Well where do I start, how can I try and describe my weekend at BritMums live in one blog post, I can’t so this is going to be one of a many (ok a few). The weekend has held so many layers that it’s going to take me time to slowly peel them back and digest all that I have experienced, all that I have learned and all those amazing people I have met.

To be perfectly honest on Friday morning I was ready to just turn back and go home, after reaching London and finding the buses on strike I realised I had to face the underground. Now for this claustrophobic lady that was enough to send my heart into a panic.

But you know what I didn’t, I gave myself a quick kick up the butt and using my daughters words I “manned up”. The crazy thing is after making the ticket guy giggle I made it to Old street station with no issues. Then thankfully down to the kindness of Geek mummy I left by the right exit and reached the hotel in five minutes woo hoo,way to go me.

A quick wash and change I was ready to hit Britmums Live.

Friday to be honest was a bit of a blur I think my nerves regarding the Bibs awards were getting to me, I seriously couldn’t relax, it’s not that I seriously expected to win but of course I secretly wanted too ( whoops not very secret anymore).

I loved listening to Ruby Wax she has an amazing way of viewing the world and made me giggle. Her battle against depression inspired me and her words rang true and deep for me. I have suffered depression following the onset of my illness and could seriously relate to what she spoke about. For a long time I felt such a failure, my Iife was controlled by panic attacks and irrational fears. I felt so useless as a mother, as a wife. My life had changed so dramatically, I was so lost, but thankfully with help from medication and support from my incredible husband I found my way again and found my new pathway and now for over 4 years I haven’t been on medication and have been ok. Though I’m not going to tempt fate and say I’m cured, I still have really low days but thankfully they are few and far between and does depression every really go away? Maybe a topic for different blog post.

I attended the Friday workshop, Crossing the Chasm and really enjoyed listening to advice of some awesome bloggers. It’s great to hear different opinions on what they see as crossing the chasm. For some it’s stats, for others it’s different. The blogging world is so vast and I love it.

Then the day got really exciting we had that awesome Bibs party, with free wine and half naked men what more could I ask for, It was funny and it was awesome.

Following the laughter we had the Bibs and I didn’t win boo hoo, no seriously it was a great night and my category ‘inspire’ was won by a lovely lady who is an amazing blogger ‘Mummy Whisper‘. What I also did take away from the evening was the fact that there are some amazing blogs out there that I had no idea about. I can see many hours being spend reading from now on.

I’m not going to bore you with all the details of the workshops I attended over the weekend to be honest i still haven’t digested all the information i have taken in ,but I do want to mention the fantastic Blogging for happiness one, as you know if you read this blog I write from my heart, what you see here is what’s in my head. This workshop reinforced this for me. That the reason we blog matters, the words that we share should be authentic. Blogging should be about finding our voices and letting them be heard through our words. Nobody can do you better than you.

The weekend has been an amazing experience and all at Brit mums should be feeling chuffed with themselves for putting on a fantastic event.

The whole thing was great from start to finish, ok maybe the food wasn’t awesome but hey I’m a picky bugger.

I loved chatting with the brands, they were all so friendly, I fell in love with the guys from Panasonic and their dual microwave oven, unfortunately it wouldn’t fit in my handbag to bring home and I didn’t get a taste of their fresh bread but I will forgive them as they were so awesome. The beautiful ladies at Bananagrams were so lovely and I can’t wait to play the game when I get home with my girls. Seriously though they were all great, though I do have to mention the Badgers beer tasting event, someone could have warned me that we were supposed to smell and look at the beer before downing it, felt like such a lush standing there with an empty cup. Like any self respecting beer drinker I grabbed myself another to join in, I mean I did have to appreciate the smell and texture didn’t I.

The conference was ended by the keynote speeches I laughed, I cried and I laughed again. An inspiring collection of wonderful posts that moved and inspired me.

Yes all in all it was an amazing weekend and I had a ball, really looking forward to next year. Date is already in the diary, ok in my iPhone calendar but hey it’s the same thing.

My Brit mums experienced doesn’t stop here, I have so much more to share,as they say on all the t.v programmes to be continued…..

P.S A Big thank you to The Gift of Words for sponsoring me allowing me to attend this awesome event.

And now I have a train to catch xx