Cosmo Blog Awards Shortlist 2014!

On Sunday night I went to bed with a tummy full of butterflies. The Cosmo Blog Awards shortlist was going to be announced the next day, and the nerves had been building up over the past week. I never forget results dates for things I care about - as you can imagine, the long waits for GCSE and A-level results were TORTURE for me.

It felt different to last year, when I genuinely didn't have the faintest inkling I might make the shortlist. However, the still-shocking outcome of last year's Blog Awards inevitably left me feeling a teensy bit more hopeful this year. I wasn't confident though, oh no, as my blog has changed a lot over the year and I was expecting a lot more entries this year.

My certificate from last year, now framed and in pride of place in my room

If anything, because of what happened last year it was just going to be more disappointing if I didn't see Handbags and Cupcakes on the shortlist for 2014.

Not wanting to be held in limbo for a second longer than necessary, I'd turned on tweet notifications for Cosmo. Ping, ping, ping went my phone every few minutes. No, must not get distracted by a woman eating only pet food for a month...

And then came the tweet I'd been waiting for: the Cosmo Blog Awards shortlist for 2014 has been revealed!

I rapidement headed to the Cosmo website, hoping my boss wasn't about to come over and tell me off.

Down I scrolled... Fashion, Beauty, Newcomers, Established, yes all lovely, and then I got to Lifestyle...

Excitable snapchats were sent, natch

HANDBAGS AND CUPCAKES!

HOORAH! OMG! Wooooo! Eeeeeep!

These were all going on in my head simultaneously.

SO HAPPY!

I was also thrilled to see my blogger friend and fellow Bristol student Ambi of Bombay Rose on the Beauty shortlist after entering for the first time. So exciting! Do check out her delightful blog if you haven't already.

Oooooh we're going to go to the awards ceremony together (which, crazily, may very well be the first time we actually meet in person!) and I'm particularly excited considering I had to miss it last year (year abroad what uuuuup) and suffered serious FOMO as a result.

You guys, thank you SO much for nominating me and supporting Handbags and Cupcakes! Again. Considering how much my blog has evolved over the last year what with the whole living in Germany and Belgium scenario, I was worried I might have lost some of you.

I love the Cosmo Blog Awards - it's such a great way to champion blogs and fantastic for finding new ones. In my opinion, this year's shortlist looks even better than last year! The standard's higher and the competition fiercer in Lifestyle for sure - I'm up against some wonderful blogs, most of which I didn't know before. It's so much fun to discover new fave blogs though.

I even took a lunch break lift selfie in my excitement. I have no idea why but I did.

I know you all know what's coming next though: yup, I need your votes! The winners will be decided 50% through votes and 50% by a panel of expert judges, so the votes are really important.

HOW TO VOTE: What's more, the voting system has been improved and simplified since last year, when I know it left a few of you confuzzled. This is the page you need, and if you only want to vote for me (naww thanks), all you have to do is click 'Next Page' five times, click Handbags and Cupcakes, click 'Next Page' a few more times until you get to the end, whack in your email address, accept Ts&Cs, click 'Submit' and you're done! Of course if you spot any of your other fave blogs in the other categories, do vote for them too.

I know I have very little chance of winning, but hey, you've gotta be in it to win it, right? You might as well give it a shot and try, I think. I'm so grateful for every single vote - it takes less than a minute (I timed myself, seriously) so if you can spare a moment of your busy day that would be super awesome. Voting is open until 29th August but why not just do it now? Yes, riiiiight NOW!

OK, pleading over. Happy blog reading and voting and thank you SO much for your continued support of Handbags and Cupcakes.

That was uncharacteristically formal, wasn't it? Let's try again:

TA V MUCH AND THANKS A BUNCH!

Rachel x

PS Do share your voting antics and join the fun with the hashtag #CosmoBlogAwards!