In 2004 I travelled to Banff, Canada and lived there for 6 months! I was 21 years of age, I had never left home before on my own for more than a week and most importantly, I'd never spent time away from my twin sister Kirsty. I was unbelievably lucky that I happened to meet and make friends with the most fantastic group of people, and one of those people was Leonie.
I met Leonie one fateful night in the Storm Cellar - the bar in the hostel that I had just moved back into (after a disasterous stay in an apartment) so I remember being quite emotional that evening, and I happened to sit down at a table next to an absolutely lovely guy from Sheffield, called Neil and we soon discovered that we had both worked in the same hotel in Banff in the housekeeping department. The hotel was notorious for not keeping it's staff and consequently I had lasted a day and he had lasted two. Neil was so relieved that he had found someone who had quit earlier in time scale than him (I think the term loser, may have been used around this time!), and after a lot of teasing, we immediately became friends (and I ended up getting him his next job working in the same store as me ;) It was through him I met Leonie. Leonie was only a few years older than me and was from Australia, and I think I adopted her as my older sister during my time in Banff. She was always so easy to talk to, and she always told it straight which is something I will always thank her for. I adored her for that. Out of all the friends I made in Banff there were around 5 of us that remained very close.
Last year we had a reunion in Dublin! I had met some of the gang over the three years that had passed, but not all of us together and that weekend was absolutely fantastic. But to our surprise, not only did Leonie show up, but so did 'bump'. Leonie was pregnant, and in November 2007 baby Mia was born.
From left: Leonie (and bump), Me, Holly, Louise and Neil
Picture courtesy of Leonie: from left - Holly, Lousie, Neil and Me
So, at the start of October Leonie contacted me and asked, if it was possible for me to design an invitation for Mia's 1st Birthday Party so that she could email it to everyone who they wanted to invite. So with some photo gathering and snapping from Leonie's end and a number of exchanged emails later, three invitations were designed... and as Leonie found it hard to decide which one she liked best, she sent out all three! =)
This morning I got this lovely message sent to my inbox...
Hello Miss Carly,
I have received a few acceptances for Mia's party and so far that have all made a comments about the invitations...
"Absolutely love the invite"
"What a great invitation!! - very impressed"
"Just perfect. The invite is beautiful..."
So you now have another business venture to carry you through the wedding off season.
You're a Star xxx
Leonie, thank you for putting a massive smile on my face this morning and taking me back down memory lane whilst writing this post =) xoxo
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