CyberMummy 11

So this last weekend was CyberMummy. I had yesterday off from work to try and recover and also to clean the house but I'm still so tired that I can't think straight.....forgive any spelling mistakes or any ramblings. Before I get properly started I need to say a HUGE thank you to my lovely sponsor Rebecca from Dodo Pad who made it all possible!

On Friday, I made my way down to London and before going to the conference went and met my American Mom's best friend at Harrods.....very posh darlings! Admittedly we didn't stay there because it's too bloody expensive so we went to a cafe across the road:

They were just the loveliest people and I really wish that I could have hung out with them for the entire day. Friday night saw me staying with Karen from All about the Boys at the Hoxton hotel (kinda trendy but also slightly pretentious) I went out for dinner with Sandy and some other lovely ladies and to my great delight made some new bloggy friends:  

We also got out first SWAG bag with some fab goodies in it.....huge kudos to Sandy for organising it all!  After a hot and almost sleepless night it was CyberMummy time!!!    It was at a different venue this year and set up kind of differently but I liked that!!

After all the opening stuff, first up on stage was Sarah Brown, the ex-Prime Ministers wife and a complete inspiration. Her speech was warm, funny and well thought out. More importantly she understand us bloggers and wasn't patronising or condescending or paid......other speakers should take note *ahem* Rachel Johnson *ahem*..... Anyways I wanted to get a picture with Sarah and very cheekily jumped in during her book signings to ask if she would have a picture taken....where upon my camera battery died and then my phone camera wouldn't work......she must think I'm the biggest dork that ever lived.....third time lucky and it finally worked:

The first proper session that I attended was a writing workshop with Sophie King. Now, I was expecting this to be the highlight of my day but it was a bit bizarre to be honest. I'm presuming that Sophie had been wrongly briefed on what to deliver but that's no excuse for being rude or dismissive to people. About halfway through there was a mass exodus as a lot of people got up and walked out which she can't have been surprised at considering she'd been dismissive about Nickie's blog name and Kat's Dear So and So. I don't think anyone expects to pay £100 plus for their tickets and then be insulted. It did improve towards the end and I think that if Sophie had stuck to what she knows it could have been an informative session as I did actually come away with some ideas.

My second session of the day was Jay's Photography workshop which was a huge breath of fresh air after the first session! I was paired up with The Coffee Lady and I think this is my favourite shot that I took of her:

At lunch I got to catch up with some of my girlies as well as some of the sponsors. A huge shoutout to the lovely people on the Ubisoft stand who saved my life with chocolate and caffeine after a teeny, tiny lunch!!! In the afternoon I attended the Blogger to Blogger inspiration workshop with talks by Tara Cain, Maggy and Rachael. I have to confess that I completely skipped the last session because by then I was shattered and didn't think that my brain could take in any more information and I was more than happy to sit and chill out in the recharge room with this troublemaker:

Again, I'm not sure what brief Rachel Johnson was given but getting up on stage unprepared and rambling bollocks is not in my opinion a good speaker.....I honestly don't know what the point of her being there was but feel free to enlighten me if you do know!!!  The keynote speeches as always were a combination of laughter and tears but no-one made me cry harder than Nickie from Typecast with a moving story of her daughter's battle with cancer :'-(

After lots of free wine at the after party, we had the lovely job at checking in to the the most delightful Travelodge EVER!! Not only did they not have our booking but they only had doubles left.....it's a good job I like Emily, innit??? There was no air con, the lift had a mind of its own and couldn't count correctly and we had the most spectacular view....of a brick wall!!  None of which a few more glasses of wine couldn't solve! There were some After-parties, none of which I was invited too, so we held one of our own and went out for a lovely meal and some drinks. The girls that had been at 'Dildo Bob's Decorating Party' came to join us (these are the tame pictures!!!).........

Wouldn't be CyberMummy without a Sandy Calico boob shot ;-)  

I shan't name the blogger in this picture!!!

Of course one of the amazing things about CyberMummy is the amount of great 'swag' that the sponsors give away. I thought that I was quite good this year and said no thanks to an awful lot of stuff but I still did really well.......I'm especially loving the Disney bag which I've hidden from Chick until it's birthday/Christmas time!!! This was my haul:

It was a blast my lovelies...........until next year.........

Silent Sunday - 26.06.11

Thirty Five Years

So, those of you that pay attention may have noticed (thanks to my constant whining!!!) that I turned this age yesterday:

Obviously I celebrated in style.....starting with the above chocolate cake and then rather a lot some of this:

Ooooooh and maybe a couple of these:

Originally when I booked my travel to CyberMummy all I could afford was a really cheap coach fare but a gorgeous person who I love very much has bought me First Class rail tickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's probably sad that I'm so excited about this but yay for me! I also had some amazing presents from my amazing work colleagues and friends including THE most awesome handbag....pics to follow!

The highlight of my day (even though it made me cry) was a text message from my Mum that said:

Happy Birthday Darling.

I just wanted you to know that the day you were born 35 years ago was the happiest day of my life. I had dreamed of having my own baby since I was Chick's age and I am so proud of the way you live your life, which I know is hard sometimes and for what you have achieved with your career and bringing up the gorgeous Chick on your own. 

I love you with all my heart. Have a great day and I'll call you in a while

Mum xxx

---------------------------------------------------

Do you see why I cried?? Just the most lovely start to my birthday I could have asked for!!

I'm continuing the celebration and excitement tomorrow with my trip to London for CyberMummy and meeting my American Mom's best friend for a hug!!! Maybe 35 won't be so bad after all..............

Tracks of my Years & Karaoke Meme

So this week I'm going to be totally lazy and do Tracks of my Years but also incorporate the Karaoke Meme that I was so kindly tagged in by the lovely Cass.....you should definitely check out her song becuase it had me laughing and crying in equal measure!!!! I have to admit to HATING karaoke with a passion and I've only sung it about three times in my entire life.......each time when under the influence of alcohol ;-)

The first time stands out vividly amongst a hazy night. When I was 18 and all kinds of a mess because my Dad had just died, I decided in my wisdom to move 200 miles away from the rest of my family and work at a holiday camp in Somerset. It generally involved staying up all night at beach parties, cleaning chalets from 7am until 3pm, sleeping and then going out and partying all over again! Believe it or not back in those days I didn't drink very much at all (how times change!!) but one night towards the end of the season we all got a bit tipsy and headed into the local town...... I was forced into singing this song by ol' blue eyes himself:

I can't say in all honestly that's what we sounded like....probably more 'Strangled Cat' but a funny memory all the same!!!

Silent Sunday - 19.06.11

CyberMummy Meet & Greet 2011

Yipppeeee.......it's finally here! Can you believe that CyberMummy 2011 is just around the corner???

 Last year at this time I was worrying about all these things............... What if they don’t like me?  What if I say something stupid? What if absolutely no-one has ever heard of my blog?????  What the heck am I going to wear?  When did I become so dramatic and such a worrier???

Thankfully this year I'm meeting all of my lovely blogging girlies and am pushing all these thoughts to the back of my head.....I'm just thinking about how fab it will be to see them and make some new friends!! Also this year I'm lucky enough to be sponsored by Dodo Pad and I can't wait to meet the owner as she has been more than supportive........Feel free to grab me and ask me all about their products, which I love :-)

Anyways as most of you know, I look like this:

This is my info:

Name:   Emma Brooks

Blog:   This one

Twitter ID:   @AdventuresEM

Facebook:  www.Facebook.com/AdventuresofanEnglishMum

Height:   5ft 11inches unless I wear heels and then I’ll be 6’ 2” at least!!!  Yikes!!! 

Hair:   Shoulder length, brown with lots a couple of grey streaks!!

Eyes:   Blue.

Likes:   my daughter, krispy kreme, reading, chocolate, California, vodka, blogging, taking pictures, SHOES, expensive shoes, handbags, London, heavy metal, Greys Anatomy, running, ice cream,

Most likely to say:

‘Cool’

 ‘Awesome’

 ‘How much? For one glass? Where I come from you can get a whole bottle for that’!!!!!

'Can I use my card? I didn’t get chance to go to the cash machine'!!!

'My shoes? Yes they are beautiful aren’t they?  They are Vivienne Westwood/LK Bennet!  Uncomfortable? Yes, but just stroke them and feel the fabulousness’

Will be wearing: Something black, jeans, flip flops and sunglasses on head is my usual uniform......probably even the same outfit as last year ;-)

Ways to be my best friend forever: Buy me vodka, tell me that I look great, hold my hand when I look very nervous, tell me that you’ve heard of me!!!

What NOT to do: Dare me to dance on the tables or get my boobs out or kiss inappropriate men at the bar!!!!  What?…..I’m single and child free in London and planning on being a Cougar with the wonderful Karen!!!

Will be the person at Cybermummy most likely to: Drink too much and make a complete arse of herself!

I think that’s about all!!  For those of you that are lucky enough to have a ticket I'll see you next week!!! Yaaaaay! 


-Don't forget there is still time to enter my sterling silver pendant giveaway!!!

A Right Royal Birthday

It's a sad but true fact that I appear to be turning into a bit of a Royalist in my old age. It's not so much that I'm for or against them but more about the fact that we British do pomp and ceremony so well and I just love it!!! For the last three or four years I've been to the Trooping the Colour parade through the streets of London and I wrote about the history of last years event.

Previously I've always lined the Mall (with the rest of the peasants ;-) and watched along the Street but this year as a birthday present to myself I got proper tickets to sit and watch it with Lizzie herself!!!! You have to enter via a lottery and it was with much excitement that I received a letter from the Head of the Household Headquarters telling me that I had the tickets! Of course then we had the trauma of what we would wear because of the very strict dress code......yikes....what do you and your Sister-in-Law wear to impress the Queen??? Well this actually:

Obviously I don't know if Lizzie was actually impressed but they let us in so we couldn't have looked too shabby!!! Once we were seated it started raining:

Thankfully it only lasted for a few minutes before the glorious sun came out. The sight of our military lined up in Horse Guards Parade is truly a fabulous thing:

(click on the pictures to enlarge)

Then Lizzie came by to say Happy Birthday to me and very kindly let Wills come too:

When the parade was over we grabbed a handsome chap to have our picture taken with:

Then it was off back to Lizzie's place for the old balcony appearance: 

And the flypast including the fabulous Red Arrows:

As it was such fun, I think I should celebrate my birthday on the Queens official birthday every year!!!!

Silent Sunday - 12.06.11

There's a thief on the loose!!!!

I don't know how it happened.....I obviously just wasn't paying enough attention..... but when I wasn't looking somebody stole my early Thirties................

My Twenties are all accounted for......I was busy living it up in Germany and California. My late Twenties saw me bringing up my beautiful Chick and for my 30th I had a huge White Tie & Tiara Ball.

My early Thirties.......are unaccounted for! Obviously I have still been bringing up my girl and working and living day to day but apart from an amazing trip to Oz and running  the London Marathon, where did those years go???

Maybe Social Media stole them from me?  Maybe, just maybe I spent so much time blogging and tweeting that they are to blame?

In a couple of weeks I'll be 35!!!! T h i r t y   F i v e........holy shit.....how did I get to be this age???? In my head  I'm stuck at 26 and every so often (mainly when I'm looking at hot 25 year olds!!) I honestly forget that I'm this age!!!

Anyhow if you don't hear from me for the next couple of weeks it's because I'm trying to pretend that my wrinkles won't soon look like this.......

photo credit

Silent Sunday - 05.06.11