A closer look at my BlogHer experience

My last post about BlogHer was really all about my initial thoughts. But I wanted to share in another post some more specifics about my adventures in San Diego. So this will be the last...I promise...and then I will get back to my regularly scheduled blog posts.

I attended BlogHer with my friend Suzi of Pink Vanilla Cupcakes. Bright and early on Thursday we left for beautiful San Diego. The flight there was probably the only time in our 3days there that we got to sit down for any length of time. As soon as we arrived, we checked into the gorgeous Marriott Marquis and Marina. No sooner we dropped off our bags we were off and running. We were able to make it down to lunch at the Life Well Lived event put on by P&G. One of my favorite sessions happened right after when we were treated to a lesson in getting great hair on-the-go. Now, can I replicate any of the styles I saw demonstrated? NOPE. But at the end we all received a super awesome Braun Satin Hair Brush. This thing is great. And apparently worth $65.



Fast forward to the evening where we got to gamble at a Las Vegas themed happy hour, have hors d'ouerves at The Social Soiree (and get incredible swag - espeiclaly the bag!) and end the evening at 3M's Going Coconuts party at Roy's where we had the most DELISH sliders. I mean completely obsessively delicious.


Friday officially began the conference and Suzi and I started our day with Yoga. We were also signed up to do a 5k but with our Saturday morning exercise schedule..we felt it would be better for our bodies if we participated in Yoga instead. After showering and a fast breakfast, we visited the Expo to get even more swag and meet some brands, attended a session and before lunch - visited the super secret Room o'Swag for even more free stuff. We then had to hussle over to the Hard Rock Hotel for a vendor event and then back to the Marriott for an event hosted by Playskool where we got to meet some of the Seseame Street characters.
After a quick change into our evening attire, we headed over to a cocktail party hosted by SwagBucks. Suzi won a great solar charger. Nothing for me. But soon we were off to our next event where there was massages, t-shirt making, photo booths, yummy cocktails and even more swag! We ended the evening at the infamous Sparklecorn.
My best description of the party is a club in a hotel ballroom. The music was total club music and the dancing was fun. But by 11 pm we were pooped and we had a big morning the next day.





Bright and early on Saturday we were scheduled to have a workout with Bob Harper. That is trainer Bob from The Biggest Loser. I was grateful that it wasn't Jillian because I wouldn't be yelled at, but I knew how tough he would be. He did not disappoint. It was hard. Really hard. But I got through it. And Bob..well, he is much better looking in person, had a great bod, and smelled pretty good to(yes I got that close - he even touched my shoulder!). After the workout we got to have breakfast with him, Oatmeal of course and ask him questions. I got really inspired and motivated (more on that in my next post).

On our way back to the room to shower and get ready for the day, I ran into Guilianna Rancic - you know - she hosts a show on E! and is married to Bill Rancic who won the Apprentice. Anyway - she was right there as we were walking back to our room and of course since I was looking and smelling fabulous..why not stop and take a picture with her. Wouldn't you?

Later we attended another session, a focus group for HTC (where, by the way, we got HTC phones for participating), visited the swag exchange to get rid of some of my unwanted swag, and made our way over to the Queen Bee Market. Queen Bee wasn't part of BlogHer but they had a sale in a hotel right next door to the convention center and many of the vendors are ones I have previously purchased from or wanted to purchase them from. Yes I bought stuff...I wanted to buy a lot more but once I got to the register - I got buyer's jitters and put back half of the stuff I had picked out.

Our afternoon was ours and we took a walk along the water and shopped in the Seaport Village behind our hotel. It was so relaxing but boy did my feet hurt. I wished I had someone in our room to just rub my feet. I am sure Suzi felt the same way!

Our last evening had us seeing a screening of the movie The help - which by the way was incredible..see it. Now here is the only thing that really disappointed me. After the movie we were invited to a party hosted by LG where Jane Lynch would be appearing and talking about texting and driving. I was looking forward to attending but because of the length of the movie, would be arriving 45 minutes late. No where on the invite or any subsequent communications did they say that Jane Lynch would only be there at the beginning of the event so get there early. Because guess what - when we got there - it was basically over. Even though there was still an hour and 15 minutes left to the party. I was really disappointed and we basically left about 10 minutes later. If they would have said something, we would have done our evening differently.

Our final parties were 2 of the BlogHer sponsored parties - Aiming Low and CheesebergHer. Both were spectacular and fun. But CheesebergHer was by far my favorite party. The music was the kind I love - late 80's/early 90's rap - by golly they played It Takes Two by Rob Base. I was in heaven. CheesebergHer was sponsored by McDonald's so they brought in their hamburgers and french fries and we decorated McDonald's bags to wear as hats. It was goofy and fun and I loved it!
So - the million dollar question - Will I go again next year? HELL YEA!

Believe in Yourself, Trust the Process, Change Forever - My BlogHer '11 thoughts

So I am pretty sure that many of you have been reading all the post-BlogHer posts. And this one is no different - except that it is from my perspective. I learned a lot, not just about blogging, but about myself and that is what I would like to share - what I learned. So in no particular order:

Don't go with expectations!
Like many first time BlogHer attendees I read every pre-BlogHer post I could get my hands on, from how to get invited to those private parties, to what to wear, to what not to wear, to what shoes to bring, to socializing. I also was warned by many of my blogging friends who went to BlogHer '10 that people were downright mean and it was absolutely a frenzy the whole time. So when I really thought about what my expectations were I decided not to have any. I went completely open to everything. I didn't have anyone I needed to meet, or things I absolutely had to do. I just experienced it all. And I have to say - I had a fantastic time. I ran myself ragged, but in a good way. I didn't force myself to do anything. If something ran long and I missed my next event...oh well. I totally recommend this attitude. It made for a really stress free weekend.

Go to more sessions.
I wanted to attend at least a 1/2 day more of official BlogHer sessions than I actually attended. I am really not sure what happened but I know there was 2 sessions I absolutely wanted to go to but didn't. So next year (yes I am planning on going back) I am going to make more of an effort to get to those sessions. Which session did I miss that I regret? Essential Blog Content. Luckily all the sessions were recorded, so I will be doing a make-up session soon.

Private parties are good but not great!
Being my first year at BlogHer, I feel lucky to have secured invitations to some private parties. With all the hype and tweets about invites, swag and who's going to what party - I thought these parties would be fun and crowded. I was less than impressed. They were all nice. I have a lovely time at all of them. But I didn't leave any of the parties thinking...MAN This Party Rocked! I also really didn't care if I didn't get invited to a particular party - mainly because I heard that most of the parties I wanted to go to and didn't were pretty lame. With the exception of one. I really wanted to go to the Sweet Suite, hosted by the Big Toy Book. I didn't go and I am sad I didn't. The food was also just ok at these parties. But 2 did stand out as really delicious - the Swag Bucks party and of course CheeseBurgHer. How can McDonald's not be delicious.

The amount of swag you get is overwhelming
Oh boy do you get alot of stuff. I heard that, but you just can't comprehend that until you are there. 2 times I went through the swag I got to reduce and I still came home and filled a 1/2 of a suitcase and a whole carry on bag. The best of the swag - HTC phone, Braun Satin Hair Brush, all my 3M swag and my Bob Harper DVD.

There are surprises around every corner!
There were celebrities and flash mobs and celebrities and generosity.


This is a fun story. I was having breakfast one morning and at the other side of our table was a woman who was wearing the cutest watch. I always love to compliment people when I really like something they are wearing or doing. So, I said 'I love your watch'. Then she replied to me - "thank you, I would like to give you one. I love these watches and this brand so I have a few with me and would love for you to have one." I was speechless. That has never happened to me before. But you know what I learned - keep the compliments flowing.

Other things I learned or felt
1. I really need to hire someone to redesign my blog
2. I really didn't spend any money except for cab rides
3. Pick and choose which sponsor session / events you attend. If the sponsor is for a product that really isn't in your market, don't go.
4. Be friendly - introduce yourself to those who appear to be by themselves and if you are sharing a cab - treat them.
5. The question I was asked the most after what was my blog about - "Who are you with?" So apparently I am one of the very few that was not sponsored. So I always answered, I was with myself and my blog!

In my next post - I will discuss in more detail some of the super fun things I got to do...like work out with Bob Harper, one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser.

Hormones. ... And not the teenage kind

This year has been pretty good. This year of 40. No one believes me when they ask my age. In fact, I was at the Minnesota Roller Girls and the server took one look at my ID and laughed saying she thought I was 28. That made my week. But it hasn't been all compliments and gum drops. It seems as if the moment I turned 40 strange things started happening. At first I thought it was all a coincidence but I soon realized that sadly it wasn't. One of the first things I noticed was my eyesight. I started having trouble reading small print. I told this to my mom who had no sympathy for me, in fact she seemed to enjoy my struggles. I think this has been because of years of me teasing her about not being able to read bottles and boxes- payback!

But the most upsetting of them all - pimples! My Long Island Ladies can attest that back in the day - those teenage years when hormones are raging and pimples were abundant- I never got any. In fact- true story- I had what I thought were 3 pimples on my face. 3! I thought the sky was falling. I was so freaked out. Even my bestie Anna was like "what is up with those pimples?". Guess what? Totally not pimples- CHICKEN POX. HA. I knew it couldn't be pimples. So now with turning 40 and the change in my hormones, pimples decided to make an appearance and apparently they like it here.

I know this is just the beginning of the changes in my body that I am going to see. And I feel very fortunate to have my mom around to help me through this and to laugh with me through this. I also feel very fortunate that information is at my fingertips on the Internet so I can get answers quickly, realize I am not the first (obviously) and probably even more importantly give me information about the changing hormones of my kids. And UGG I feel that is coming way to fast (I have no idea what to do with a pre-pubescent boy). Anyway, if you have some of these questions- a great resource is BodyLogicMD. They helped me
find information not only about my hormone issues but I peaked and found some great resources to prepare me for H's entry into the world of hormones.

I am sure that I have more pimples, cheaters, and who knows what in my future and I know I can handle it with grace and humor! Just hope my kids can also.

Disclosure: this is a Sponsored Post.