Blogging in Belfast

On Friday last week, I took the bus up to Belfast to speak about blogging at event held at a shop called Refound. I got to Belfast around lunchtime and had met my friend Sarah, who was also speaking at the event, for lunch at a cute cafe. I had grand plans of exploring the city for the afternoon, but ended up getting sucked back into working on my laptop (in a sweet cafe called the Black Bear) and barely saw the city! Luckily the walk to the event was straight through the main shopping district in the bright sunshine.

Belfast reminds me a lot of Edinburgh – it feels very different from Dublin. The buildings are taller and the taxis are the traditional black cabs you’d see in London.

Some of them are sassier than others!

Friday was our first spring-feeling day and it was lovely to feel warm!

I didn’t see too much of Belfast, so I can’t make very many recommendations except you must stop by Refound. It’s a fabulous combination of an art gallery and a vintage shop. Owner Jill O’Neill finds pieces at auctions and markets, and has a collection of Refound artists give them a new lease on life. Everywhere you look, there’s something to cool to discover.  The Refound space is so neat – really old with original details and really high ceilings. It was such an inspiring backdrop to speak about how I turned a hobby into a creative career!

Aren’t those lanterns incredible? They’re covered with cupcake papers – and you wouldn’t even know it, huh?! 

After a lot of oohing and ahhing, we talked blogging with the lovely audience! That’s Jill, on the left, and my friend Sarah on the right. We also heard from John from Forked, who had us all inspired to eat at a whole bunch of great Belfast restaurants – next time I visit for sure!

And finally, I got to prove how much of a hand talker I really am! I’ll be sharing a few of the tips I talked about over the next few weeks as well!

Thanks so much to Jill for having me up to Belfast to speak – and for letting me snoop around your lovely shop!