Britmums' Brilliance in Blogging Awards 2013 Photo Winner

You see that woman in the red Chanel jacket standing rather awkwardly in the middle? Yeah, that's me. I'm representing a pygmy tribe from the Asian continent, flanked by my slender and statuesque Amazonian bodyguards, otherwise known as Charlie's Blogging Angels.

Before arriving at the Brewery just in time for the award ceremony, I'd already been wined and dined twice (!) in 4 hours. In case you haven't noticed the protruding stomach in the photo, it was the result of my phenomenal culinary experience. A huge thank you to Colleen and Lois who went out of their way to meet AND feed with me (love how that rhymes).

The Botanist & Wahaca**

I couldn't have wished for better company. I've never ever been to a blogging conference in my life. No wonder the poor man we'd pounced on earlier in the courtyard to take our photo (2nd photo with bulging tummy) looked petrified. Encountering 500 oestrogen filled women who'd been given free rein at the bar with practically NO food would look intimidating to any living soul. It turned out Ben was the winner in Fresh Voice (aka newcomer) category and what a sad story it was.



Photo credit: Panasonic



Now back to my model-esque buddies - Avril, Fiona and Kat. That's Fiona on the left grinning but still looking rather composed while Avril and I giggled uncontrollably. Sadly, if you can't drink (like moi), the only other option available was water. Sigh.

While waiting for the presenter to announce the winner in each category, I made Avril play the "Spot the Asian" game. "Err.....you?", Avril muttered after having a good look around. We never got to play the "Spot the Irish" game (Avril's from Belfast) because they started to announce the Photo category. I was still daydreaming when I heard my name being called out amidst pretty impressive hollers from my Charlie's Blogging Angels. My jaw hit the ground. I'm not a mommy blogger (I'm a mom but still not very kid friendly) or British (New Zealand's in the commonwealth so that counts for something, eh?) but nonetheless I'm so very thrilled for this accolade from the biggest blogging award in the UK of its kind.

Photo credit: Avril

This is what one of the judges, a professional photographer said about my blog - "Her sense of humor really shines through which makes her blog fun to read. Her photos are interesting, well executed and tell a story. She has a great variety of posts on her website. I particularly like the way she blogs about other bloggers." Okay, enough of tooting my own horn. I couldn't have gotten thus far without a) my faith aka God  b)  Avril's sneaky nomination & your vote and support  c) the judges. I couldn't thank you all enough for your support and encouragement which have helped me reach this point today.


**big thanks to Ammu for recommending Wahaca. It was sooooo good!