My MAD weekend part 1 - Myleene and me

You may remember I was a finalist in the MAD Blog Awards last year and this year, I was a finalist in two categories. The awards ceremony last Friday so off I set to London on a train. The journey down was torturous as I ended up sharing a table with a Geordie and two Norwegians, who all appeared to be born again Christians and one of them tried to convert me by giving me a leaflet to read. I declined and instead tweeted to pass the time to London. My timeline was certainly an interesting read. 

Being one of the earlier arrivals, I had been lucky enough to get myself hair and make up appointments but they were a good couple of hours ahead of the festivities starting. I strolled down and a lovely lady from Regis Salons straightened my hair in the blink of an eye. Next, I waited in a busy hotel room as the ladies from Arbonne got ready as I'd arrived a little early and so I became the first to have my make up done whilst the consultant told me about their products (Swiss) and their business (all the consultants work through recommendations). 

By 4.30, there I was, all made up but nowhere to go so I headed back to the room I was sharing with Elaine who was a finalist in the best business blog category and is also an NCT friend of mine going back several years. I hadn't seen her in 18 months but this was the second time in two weeks! Still, we managed to spend the next hour and a half putting the worlds to rights in the room before we got dressed in our finery.

Once finally fully glammed up in our outfits - mine was a lovely red dress that the lovely people from Simply Be kindly sent me along with a fab pair of silver shoes - we wandered downstairs to join the waiting throng, accessorised by a Seksy Sekonda watch from Find Watches. Luckily, arriving a little late meant we weren't waiting too long before we were ushered through to the reception. I decided to wander over to look at the table plan. I found my name and looked to see who else was on my table. There were a few names of people I knew, or wanted to me but one name on my table stopped me in my tracks. 

Oh my goodness me. 

Not only that, I then found out she was brand ambassador for Start-Rite Shoes who were the sponsors of the Best Schooldays category. And the sponsors wanted a photograph of us with her too. Within a few minutes, I found myself sat next to a very beautiful (and very slim!) Myleene on a couch. Very unreal. In my head, I was screaming "oh my God" whilst trying to smile and look vaguely cool at the same time. 

Over dinner, she was opposite me on the table but during the ceremony itself, she ended up this close again. 

Tweeting on her Blackberry, my kinda girl! Honestly, she was totally lovely - she was prepared to chat with people about anything and everything, have her photograph taken, and showed a real interest in people. When one of the categories for which I was a finalist came up, she was excited for me and when I didn't win, she patted my arm in consolation. 

And no, I didn't win either category. I hadn't expected to. In both categories, I was up against some bloody great bloggers. I hadn't expected to win; I just went to have a fantastic evening. The winners of my two categories were firstly Multiple Mummy, who has been very ill in hospital following a brain haemorrhage caused by an aneurysm. Her husband was there to accept her award and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.  And in the schooldays category, the lovely Actually Mummy won against some very stiff opposition. 

It was fantastic night. I met some lovely bloggers I hadn't met before as well as renewing the friendship with some I've seen here, there and everywhere - and yet there were still loads that I never got to speak to that I would have loved to have met. It was a true celebration of blogging where I felt everyone was genuinely pleased for the winners. 

Huge, huge thanks to Sally and her team for organising a fantastic awards ceremony. Thanks to those lovely people who sponsored awards or gave me lovely things to wear on the night. I had a brilliant time and was made to feel very special. Not everyone won an actual award last night, but we were truly all winners. 

(I was sent the items mentioned above to wear at the ceremony and my hair and make up were also done for free for me. All opinions, as ever, are mine!)

You don't have to be mad to be a MADs finalist...

but it helps. Here are some of my fellow MAD Blog Awards finalists making fools of themselves answering a few questions. Enjoy...



The final stage of voting closes at 5pm next Thursday. Get voting if you haven't already - by clicking the MADs finalist badge in the sidebar.

It's that time of year again...when we all go a bit MAD!

Last year, I had an amazing experience. I mean, this blogging experience all round is pretty incredible but I was nominated and became a finalist in the MAD blog awards, went to the awards ceremony - where I promptly lost. Did I mind? Not one bit! Why? Because it was an amazing experience all round - from being dressed by John Lewis to the trip down to London for the ceremony on the hottest late September weekend that I think I can ever remember. To be recognised as one of the best was enough for me - yes, I would have loved to have won overall but in truth, and to trot out that old cliché, we were all winners.

Thing is, you see, I had such a fantastic time last year, that I'd like to go again. So, if you enjoy reading the ramblings, wittering, mots justes, pictures (maybe not - I know I'm not a great photographer), or you just think I'm great (it's a long shot I know), I'd love it if you nominated me in any of the relevant categories. You can only nominate once and you have to nominate a MAD Blogger of the Year then you can nominate in as many award categories  - or as few -  as you like. Don't forget to copy in the full URL of the blog or blogs you're nominating in each category or in the case of Blog Post of the Year, the full URL of the post.

Click on the badge to get started. Choosing who to nominate is going to be tough in some categories and I'd like to wish everyone involved the very best of luck. I can't stress enough how fantastic it was last year to be a finalist so anyone that is lucky enough to get that far is in for a real treat. 

Thank you for reading if you've got this far. I'll try to shut up about it now. I've gone a bit MAD, I think.

Are you still watching this space? My night at the MADs and THAT dress!

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's four whole days since the MAD Blog Awards ceremony in London and I've neglected to show you my dress and tell you about my big night out.

So I arrived in London at lunchtime and checked into our hotel before going for a group tapas late lunch. It was a bit rushed as they didn't seem able to cope with large numbers and then Nickie told me that the hairdresser was due to arrive back at the hotel. We found the hairdresser hanging around outside and I went off to have a quick shower whilst he did the hair of my roommate, Lindy. The hairdresser,  Adam from Electric Hairdressing, dried and straightened my hair and generally made me look presentable once I was dressed in my lovely dress. When he was done, I barely had time to do anything because it was time to get cabs to the awards ceremony at Talk Talk's Customer Experience Centre in Soho.

Watch this space...

There are no photos with this post because it's a secret. Well, kind of. On Monday, I experienced that is the preserve of the A list celebrities who appear on the red carpet. Someone dressed me for an awards ceremony. Get me.

As you probably know and can see from the badge in the sidebar, I am a finalist in the MAD Blog Awards. The awards ceremony is on Friday 30th and I'm going down to London, whilst practising my loser's face. The organisers got in touch a few weeks ago and said that various brands had offered to dress some of the finalists for the ceremony. As soon as I saw the list of brands, one name leapt out at me. John Lewis.

The MAD Blog Awards Finalists Carnival - Best Blog Writer and Best Baby Blog categories

I don't know if you've noticed the badge in my sidebar, but I've been nominated as a finalist in The MADs, blog awards that recognise the best in mum and dad blogging. I'm a finalist in the Post of the Year category for this post, and voting is open for the final award winners.

So I'm hosting part of a carnival to showcase the work of the finalists in every category. I have been asked to feature all the finalists in two categories - Best MAD Blog Writer and Best MAD Baby Blog. The finalists themselves have chosen a post that they like, to represent their blog and what it's all about.

Firstly, let's look at the Best MAD Blog Writer category. To me, great writing is vital to a great blog. It's what keeps me coming back to a blog again and again. The power of the right words educate, inform and entertain us - and sometimes, it moves us too. The work of the five finalists manage all this and more, with apparent ease.

The first finalist is More Than Just A Mother. Emily's posts range from the laugh-out-loud funny to the incredibly moving.  The post she has chosen is both beautiful and poignant, reflecting on the parallels between the grief she feels with the frosts that coincide with the anniversary of her son's death. It's a short but incredibly powerful piece.

Next is Metal Mummy, whose blog covers a hugely broad range of subject matters and hosts a weekly movie meme. True to form, Hannah has chosen a recent post about their holiday to Turkey, which has just about everything or, as Hannah sums it up in the title, Houdini,dead fish and big water, reflecting that chaos that can be going on holiday with a two year old!

Moving on now to Sleep is for the Weak. Josie's posts are always a joy to read because they are always so descriptive and beautifully written.  I just love the post that Josie has submitted to the carnival - it's a letter to her son, Kai, on his second birthday, telling him of the pride, amazement and wonder she feels about being his mother and having him in her life. Absolutely beautiful.

Then, there is Doing It All About Aleyna, written by the mother of a 5 year old girl with special needs about the ups and downs of their lives. Her post is called Bridesmaidzilla, which tells of her fears that Aleyna's sudden phase of shouting out rude words randomly, just 10 days before she was due to be bridesmaid at a friend's wedding, would upstage the bride and groom. It's a light-hearted piece, but still her immense pride in her special daughter shines through.

Finally, in this category, is Blog Up North. Garry blogs about his life as a parent and school governor, and a big feature of his blog is the love of his life, music. Here, Garry writes an open letter to Wayne Rooney after he (Rooney) swore into a camera on live television. He avoids the trap of abusing Rooney and instead speaks father to father in a brilliantly written piece.

That's all the finalists in the Best MAD Blog Writer category and I'm sure you'll agree, the competition is pretty tough. Let's move now onto the Best MAD Baby Blog category - for blogs featuring babies under 12 months.

Well, I say featuring - the first finalist in this category is, in fact, a baby blogger. Leon McCarthy is just a few months old - so it's quite an achievement to become a finalist in the Best MAD Baby Blog category with the journal of the first year of his life. Leon sent me a post about his mummy trying real nappies and of being relegated to the dining room with his daddy when mummy has a girl's night at home!

Next up is Edspire. Jennie blogs about her twins Esther and William who were born 3 months premature in July 2010. Her blog started off as a record of their stay in NICU and is now a record of the twins' lives. Esther chose a post that has a lot of meaning to her  - it's a letter to Esther and William that she wrote and read to them every day that they were in NICU. I just love the story of the marriage proposal - so romantic!

And then there's Bloggomy. Louise has children aged 19, 11 and 9 as well as a baby aged 7 months and her blog reflects the diversity of challenges that this presents. Product reviews are a strong feature of Louise's blog so she has chosen to feature a product review in the carnival. This review, for a teething necklace and pendant, features some seriously cute photos of Tala, her 7 month old son road testing the products.

Moving on again, we next have Diary of the Dad. Tom blogs about his life as a new dad to his son Dylan and the bewildering journey that any new parent takes. In his post for the carnival, Tom reports on some of the milestones that Dylan has reached - not all of them welcome, I think.

Finally, in this category, we have Mother's Always Right. Molly, who writes the blog about life as a mother to her baby girl Frog, used to be a journalist. Molly's post for the carnival tells the tale of how she had been diligently teaching Frog to clap - only to have her thunder stolen at Baby Sensory.

That's all the entrants in the Best MAD Baby Blog category - again, a great set of finalists and hard to choose between them. You have until 14th June to vote for your favourite blogs, if you haven't already. If you want to vote, then please visit the MADs website here and fill out the form. You can vote in as many categories as you like, but remember you can only vote once so you need to choose everyone that you're going to vote for in one go. You could be a while...

You can find the main carnival post where you can find the posts covering all the other categories here.

Thanks for reading and I'd like to end by wishing all the finalists I've featured the very best of luck. There can only be one winner in each category so congratulations on getting to this stage from all the hundreds of blogs out there.

Truly, MADly, Deeply

If you're a regular reader of this blog (and if not, why not?!), you will maybe have noticed a little badge that has snuck in on my sidebar in the last week or so. I've been wondering whether to mention it or not, because it feels very un-me - or should that be un-British? In one of those "oh, sod it" moments that we all have, I've decided to take the plunge and explain, in case you don't know what it's about.

The badge denotes that this blog has been nominated for one of the The MAD awards. These awards, now in their second year, celebrate the best of Mum And Dad blogging (hence the MAD bit - no, it doesn't mean we're all bonkers. Then again...). The awards recently opened for nominations. There are several categories, and weekly, lists of all blogs nominated in each categories are published on the site's blog. The five blogs with most nominations in each category will become finalists, and a public vote opened for all but the Blogger of the Year award. The winners will be announced in September, and there are some really brilliant prizes on offer.

To date, I have been nominated in five categories, which is just amazing really. Thank you to anyone and everyone who has taken time so far to nominate me for an award.

The categories I have been nominated in are:

Blogger of the Year
Best MAD Family Life Blog
Best MAD Food Blog
Best New MAD Blog (a category I qualify for by 4 days!)
Best MAD Blog Post of the Year for this post, that created a big reaction when I published it a few weeks ago.

If you would like to nominate me in any of the categories - there are others, but I don't qualify for some, like pregnancy blogs - visit the MADs website here to cast your vote. If you do, then thank you.

I couldn't have foreseen what effect starting this blog would have upon my life, as I noted in my Happy Blogoversary post last week. To be nominated for awards for my blogging as well is just thrilling.

I will now go back to being very British and not mentioning it at all. What's the MAD awards again?