Another Day and Another CTMeetUp with the Great Cindy Alfino…

This Saturday past was another meet up of Cape Town bloggers and what a fun event it was. This is the third in a series of meet ups and they just get better and better. Blogging is about community and making friends online… it is quite hard to cross that line into real life – especially when folks meet and you only know them by their user name or their twitter handle. But it gets easier each time, as you arrive and see familiar faces and friends that you have met previously, so it gets less intimidating. The fact is that while all the bloggers have widely different stories to tell… let’s face it no two blogs are the same, but they all have one thing in common, a topic to level the playing fields so to speak, and that’s blogging.

The venue was the Italian Kitchen in Newlands. There were plenty of snacks and snacking… but pizzas clearly win the day. And in a restaurant that is called the Italian Kitchen you would expect the pizzas to be good.

They were tasty indeed, could not fault them. Thin based, yummy flavours and plenty to go round.

Cindy Alfino of 3 Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House Fame, leads the way and put it all together. Gathering bloggers and brands together under one roof. This is the third time that she has pulled this off – pure hard work and devotion.

1. CTMeetUp #1: Se7en + 1 Things I Learned There and a Fabulous Prize from ZANA Products.
2. CTMeetUp #2:Packed with Blogging Tips, at Graze… who sell the best Chilli Poppers in Cape Town. Yes, the father person and I will drive across the city for a serving of good chilli poppers.

Of course you know it wouldn’t be blogging with a photographer and the paparazzi are never far behind.

Rain was there in full force… their fabulous staff offering free massages to everyone attending. While I am not a massage loving gal, I do love their products completely. And I love their story even more: Organically grown, local ingredients; no hidden chemicals; no parabens (our family is allergic to parabens – this is significant to us); no animal testing; no child labor. They provide jobs and skills training for local folk, their promise of natural ingredients and minimal packaging, ring true. They are genuinely fair trade and genuinely green. I visit their stores, (ahem) quite a bit… their products are beautiful, functional and affordable… the presentation is always fantastic and their staff friendly. There aren’t many skin care stores that welcome eight kids to browse around quietly (read clamour), while they choose gifts for their granny time and time again. If nothing else, take a peek at their instagram feed for some inspiration.

Another presentation, Melissa Louise from Zana Products and they gifted us each with a beautiful pencil case… well actually general carry all those little-bits-and-pieces-in-your-bag bag. Can I just say swoon. Beautiful fresh and funky fabrics designed, created and printed in Cape Town, and then turned into just the most amazing products for your house and home… and well yourself!!! Their instagram feed is well worth a follow… just because you’ll love it!!! Anyway I don’t know if you can tell that I was very excited to receive this little bag, I was even more surprised that within the bag was hidden a fabulous voucher, that I am going to absolutely love spending over there!!!

And then there was Jenny from Zomato, would someone like to say where have I been. When a fabulous energetic person stands up to tell you all about their restaurant selecting/reviewing app… and talks with such enthusiasm about food and eating out, you can’t help but sit up and take notice. And when she mentioned that they were active in 22 countries around the world already, I had to wonder if I had been missing something, somewhat. What began as a couple of chaps collecting menus around town so that they didn’t have to dash out and grab lunch from the same old corner store every day, has turned into a massive global project… all about “eating out”. sounds like a terrific project to me. Considering that we would rather splurge on a family feast out than on anything else this was indeed a revelation. You have to go and take a look at them, pop in any restaurant you might like to try and you will see exactly what everyone is saying about them and most important if a restaurant has power during load shedding or not, because some little local quirks are important, dare I say.

When bloggers get together there are going to be brands who want to connect… and the gap between what brands expect and what bloggers expect is definitely narrowing. The product information and promotion resulted in some totally fabulous swag bags… I have to say that there were more than a few fantastic goodies in these goody bags. I am thinking it would be impossible to please such a wide variety of bloggers, but they did. Gifts and vouchers, cosmetics and creams, not to mention a heap of incredible GiveAways.

To be honest I am not a hair care and instant tan kind of gal… but that Graze voucher is a definite winner, for the father person and I.

I don’t think I have worn any make-up since I was a student, but very funky Revlon!!! Eye candy for sure… if you love glittery stationary (as I do) then you absolutely have to love these products as well!!!

Otherwise, I was interested to see that the Botanical Society is presenting themselves as a brand for bloggers, that is good news and something that our family blog would definitely align with. And I think need to find out more about AdMarula…

Some of the fabulous prizes were: Pens Behaving Badly, Pack of TGW tea; Vouchers to spend at Woolworths; a Voucher for StyleBar; Vouchers and Prints Printwild (definitely need to stop and take a peak at these); A Boudoir Photo Shoot; A Beauty Hamper from Oh so Heavenly; Treatment Vouchers and a GiveAway from Ginkgo Spar; Vouchers from Zomato; A baby hamper from Babaderm; Voucher for personalised stationary from Charlie Foxtrot; A voucher and giveaway from Kin Shop; Fashion goodies from Spree; Two hampers from John Frieda; Annual Family Membership from the Botanical Society and A hamper from Rain Africa.

Sponsors for the Goody Bags were: Admarula; Zana; Oh so Heavenly; Romeo Foxtrot; Rain Africa; Incompass Insurance; Magical Moments in Time; Optiphi; Botanical Society; Spree; John Frieda SA; Graze; Zomato; Charlie Foxtrot; Revlon, South Africa. And let’s not forget Gumtree for all the stationary on our tables.

That’s it… a total treat, and I cannot wait for the next #CTMeetUp event… thank you so much Cindy Alfino for organising, you are a rock star!!!