Madblogawards
I’ve already written an ‘official’ post about the 2011 MAD Blog Awards, which were sponsored by Parentdish.co.uk, over on the MADs website.

But I thought I’d share some of my personal highlights of the awards ceremony with you, so here are 10 things you never knew about the MAD Blog Awards:

  1. Did you know that Michelle from Mummy from the Heart is an AMAZING singer? The X-Factor karaoke was shamelessly abused during the evening, but Michelle was awesome! Although you might not know it from this enthustiastic rendition of You're the Best, by Michelle, Sophie, Liska, Sharon and Louise 
  2. At the awards we had a lovely photo board with nice headshots of all the finalists, their names, and blog names. I may have entirely accidentally sent the photo below of Laura from LittleStuff to the printer instead of the other photo she sent me, of her looking normal. I tried to stick a Post-It note over the offending image but was busted within 10 minutes. I’m a grown-up, professional woman so when I saw Laura I decided to, erm, run away quite fast. What? She's at least two feet taller than me. 
  3. Laura, Little StuffA few days before the awards Marylin emailed me in a panic because her new skinny jeans, provided by Simply Be, were torn on both sides, and she urgently needed a replacement. Only after I’d made several frantic phone calls did Marylin look at the website and realise that actually, the jeans were ‘distressed’ on purpose, not damaged.
  4. When one of our sponsors couldn’t attend to present an award, I had to step in. I might have accidentally said, “Course, the only reason someone else won this is because I wasn’t eligible.” I hope people realised I was mostly kidding.
  5. Only Pippa can make the phrase “server cupboard” sound saucy. And I am not surprised that the IT guy from TalkTalk ran away when she invited him round to her place for a good roast and a play with her touch pad.  
  6. We planned the wine stocks very carefully ahead of the awards, and experienced professionals assured me we had over-ordered. We still ran out of white wine halfway through the night. Bloggers can drink Chardonnay at a rate of knots.
  7. Despite being emotionally autistic and allergic to over-familiar touching, I was felt up by three women in the space of six hours. The official photographer caught an image of me being kissed on the cheeck by Jane. I do not look impressed. And if I ever work out who it was on the microphone behind me who announced to the room, “Sally LOVES hugs,” there’s going to be trouble.
  8. I don’t think I was born to be an MC at glamorous evening events. When asking for quiet in the room before the presentations, I may have resorted to the words: “Guys, I know judo. Don’t make me come down there.” Seriously, though, you lot are CHATTY. 
  9. When Sandy came up to present the award for Best New Blog, I did warn the audience, “This could go either way.” It went brilliantly, and Sandy’s ever so slightly tipsy presentation to the blog that will forever more be known as Mammy Woooooooooo was one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed.
  10. One of our sponsors cornered me towards the end of the evening and confessed that the next week she had to go to a corporate fundraising event and she was dreading it, because she never wanted to go to any events again that didn’t include Mummy bloggers, because they make everything fun. She’s right, too.

So, all that remains is a big thanks to everyone who has supported the MAD Blog Awards in 2011, especially our sponsors, Parentdish.co.uk, and our hosts at TalkTalk. Thanks to all the bloggers who helped out on the night, too.

I'm so grateful to everyone who nominated and voted, who blogged and Tweeted about us, and those who came and helped make Friday evening such a fun experience for everyone involved. You're all completely amazing. Just don't ever hug me again. Okay?