So, where to start? I was so excited, nervous and scared about what a blogging conference would entail. I still feel new to all of this, having been writing my blog for just under a year. The thought of meeting all these people whose blogs I read and love and who have been writing for so many years was a bit overwhelming. I was lucky that Heidi from Him, Me & Three had agreed to be my blog buddy, so we met up the night before and went out for a meal. It had been organised by someone else at a pretty posh restaurant in Chinatown, Plum Valley. It was a nice restaurant but the staff were rude, the music was too loud and the food wasn’t great. Needless to say, they didn’t get a tip! In spite of this, after the meal I felt a little bit better about the next day, at least I knew some people and could say hello to someone the next day.

We arrived bang on 9am at the imposingly beautiful venue on Northumberland Avenue. It was a gorgeous day and it felt a bit of a shame to be stuck indoors. We registered and got to choose our beautiful leather Cybher bag. Initially I opted for the pink but then saw the baby blue one and was smitten (I still am). I looked at buying a blue satchel the day before so it couldn't have been better timed. Then the day took off. There were so many people to meet and sessions to attend. The first we went to was a talk by Mark from Black Cab Quotes. I went because my father in law was a cabbie for most of his life. Mark truly was an inspiration, the kind of person overflowing with creativity and I wish him all the best for his future endeavours.

I found the talk by Nickie from I am Typecast on Blogger really interesting and have changed my blog based on her suggestions to us all.  I often feel overwhelmed with feeling the need to have to tweet and promote my blog and it was so reassuring to be told by Tara Cain just to be myself and not stress about all of that. Previously I would have worried that I couldn't tweet whilst at University, when I'm in essay or exam hell but I'm not going to let it bother me now.

I met some really lovely ladies and some utterly inspiring people. The whole event ran smoothly and there didn't seem to be any large gaps anywhere. I had no idea that there would be a goodie bag, let alone many. The Palmers goodie bag is amazing! I have never seen so many cocoa butter products and I really can’t wait to start using them all!

Unfortunately we didn’t arrange anything for the Saturday night but Jenn from Mommy on the Rocks and I had a burger together and then went back to our rooms in the hotel for an early night. We stopped off in Tesco Express to get a small bottle of wine and some chocolate. The lady at the checkout made my day by asking me for ID – I was so chuffed!

I have had a wonderful weekend and meeting all the people I tweet on a regular basis was lovely. The event was brilliant and will I will remember it fondly for taking away of my blogging conference virginity!

Finally, thank you to Sian, you organised one hell of a conference and should be really proud of yourself!