Lucky Spaz

To my surprise, on Saturday I found myself attending the Irish Blog Awards, held in Cork. It's not that I didn't know I was going out that night. It's just that I wasn't paying attention to exactly what I'd agreed to attend.

Sabrina Dent, a fellow blogger/American in Cork (and thrower of excellent election parties) invited me to attend a gathering of women bloggers at the Cork International Airport Hotel. I just kind of assumed this was all there was to it. The idea of a blog awards did register, but vaguely, again with assumptions galore (women bloggers? Cork women bloggers?). It wasn't until I heard Rick O'Shea from RTE 2 FM talking about coming down to Cork for the IBA's that it registered that maybe I was missing some vital information. Like the fact that the Ladies Tea Party was actually just a prelude to the grand awards show for all Irish bloggers?

Of course, I hadn't thought to try to get a ticket to the IBA's and, of course, they'd been sold out for quite awhile, but I registered online for the waiting list/standing room tickets and just hoped for the best.

All in all it was a great night! The Ladies Tea Party was filled with 30 really impressive women, who also really know how to put away the wine and cupcakes! And the awards show itself was much more fun than I could have imagined. Let's just say boisterous call-and-response exchanges during the presentations, the appearance of a wedding dress marching down the aisle, toilet paper rolls on the dance floor, and a more than slightly disturbing game of Twister were all part of the festivities!

I came away from it, not only thinking "these bloggers really know how to throw a party!", but also quite intimidated by the quality of really excellent writers of all stripes out there. Journalists, arts, social and pop culture commentators, humorists, business owners, news and current affairs analysts, personal bloggers, etc.

Congrats to the IBA nominees and winners. You all richly deserve the recognition!

Note to self: Must do better!