The one about my birthday

I’m a year older…

And in no way wiser.

Being a quiet, retiring soul, I don’t normally like a fuss being made about my annual age gain.  This year was no different, but someone must have let the cat out of the bag because my lovely friend, Sally Whittle, founder of Tots100 and The Mad Blog Awards, decided to throw me a party that night in London, at the Kensington Gardens Hotel.

Ok – she called it the 2015 Mad Blog Awards, but we all know she meant Jane’s 38th birthday.

Before you ask…

I didn’t win.

Which usually for a seriously competitive soul like myself would be an issue, but the talent in my group was so tremendous that I didn’t really expect to. Plus we are all winners?  Right?  Plus as the lovely Becky from BabyBudgeting said, Blogging is not about Awards, it is about celebrating friendships that you make along the way.

I have been writing in this space for over five years now, and have watched as my blog as gone from being a place of funny thoughts, to a cry for help when the kids got sick, to then being a place for me to earn a living and suddenly a place for me to document my adventures as I now navigate through life as a single parent who gets two days a fortnight child-free to run off and play.

It is my life, online, memories of the kids, and proof that no matter what life throws at me, I simply keep going.

Blogging has evolved so much in that time I have been writing Northernmum, I feel like a dinosaur around some of the newer, fresher blogs, their pictures are shinier than mine, they often don’t have a fingerprint across the lens.  Most of them are funnier than me, life seems to cramp my humour at times.  Lack of sleep (thanks Type 1) and need to earn makes it harder to sit and write my stories.

But, five years ago I made some of the best friends as I started on my blogging journey.  I had Emma to meet up with when the babies were little and the school days still ours to own.  Molly and I bonded over mutual hairy toes, and we haven’t stopped laughing since our first date, when we both worried the other would be a hairy bloke called Bob.

Emma and her kids have become an extended part of our family, and without Emma, I would have never coped with Libby’s DDH.   And of course, there is my beautiful friend, Gemma, the one who can coach me through pretty much all my life crisis’, who can navigate us all through London on a Boris bike, and can make me laugh till I cry with her driest of wit.

These women are my confidants, who can read the words behind the blogs, who know when to call and when to show up with gin.  Blogging brought them into my life, making it one of the best jobs ever.

Plus there are so many other friends I have met through blogging, far too many to mention, but in no way insignificant.  But line me a dinner party up with Vanessa, Helen, Sally, Chris, Sarah, and Merry and I’d be a happy (and possibly drunk) lady.

Back to the Birthday Party.

The night was amazing.  Whittle knows how to throw a party.  I had so much fun, I barely touched a drop of alcohol. Instead choosing to spend the night scooting on the dance floor with the only 10 year at the party, plus I enjoyed some intelligent chit-chat with Dr Ranj of Cbeebies fame.

I even got to touch the microphone for a bit and present an award, and for the first time ever at the Mad Blog Awards I didn’t sing or mention my underwear….  So perhaps in some way, I did win.

I even managed to get home in one piece, many thanks to BlackLane taxis, who picked me up at the door and took me home as I dozed merrily in the back.  The driver was even very good about stopping the car on the M4 when my tummy had a sudden churn (must have been something I ate) and my spanx style corset suddenly became so tight I had to remove it there and then.

Possibly an evening highlight – stripping my underwear off on the hard shoulder.

But still in 5 years I have never stopped loving putting my part of my life online.  And the people I have met have been amazing along the way.

So who else would I want to share my birthday with than a bunch of amazing, awe-inspiring, hugely talented writers, crafters, travellers and photographers – and of course, Dr Ranj who is clearly smitten and happy to declare it on Twitter now he knows I am a single lady.

Photo courtsey of Mytwomums

The Best Birthday Tweet….

@janeblackmore I love you!!!! 🙂

— Ranj Singh (@DrRanj) September 18, 2015

Thats it – the birthday is over, thanks again to Sally, for hosting an amazing party.

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