Yesterday I spent some quality time at my home away from home, Westfield Carindale, in an attempt to get organised for next week’s Pro Blogger Conference.
Yep, this time next week I’ll be at the QT on the Gold Coast, where I’ll be sipping on cocktails learning everything there is to know about blogging while chatting to whoever is sitting next to me furiously taking notes. Of course all of this note taking and learning will require a few supplies, which naturally meant a quick trip to the shops. So here we go with this week’s Friday Five: the Westfield Carindale Edition. Enjoy!
Shopping Stop #1: Kikki K
I needed a note pad and I needed it to be cute. Kikki K’s new Lilac & Gold collection immediately caught my eye, so I picked up a pack of three notepads for $12.95
While I was at the counter paying for the notepads, Jullyana, who was an in store visitor, there to run a goal setting workshop, convinced me that I needed the gold notebook cover and the matching pen as she has both and informed me they’re the perfect conference accessory. I only chatted to her for a brief 5 minutes, but clearly we are stationery soul sisters.
Shopping Stop #2: The Apple Store
I’ve been warned that my phone battery will most probably die a quick and pain free death by around lunchtime at the conference, so I headed to Apple to grab myself something called a Portable Charger. I told the very helpful saleskid that I was off to a blogging conference and needed a portable charger that a) didn’t cost me $4,000 and b) looked cute. He stared at me blankly (obviously doesn’t hear many requests for inexpensive attractive looking chargers) before replying with, “Oh is it a You Tube conference?” I, being 102, cleverly replied with, “Well there will be people there who use You Tube, but I’m assuming they’d only be using it to look at Channing Tatum movie trailers.” Cue awkward silence from the saleskid, before he politely asked, “So what do you blog about?”
I then launched into a full rundown of this blog by informing him, “Um, I kind of blog about everything. I mean technically it’s a Personal and Parenting blog, but I doubt anyone would ever want parenting advice from me, so I pretty much just write about everyday stuff.” Cue glazed eyes (saleskid) and verbal diarrhea (me) which, if I’m honest, even I was bored listening to.
Polite Saleskid then went one step further by asking, “So are you presenting at the conference?” A question to which I laughed so hard, I’m fairly sure he was about to offer me a sedative. I told him that no, I wasn’t presenting at the conference, but rather I would be doing a lot of sitting, tweeting and instagramming, which is why I needed the power charger thingy. He sold me this fancy looking power tube, before wishing me well in my blogging endeavours. Seriously. Those were his actual words. I thanked him and nearly commented on how he was such a polite young man, but thought better of it, in case he started telling his co-workers that some random, old bird who blogs about nothing just wasted 15 minutes of his life that he’ll never get back!
Shopping Stop #3: Sussan
So the day before the Pro Blogger conference starts, I’m heading to a fancy pants lunch at hosted by Olympus Ambassador and all round blogging super star, Chantelle from Fat Mum Slim. I KNOW. I’m pinching myself too! Of course, I need something suitable to wear to such a fun and slightly swanky event, so I headed to Sussan, where the manager, Kelly, also happens to be a stylist and is basically a genius when it comes to selecting flattering yet comfortable clothing from the store floor.
I told Kelly where I was going, she told me to give her 5 minutes and back she came with this ensemble:
Her words to me were, “Are you willing to get out of your comfort zone and try these on for me?” To which I co-operatively replied, “No” before putting on the metallic tee and mandarin weave necklace combo and completely falling in love with them! Kellie then insisted I put a gorgeous white collarless blazer on over the top and the outfit was complete.
Shopping Stop #4: Coffee
All of that shopping had me exhausted, so I made a quick pit stop at one of my favourite cafes for a coffee. Nothing to report there, apart from the lady serving me asking the question, “You work at the centre don’t you?” which I may or may not hear A LOT when I’m hitting it hard at Westfield Carindale.
Shopping Stop #5: Mystery Location
I can’t tell you where my last shopping stop was because it’s where I purchased Scott’s Father’s Day present from and he occasionally reads this blog. But I will tell you that I got quite a shock when the guy behind the counter called me “ma’am” and said he’d heard about the thing I was buying but didn’t know anything about it because it’s pretty much what older people liked. So that was uplifting and not at all depressing!
Where do you like to shop? Are you going to Pro Blogger? What to you tell people you blog about?
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