Tales from the Vienna Woods

I have just got back from five days 'en famille' in Vienna. I don't usually blog about personal experiences but this one was such a huge event that it seems churlish not to give it my full attention today and who better to share with than the people who care enough to read my occasional jottings?

The context: this year is the 60th anniversary of my parents' marriage and they still hold hands and adore each other. It is also both their 80th birthdays. My dad, therefore, put it to us months ago that he would like us all to join them in a favourite place for a weekend. Gorgeous husband and I decided to make more of it and arrived early to spend three days in Vienna with them as well - the others all came out on Saturday by which time we were along the Danube in a beautiful 'Scloss Hotel' in a medieval village called Durnstein.

It has been one of the best holidays ever because:

Vienna is the most beautiful city - amazing architecture, fabulous boulevards, elegant and wonderful places to eat and all so easy to manage. Charming people everywhere and the best galleries and museums. Can you tell that I loved it? Best of all was being guided by my dad - Vienna is where he was born and although he left as a young boy, it has always remained a place he feels very close to. He knows every nook and cranny, tells wonderful stories about his childhood and took us to the best Hungarian restaurant in the world, outside Budapest.

On Saturday, we packed up and moved on to the beautiful village, beautiful hotel, beautiful spa and the others joined us for the weekend. It's been a while since we were all (eleven of us) together like this and, despite some serious concerns and anxieties beforehand, it worked a treat. We swam, played games, walked in the village, ate too much, drank too much and talked and talked and talked. We had prepared a presentation dvd for the parents, with a lifetime's photographs and Mozart soundtrack - they were knocked out.

Then, the icing on the cake - my beautiful, wonderful and brilliant daughter announced that the next generation is on the way! (I've known for weeks but have been sworn to secrecy until her 12-week scan )

So it has been an emotional and amazing time with a few tears (very hard to see my parents clearly saying goodbye to many of their old haunts)  but mostly laughs. My favourite moment?

Looking at a Rubens painting in the fine arts museum and my mother saying: "I must be the luckiest person in the world; twice over lucky because I get to see these fabulous paintings and I appreciate seeing them so much.

Ditto.

Bye for now.

Angie

Festival Time / Art, Culture and Friends

The last two weeks have been so sociable that I feel as though a) my feet have hardly touched the ground and b) I've talked my lips off. The gorgeous husband and I have been to 3 parties, the first beach BBQ of the year, a superb play written by a seriously brilliant young man (look out for Michael Flexer in the future) and a dozen artists' open houses because, of course, it's the Brighton Festival. We have also drunk too much tea and eaten too many cakes in the beautiful gardens displaying sculpture and, well, cake!

There is something so fab about walking around  the town, looking at exhibitions and coming across friends on almost every street corner. As always, we have bought a couple of pieces from favourite artists and the new painting looks just amazing on the wall. The whole event suits Brighton perfectly; it's just whacky enough so that you never know quite what's going to happen  but at the same time, so safe that it makes the whole thing a doddle. 

So all this and two amazing new clients - YMCA and Notting HIll Carnival, I can't wait to start working with you lovely people. Let's get the planning over with and get stuck in.

Watch this space for exciting developments with these and lots of other new stuff.

See you soon,

Angie

Endings and beginnings (and a train journey)

Realised I haven't blogged for a while - that's because I've been working away in Birmingham on  the hottest days of the year so far! It really makes me appreciate living by the sea. Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting Birmingham down - it's a great place, very vibrant and has a buzz about it. But you can't beat sea breeze and the opportunity to go down to the beach when it's five minutes from your doorstep!

So to endings; last week I finished coaching two clients and it got me thinking about the process all over again. Out of everything I do, the 1-1 stuff is often  the most exhausting, unpredictable, exciting and rewarding work. These guys were amazing and I bet they don't know that I learned as much from them as they did from me. It's hard to say good-bye to them but at the same time, great that they have moved on. 

And beginnings -last week, four delegates didn't turn up for a course so I had the day with just two charming chaps; we worked our socks off and explored everything about their attitudes towards being assertive and communicating to sound 'as though they mean it'. I think we will see more of these two on other trainings and I'm looking forward to that.

I promised myself ages ago that I would never turn into a blogger who harps on about trains and difficult journeys, and I won't. BUT this was a cracker! From Euston to Birmingham takes an hour and a half and it's always a very busy train, no matter what time you pick to travel. So when one train is cancelled, you can imagine the impact on the next one. A million people cramped into not enough space on a very hot day is potentially a recipe for disaster. How interesting that, just as we are always being told, the whole community in adverse situations thing kicked in straight away and there we all were, chatting, swapping stories, buying each other cups of tea and generally being best friends by the end of the journey.

Every cloud, eh?

Bye for now.

Growing old is inevitable but growing up is a matter of choice

This was on the front of a birthday card I got this morning and it got me wondering about the growing up thing.

Birthdays - why do they always make us take stock, look back, wonder 'what if' and so on? Well not this year. This time, I'm only looking forward.

This is what I'm planning:

More great work with existing and new clients.

Develop the 'impact' seminars to take place in 6 UK locations.

Take the plunge with another large tender.

Write blog regularly.

Eat more green vegetables.

Buy (and then remember to use) very expensive face care products

Maintain gym attendance.

Get gorgeous husband to agree New York trip.

Catch up with at least one old friend a month.

Yes, it's my birthday today and I'm feeling great so here's to the next twelve months - bring it on!