Feel free to skip this post due to it being so tedious by the way as it is more blog-related than fashion.  If I'm honest, I didn't really know what was expected of me and what I was in fact doing in Sao Paulo.  I gathered it involved 20 minutes of me blah-ing on about the blog but I wasn't aware of the scale of the whole event. 

We were driven to the Park Ibirapuera which is just the most astounding bit of green space smack bang in this concrete mass that is Sao Paulo.  The event entitled 'You B(log)' was to be held at the planetarium inside the park.  As we walked into the 'globe', some techy ppl were setting things up and a really wicked animated video skit introducing the event which had all the bloggers pictures blared out and was projected onto the 'semi globe'.   I did remark that I had never seen my mug so bloody big.  In fact, all the bloggers' presentations were to be blown up in this way.  This worked very well for the other bloggers' fancy Powerpoint presentation but not so much for my Firefox browser of a gazillion tabs supposedly illustrating everything good about Style Bubble. 

Actually, all the other bloggers prepared well with fully printed out notes and I just had my scribblings in my Moleskin to rely on.  Hey, I'm all about joking about, styling it out and just waffling on... that would surely get me through the day.  Us group of bloggers consisted of...

Melissa de Leon of Cooking Diva (Panama) - A much acclaimed cooking blog that at one point featured roasted guinea pigs.  I`m totally up for that though...

Glauco Sabino of Descolex (Brazil) - A Sao Paulo-focused streetstyle blog that is cool cool cool...

Guilherme Valedares of Papode Homem (Brazil) - A mens lifestyle blog featuring chat up lines and Men's Health-type issues...

Victor Angelo of Dus Infernos (Brazil) - A fashion, culture blog that pokes at issues and isn't afraid to get at the nitty gritty...I only wish I could read Portuguese

And finally Jennine Tann of The Coveted (duh...) - I was REALLY pissed that I didn't get to meet Jennine due to visa issues but through the powers of Skype, I got to hear her speak about her inspiring and well-balanced journey through blogging...everyone loved you by the way Jennine!

The whole event was hosted and chaired by Marcelo Tas who is something of a celebrity here in Brazil and a TV personality who was also one of the first bloggers in Brazil.  After my presentation, he remarked at how sweet it was that I fumbled around with my notes in my Moleskin...not my finest hour I can tell you...

Through the course of the event, it was actually a relief to geek out with other bloggers and talk about the problems, the conflicts, the stuff that makes us mad about blogging.  Glauco and I discussed the importance of staying independent and the struggle to keep up with comments etc.  Melissa, who is a real pro gave some advice about similar presentations such as this one (she held her audience in her palm...).  Something fundamental that I took away though was from Victor's talk where he pointed out something so blindingly obvious which recently I had lost sight of which is that a blog is 'my space', a place where you can escape and where you can express yourself. 

Lately, I've felt like that the blog has been controlling me and though I've never set out to be an informant, suddenly I've been tasked with responsibilities as a blogger and I've felt like I've been trying way too hard to please everyone.  People telling me what I should and shouldn't be blogging about?  What the heck?  Two years ago, this would have incited me because in the beginning, the blog was 'my space' and these days I doubt myself and begin to question whether what I do on the blog is right or wrong, when really there is no right or wrong...

Well, after yesterday, frankly, I'm going to try not to give a shit so much.  I can't please everyone and that was never what I set out to do with Style Bubble.  A person in the audience asked me how I felt about being famous, to which I answered 'What is famous?  I certainly don't feel that way nor would I want to.  If I lost all my readers tomorrow, I'd still continue blogging...'.  Funny how this random event courtesy of Brastemp and Vogue Brasil made me realise this very simple My Space fact.  As Victor said, there is nothing to lose ultimately and with his blog being only one year old, he reminded me of a time when blogging was just fun fun fun.  I am going to strive to get that feeling back...

To end on a more positive note, as the whole event was sponsored by an appliances company, Brastemp had these fridges made up and filled with our grocery wish list...mine consisted of steak, wild mushrooms, plenty of Lipton Ice Tea and strawberries...