At the end of last month I was on a cruise with my mom that I won through a social influencer program with Norwegian Cruise Lines. We had an AMAZING time and loved every minute of it (more on that soon I promise). The only downside was that I had to miss the 8th Annual Florida Blogger & Social Media Conference which was happening on the last day of our cruise.
About a month before the cruise I found out I had been nominated for Favorite Fitness Blogger in their Sunshine Blog Awards. I won this award in 2015 and 2016. The didn’t do the awards last year, so I was excited that it was back this year. I told my friends that if I won someone would need to go up and accept it for my. My buddy Anna-Marie said that she would AND give an acceptance speech on my behalf. Uh oh.
So fast forward to the morning of September 30th – the day of FLBlogCon. It was out last day on the cruise so mom and I slept in a bit. As I was sitting on the bed waiting for my mom to finish getting ready I got a message from Anna-Marie saying “You are up for Creator of the Year.” Um, what?! I asked her how that happened and she said the people with the top 3 votes over all were eligible. Holy cow! Voting was open just for that day until 4 pm. I didn’t think I had a chance in hell based on who I was up against, but that didn’t stop me from sharing with my friends how they could vote. And then I waited.
I knew that they would be announcing all of the Sunshine Blog Award winners during the after party which didn’t start until that evening. I found out just before 6 that i’d won Favorite Fitness Blogger. We kinda figured that out since I was one of the three up for Creator of the Year, but it was still nice to know for sure. She sent photos of my award (with my super sweet friend Christie holding it) and then we waited some more. My mom and I went to dinner so I wasn’t looking at my phone. About an hour later I checked my phone and this is what I saw…
Ho. Ly. Crap! I just couldn’t believe it. I was out on the deck of the ship by one of the bars and I was jumping up and down yelling “I won! I won! I won!” over and over. I’m sure I looked like a mental patient but I just didn’t care. I was just so happy!
I saw Anna-Marie a couple of days later and not only did she bring me my awards she also took some great pictures of me with them. This was a huge deal to me and since I wasn’t there to accept the awards I wanted some nice pictures with them. I think they turned out great! We really had a lot of fun taking them too.
Most people don’t realize how much work goes into having a blog. Time spent researching, working with brands, taking pictures, traveling, posting to social media,. and of course writing. Some folks think that bloggers are just handed things like products and trips – but that is SO not true. So it meant so much to me to be honored by those in the blogging community and my readers with these awards. I put a lot of work into my blog, on top of having a full time job, so this was a huge honor for me. I guess it was just nice knowing that all of this isn’t just a waste of time ya know?
So thank you to those who nominated me, those who voted for me, those who read my blog, comment on my posts, and share my tweets. Without all of you I wouldn’t have been bouncing around like an idiot on a cruise ship last weekend. Thank you all so much 🙂
Congratulations Meghan! I won Best Local/Events Blog for my NatureCoaster.com online magazine and know exactly how you feel (except you are probably more physically fit.).
I heard my name and went up to accept my award, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say, except, “Thank you! I am so happy!”
Blessings, Joy and Congratulations, super-Blogger
and thanks for saying that about how it is WORK.
Congratulations to you as well! And yes, blogging is a LOT of work 😁