Blog Awardz Newiz

Myself and Aisling and Aisling's sister Shauna and Shauna's OH Joan took ourselves off to Cork for the weekend to reprezent Beaut.ie, yo, at the Irish Blog Awards held on Saturday night in the Cork International Airport Hotel. Which is a deadly hotel, outside which the sun seems to shine non-stop from an azure blue sky ('cept when it's night, like) and inside which there's non-stop '80s music and very cool public spaces (complete with giant disco balls and Dyson hand driers and LED faucet light temperature sensitive bathroom taps) and seriously great rooms with a thoughtful mirror and lighting on the desk to aid make-up-ing.

Wildly limited mobile phone reception, though. Probably for fear that news of music post Total Eclipse of The Heart might filter through.

Anywayz, I'm still not quite recovered from the (day and) night and actually have a funny twitch in my right eye thanks to the tiredness, but sure you're only young-ish once.

We kicked off in a decidedly civilised fashion with the Ladies Tea Party, organised by Sabrina, where I met lots of lovely lady bloggers/ledgebags like Ciara (who managed to dye her hair during proceedings, well impressed!), Maz (you may remember her from such blogs as Style Treaty), Claire, Shauneen, Elly, Grannymar, Sharon, Lorraine, Linzi, Pauline, and Nicola.

Organised by Blogfather/King Of The Known Internet/fellow specs wearer Mr. Damien Mulley and hosted by a be-whiskered Rick O'Shea, the awards Evint itself was another roaring success, with some of my favourites like Annie Rhiannon, Rapture Ponies, and Pursued by A Bear all picking up well-deserved gongs. The Beaut.ie contingent was shockaroo gobsmacked and then delirah to pick up some trophy-stylee hardware (and a styrofoam "Winners" courtesy of Made In Hollywood and a magnum of Heineken courtesy of, well, Heineken), taking Best Fashion Blog. Big thanks to sponsors SpinnakerPro! You should go off now when you're done here and have a read of the other great blogs that were shortlisted in our category - namely The Sexy Pedestrian, Dublin Streets, Dress Junkie, and Wow.ie. I had to do the collection and get the hug from Rick - and make the speech, so mortified apologies to all for that. Then we fell in with Twenty Major and his bevvy of beauties, Arlene, the peeps from Cheap Eats, Fiona McCann and her OH David, and sure it was drinkies and Hunky Dories a go-go.

Until, strangely, the bar shut down for nearly an hour, only to re-open at 2.20am (I was feckin' hanging for a vodka and Diet Coke, so I was) to a roar of "FREEDOM!!!" and a great surge of bodies to the frontline.

Needless to say, the tay and toast went down well on Sunday morning.