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.........
