Woman & Home Magazine Feature With Rachel the Hat

Woman & Home | The New Friendships | June 2014
Since the end of March I’ve had to keep a little secret: Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have seen I was at a photo shoot up in London, and I can now finally reveal what it was for! I was so excited to be part of a feature in Woman & Home magazine about the ‘new friendships’, and with me was the utterly gorgeous Rachel of Rachel the Hat – we’ve been great bloggy friends for a couple of years now and part of the feature was the chance to meet at the photo shoot itself! (If you have access to Woman & Home we’re on page 76 of the June issue.)

Now I can’t deny that the chance to have my hair and make up professionally done, to be dressed by a stylist and enjoy a day in a stunning residential London home with the most fantastic team of people wasn’t fabulous – it was such a fun day and a great experience – but the highlight of the day was without doubt meeting Rachel herself. Many of you know her already: a raven-haired Welsh beauty who I love as much for her gorgeous, accessible style as I do for her honest and down-to-earth writing. We were interviewed in advance of the shoot, and then asked a few more questions afterwards to find out what we thought of the whole experience of meeting a virtual friend for the first time. 



Woman & Home | The New Friendships | June 2014
I’ve met other bloggers before, but only ones I’ve not previously connected with online – not someone I’ve known and been corresponding with for a long time. It was a strange experience to turn up at the house and have the Woman & Home team introduce the two of us to each other…! We sat and had our hair and make up done at the same time and we chatted non-stop. We crammed in all the things we wanted to talk about in what seemed like a very short space of time and had the best time trying on all the jewellery, clothes and shoes you see below. As you can probably imagine the two of us were in our element because we were left alone with about five times more jewellery than you can see below with instructions to “put on whatever we wanted”.

Kids in a sweet shop, much?!


SS14 jewellery

SS14 shoes
I have to thank the w&h team – they really were the best bunch of people ever to spend the day with and made us feel really special. We all had such a giggle, and I’d like to think I’ve made lots of new friends – and cemented a very special friendship with Rachel. The article is beautifully presented, really well written, and the photos are fabulous. 

Not Dressed As Lamb & Rachel the Hat

I’m having an absolutely brilliant time blogging but it’s flippin’ hard work, and it’s times like these that make all the late nights and stress over having so much work to do so worthwhile. The friendships I’ve made – and the ones I hope to continue to make – are without doubt the best part of all, and to my friend Rachel: it was an absolute pleasure to meet you and an honour to call you my friend. You’ve become a very, very special person in my life, hun x

What about you – have you made any amazing friends online, and are you planning to meet up? And if you have met, how did you get on? Do share in the comments!

Catherine x

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27 Comments

  1. 13 September 2015 / 3:05 pm

    Since I started writing books, I've developed friendships with so many people online and I've had the chance to meet one of them so far and that was great fun. As for the blogging, it's still early days yet (I only started it in July) so I haven't made many blogging pals yet but I hope that will change pretty quickly! I'm SUPER envious of your W&H experience but know one day I'll have my own to shout about lol!
    Suzy x
    http://www.suzyturner.com

  2. 18 June 2015 / 12:28 pm

    Both looking so beautiful, congrats ladies, love how being online can create the greatest of bonds and friendships x

    • 18 June 2015 / 11:05 pm

      Vicki thank you – and yes you're absolutely right!! Hopefully the three of us will meet up together at an event soon…!! x

    • 5 August 2015 / 2:15 pm

      Definitely, we have to xx

  3. 5 May 2014 / 5:01 am

    I totally know what you mean about finally meeting up with a fellow blogger. I'm blogger friends with Erin @ Loop Looks, and we were able to meet last summer while I was in Chicago for a conference. It was only a long lunch, but I felt we could have chatted for hours! 🙂

    Jen @ Librarian for Life & Style

    • 19 May 2014 / 12:22 pm

      Funny how the conversation is so easy, isn't it Jen?? xx

  4. 4 May 2014 / 4:38 pm

    I love w&h, you both look great! You make all that hard work look so easy, looking forward to the meet up too!

  5. 4 May 2014 / 2:06 pm

    Congratulations! I just picked up the magazine to read during a flight, looking forward to a closer look at the article.

  6. 4 May 2014 / 12:54 pm

    Aw, this was such a heartwarming post! What a great experience, and how wonderful to make a new friend. It's so hard to make new friends, blogging can be a bit solitary, and I think that actually getting out there and meeting people in the flesh is so important. I've actually met the lovely Rachel too, we had a good chat over some new clothing range in Debenhams last year! Really hoping I can make that blogger meet up later in the year, as I would love to meet yourself and some other online faces. Have a wonderful bank holiday! P x

    • 19 May 2014 / 12:21 pm

      So you know just how lovely she is, then Sarah?!! And yes I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing you later in the year too x

  7. 4 May 2014 / 10:15 am

    I can imagine this was such a nice experience. Wow. I envy you for that. Yes I meet lots of nice women on line through my blog, butat the back of my mind there is always a little voice that says:" not too difficult to be friends like that, isn't it? Distance makes the heart grow fonder and now.. How well do you really know eachother? Don't forgot your friends in real life."
    What a nagging annoying little voice.
    But you two look ever so nice. Great lime colour and your much loved earrings.
    Greetje

  8. 3 May 2014 / 8:56 pm

    Aw Catherine, this is such a beautiful post. I'm beyond excited for you and your amazing magazine feature and that you were finally able to meet your online friend. I'm sure it was just as wonderful as it looks and sounds. Beautiful photos my dear 🙂

    Take care,
    Daniella xox

  9. 3 May 2014 / 5:37 am

    Always a great experience to meet someone from blogging and you had a photo shoot,too. Double exciting! You both deserve it!

  10. 3 May 2014 / 12:01 am

    Congratulations to both of you – you two look gorgeous and have well-earned the recognition, xox.

    • 19 May 2014 / 12:20 pm

      Aww Patti that's so nice of you – thank you!

  11. 2 May 2014 / 10:05 pm

    I can see from the ear-to-ear grins that you both truly had a fabulous time, dear Catherine!! I can only imagine how much fun it all was – hair, makeup, styling…jewellery! – and the opportunity to finally meet one another in person!! Unfortunately, I'm more or less housebound again right now; but I'm going to look for the June issue of Woman & Home magazine as soon as I can (we usually get imported magazines a little late to our bookstores, anyways!)

    http://www.StyleIsMyPudding.com

  12. 2 May 2014 / 7:49 pm

    sOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad for both of you. Such an experience.
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

  13. 2 May 2014 / 7:35 pm

    Oh my gosh! What an awesome story! I love Rachel's blog as well. How wonderful that you two can share such a neat experience!!!

  14. 2 May 2014 / 6:30 pm

    Isn't it a fabulous experience. I can't wait to read the article. Woman & Home is one of my favourite magazines and I was thrilled when they invited me to have the same pampering experience you have just had when I was featured in the April issue. It is like being a real celebrity. I agree with making fabulous friends with other bloggers on line. I just spend yesterday with an American blogger friend Susan of Unefemme. We had such a great day. She lives in Los Angeles and I live in London and without blogging our paths would never have crossed and we have so much in common.

    • 2 May 2014 / 8:30 pm

      Wow you met Susan – that's brilliant!! She's such a well known 40+ blogger :)) Thanks Josephine, it's lovely that you've had the same experience!

  15. 2 May 2014 / 6:17 pm

    This sounds like such a wonderful adventure and a real payoff for all the hard work you've done. I think that for those of us who read these blogs and don't really know what goes in to them, it's good to hear that it is work and not all clothes and posing. Congratulations on landing the photoshoot and meeting Rachel IRL!

    • 2 May 2014 / 8:29 pm

      I do love the perks of the job, I must admit!! Though even the 'clothes and posing' is hard work – it takes quite a while to get a post up from start to finish, as any blogger will tell you…!

  16. 2 May 2014 / 5:51 pm

    Great feature, Catherine! I have asked Alena to get me the magazine, she'll visit in 2 weeks.

    Annette | Lady of Style

    • 2 May 2014 / 8:27 pm

      Aww that's nice that she can pick it up for you, Annette! It's a really good magazine all round 🙂

  17. 2 May 2014 / 4:17 pm

    Good for you! I love this post, all the best xx

    • 2 May 2014 / 8:30 pm

      Thank you Pam – the hair and make up team were BRILLIANT…!!!

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