Proud as punch-I'm shortlisted in "innovate" #BiBs2014

It's my birthday next week, and for a treat in advance of my trip to Cyprus to see my mum (I'm there right now!) my lovely friends Claire and Jane took me for some pre-holiday girly pampering.

madmumof7 shortlisted in #BiBS2014 in innovate
Since my hands were being groomed I couldn't fiddle with my phone like I normally do and was faintly irritated by the sound of it making its "Hey! Someone's tweeting you" noise on the table next to me. For someone as obsessed as me by their phone being unable to look at it when it's demanding your attention this is like some sort of torture.

I looked at it as soon as I could but just saw a trail of tweets with lots of @'s in - a bit like a #FF timeline where everyone is liking and re-tweeting a tweet. Walking and chatting with my friends I couldn't really decipher what everyone was going on about so in a move most unlike me, I didn't read them properly and put the phone back in my handbag.

three friends with champagne
From L-R Claire, madmumof7 and Jane
Arriving back at Jane's for a cuppa I finally retrieved my phone for a proper look. And almost choked. Vic Welton (Verily Victoria Vocalises) had sent the initial tweet with me included - and at the end I saw she had typed #BiBs2014. I could not imagine why she had included me in her tweet- I spotted she had been shortlisted in the "inspire" category)  but reading on saw people had started congratulating me!

By this time I was actually shaking and almost incoherent with excitement while the sensible side of my brain was telling me it couldn't possibly be true- I couldn't possibly have been shortlisted for anything.

I tried to explain to my friends, but had trouble getting the words out and even more trouble trying to focus my thoughts enough to find the just-released shortlist on the Britmums website.

My friends were interested now as from my shaking and mumbling they gathered this was a big deal for me - they pored over my shoulder as I scrolled down the categories.

I spotted my blog name!

Yes, I am delighted to announce that this blog has been shortlisted in the prestigious Brilliance in Blogging Awards 1014 (#BiBs2014) in the "INNOVATE" category. There may have been a few tears and for a while I was lost for words. No, really!

This week has been a whirl- my first photo on this post shows me at Radio Dacorum where I was interviewed on Miss ML's show on Thursday morning - that's Mary Louise (who blogs at mymodelmummy.com) holding her home-made sign!

Later that day I was interviewed by a reporter from our local paper, The Hemel Hempstead Gazette. I used to be a reporter there so it was odd being on the other end of the interview answering questions not asking them!

A few people have asked me about the category - what is "innovate"? Ok, so here's the definition from the Britmum's website:

Innovate

This is all about entrepreneurship: in your blog, your life, your words. This blogger is constantly innovating: Trying new things, pushing the envelope, reaching new heights. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. What counts is you tried and because of that we have too.


VOTE FOR ME BiB 2014 INNOVATE
Get ready for the begging bit!
To move through to the finals I need votes - Please if you enjoy my ramblings would you do me a favour and CLICK HERE or on the "vote for me" badge on this post or in the sidebar to vote for me.

You only have to fill in your name, give an email address (you won't be spammed I promise) and scroll down to the "innovate" category (voting in the other categories on the way if you'd like to obviously!) and click the button next to my blog name - madmumof7.

This will take a minute or two of your time and could make all the difference. Every vote counts. I cannot imagine making it into the finals but then again I did not expect to be shortlisted. So please, click the badge. Thanks x

 This post is linked to #magicmoments run by the very wonderful Jaime Oliver at Olivers Madhouse who is shortlisted in the family category and to #whatsthestory run by the magnificent Charly at PODcast who is shortlisted in the photography category.