Monday 27 June 2011

Cybermummy

Hi

So it was an amazing day. Very surreal.

This is by far my favourite photo from the day:

Running to put our goodie bag stash in the Hyundai car........ Fab moment!

It began the day before with a last minute dash to buy a Marks & Spencers maxi dress (could have so easily been a Monsoon one but despite trying on 8! none of them fitted).  The M&S one was so roomy (thank you lycra) I was able to get it in a size 14! but it then meant I needed one of these:

For my Mum Tum
No! I am not! a size 20 but the 18s were out of stock (their best seller apparently!) and I did! take the 16 into the changing room but could only get ONE leg into it!  I hate !!!!! but I need them right now!!!!!

Then I said to the husband I am going to pop and get my hair cut (should have thought of it sooner), and ended up getting leg wax, pedicure, manicure and eyebrows threaded. He ended up ringing me thinking I'd gone AWOL and my punishment was that I had to buy him a chicken kebab and 2 tins of cider on my way home (I know... very classy!). But I was so grateful that he had Aaron for that time as I knew he would have him all day Saturday too and I knew it was to be a long day.

So I am normally a very punctual person but I went to bed at 12:15 on Cyber Eve. God it sounds like Christmas Eve, but it may as well have been we were all so excited... Anyway, I was to be in one of the Hyundai Cars (yep lucky me) and they had tweeted to say that they would be at mine between 7:30 and 8 a.m.  All day I had thought I would get up at 6 a.m. but when I went to bed that late I set the alarm for 6 but got up at 6:30.... looked at phone and sent this:

:
only just got up... Eeks jumping in shower

Well in the shower in true ungroomed Mummy style (haven't cared about my appearance since Aaron made an appearance) I discovered I had hairy pits!!!!! so I got the razor out... now I thought with my grooming session I had left no stone left unturned but clearly not and I was about to be wearing a sleeveless dress! So I am finally slipping into my undergarments at 7 a.m.!!!! and happen to look at my new flash smartphone and they have tweeted to say that they will be with me in 20 minutes.... I was like WHAT (me, normally 100% punctual, standing in my spare room in underwear....... and they had said 7:30-8 originally.

That was THE last time I had chance to look at the phone (I think I tweeted back though)...

Anyway at 7:30 I felt like I was being watched (seriously) and I looked out the sitting room window and there was a car, with 4 ladies sitting in it....... for those of you who think it is something to meet bloggers at Cybermummy imagine meeting them right outside your front door :-)

I said to my husband you have GOT to look out the window....

Anyway like something from Coronation Street I hung out the window and asked them to wait for me for a minute.... so not like me Mrs Punctual and started running round...

All this meant leaving without breakfast, and even without coffee.

Being a car full of mums, they had a tupperware container of hot cross buns so one of those sorted me out and we had a hamper provided by Hyundai, same company who supplied the car.  Whoever in that company came up with the idea of the cars and the hampers should be promoted. It really added to the glamour of the day, to get door to door service and although it wasn't chauffeur style as they dropped them to the designated driver on Wednesday it was still awesome fun and they even set us challenges for the journey.  Our team was so good at them we won, by sending tweets like this:

:

a proper red phone box (phone box overload!)


Hyundai Motor UK:

And the Winner of the Hyundai Twit Pick challenge is (i30). Well done! Come to see us at the stand re your prize
The girls in the car were wonderful and we had fun all the way to the venue...
In the car we had:
 
 
 
 
  

And this was how we looked when we arrived in the car park in the morning:

@MummyMatters was the designated driver x
It was such a fun packed day, I have written all this and at this point we haven't even arrived yet... I have put off doing this post all day as I knew I couldn't do it in one post but knew I have to really (everyone else has)...

So we eventually arrived and met all our other #Mumentum ladies and the venue (The Brewery) was stunning!

I really don't know what to say next so may just leave you with a slideshow.  Is that a cop out? It is isn't it.

If you don't normally watch slideshows till the end, you have to watch this one, as there is a mental video at the end.  My Daddy Cooks would be totally proud of me, as it only took one "take" and until I found it in my photos I hadn't even remembered doing it (and no I wasn't drunk).



I am the sort of person who takes photos of everything that moves and I am GUTTED with my low number of photos but I spent most of the day laden down with goodie bags.... which inhibited my arms for camera work.

I enjoyed going through the goodies this Sunday afternoon though.  I had a luxurious bath in the Champney's bubble bath and Aaron had a gorgeous bath in the E45 bubble bath which was very gentle on his skin which was appreciated due to the fact that he still has eczema on his wrists.

Aaron simply loved playing with the Leap Frog toy (see below) we got given (and it is for 12 months which is perfect) and I have used the No. 7 Softening Foot Balm three times today - it is fab!

Fab Leap Frog game for Aaron

Bath for baby and bath for Mum!
I have to say, the talk that stood out the most for me was My Daddy Cooks in the session on Vlogging and I had not even heard of him before.  He was doing book signings after the session so I bought his book for £16.99 which is mental as I haven't cooked in months but I need to and am hoping that because he is a blogger I might actually use it, especially as he cooks WITH a little boy - if he can surely I can too?

I think what I liked the most was spending the day with my blogging friends:
It was also wonderful to get to know the #CMcar1 ladies including Mummy Matters and get talking to her best friend: Cafe Bebe.  I also met those 2 at the Boots Treat Street event.  Cafe Bebe came home in our Hyundai car instead of staying over (empty Travel Lodge room)... as she is pregnant and her bump has really popped out.  Long day for a pregnant one. Speaking of that, my only glimpse of I Heart Motherhood was spying her having a pedicure on the Crocs stand (good luck for your imminent new arrival sweet heart):

I Heart Motherhood
I also had a few chats and cuddles with Super Amazing Mum, and an ever so brief meet and greet with the wonderful StayAtHomeMumLovingIt.

I spent a lot of time chatting with the legendary Michelle Twin Mum and had an ever so brief hug with my mate Wendy from Inside the Wendy House.  Very very sad I did not get more time with her.  I was at My Daddy Cooks stand when I ran into her and we exchanged business cards and my memory is blank after that so I don't know did we get interrupted or what happened???

I only bumped into my friend Jenny from Gingerbread once and I can't remember what I was in the middle of when I saw her, but I was VERY excited later in the day to hear it announced on the main stage that she won the trip of a lifetime for FOUR to Disneyland Florida.  Jenny was the first Mummy Blogger that I met in real life and accompanied me to take Aaron swimming for the first time (I haven't taken him since - naughty mummy!) - I have a lot of fond memories of our playdates (with Edward playing with Aaron).

I really want to write a lot about the sessions, but this post is kinda long enough already...

The crowd sourced keynotes at the end of the formal part of the day were awesome.  There were funny ones, tear jerkers, etc.... it blows you away to hear an amazing blog post read in the writer's own voice. It adds a sense of depth and emotion that is second to none.  Not having attended last year, this was new to me...

To make this post shorter, if that is at all possible, I will direct you to a summary of the crowd sourced key notes here:
http://www.aresidence.co.uk/2011/06/live-blogging-cybermummy-2011.html?spref=tw

I want to write about each one and what effect they had on me, but I will clearly need to do that in another post :-)

One thing I do want to say is that as good as the day was and as superb as the venue was etc... I was a little shocked that each presenter had to find and open their own presentation visibly on screen.  Even at my work place that wouldn't happen (there'd be a holding screen and the person would seamlessly transition to their presentation)... If I was a speaker and I had to find and start my presentation it would really add to my nerves and set me off to the wrong start.  This even happened in the main big room.

Apart from the above and the sizes of the lunch portions (for my big size 18 self) you could not fault the day.  We were treated like VIPs from start to finish and it really was red carpet treatment.

I have neglected to say that I won an Ipod Touch from the Disney Stand that was there (got a great goodie bag from them too with a Pirates of the Caribbean DVD in it).

Anyway the day has made me resolve to TRY and organise a weekend away with the girls so that we can meet again.  How will we find time when I don't even get the time to sort out my receipts to claim business expenses.

I have been writing this post for TWO hours, and I'd been putting it off all day.  It's now 01:54 Monday morning!!!!

Liska x
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