In my short time blogging, I have come to love so many new things; Twitter chats, polyvore, satire and most of all, meeting other bloggers, the people who understand what this crazy blogging world is all about and how much time and effort and passion goes in to every word. I have been lucky enough to be thrust into this world along side on of my good friends, Kirsty Ralph, and to be invited to a number of groups and events. Facebook has been an incredible tool for finding likeminded and near by bloggers, and I was lucky enough to meet six incredible bloggers in the East Midlands Bloggers Society for a day of chatting, picnicking and art!
I have been to Nottingham a number of times over my lifetime, mainly for bowling competitions, so I was looking forward to seeing some more of the city, especially Nottingham Castle, which I've wanted to go and see for some time after hearing quite a bit about its beautiful garden areas, views of Nottingham and its art gallery inside.
We started the day meeting at the train station, and I have to admit I was incredibly nervous. My blog has greatly boosted my confidence, but meeting new people is something that I still find very nerve racking! I was amazed at how quickly we all gelled though just from walking from the train station to the castle, and I felt so comfortable with all these amazing girls in such a short time like we had been friends for ages! Having blogging in common certainly helped and we soon found a beautiful place in the castle gardens next to a picturesque gazebo to have our picnic, and chatted about our posts, jobs and beyond!
We certainly weren't short on food, with each of us bringing something different - and certainly all going slightly over board, having enough to feed fifteen rather than seven people! And we were soon laughing and making jokes, including ending up referring to my boyfriend, Pete as a LITERAL dustbin. Needless to say, a few days later, this photo needed to be taken..
We also had a look around the art gallery, something which I haven't done in a good few years and sorely regret not taking more time to do. It brought back so many happy memories of going on school trips to see amazing art work - plus a bit of culture never hurt anyone did it? The art gallery was beautiful and was filled with different types of art, classic and modern to see and even interact with. Our childish sides definitely came out when we found the interactive iPads, jigsaws and cut out figures to pose with! The walk around the art gallery reminded me of a quote my art teacher told our small group of six who were taking art A-Level;
"The purpose of art is washing the dust of our daily lives off our souls"
- Pablo Picasso
After a lovely walk around the castle and the art gallery we retired to a beautiful pub on the cobbled streets outside the castle entrance and enjoyed a 'Bev' as Emmie put it...it was so nice to be able to sit and chat to other bloggers. I've been quite nervous about telling my friends and family about my blog, and in fact didn't really tell my parents about it in detail except mentioning it once to my dad until after this meet up, despite showcasing some of my dads art work on here beforehand! I feel like this meet up gave me a chance to really get the discussions out I wanted to about blogging beyond the hectic Twitter chats and gave me a confidence boost to just go for it and tell my family. Friends on the other hand still don't really know about it other than a few passing notes on Facebook, so it's an overwhelming feeling to have so many bloggers I now feel I can call friends and talk to about my blog after just one meet up!
All the girls I met are wonderful and fantastic offers and people - be sure to check out all their blogs and twitters (below) and let me know your first time blogger meet experiences in the comments!
The Fabulous Bloggers
