I went FAR out of my comfort zone yesterday when I went to Brisbane to assist – gasp! yes, really!! – a blogger meet-up, organized by Melissa from the colourful blog “Suger Coat It“ with the support from nuffnang, who nicely sponsored yummy pizza & drinks.
Now driving from the Bay into the City has become a rare and exiting excursion for me now and I was thrilled to see that after the floods, Brisbane looks good again, and seeing the City Cat ferries back on the river was a beautiful sight. (It still breaks my heart to think that our old ferry terminal, Sydney Street in New Farm, was destroyed. So many city adventures started right there! Not to mention our fabulous Riverwalk. Gone!)
Another big thing for me was to go back to the suburbs where I started my Australian life, not only good memories to be honest, but the Kookaburra Cafe was a great choice for a meeting.
I thought to be late, but in reality got the time wrong and so we spend a bit of time in the shops nearby. And some money. Uhm..
I bought a notebook.. of course.
Tornado obviously loved the ‘Teddy Bear Shop’, I almost fainted when i asked for the price of a small Steiff Panda bear! Never mind then.
The Blogger meeting will be a little bit a ‘reverse experience’ for me because aside from Melissa, I basically wasn’t reading any of the bloggers present – this will now obviously change! It has to be said that in a way, meeting not only mummy bloggers but also (unknown) ‘anything bloggers’ was one of the points that made me even go to the meeting, so spontaneously (all part of my aggressive socializing behaviour I am displaying lately). I am sure most participants will be blogging about it, photos were taken, ‘business’ cards exchanged, prizes won and the husbands had some beers… It was fun !
Given my chronic ‘webanoia’ and need for privacy, the nametags and the photos were a bit of an issue for me (I saw that coming), but we talked about anonymous blogging too and I think everybody will respect each others wishes.
Maybe I could have mingled a bit more, but I was happy to sit across Madmother who totally hit it off with Tornado and even supplied a band-aid when a microscopic ‘BLEED!’ was risking to make my son’s incredibly sunny and lovely behaviour tilt into a wailing meltdown (note to self : restock superhero band-aid in handbag!). But he stayed on his best behaviour and is also now convinced that he “won the Bingo” (he was only drawing the numbers, and not actually ours, but he had a lot of fun, so good on him. he’s a winner!).
I think the participants and the limited number made for an interesting and intimate blogger meeting and I am actually considering doing it again! It was a nice social outing for us and I think a success for Melissa. Thank you !
So glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself! I always plan to go to the Sydney meet ups but haven’t made it yet! A great way to meet new bloggers and find new blogs to read
x
Well, with the big ausblogcon comming up, you will certainly do plenty of mingling
It’s not something I would be comfortable at, but i am glad I got myself out there for a small ‘event’ like this, it was quite fun and interesting to see other bloggers attitudes and motivations.
And Madmother fell in love with Tornado too!
Really enjoyed meeting you, look forward to next time!
same here
! and who knows maybe I’ll finally get around to that mountain and then we can meet for a cafe or so ?
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I really loved what you had to say about anonymous blogging. It’s something that as Luke and I start thinking about the possibility of starting a family of our own, we will have to think about more seriously. I would love to chat to you more about it!
Shame we weren’t in good ‘chatting’ distance at the table! Glad you had a lovely day too!!
thanks, it’s true, I also kinda would have liked to talk more with some people seated at the ends of the table, but there’s other ways to chat, now we quasi know each other, right
Anonymous blogging or at least some common sense privacy protection on a public blog are very big for me for several (some personal) reasons. I am forever planning a post about it, as sometimes I see blogs, especially mummy blogs, that show and tell kind of EVERYTHING, and while many of us may have this urge (my son IS rather photogenic too, wouldn’t you think? lol), we should maybe stop sometimes and think, if short or longterm our openess could mean problems for us or members of our family.. BIG subject indeed.