sworn that I had confirmed staying overnight Saturday, but apparently I surprised them. But it all worked out—Brianna got the guest bed in the media room, Su and Lachlan each took one of the upstairs rooms, and I took Dayle's writing office downstairs. I'm going to need to invest in an air mattress again. I think mine must have either been stolen or lost over the years. I really ought to have one on hand. Hmm, maybe it should just live in my car for emergencies? *grin*
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Recently Listening to: Poe "Haunting"