MAD Craic!

Me and the giant red stag in the lobby!

It's Tuesday, there's a wash on in the machine, another in the dryer. There's a chicken in the fridge for dinner, the spuds need peeled, and I must do a Tesco shop. So far, so Tuesday. So ordinary, that I really have to wonder if I have, in fact,  I just dreamt the entire past weekend.

Our three nights in London? The matinee performance of Les Mis in the West End, the post theatre drinks in Soho with my cousin sporting her fabulous new Mulberry bag , the Thai meal later with friends? Or the next day- the walk to the top of Primrose hill with its gorgeous view, followed by a late dinner a deux? All of it most excellent.

But bless my soul, did I just skip over the very best part of it all? A certain MAD Blog Awards ceremony on Friday night? The very Awards that I've been looking forward to for, I don't know, months? Well, I've two (partial) words for you, my lovelies-Tote Amaze!
There was one very wobbly moment, right at the very beginning, when I walked out of the lift straight into the drinks reception and a sea of people I didn't recognize, who all seemed to be having a whale of a time - right then I wanted to run straight back into that lift again. But you KNOW I'm made of sterner stuff than that, so bravely arming myself with a large glass of champers, I jumped right in, and then I realized I was laughing and it was great craic altogether and I was having a grand old time!

Me and Froogs!

 It's the funniest thing you see- no one recognises the faces, just the names of the blogs! Conversations at first where a bit like this...
 'Hello, I'm Emma.'
*cue blank look*
'Adventures of an Unfit Mother?'
'Oh Yes!! Lovely to meet you! I'm Annie!'
 *Another blank look*
 'Mammasaurus?'
 'Oh yes, indeed. It's so great to meet you at last!' And it was!

 I met Frugal Queen, (Froogs) who is so frugal and lovely...and amazingly wise. (Unsurprisingly, with my major ongoing shoe habit,  I wasn't nominated for the Frugal category, but she was, and very deservedly won, before cleverly, (and frugally), getting the last train home.
I had great fun with the gorgeous Jo (Fashion Detective) and Kate (Makeshift Mummy). I also got to meet and  share a yarn with Susan (Susan K Mann) and Transatlantic Blonde who'd both come all the way from Scotland.

Then it was time to check out the seating plans and there in the midst of one of the tables was the name Mylene Klass. 'Gosh', I spluttered to Fashion Detective beside me,  'I've never heard of a blogger called Mylene Klass- could it really be the white bikini one?' And it was! (I even did an entire rotation of the room, ostensibly to go to the loos, just to make sure)
Gorgeous,  petite and wearing leopard print- I had an instant girl crush alert,  right then and there!

The utterly fabulous table 12 and our bezzie Mylene

And honestly, she was lovely and charming, with time for everyone- she came round the tables and we all met her later. OF COURSE, I let myself down a bucketful, staring (down) at her, tongue tied with a big stupid grin on my face, opening and closing my mouth, while a few cool journo types around me, chatted with her like BFFs! All I could think was, 'She looks just like Jasmine from Aladdin'.....And... 'I wonder what discount she gets from M&S' ...So on reflection maybe it's just as well I was in 'lights on, nobody's home' mode.

I was at table 12 with a great bunch of ladies. Just a few of them were Leanna (Diary of a Premmy Mum), Lucy (Lulastic and the Hippyshake)- I fell in love with her the moment she confided she had a loofah and a pair of tights tucked into her beehive, Trish (Mum's gone to..) and  Helen (Kiddycharts).

Me with my award- mwah, mwah!(Thanks for the photo Helen!)

The free wine flowed and after a yummy 3 course meal, it was time for the awards. Hand on heart I NEVER thought I'd win my Family Life category, so I had nothing at all prepared... and I definitely should've gone a bit easier on the wine, and therefore probably wouldn't have said 'shit' in my 'thank you' speech like I did (Sorry Ma!), but I was beyond thrilled! Ecstatic probably just about nails it. I didn't win the Blog of the Year category- which was like the big daddy of all of the categories, but just being in there was quite shocking in itself!. (The amazing photography blog 'Slugs on the refrigerator' quite deservedly picked up that one.)

There was a really funny moment, just afterwards when Loverboy  sneaked in from the bar outside (it was a bloggers only event), and he just started snapping away, taking pictures of me ecstatically slobbering over my newly acquired award. A few of the other gals at the table understandably assumed he was one of the official photographers, so were 'quite taken aback' when he suddenly strode over and we had a bit of a snog. (They covered the 'Oh my God, that Irish one's a bit of a girl' expressions very well though!)

So as you can imagine, after all that excitement, this Tuesday morning, I AM back to earth with a considerable bump, but it was worth every wonderful minute. I loved wearing a pretty dress and getting my hair done, loved the delicious meal and the flowing wine, really really loved winning the award, but more than anything, I loved meeting the many fabulous women behind the blogs that I love to read. And discovering a few more that I've never read but plan to from now on. So thank you so very much, amigos, for getting me there- it honestly means more to me than I can ever say. Emxx
(PS If you fancy reading more stories from the other ladies, or checking out the pics of the big night, it's all on  Mad Blogs 2012)