Green Girl Gardener

I have been waiting to write this post for ages, but I couldn’t because my news hadn’t been announced at work until this week.

This still from Friends perfectly illustrates how I’ve felt for the past few weeks, not being able to share my exciting news properly. This is the moment when Rachel arrives home after being promoted to assistant buyer at Bloomingdales but Monica and Phoebe start to have a disagreement and exit the apartment, leaving Rachel to celebrate her promotion on her own.

I’ve worked for the same company for sixteen years and whilst I’ve had a few new responsibilities added to my job description over the years, I was essentially doing the same job as I turned forty that I was doing when I started with the company at twenty five. I talked to you before about how I loved being forty and how reaching the big four oh gave me a confidence that I hadn’t had before, but it also made me realise that I needed to step it up at work if I wanted to fulfil my potential and progress in my career. So, over the past year I have worked really hard and applied myself in a way that I had never done previously. I didn’t know how to before, but it all seemed to click into place in my head, and it’s paid off and I have been promoted to Account Manager.

The hard work starts now, but I’m excited to get going in my new role and I’m determined to make a success of it.

On the day I was given the good news, I decided to go and treat myself to some goodies to celebrate, from the little craft shop in Notcutts.

The panda is a stitch counter and the little green octopus is a tiny pair of snips that I can attach to my project bag so I always have them handy when I need them. I’m going to use one of the coasters on my desk at work as a reminder of the elation I felt at having my hard work recognised.

Last night I attended my first work event since my promotion and although I don’t have new business cards yet, it felt amazing to be able to introduce myself as an Account Manager to people that I met during the evening, and to share my news with a few customers and contacts who also attended the event.

The event was the NASS (National Association of Steel Service Centres) annual dinner held at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.

My company is one of the sponsors of the dinner (although not Liberty as shown on the invite) every year and hosts a table. I was lucky enough to be invited this year by the lovely Karen who organises the event which meant I got to meet and chat with a couple of people that I’ve never met before.

It’s a black tie event, so I treated myself to a new LBD from Next.

Excuse the loo roll in the background. I took this in my hotel room as I was leaving for pre-dinner drinks.

The hotel was the Best Western Manor hotel. I’ve stayed here a couple of times for work events and it’s a nice hotel. Comfortable rooms, good breakfast and WiFi that actually works.

My new Therapy bag was the perfect accessory to the LBD and I used my new purse which was a birthday present from my sister-in-law.

Allegedly it’s bad luck to gift an empty purse, so my sister-in-law had put a shiny pound coin in it, and it really came in handy because there were Breast Cancer Care pin badges on sale at the entrance to the venue so I bought one.

Every year the NASS president nominates a charity to sponsor, and Breast Cancer Care is one close to his heart. He spoke passionately about the work the charity does and how appreciative he is, and guests were invited to donate to the charity. People did give generously and more than £3500 was raised. One lucky benefactor was picked out of the hat to win a magnum of champers.

I didn’t win, but I can console myself with the memory of this bottle of Moët which my Dad bought me to congratulate me on my promotion. We all enjoyed this on my birthday night out.

The dinner itself was scrummy. Having had experience of organising events on a large scale, I know how hard it is to get great quality in mass catering and also to please all, but everybody I spoke to thoroughly enjoyed their meal. We had four courses starting with mild tomato soup flavoured with tarragon followed by an amazing hot pastry parcel filled with Boursin, leeks and mushroom. The main was fillet of beef which was cooked perfectly for me. I know some people like beef to be bloody but if I’m going to have a steak I prefer it not to be running round my plate. Dessert was a pastry tart filled with vanilla custard cream and seasonal fruits.

I so wish I’d taken some photos of the food to show you because the presentation was beautiful, but I was too busy chatting away to the guy next to me about travel and festivals and a little bit of steel stuff and enjoying the yummy flavours to whip my phone out.

One thing that was on the table that I can show you a photo of was the table gift given by the company NLMK.

Wireless headphones. I shouldn’t really praise them because they’re from a competitor, but what a great table gift! I must remember this for next time I’m asked to come up with ideas for customer gifts.

Anyway, after being coerced into staying up until 2am by my colleagues at the risk of turning into a pumpkin, and then going to work this morning, I’m yearning for my bed so I’ll apologise for any sleep deprivation induced spelling or grammatical errors and make my way up the apples and pears to my slumber chamber.

Have a great weekend!