On Friday I jumped out of bed with a spring in my step. The reason was I was off to London with my gorgeous new Pink Lining bag to meet my Sister Not Yet A Yummy Mummy and around 500 other bloggers at the fabulous Brewery for the third year running. Of course I'd miss my Husband and my gorgeous girlies but I was ready for this little break and eager to be Karen rather than just Mummy for a change!

When I tell people I blog they look at me strangely, even more so when I tell them I'm off to an event like this. But who can describe meeting people whose blogs you read and love, whom you regularly communicate with via blog comments and twitter and catching up with those you've met before at previous events and now think of as friends? This is not strange….it's amazing.

This year I wasn't as bothered about learning. I was determined to just relax, chill out and enjoy the experience and it paid off. I had lots of fun just hanging out with my Sister, especially when drinking sodastreams and seeing her restyled by TK Max. We loved being reunited with Alice, An Essex Wife, Katy from Mummy Daddy Me and the lovely Lucy from Dear Beautiful. I especially enjoyed cuddles with their littlies. Both such gorgeous and well behaved girlies.

It was also great to see old friends like Helen from The Crazy Kitchen, Jenny from Mummy Mishaps, Emma from Mummy, Mummy Mum and The Boy & Me. I even got to meet the lovely Fiona from Coombe Mill (we so want to go on holiday there). Theres so many people I can't mention them all but it was lovely to see you again/ meet you and If I didn't get to say hi I'm sorry. I would have loved to.

Whilst relaxing I enjoyed chatting to the various PR companies especially Butlins for whom I've been an Ambassador for the past two years. I am indebted to the lovely girls at MAM who very kindly gave me a breast pump when I forgot half of mine (review coming soon)! And I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the fabulous girls from sodastream. Thank you so much for inviting us to join you & the other bloggers for a delicious meal & drinks in that wonderful private room at the Hoxton (lucky, lucky us)! It made our weekend. Oh and I wont forget my wand lesson & meeting Hedwig from Harry Potter in hurry either 🙂

Although I attended less sessions than usual (I did much more mingling) I was thrilled to meet Kirstie Allsopp (a huge fan), privileged to meet the inspirational Katie Piper and inspired by sessions attended especially the Travel and Photography ones.

I even got to meet three lovely local bloggers at the station which made the journey home much more fun. Looking forward to tweeting with you all.

A brilliant weekend which saw me giggle, laugh out loud and even cry my eyes and heart out along with everyone else in the room. Parents bloggers are an extremely supportive, inspirational and amazing lot and I'm proud to be one of them. I'll definitely be back next year (with the big camera too). I was a bit lazy at taking photos this year and pinched most of these from my Sister:

 

Karen x