the skinny on the cosmo blog awards

To quote Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, "oh, what a night!" :)

Rather than keep you all in suspense (and this is why my novel is not a thriller, I'm no good at that kind of thing!), I'm delighted, thrilled and honoured to tell you that Skinny Latte Strikes Back was the winner of the Health, Diet and Fitness category at the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards in London last night!  A massive, massive thank you to Cosmo and to everyone who voted for me!

It really was a huge surprise, as I didn't expect to win - making the shortlist had made my year as it was! There were some fabulous blogs in the shortlist and I was honoured just to have made it there alongside them.  I was quite stunned and, nearly 24 hours later, I still am!

So last night, after a day at work, I dusted off my wedding dress for another outing (this must be the fifth time I've worn it, I think!), including the fluffy 1950s petticoat to go underneath, squeezed my feet into my LK Bennett heels (big mistake!!) and emerged from the hairdressers just before 6pm where I rushed to the tube, only to find severe delays on the Victoria line (aargh!) - but eventually I made it to Liberty, where I had arranged to meet my date outside the flowers.

My date was fellow nominee Jemma, from Celery and Cupcakes!  We had such fun together!  We hobbled up Carnaby Street (both of us wearing painful high heels!) and eventually found the venue, tucked away nicely in one of the side streets.  After dumping my deluge of bags, we helped ourselves to a pretty pink cocktail:

They were very easy to drink and I was convinced it was Vitamin Water dressed up as a cocktail, because I knocked one back and didn't feel a thing!  Turns out no, there was vodka in them! :P whoops!

We had a lovely time mingling with people, checking out what was on offer with stylistpick, Benefit and the nail bar, and poor Jemma having to fend off the advances of an amorous waiter who wouldn't take no for an answer! ;)

Then the winners were announced and when I heard "Skinny Latte Strikes Back" called out, I felt like I was frozen to the floor!  It was so surreal!  We were up the back, so I managed to squeeze my way to the front to get my limited edition Ros Shiers framed print and pose for a pic, and then we promptly grabbed another round of cosmos!

Here's the complete list of winners and highly commendeds - I was so happy to see some of my regular reads and some of the ones I'd voted for on there!  Check them out, they're all fantastic:

Best beauty vlog

Winner: Beauty Crush

Highly commended: Fleur de Force

Best brand blog

Winner: Topshop

Highly commneded: Mulberry

Best celebrity blog

Winner: Heckler Spray

Highly Commended: Red Carpet Fashion Awards

Best established beauty blog

Winner: Zoella

Highly Commended: Style Suzi

Best established fashion blog

Winner: Cupcakes and Clothes

Highly commended: Wish Wish Wish

Best gadget blog

Winner: Fashionology

Highly commended: Girl Geek Chic

Best health, diet and fitness blog

Winner: Skinny Latte Strikes Back

Highly commended: Where Are My Knees?

Best lifestyle blog

Winner: Miss Thrifty

Highly commended: Sofia's Journal

Best male blog

Winner: The Very Simon G

Highly commended: What Katie Wore

Best new beauty blog

Winner: Vivianna Does Makeup

Highly commended: The Sunday Girl

Best new fashion blog

Winner: What Olivia Did

Highly commended: A Girl A Style

Best sex and relationships blog

Winner: Nightmares and boners

Highly commended: 52 First Dates

Best student blog

Winner: Her Uni

Highly commended: Arched Eybrow

Best wedding blog

Winner: Rock 'n' Roll Bride

Highly commended: Belle Amour

I don't think it sunk in for a while, really! I was so excited and overwhelmed!  I mingled and chatted to people, and somehow managed to get wifi in the club so I put something on Twitter and sent a text to Tom, but after that it was a bit of a whirlwind!

Jemma being quizzed for the camera!

Jemma and I had a fake cat fight on camera - that was very funny!  Trying to stir up some controversy :) As with most bloggers I meet, it felt like we were old friends.  It was wonderful!

We also posed with the giant Cosmo front covers:

We amused ourselves by watching the live Twitter feed for #cosmoblogawards too!:

The place was packed to the rafters with people, some looking very glamorous indeed, including Cosmo's editor, Pat McNulty, who I had a lovely chat with.  She said some very kind things about SLSB and had me blushing!  I know this might sound a bit immodest but being recognised by an international magazine of this reach and standing, by influential people who know what they're talking about, well....I can't tell you what it means to me.  Some of the other winners are blogs I already knew of and admired very much, so to think I'm in the same league as them is very flattering indeed.  It makes me believe that some of the things I dream of really might happen!

Congrats to everyone who won, was highly commended and shortlisted - I think everyone deserves to be very proud!

We didn't really fancy cupcakes for dinner (despite Jemma's blog name!) so once we'd mingled till we could mingle no more we headed a few streets down to a new favourite place, Mildred's, one of London's best veggie restaurants, to celebrate!  Normally this place is packed, but getting there later in the evening meant only a 10 minute wait for a table and we had a drink and a nice chat with the bartender while we waited.  We were both laden down with goody bags so attracted a bit of curiosity! 

The food was delicious!  I had roman artichoke crostini with lemon aioli to start, and Jemma had the gyoza; for main I had the burger with sweet potato fries and vegan basil mayo (divine!), and Jemma had the burrito.  We were too stuffed for a dessert, but had a look any way, as you do.  Last time I was there, with two thirds of the Antipodean Lady Mafia, we all had the white chocolate and pistachio cheesecake.  They also have a vegan cheesecake, made with bananas, caramel and tofu, which I'm very curious to try.

And the goody bags!  What treats were within!  We had lots of fun having a beak through them while we waited for our food:

Alas, the night was over all too soon, and we both had to go our separate ways for the trains home!  I ended up making mine by the skin of my teeth :)

Jemma, thank you for your gorgeous company, for celebrating so joyfully with me, and for making my night a very special one indeed.

And thank you to all of you, my dear readers, who I think of more as friends - thank you for helping to make  last night possible.  Thank you for making space in your lives for this blog.  Thank you for supporting me over the years, through everything I've done and experienced, the highs and the lows.  Thank you for believing in me, and helping me to believe in myself.  My hope is that you can feel inspired and hopeful, or at least entertained (!), when you read my story, and know that the life you want is possible.  You have the power to create everything you desire.  If you can be flexible with your goals and expectations, work hard and not give up at the first hurdle, the sky really is the limit.  Health and fitness is just one part of the journey, so be happy, have a laugh along the way, and savour life and all its glorious highs, lesson-learning lows, and everything in between.  Go for your dreams, and never doubt your worthiness, because at least one person out there believes in you.  That person is me :)

Thank you for reading.  You are the reason I do this.  xxx