Thank you kind readers!

Well it's 9 days away from the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging (BiBs) finals.  Ooh I'm nervous but so excited.  I mean, how cool is this?

This last week has been a roller coaster.  I've been featured in my local newspaper and on the radio about making the final of the BiBs.  There's another article on a local newspaper website which will be in the paper tomorrow.  My blog has been circulated around a few different food companies with positive feedback.  What a crazy life I'm leading right now!  I've never been in so much demand!

The first newspaper photo.  As a friend said "I see you went for the 'Oh hi!  I'm just baking these, why don't you try one?' look."  Nice to see my friends are keeping me grounded!  

Readers from the early days will now there was a point I almost gave up on this.  It was some heartwarming and supportive comments which made me continue.

There have been loads of lovely moments which have happened since starting this blog and, at risk of embarrassing myself, I'm just going to have a bit of a big headed moment and share with you some of the experince I've had.

"Amazie" an Australian reader who found my blog through babywhispererforums started this idea in my head.  She posted some pictures of the cheese and pepper muffins she'd made from my blog.

They looked amazing Amazie I think you'll agree!

"Dark Eyed White" on twitter recently posted this picture of her cooking these saute potatoes "The sauteed potatoes from @Mamacook_Blog recipe was a hit tonight!  Yum!"

About a year ago, I went to a one year old's birthday party and saw a recipe on the table I recognised.  It was a strange moment but one which kept me going.  Thanks Kate!  Another close friend, Emma commented on facebook the other day "I made your ginger and date muffins to take with us on a weekend away, they lasted approximately 3 hours... my family is a big fan of your recipes!" 

Then things snowballed, people I had no connection to started to post links on different forums, I had feedback from a lot of people I respect and never thought I would have contact with.  The day Annabel Karmel started following me on twitter was a good one!

So, I hope I've shown you in this post, it doesn't matter to me if I win or not (BIBs - don't cross me off yet, I'd love to win of course) but isn't it so great that 18 months ago, I'd had no real success as a food writer, it's something I'd always dreamed of doing and now people I know (and people I don't) are cooking my recipes and getting joy from them.

My word of advice to anyone thinking about their life, thinking "I've always wanted to..." or "My real passion is...", why not take a chance?  Why not take one step towards your dream, your passion?  After all, the worst that can happen is nothing so what is there to lose?  Also I firmly believe that if you approach something it's your passion and you give it your all, it will be successful.

Starting a blog has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.  It has brought me so much joy.  Of course it would be great if this was my day job and not my hobby but that's not the point, it's made me happy just as it is.  So thank you readers for nominating me!  Now what on earth am I going to wear...