Cafe Bebe has a very good year

Dec 30, 2010 by cafebebemama

Cafe Bebe has had a very good year in 2010. My blogging has come on leaps and bounds, I’ve had opportunities that I never would have dreamed of and Little Miss and I have regularly travelled back and forth from London which has become one of my favourite cities. I’ve been able to reach some “professional” goals and am really looking forward to 2011 where I can build on those.

On the family front, we continue to be a very happy family of three and that’s probably how we’ll stay for the forseeable future. Most of the members of our immediate and extended family have been healthy and happy and while we haven’t been able to go back to the US this year, Skype has helped that absence.

As with every television show out there at the moment, I thought I would do a year in review! Showing you where Cafe Bebe has been, has become and showing you the changes in Little Miss as well. I’m not entirely sure what 2011 will bring but I, for one, am quite excited about it. Ready for a look back at 2010? Here goes…

January:

A blizzard blew in in January and nearly scuppered our first SOLO adventure to London! Little Miss and I attended the Lyle’s Syrup Pancake Day blogger event where I nearly had the chance to meet the now-famous My Daddy Cooks. Had he not been struck down with a tummy bug, we would have met sooner than we did and maybe Archie and Little Miss would be boyfriend and girlfriend right now. Alas, it was not to be.

This blogger event was really one of the first of its kind that I had attended, hosted by Fleishman-Hillard, who I have come to work with on a regular basis. I never knew making pancakes could be so much fun. It was also the event where I was first asked when baby number two was due which led to new thoughts of getting back into shape. Gah…strangely enough, I’m still in virtually the same shape!

One of my most-commented-on posts was Smore Chubby Bunnies Please where I featured my talent for stuffing marshmallows in my mouth. This also was the month where I kicked into high gear on vlogging.

February:

February saw us celebrating Pancake Day in style thanks to Lyle’s Syrup. Little Miss was quite keen on the pancakes but we do tend to resort to American style pancakes most days.

I hosted a very spontaneous Best of the Rest carnival this month when a few of us bloggers missed a deadline for a BMB Carnival. I advertised it on Twitter in the morning and by my 3pm deadline had 16 bloggers who had sent me links. This was one of my first experiences putting together a carnival and seeing the power of Twitter!

March:

In March we had an amazing opportunity to stay in the City Inn Westminster (now the Mint Hotel) as a journalist. Ha! We were going to be in London for a Reebok blogger event on the Sunday so I worked out a way to stay at the City Inn Westminster to review it for its family-friendliness. It had BAGS of family friendliness and we had an amazingly wonderful time both there and during the weekend.

I attended the Reebok Ree-tone blogger event that weekend and was introduced to the most amazing pair of shoes which I still wear on a nearly daily basis. I was also introduced to the lovely Kay and Gia who I have continued to work with on Reebok projects and others. While I am still in the same rubbish shape that I was in at that time, I do at least have the kit to help me in 2011!

March saw my first entries into the now FAMOUS (or infamous??) Gallery at Sticky Fingers. I submitted my first attempt with Young Me, Round Me, Just Right Me which was very well received. I have managed to do an entry for every Gallery theme but one or two since starting. It’s been an amazing weekly blogging challenge which has really pulled the community together and allowed bloggers to find loads of new inspiration. Thank you Tara! We all love you.

April:

The warm air returned in April and we had great family adventures at Burghley House Garden of Surprises and the Sculpture Garden (where I took some rather lovely pics of Little Miss) and Wicksteed Park in Kettering.

We also had the glorious fortune to WIN a Stokke Xplory pushchair. This is the Cadillac of Pushchairs. I’d watched it from afar, marvelled at it’s brilliance but would never have been able to afford! But then the fantabulous Sian at Mummy Tips had a competition on her blog and lo and behold, we won! I now know what pushchairs are meant to be. I wrote about my pushchair experiences in Pushchairs-From the Ridiculous to the Sublime as I have had the pleasure of testing about 25 pushchairs in 2010. I know. I have a problem!

May:

May found Little Miss and I travelling down to London again for another brilliant blogger event! We had the pleasure of attending the launch of the Annabel Karmel Top 100 Pasta Dishes book along with several other lovely bloggers. I also had the immense pleasure of trialling and reviewing the Nokia N97 smartphone (before I knew the joys of Smartphones) and the Nokia Netbook which you see in this picture. Mobile technology is a brilliant thing!

My most-commented-on post was another Gallery entry- The Many Faces of Me where I showed how my life has changed over the last 2 years. Obviously for the better!

June:

June found me taking a real Blogging Reality Check as I was spiralling into a bit of a mess. Stats, competition and pressure took a lot of the fun out of blogging for me. But thanks to a trip to Schwalbach, Germany to the P&G Research and Development facility (Thank you Pampers) and a Little Miss and Me trip to Newquay (Thank you Linda Jones) I pulled myself out of my doldrums a bit and snapped back into action.

July:

We had the luxury and pleasure of having my husband’s twin sister and her family here with us for a few weeks in the end of June/beginning of July. It was so wonderful to have family time together where Little Miss could play with her cousins (who are all considerably older than her) and enjoy her auntie and uncles. We had about the only sunny weather of the summer when they were here which was perfect as we travelled to the beaches of Hunstanton to soak it in.

In July I committed to having A New Attitude as I was getting sick of myself and my whinging. I have felt much better for it but need to remind myself of it from time to time.

July also was the first Cybermummy event in London! What a great event it was and everyone walked away from it feeling happy and full of support. I am itching to attend the Cybermummy 2011 event in June. I unfortunately had another 2 fellow-bloggers mistake me for being pregnant but when you look 5 months pregnant, that’s bound to happen. Sigh. 2011 will be different…I promise.

August:

Following my declaration to have a new attitude in July, I made a mega-change. I cut off most of my hair! Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow was just the beginning. I have gone shorter and shorter as 2010 has come to a close to the point where I don’t think I should go any shorter. I’ll have to have the clippers if I do! Ack! I do feel much better…stronger…roar-y-er! I quite like being roar-y-er!

September:

In September I attended the MAD awards for which I was nominated in the Most Innovative Blogger category. Prior to attending the event at Butlins in Bognor Regis, I had the opportunity to have White Stuff sponsor my outfit, Citroen sponsor a vehicle for our transport to and from the event and the chance to enjoy a travelling adventure with 3 brilliant bloggers. I didn’t win but had the chance to catch up with some good friends which is always a bonus.

My most-commented-on-post in September was another Gallery entry entitled School Days in the 70′s where I reminisced about a poignant primary school memory. It’s quite amazing to look back on those moments!

October:

We had blogger events coming out of our eyeballs in October! There was a fantastic event with children involved at Build-A-Bear Workshop in Covent Garden; a Weight Watchers Pro Points Plan launch for me and the kick-off of the Pampers Big Kiss campaign. It was a very good month for me professionally!

I also had the opportunity to flex my blogging/writing/social media muscles by gaining a CLIENT in Childalert! I have set up and manage the Street Smart Kids blog which supports Childalert. I have also started a Facebook Fan Page and Twitter account for Childalert. I’m hoping to create some more great things for Childalert in 2011 as well as branching out to work with other brands/businesses.

My most-commented-on post was Here Come the Girls…guess what prompted that one?

November:

The month of November was AMAZING for the Cafe Bebe family! We had the pleasure of visiting Yew Tree Farmhouse in the Cotswolds as well as the Cotswolds Wildlife Park thanks to Owners Direct. We then turned around and journeyed down to Southwest Wales for a magnificent weekend at Celtic Haven courtesy of Have a Lovely Time and Celtic Haven. We’ve never had such opportunities and we are eternally grateful as a family to have had such a great adventure!

I also turned 40 in November! Ack! I showed the difference 10 years can make in my Notice Anything Different post for Tara’s Gallery.

December:

In December I had the pleasure of working on some amazing project for British Mummy Bloggers. BMB is the reason I am blogging here so I am thrilled to see the growth and development of this fab community. There are some great things coming in 2011 as well and I’m really excited about that. I helped to organise the 1st Annual BMB Christmas Party which was held on 8 December at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field in London. Despite running around like a chicken with my head cut off at the event, I had an amazing time and I think a fair few bloggers did as well.

I also now write the Blogger of the Week feature for the BMB Blog which allows me the chance to find some amazing bloggers! It’s great to have new reads and inspiration. We’re also highlighting Brilliance in Blogging in 2010 and will announce the winners in January. It’s going to be a great recognition of achievement and, well, brilliance!

In addition to being a month of Christmas preparation, we had a great deal of family sadness with the death of our family dog, Sinjin. I detailed his life in Love Lost, the final gallery theme for 2010. We still miss him terribly.

2010 draws to a close in the next day and a half. It’s been a year of growth, development, change, love, happiness and loss. I’m really looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings. I know I will be making a lot of changes in my diet and lifestyle thanks to my Coeliac Disease diagnosis but I’m anticipating a year of feeling and looking a lot better. How about you? What will 2011 bring for you?

Thank you to everyone who has bothered to visit Cafe Bebe in 2010. I appreciate your comments and insight and you taking the time to read and indulge my desire to be read. Have a very Happy New Year! See you in January!