Well, we got on the road yesterday early and I was glad since Peoria, AZ is a bit of a hall. We made good time and got to site just on time. Though I had to pee and we had to make a run to the bathroom.

Got to the library and wonderful travel companion and sharer of my brain scribe_ari helped me get things set up with just enough time to get dressed before court.

Here is a iphone pic of my display, I'll have better one's from my camera later but this is for a quick look.


The scroll is on the left, then the fabric I wove, the embroidery for HRM Gylian of Ansteorra, then is the temple rings and the clothes I made for TRM Tristan and Damiana. I was really proud of how everything was displayed and we used a few library books to boost the heights of things like the head the temple rings were displayed on and the fabric.

I had to wait until 130pm to give my presentation speech...so I spent time making my outline for what I was going to talk about. I thought I had 30 mins. Well, during the presentation I found out I had 15. Yikes. So, I think my presentation was funnier than I intended. I only got a few questions from the judges which was a bit unnerving, I expected more but I guess my docs were in order. Maestra Angela told me later (she was one of my judges) that she really enjoyed reading my docs. Then I had my interview with the Crown and TRH. I was a bit more at ease with that since I've known Phelan and Amriah for a while and gotten to know Tristan and Damiana this reign. I think I answered their questions well and I think I also gave good feed back to Raven since the face to face judging things still freaks me out but I can totally see how it can help folks who really don't write well, who have disabilities to really shine and show their knowledge and I suggested that it become and option for the competition.

After I was done I headed to the judges room to find out if they needed help with judging. And the answer was yes and I judged metalwork and leatherwork. I was done after that though my brain wasn't too sharp and I was tired. Got to talk with the hubby for a bit before court. He was having a really good time at the conference and was happy to hear things went okay. Then it was time for court and lots of good folks got recognized, marianavivia's ceremony was really really nice and the winners were announced. So happy for msamieesue cause Mistress Elspeth was quite taken with her mittens and she won the novice category for her entry. Then HRM Tristan got down to the competition winner announcement. I have to say I was nervous, I've been nervous all day and the day before and by that point my heart was racing. I thought my heartbeat was causing my tummy to jump around but Ari confirmed the baby was doing somersaults from all of my adrenaline. She and Storvarr got to feel the baby move and I have to say I was pretty close to tears. About then Tristan announced that I had won the championship and I was kinda in shock. I had no idea looking at the competition how things were looking. All of the entries were so different and having judged last year it was tough even with 2 entrants versus 4 this year.

Storvarr escorted me up to the stage and the baby was still twittering around in my womb. Wow. I sank down and Tristan spoke about how things were very close and how he loved my fabric etc. Amirah was beaming at me the whole time and I was trying not to be faint. I was shaking from too much excitement. I got the champions chain (which so doesn't go with Viking clothing) and got a very pretty music scroll done by HL Hrefna on real vellum. I'm going to have to learn the music on it. Court finished up and I got escorted back and I will admit that I tweeted the outcome and texted Mel and Ed.

Packing up I was exhausted, lots of congratulations all around. I got to meet a neat laurel from An Tir and got lots of hugs and luv which was very welcome I was so tired. The adrenaline was slow leaving. I was okay with that but got everything packed up, got changed into modern clothes. Jost was AWESOME and made sure that Ari, I and Storvarr were okay, packed and prepared for driving. We told him we were stopping for dinner on the way home and he was happy with that. Such a good knight that guy. I was glad he made sure we got off okay. We were some of the last to leave site.

We headed to rock bottom in Chandler and the dust storm was pretty icky. Luckily it all blew over while at dinner. Had good food, Storvarr and Ari got good beer and we headed on the way about 9pm. Got home and I was sore and tired. Ari helped me get unloaded and then she headed home. She was awesome to drive us home. Then I showered and crawled into bed so tired I didn't even read. I slept well and the girls let me sleep in till almost 8am. I got up and was very sore. After reading bertana's tweet about running 9miles before breakfast I knew that a good fast walk would do me good. I chatted with mom and then headed out to Joe's. I had a nice breakfast and then walked home the long way. I think I did almost 1.5 miles. That was good. Mel called me on my way home and we chatted about his trip to a Shaker Village today. He was heading to get lunch and then to find antique and knitting stores before he heads home tomorrow afternoon. I miss him. I wish he could have been there for stuff yesterday but he was having a really good time and learning lots.

Well, I'm gonna take it easy today, get the house cleaned up and ready for scribble and the like. Its been a bit of a mess since I started in the A&S rush, the family room is covered in stacks of books and they all need to get put away and the dishes need to get done.

Have a good day folks.