Well, it’s April 26, 2019 and it is the beginning of the very first MAWB Retreat. The venue is Clonmel Castle in Port Dover, and can you believe they let us have the run of the place? Theme for the night: Girls Just Want to Have Fun!
Festivities started at 6:30 and we kicked off with a special MAWBtail and a toast! Dinner was served from 6:30-8:15, and was an Indian feast. There was basmati rice and naan as a base, a selection of sauces, salad, and a choice of butter chicken or a spicy vegetarian curry. Dessert choices were gluten-free muffins and chocolate brownies.
During the kick off, we were handed envelopes for our MAWB Bucks and a Bingo card. The MAWB Bucks are being collected for use on the auction prizes, and they’re being awarded for certain planned achievements, and certain random achievements. We each also have some special MAWB Bucks that we will award to our fellow MAWBsters for whatever reasons we want, like you made a new friend and you want to welcome them, or someone has been a great networking partner. The reasons are as varied as the women in the room.
Before the weekend we were all asked to fill in a questionnaire with, I have to say, some really unusual questions on it. Our answers were then distributed across the squares on the Bingo cards and we were instructed to go out and interact and find out who went with which answer. An example: Whose favourite ice cream is pistachio? The answer to that question was me! I was the only one out of all the surveys who had that answer, so it went on a lot of the Bingo cards. I am also going to add that this is about the tamest answer on all the Bingo cards, lol!
After dinner, all the Bingo-related prizes had been awarded and socializing was the order of the day. The tiara contest was judged (did I mention there was a tiara contest? We were asked earlier in the week to bring crowns or tiaras to wear for the Friday night festivities, homemade or store bought), and more MAWB Bucks were awarded. We all looked fabulous dah-ling! A photo booth was also set up, with funny, goofy props, and many group photos were taken.
I was one of the snack sponsors for the weekend, and it wasn’t planned, but we broke out my Snack Mix late in the evening. Snack Mix is something I started making for my kids when they were little as an alternative to having chips in the house. I really believe when we’re looking for a snack we are not craving a particular food, we are craving a food experience: salty, sweet, crunchy, creamy, or savoury. I make Snack mix so that it’s hits all of these buttons and you are completely satisfied. And because you’re satisfying your snack craving, you end up eating less. When I made it for the kids it was usually a combination of goldfish, both plain and cheesy, pretzels, chocolate covered raisins, and corn bran cereal. When I make it for grownup snacking needs, it’s pretzels, sweet and salty pop corners, mini eggs, and Chicago Mix popcorn (half caramel and half cheddar cheese). When I make it for myself I usually use something covered in dark chocolate, like blueberries, cranberries, but really, you can use whatever combination you like, just make sure it hits all the crave buttons.
That’s all for Day One. I hope all you MAWBsters out there reading this are living the experience vicariously through this blog. And start planning for the next Retreat. More to come tomorrow! Good night, everybody. You’ve been a great audience.
