East Anglian Blogger Party

 

                             Rights to the above photos are held by Andrew Tunley (aj@norwich) www.flickr.com/            

 

Yes I'm writing this already. I know it was only last night but I had such a good time I want to share everything with my readers. Last night I attended the first East Anglian Bloggers Party. To say I was nervous attending such a gathering, and not knowing a soul, would be an understatement. It took me over 2 hours to get ready, longer if you count waiting for my ASOS delivery. I always leave things to the last minute.

 

What I wore:

ASOS Midi Dress With Drape Front - Pink £42

ASOS 'Shhh' Clutch Bag - Pink £14 (sale)

Zoe Wedges from eBay - hand them for years

Patterned tights from Primark which were replaced by...

Two Toned Tights by Tightsplease - Yes they clashed with my outfit, if it's pink I'll wear it! I did originally pick up some cute polkadot tights and they were firmly in my grasp until a pink packet just jumped out of the pile at me. I'm sure I'll be remembered, that's all that matters.

 

Bar 11 was dark, loud and had incredibly steep stairs. I wasn't looking forward to going down them after a couple of drinks. Gemma from RetroChick.co.uk was hosting the evening and there at the entrance, immaculately dressed, ready to greet us all. The goody bags all lined up in perfect formation waiting to be disturbed by eager bloggers. I'll go into more depth about the Goody bag and it's contents in another post as I feel this post will be too long with it.

 

I slinked my way over to the bar after collecting my free glass of bubbly. Even though there was enough space for everyone and their friend, for some reason they all picked the 2 smallest areas to congregate (the english fear of the dance floor, unless drunk). Most people were already paired up or in groups and I felt really uncomfortable. I made eye contact with a pair of girls and saw an opening. I shuffled up and said "Hi please talk to me I don't know anyone." The desperation in my voice obvious. Funnily enough as we said our names and blogs we were like 'Oh I know YOU!' Haha. Some people I just couldn't place and I'm sooo sorry. It was some time before I realised who Claire even was. When she said what she did for a living I was all 'OMG I know who you are now!' much to her relief. As the night went on our trio became 4, then 5 and at times even 6 people.

 

Knowing everything about people online doesn't mean you know them. The reality of being a blogger is that we have this whole other life to live upto. We create this persona online which in some cases isn't the real us. It was quite amusing when Sophie wouldn't reveal what she does for a living. I fear if she told us she would have had to kill us haha. A little bit of mystery is always intriguing.

 

The girls (and boy) I had the pleasure of meeting:

 

Victoria Brooks (http://www.victoriajane-reviews.blogspot.co.uk/) - Forever known now as the nibbler after devouring the entire contents of her goody bag and still being hungry (I blame the alcohol)

Claire aka Dot (http://montageme.blogspot.co.uk/) - The famous one! After being cornered by a girl from downstairs who thought she was a famous blogger because she was at a VIP party (I'll never forget that look of shock on her face, priceless)

Jodie Santer (http://futurefreaksme.blogspot.co.uk/) - AWOL friend of Claire's from high school who's cat ears stoll the evening and was the first to start drinking out of jam jars

Jenny Boddy (http://fashionfromafield.wordpress.com/) - The late comer to our group who was much welcomed. She had no idea who I was until I handed her my 'special' business card. She almost shouted at me "I know who you are now!" It's funny how my blog header is more well known than me :S

Sophie Williamson-Chambers (http://www.sophieinthesticks.co.uk/) - the social butterfly as she flitted back and forth. Much more glam in real life, no wellies!

Mike ( http://rebelheartphotography.co.uk/) - A photographer on a mission. No matter how loud the music he still tried hard to introduce himself and fail. He, like myself, had business cards, a life saver in such a situation.

 

Lovely ladies.. should really say girls after we established I was the 'old' one of the group ;) 'You don't look bad for your age' will stick with me forever, the horror! Haha, only joking, it was the highlight of the night ;)

 

Other memories:

The toilet on the top floor o_O

The padded cell (you had to be there, soz)

The clashing tights - they were pink, that's all that matters

My first alcoholic cocktail

Feeling very modern surrounded by girls in 50s getup

 

My overall opinion of the night- I feel a party in a bar/club with strangers is an unusual setting although a nice idea in theory. Every girl made an effort to dress to the nines, not needed however as it was so dark. Thank goodness for the photographer because my own camera was a tad useless. We all wanted to meet new bloggers but after 2 hours the music went up and the opportunity to chat was gone. I would have loved to have meet more people but everyone kinda stuck in little groups because they felt awkward. Next time I would love to have a tea and cake meet up, or an evening meal. I enjoyed meeting new friends from all genres of blogging around East Anglia. It has moistened my appetite and I now want to meet more bloggers.

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