I attended my first blogging and tweeting get together!
The #JoziMeetUp was hosted by Laura-Kim (Harassed Mom), Sharon (Blessed Barrenness) and Christel-Michel (The Nocturnal Wenchy).
It was held at the lovely Sunnyside Park Hotel.
They even had a jumping castle for Nicky to have fun with.
I really enjoyed meeting Bloggers and Tweeters in person.
I met up with two Tweeters (Sasha and Michelle) who I know from Brenda Pierce’s get togethers. In fact, I think we all went on the same solids workshop. So cool that we are all still breastfeeding. Sasha has the See Me Baby website (if you don’t have a baby wrap, get one from her). When Nicky was a little baby I ordered a “Cover me” tag from her that you attach to a blanket when breastfeeding and also a pendant that Nicky could chew on when teething.
It was also very cool to meet up with others who have been through infertility like me. Sian from Immeasurable Love was there (she has gone the adoption route) and she was chatting to someone going through surrogacy. Of course the Blessed Barrenness (Sharon) herself was there, good to meet her in the flesh! Sharon has also been through infertility and has adopted two girls.
Fellow later mom and fantastic supporter of my blog (One Step at a Time) Karen from MomAgain@40 was also there. I also met Suzanne from Chicken Ruby and Louise from 123 Blog Myself.
We got a fabulous goodie bag. The best thing was a lovely waistcoat from Naartjie, which is exactly what I have been wanting for Nicky. I find with a waistcoat he can still keep warm and move his arms around comfortably. We also got nice cups and saucers from Le Creuset, sunglasses from Wakaberry (and you thought they only did yoghurt?!), a lovely personlised bag with our name on from Macaroon, voucher from Killarney Mall, voucher from Swani woman’s boutique spa, Bio Oil, Savannah body butter, Glam Shine from L’Oreal.
I then got very lucky and won a R500 voucher from ITunes!
Thank you so much, sponsors, bloggers, tweeter and everyone else who organised.
On a more reflective note, I have been reading this book: “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain. It was such a nice reassuring book of confirming my introverted personality and how I really do work better on my own.
The reason why I bring it up in this post is that I was wondering if I am the only “quiet” blogger who likes hiding behind her computer and enjoys spilling her guts out online but not in real life?
There was at least one other blogger who admitted that she was scared to be there. There were plenty who sat on their phones. But I would say that the majority looked like they were enjoying chatting to each other.
I think the really nice thing about the meet up was seeing the real people behind the blogs and making some connections in real time that take that online relationship a step further.
However scary it is to come out from behind that computer and socialise, I would say it was totally worth it.
How did I not meet you 🙁
It was indeed a lovely day out and I agree with Louisa, it’s a lot easier when you chat to small groups than trying to catch up with everyone
Amy, so cool to meet you. Ana, next time!
Louisa: so true, more important to have a few meaningful connections than to try and meet everyone!
Hi Heather. Awesome post. It was so lovely meeting you, just wish we got to chat more. Thank you also very much for your donations!
So sad a missed it.Will Definitely be at the next one…I’m dying to connect with fellow mommy bloggers face to face.
It was great to meet you. I find these things are a bit intimidating if you try to connect with everyone at the same time…one or two people at a time makes it much easier. No more scary than chatting to people at the school gate. 😉 It obviously doesn’t hurt that we’re all connected by reading each other’s online diaries either?