Fireworks & BritmumsLive

It's taken me almost a week to write my BritmumsLive post, I never know where to start with these things, you know?  Well, anyway, I was there!  Honest, I was.  I was the one who was bordering on jet-lagged, thanks to only having got back from my holiday the day before.

I didn't really know what to expect. I went to Cybher last year, and I've been to a Blog Camp, but the atmosphere at both of these were quite different, and knowing BritmumsLive was a longer event, I thought it would probably be a bit different.  I remember meeting Jennifer Howze at Blog Camp last year, before the first BritmumsLive, and how excited she was about it, especially when she said there would be yoga!  There wasn't any yoga this year, or if there was, it was before I arrived midway through Friday's schedule.

I'm not going to give you a summary of the sessions, there are people who are far smarter than I to do that, if you weren't there, or like me found it hard to choose between two or three running at the same time.  Instead, I'll share some of my thoughts and things I learned.

• Bloggers are wonderful people.  Yes, we are.  All of us.  Even those who are glamorous & gorgeous & who you wouldn't ever dare strike up a conversation with in the street for fear of not even registering on their radar.  And bloggers give great hugs.  I've been really missing getting randomly hugged by people this last week.  Give me more hugs, now!
• Bloggers are silly.  Even though we're all (allegedly) responsible adults, given a green screen, a photo booth, a giant penguin, or a magic wand & big white owl, we will happily make fools of ourselves in public.  In fact, we will queue up for the opportunity to do so.
• Margaritas are the business.  This is not news in any way, but needs to be said.
• Our stories, our blogs, our opinions all have value.  There are times when I wonder why I'm doing this (often while browsing my stats!), but we are all doing this for a reason, and creating our own little mark on the world.
• Hoisin Duck does not belong on pizza.
• Be bold!  Don't be afraid to try new experiences - whether they are bizarre sounding cold cucumber soup at breakfast time, an unidentified box of lunch, an a-line skirt & skinny belt, or dancing in front of a green screen.  Life is short & precious, grab it with both hands.

With this last point in mind, I headed off to the local sports centre this morning, for a very early morning Zumba class.  I've got a GP Referral to the gym at the moment, thanks to being very slightly crazy in a good way.  I'm choosing what to go to each week simply by when I don't need to be Squeaky-wrangling.  So Zumba it was, my first ever time, and as I tweeted this morning I was bricking it.  I am NOT fit, by any stretch of the imagination.

I walked into the dance studio, everyone else had at least a vague idea of what they were doing, and I was *this* close to legging it out of the door & over the road for a Maccy D's bacon roll.  And the first song came on.  Katy Perry.  Firework.  I smothered down a sniffle, and thought back.  Grab the opportunities life presents you, because you don't know what's coming next.  Over the next hour I turned a shocking shade of beetroot, and actually really enjoyed myself.  The BritmumsLive, and Kerry, influence helped me stay, helped me overcome my fear, and enabled me to feel a little bit proud of myself.

Thank you to everyone involved. You all help me be a better person, a better mum, a better blogger.  And you're the best!