Marvellous, fun, great, warm… I have many such words to describe the 3040 Blogger Meet in London last Monday. Because I want to share it with you I am publishing this post a bit earlier than usual. Our host was Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb and sponsor was the brand Hope (Fashion). I finally met bloggers in real life who I have followed for three years, like Catherine herself and Annette (Lady of Style).
Of course it was a bit of a thing what to wear (…), especially as the weather was sort of in between. Turned out to be pretty warm. Fortunately I had this yellow dotted jacket (see above) by Sylver, a young Dutch brand. (I really love this jacket too, but so far my self-control is still working.)
Let me take you through my stay in London.
Sunday afternoon (Whitsun) I went out with Jeanne, a student who follows a Master Course of International Fashion Marketing. She wanted to interview me on the topic of the digital influence of women over 60 on the fashion industry. I very much doubt whether I have much influence haha, but of course I gladly cooperated. It was a fun afternoon/evening as Jeanne turned out to be such a nice person. Her blog is called Jane Curtain. See a picture of her and me just before we had dinner below:
Below: details of the pumps I wore and the necklace.
The next morning (Monday the 16th), before going to the 3040 Blogger Meet, I had coffee with Nikki (Midlife Chic), a fabulous writer. She really has a way with words. I follow her blog for at least a year now and she gives such nice insights in her life; very funny too. She turned out even better than I thought she would. See her photo below:
We were joined by Lorraine, who I “know” through blog comments and mails etc. for three years now. It was fun to meet her at last. We went out for dinner too that night after the blogger meet. See pretty Lorraine below: 
Nikki, Lorraine and I walked to the venue as my hotel wasn’t that far away.
Below: about 44 women in one room, all talking their heads off….it was very loud hahaha. Of course there was a lot of hugging, photos being taken, calling cards exchanged. It was so nice to finally see so many familiair faces in real life. 
Let me introduce you to some great women.
Below: Beate of Fashion Adventures At Any Age 
Below: Yvonne of FunkyForty: 
Below: Lisa of The Sequinist: 
Below: Emma of Style Splash: 
Below: Josephine of Chic at any age:
Below: Michelle of Retro Chic Mama: 
Below: Jacqueline of Petite Silver Vixen: 
Below: and of course lovely Annette of Lady of Style: 
The getting-to-know-each other, prosecco and canapés, were followed by lunch. Of course we had lunch. We are ladies. Ladies do lunches.
Below: bloggers take lots of pictures… during lunch…during the whole day…
It wasn’t all photos and eating. We also learned a lot as Catherine gave us a talk about “How to Win at Blogging”. Very helpful. Catherine is always very helpful. From the beginning of my blogging days she has advised me on blog design, on photography (she used to teach photography), on how to always keep your photos the same width etc etc. A caring and sharing person.
Below: Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb: 
One of the perks of this blogger meet was the goody bag. Filled with lovely items. I want to highlight one of them: the bracelets which were donated by Lizzy (see her shop) (you will see Lizzy herself a bit further down the post). Below: here are three examples: 
Below: Michelle photographed me (thank you.. nice to have proof I was there). I got a black bracelet.
Next speaker was the CEO of the brand Hope, who sponsored the event. Not your average man in a suit but a very inspiring and warm woman: Nayna McIntosh. She has a very impressive career in retail and launched many new brands. Now she has launched her own brand (Hope, her mother’s name) to provide the right clothes for women over 40. She has a select team of trusted women (and one man) and most of them are over 40 (or 50). They understand what women over 40 need and provide it. The quality of their clothes is excellent. Nayna is a person whom you can trust. You can believe me, I am pretty good in sussing out people.
Hope doesn’t want brick and mortar shops, they sell online but also show the clothes at private parties. More info about these parties here. They also ship outside the UK, but you have to order by email then. Of course we had our Hope party too. Fashion bloggers and shopping… what better combination is there?
Below: a little demonstration by Nayna (right) and one of her team members:
Below: Lizzy of What Lizzy Loves, and the donator of our bracelets, demonstrated one of their high rise skinny trousers. They come in all sizes. 
Below: Josephine wore a top and scarf by Hope to the blogger meet.
From here on a couple of photos of the fitting, contemplating, asking each other advice, you know the drill…
Below: Jacqueline (left) in a beautiful dress (her own), Catherine and a Hope stylist.
Below: Annette checking the photo she took of Yvonne. Yvonne bought this silver Hope top if I recall this right.
Below: Annette (left) and Michelle of The Barefaced Chic
Below: Catherine and Emma
Below: me and Jane (who wants to start blogging to promote her company Pure and me)
Below: Jacqueline and me. Yes… I am tall, no …. Jacqueline didn’t mind at all as she is married to a tall Dutch man and yes…. I bought this Hope sweater. You will see it in a later blogpost in its full glory.
Below: the last photo is a selfie taken by Catherine (left) with me and Annette. Sooo nice.
Can you tell I had fun? Which I did !!!
I will say that Hope kindly donated a beautiful fuchsia (so my colour) knit poncho to all the bloggers at the meet. With no strings attached. I do not “do” anything commercial on my blog, I don’t receive any money and I wouldn’t talk about Hope, poncho or no poncho, if I didn’t think they are good and genuine. But I really like them.
Greetje
PS
Linking up to another one of Catherine’s (Not Dressed as Lamb) link-ups: I will wear what I like, with light spring clothes.
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