When Yvette (pictured on the right) first emailed to ask if I’d consider bringing a bit of radical self love to Australia, I was really excited… But I said no. I didn’t have any plans to visit Australia in 2013, and couldn’t quite justify the very very long flight for one night.

In a magical twist, a couple of months later, Tourism Queensland got in touch with The Blogcademy, and told us they’d like to bring us over for a very special trip. I immediately emailed Yvette to let her know that our plans had changed! We started planning, plotting, scheming… To say that I was excited was a massive understatement.

So with our week of fun with Tourism and Events Queensland fading into the distance, Kat, Shauna and I flew back from Cairns, and checked into a hotel in Brisbane. I zipped up my insane irridescent scuba dress by Cynthia Rowley, stuck a pair of Crown And Glory Liberace ears on my head, powdered my nose, and bounced out to the event.

The venue was filled with flowers, and stocked with herbal tea and raw chocolate. There was even a photobooth. I mean, who could ask for more?!

The event was made up of a panel of women with experience in overcoming self-loathing, and it was such a great group. I had never met any of the babes beforehand, but I felt immediately welcome and so happy! Melissa Ambrosini glowed, Julie Parker radiated (and did such an excellent job as our Mistress of Ceremonies), and Rachel MacDonald sparkled in her chair.

There was a massive section of presubmitted questions, ranging among topics such as self love, sisterhood and soulpreneurship, which we answered on the fly, and after that we took live Q&A from the audience.

But that wasn’t anywhere near the end of the night: next up on the menu was a rocking dance party courtesy of Susanna Frioni! (Even better: Marilyn Manson was played! Life highlight!)

We talked, we laughed, we danced, we got sweaty. It was fabulous! Kat and I left the party feeling high as kites.

One of my greatest sources of happiness this year has been getting out from behind the computer and actually meeting the people who I’m writing for every day. Writing is a very solitary activity, and sometimes it’s difficult to see Facebook likes as anything but numbers on a screen. It has been incredible and humbling to meet so many of my readers who have been following my journey for such a long time. They (you!) bring me such enormous bliss.

If you wished you could have come along, well, I’m right there with you! I wish you could have been there, too; we had such a great time. But there’s good news: the recording of the entire evening has been made available, so you can listen along!

The dream team: Susana Frioni, Julie Parker, Melissa Ambrosini, Yvette Luciano, me, and Rachel MacDonald.

If you came along, thank you so much. It was amazing to share the evening with you. If you’re in Australia, check out Earth Events: they throw great parties like this all the time, and it’s a wonderful way to meet women who are on the same path as you.

Man, what fun we had. I’m looking forward to doing more events just like it!

Love always,

Photobooth and group shot courtesy of Earth Events, the other 3 photos are by Janneke Storm.