My day began with breastfeeding BB, then handing him over to his Dad while I applied makeup and put on a dress. I then headed off to the station with a remarkably light bag (what does one carry when you don't have a child?) and made my way to Millbank Tower on the bank of the Thames.
Somewhat embarrassingly, if I am honest, my expectations of the day were not so high. I thought I would learn a few things about social media and SEO, perhaps chat to a couple of nice mums, enjoy some prosecco, and leave. Early on in the keynote panel session, I realised I had been seriously mistaken. This was an awesome collection of great writers and brilliant minds. Zoe Williams was a favourite of mine, and Jenny Lawson's comment that "The hand that rocks the cradle rocks the world" was one of my favourite quotes of the day.
Inspired and excited about what was to come, I went for coffee, with some fabulous mums (from love2declutter.com).
I then headed off to The Photography Session with Carrie and Darren of Digital Bungalow. I have to admit I didn't learn a great deal about photography, but I did learn the importance of using alt text for images on your blog photographs (great to know from many perspectives), and about Google Reverse Image Search to see if your photos are being used elsewhere. I also loved them. A great presentation, nicely delivered, and Digital Bungalow is now on my favourites list!
I then sat down for lunch and started chatting with another delegate who it turns out reads my blog. Now that was bizarre! She was yet another interesting and intelligent woman, with connections in both the UK and Australia (and elsewhere) and a child just 2 weeks younger than BB.
After lunch I went to Matt Bennet's SEO presentation... So much to learn so little time, (I hope he posts the presentation as promised!) and then Paul Armstrong's Social Media session (even more to learn, at very high speed, and summarised here)
The How Much to Share on Line session gave me lots to think about, I loved Eliza Gray, was inspired by Zoe Margolis, and felt very sad for Liz Jones. Having read more about Liz since, she could have been an SMC candidate! (but thankfully not). I will always remember this session for perhaps the most graceful handling of an insult I have ever witnessed, when the panel Chair accused Zoe of being "the blogging equivalent of a flasher in the park"! Amidst the sharp intakes of breath from the audience, Zoe calmly replied that was the worst insult she ever had to her face, and carried on, kindly minimising the embarrassment for the chair - who surely couldn't have thought through what she was saying! Huge respect for Zoe.
The grand finale was came from Caitlin Moran who gave us a inspiring, funny and 'useful' closing keynote. I was so very excited when I went through my goody bag on the train and found (among many other fabulous things) this!
When I returned home, DD had not only survived and enjoyed the day, but had mopped floors, done washing, cooked dinner and baked cookies.
My final Blissful moments came at around 3.30 am, when BB woke and I got up and fed him. Just as I was about to put him back to bed he seemed to realise "you're the mummy, the booby lady, you came back" and he proceeded to snuggle and coo with me for the next 2 hours.
Mmm... life is good!
Have your own Something Blissful to share?
Please do using the linky below
General rules (possibly yet to be refined) are that it should be
- something that brought you joy
- and may to bring joy to others too
- or simply something you are thankful for
- can be an image, video, 'news' item or short story (each to be your own)
- it can be from the last week, but doesn't have to be
- if you quote someone, credit them
- and make sure it's suitable for general readership (ie not x rated!)
Looking forward to your posts
If you want to know more, read The Story of Something Blissful
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