I guess I couldn’t let this day pass without noting that it’s a year ago that I started this blog.
Back then I was just recovering from two major surgeries and was resting and recuperating and somewhat apartment bound for almost 4 months.
During those 4 months I did plenty of the usual recuperation things – sleeping, eating, watching TV and many boxsets and reading etc. But I also thought I’d teach myself a new skill and hence I ventured into the world of buying a webdomain and setting up a my very own website using WordPress. The results of my new found challenge are here for you to see (not too shabby for a HR person I guess).
At the same time as setting up this little blog, I also joined the world of Twitter under my alter ego name of @bettyboodubai. To be honest I didn’t ‘get’ twitter for a while until I started following and interacting with people and seeing how easy it was to use twitter both for social interactions (well it is called social media!) but also as a way of promoting blog posts, circulating information, promoting products, asking ‘where do I’ ‘how do I’ questions etc. As well as passing the time of day with some lovely peeps and tweeps – from my first coffee of the morning through to my last glass of wine in the evening and many a time I’ve shared pictures of what I was cooking for dinner too !
My funniest twitter moment was having to tweet that I couldn’t find the footbrake release button in my brothers car during Ramadan last year and within ten minutes half a dozen people had told me what to do, as well as a few telling me that I was a ‘typical stupid woman’ and then offering to help !! LOL – you guys make me laugh too 
I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting many new peeps and tweeps through twitter events and tweetups and more recently through those organised by @TweetUpDXB
So there you have it – one year later and I’ve posted 50 blog posts varying in topic from my weight loss surgery and body transformation, my fitness journey from fat to fit, reviews of group exercises classes, restaurants and hairdressers as well as the odd recipe. I’ve shared the stories of my 10k and 1/2 marathon races as well as a few more thought provoking issues such as body image and reconstructive surgery.
In terms of twitter – I’ve tweeted just over 18,000 tweets (eek – that seems a lot !) I’m following just over 900 people and just over 1000 are following me. I exchange banter, information, pass the time of day and tweet about just about anything with some great peeps and tweeps (desperately trying to justify 18,000 tweets here !! LOL)
At the start of my blog and twitter days, I was never going to go public as to who I was and hence the username and avatar pics which were never pictures of me. Let’s be honest, if you don’t want to you don’t have to – and we can all be anyone we choose to if we chose a vague avatar – we can even be someone we want to – if we chose to do so – as both twitter and webpages allow us to do this.
But in the end, I went public about who I was and about my weight loss, fitness and transformation story after a chance meeting with Geordie Armani at a hairdressers. We had tweeted to each other for a while, in fact she was the first person I followed on twitter following an article in TimeOutDubai but after a long discussion with her, I saw that by sharing some of me both on my blog and in my tweets – not only would I find this useful for me – but also I just might inspire other people too as they indeed have done for me.
So there you have it – a year of tweets and posts, memories both good bad.
A year of passing the time of day with people across the world, all of whom started off as strangers, and some of whom are now classed as true friends.
A year of going public about who I am and what I stand for, a year of self discovery and personal progress as well as some periods of deep reflection.
Plenty of eating, a shed load of exercise, lots of hours spent at my MacBook, iPhone or Blackberry whilst consuming plenty of good coffee, great cakes and banoffee and the (more than) occasional glass of wine, vodka or something fizzy or frozen.
But also a year of making some great friends both real and virtual through this little thing called the interbloggerywebberytwit thing !! LOL – In reality Twitter, Facebook and of course http://www.CoffeeCakesAndRunning.me
Thanks to everyone who has made this a great year and roll on the next 12 months.
Love to you all
(except the few people I have blocked for being just plain weird or a bit too stalkerish !! – hahaha)
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It’s not often that you get an invite to see a venue before it’s open – especially one which says you might need to wear a hard hat! So I was intrigued to go visit Maybury a few weeks ago. Situated right next door to the Marina Metro Station and within walking distance of Marina Walk Maybury looks like it’s going to be an exciting new addition to the area.
Upstairs and on the outdoor terrace, there will be a cafe and an interactive cooking studio in-store. The café will offer fresh homemade soups, salads and sandwiches created in store. The Cooking Studio is where Maybury will share knowledge of food products and cooking techniques. Hints, tips, tastings and help with menu planning with to customers. The first Maybury store is located at Dubai Marina metro station and is due to open in December, with Maybury stores in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah to launch in early 2013.
