My EC Meetup debut

The Plantation is set in a magical garden scene, with beautifully framed windows and a beamed ceiling. On arrival I walked through a hedge enclosed pathway to a registration table where I was greeted by some friendly faces. They took my name, gave me a badge, a book and a heavy black bag. As we chatted, I could smell the coffee from the Mastertons Coffee Bar, and my nose led me stumbling toward the entrance.

Moving toward the entrance of the conference venue I was met by an array of dessert toppings and frying of pancakes – a sweet morning treat! Wow, I was already blown away and I had barely been there all of 15minutes. What more could this meet up have in store for me? The answer is sooooo much more!! At the entrance were stands by Geek World SA with Unicorn headgear for the ladies (I have always wanted to be a Unicorn did you know that about me?) and Yoda headgear for the gents. I popped this into my bag, saving it for Emilie (the mom guilt eased a little by this).

I then moved onto the Dockside Brewery Stand, eeeccckkk something for Ian – a beer that I could name myself. Can you guess the name I chose? #inthemeantime would be an awesome beer name I think. Corny? A little! Orginial? A lot!

From there I met with Rain Africa, who allowed us to construct our own body butter. They gave us a chart that broke down which essential oils were good for which ailments and from there we made something unique for ourselves. I chose Jasmine, because the mom guilt was strong still and Emilie loves Jasmine. I added Marula oil (without any scent) with that which Ronel mentioned is good for stretch marks and I have just (9 months ago) had a baby. The smell of this cream and the feel is soooo good. I learnt so much, that I went to their website and guys – the stuff they are doing is amazing! Please do yourself a favour and check it out!

I had so much fun personalising my #Rain aqueous cream. With a sick baby at home, I loaded mine with eucalyptus and peppermint to hopefully provide some much needed relief to his chest tonight. Fun experience and something I’m definitely going to be doing in store in future. Thanks @rainafricasa for the fun experience at the #ECMeetup #Rain #SkinCare #ECBlogger #SaBlogger #ECMeetup #ECMeetup2017 #BeautyBlogger

A post shared by Simone (An Ordinary Gal) (@simone_anordinarygal) on May 13, 2017 at 6:00am PDT

So after all this, and some more eating – I eventually found a seat, and did some “networking”. I met the most amazing people. Bloggers are amazing! They have so much depth and personality and just all round awesome lol – if you are looking for some additional reading please check some of them out here!

Guest speakers were Davene Prinsloo who gave us some tips on blog photography, she taught so many things… I was taking A LOT of notes. Something that stayed with me though aside from how to actually take pictures was her saying “Your best camera is the one you have with you”. I always thought I should get a better camera – which I did – thanks for this info a month late Davene! She did an awesome post on the EC Meet Up and her pictures are obviously star quality to see more check it out here.

This followed by some more yummy-licious breakfast from the Plantation, some more networking and LOTS of picture taking with all my new friends….

They are trying to enter the @clicks_sa #ClicksBeauty competition ♡… I am too! #ECMeetUp #bloggerspe #bloggingcommunity #breakfast #foodie #PortElizabeth #SouthAfrica #sharethebay #nelsonmandelabay #bigmouthonthemove

A post shared by Ranique Hendricks Roberts (@bigmouthranique) on May 13, 2017 at 2:51am PDT

Competitions from our lovely sponsors were entered and then we listened to Mandy-Lee Miller from Pregnant in Cape Town, who spoke about blogging and gave us some tips, so many tips. Things that resounded most for me where “You are your niche” – I sometimes struggle to stick to being just a parenting blog you know, although my life is VERY much about my kids. I am also more than that – as I discovered this past weekend. It made me realise that this blog isn’t just a parenting blog IT’S MY BLOG. So you can look out for so much more now, I plan to write about my life more holisitically in the future. But still focus on the mom stuff because the Lord knows that’s 80% of my life anyway.

We had AMAZING giveaways after and I won a logo redesign from Ruby Rose – HOW LUCKY AM I???? So you can expect a blog change soon. Exciting? Yes! AND… yes I said and I also won a neat Essence Hamper. This means I may do some make-up for dummies post soon. YAY! LOL no I will see how much I need to practice first!

Aaacccckkk I won this voucher for logo design from @ruby_rose_designs_za at the #ECMeetUp over the weekend, it means this look may change I am so excited. Change is another opportunity for growth and I am always always ready for growth! Yay! #excitingtimes

A post shared by Venean Bosch (In the Meantime) (@veneanbosch) on May 16, 2017 at 12:45am PDT

Our goodie bag is good enough for another post – luckily Elle just posted one here. Big thanks to all our sponsors – I’ve been posting some of the awesomeness of what we received on my social media handles: Instagram and Twitter should you want to see my favourites.

In the meantime – if you are an in the closet blogger – come on now – you really missed out, we are cool people. JOIN US!