bolo

Last night I attended the first (annual??) Blog Out Loud Ottawa event at Raw Sugar Cafe. The evening was the brainchild of, and was organized by, Lynn of Turtlehead. I wasn't sure what to expect, but will say that I had THE BEST TIME. Seriously. I felt all giddy on my drive home.

(Although the two iced coffees I threw back might have had something to do with it. It seems that I don't handle caffeine well seeing as I was up until 3:30am and, even when I did go to bed, I was awake until 4:30am. Lesson learned. If I drink coffee, it'll have to be before supper.)

I'd hoped to arrive at Raw Sugar Cafe before 6:30pm, but didn't walk in until just after 7pm. I was worried that the other bloggers I know (ie. had met ONCE before) would have already found seats and I'd be left standing awkwardly by the table, desperately waiting for an invite to sit down, all the while having flashbacks of junior high.

Thankfully, my fragile ego need not suffer long. As I found the few faces in the crowd that were familiar to me and approached the table, a chair was quickly pulled up and space made for me. I spent the evening sitting and chatting with Andrea, Dani, Anna, Lauren, and Chantal. Mommy bloggers unite!

I also had the chance to meet several others whose blogs I've just recently found. XUP (pronounced like zoup or, as is my preference, X-U-P) was nothing like how I'd pictured her, yet also more than how I'd pictured her. Her story was captivating, funny and wistful. Her reading, with just a hint of a drawl, was full of sweet nostalgia. One of my favorites.

Another reading I loved was a short and sweet piece by Woodsy from Coloured Marbles. As soon as she read the title, 10,000 Pieces of Lego, I knew I'd be able to relate. Being the mother of three young boys -and also the owner of copious amounts of Lego- I am extremely familiar with the sound of rustling Lego. Woodsy (whose self and blog were both new to me) seemed lovely. Soft yet strong, earthy and elegant.

Another highlight of my night was meeting and chatting with Kym from Relishing and Circumnavigating. I only found her blogs this week when Lynn linked to her site from the BOLO blog, and I am so, so glad for it. Kym's personal site is full of recipes, talk of Ottawa, and amazing fashion. There are almost always pictures of her gorgeous, fun, unique clothes. Her sense of style is well worth the visit to her blog, but more than that she's a beautiful writer. Her description of the trip she and her husband's took around the global chokes me up at almost every sentence. I've read it four times in as many days. Her writing is moving, lilting, and haunting. Like magic. MAGIC. (Kym, are you blushing?)

Did I mention that she's also tall? Cause she's TALL. And her husband is TALL. And their friends are TALL. During one of the breaks I was standing near the entrance talking to three of them and feeling decidedly like a little midget. A midget mommy-blogger. Seriously. If Kym and I were characters from Lord of the Rings, she'd be an elven princess and I'd be a hobbit. Or a dwarf. Need a visual?

That's Kym on the left and me on the right.

(Now, NO ONE FREAK OUT. That's not how I see myself. There's a shocking lack of pictures that match the search terms "female dwarf", "dwarf woman", "female hobbit", "hobbit girl", etc. I've seen a few too many sexy dwarf anime avitars tonight, thankyouverymuch.)

In addition to readings from a dozen or so bloggers, there was also a space for local photobloggers (or bloggers who take pictures, a la me) to display their work. I spent many hours trawling the depths of my photo files, looking for pictures worthy of being shown. In the end, I managed to put together an album with 77 images. It was actually very satisfying to leaf through the pages once filled. Others must have liked it too as I had two requests for business cards.

Who me? Business cards?? Reeeeally?! Moo Cards here I come! (Thanks for the recommendations, Andrea and Dani!)

In summary, it was a lovely, fun, entertaining, coffee-filled evening. Another huge, HUGE thank you to Lynn.

ETA: I'm re-reading this four days later and just corrected no fewer than 10 typos or other errors. Apologies to all who suffered through the poorly edited version.