BlogHer 2010

I am going to make an exception to my (already thin) rule about blogging. This post makes no mention of the kids and is probably something they won't care much about years from now. But for me, it was definitely one of the most exciting weekends I've had in a long time!

I'm talking about the BlogHer Conference!

For those of you who don't know, BlogHer is an online community of bloggers (yes, there are some men) with the mission statement "to create opportunities for women who blog to gain exposure, education, community and economic empowerment."

That being said, it was a golden opportunity for me to personally meet some of my favorite bloggers, score loads of free stuff, and sit in on some informative workshop sessions. I volunteered my time as a Mic Wrangler (the person who runs the cordless mic around the audience during the workshop sessions) and my admission to the conference was FREE. Suckers...

Anyway, let's get started with the recap.

PEOPLE
That's me with Olympian Bruce Jenner. The guy is freaking tall, works with Tropicana as a sponsor, and now is better known as the husband on the Kardashian show and a FOX News commentator. Whatever, I was like "Hey! Let's pose!"

Now the woman I am pictured with below I found to be waaaay cooler. Her name is Freshta Basij and she writes at a site called the Afghan Women's Writing Project. We met at a karaoke contest (neither of us sang) and chatted a bit. BlogHer has international activist blogger scholarships that they distribute each year. Freshta writes poetry and helps to maintain the website so that other Afghan women can express themselves through writing. It was great to hear her speak the following day, as well!

Below, you see the women of the closing keynote address.
Alison Stewart was the moderator (LOVE her, and I'm psyched to check out her new show on PBS), with Marie Wilson (founder of Take Our Daughter to Work Day, as well as The White House Project), Gloria Feldt (former prez/CEO of Planned Parenthood) , and P. Simran Sethi (journalist and professor). I enjoyed listening to them discuss how the bloggers in the room could use their voices to further their platforms and increase their power.


FOOD
When I got home, I realized that about half the pictures I took were of the S'mores Suite. But seriously, FREE SMORES. The companies get together this time each year to promote Honey Maid Graham Crackers, Jet Puff Marshmallows, and Hershey's Chocolate... and they rented out a suite on the 42nd floor, converted it into half-kitchen, half-outdoor-barbecue. And you could get dark chocolate! I think I had about four.

The Hilton was a fantastic venue for this conference. Huge expo halls for all the vendors, ample bathrooms (they even converted the men's rooms into ladies' rooms), and MY GOD THE FOOD. Above was my lunch, from the buffet, on Sunday. Incredible seafood options, as you can see. I actually shared lunch that day with my new friend, Bekah. (Check out her foodie site: beekeats)
I met a lot of incredible women over breakfast, lunch, and appetizers (dinner!) each day.

Below is an example of the spread we got for SNACK TIME. Picture a dozen of these long tables lined up three times a day, and you can imagine why I ignored the low-cal diet I've been following...
SWAG
Until I started reading up on the BlogHer conferences (this was the fifth one they've held), I didn't know what swag was. Turns out, swag is anything that you get for free, because companies want you to like it and then share your opinions with others (probably through your blog). There had to be over a hundred companies there... I got pictures of a few more recognizable costumed characters... you know, like I was in Disney World or something...
Dough Boy above gave me two toy replicas. Now I can hear "Hee hee!" all day long in stereo!
Yup, that's the real Sun Guy from the commercials below.

Here's the story behind the picture above. I had just condensed four bags of swag into two and a half, and then tried to fit it all into the bathroom stall. And close the door. Once I was able to do so, I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. And take a picture. Because I'd have to blog this one... Anyway, as the flash went off, I hear a woman in the (crowded) bathroom say, "Did I just see a flash?" "Yup," I responded. "I realized that I could barely fit into this stall with all my swag, and I had to capture the moment because it was good material to blog about later." Laughter erupted, and all was good.
The Dora people had a t-shirt screening set up. I got a shirt for T that says "Trenton the Explorer." He luuuvs it.
Below, I continue my obsession with photographing costumed characters. I did see that in at least one costume, there was a little person!
When I got home, I had to go through the five bags of swag and divide it up into downstairs stuff, upstairs stuff, Christmas stuff, and stuff for the kids for now. My, my, my... this is what happens when you attend BlogHer and you're local. I feel bad for the people who actually shipped their things home (yes, they had a shipping center available on site!)

PARTY TIME
And this is how my final night began: dumping guacamole and popcorn on the floor. What a conversation starter, right? I had just sat down with this concoction-- my free dinner-- next to someone I hadn't met before, and there I go dumping it onto the floor. But Amy didn't mind! We ended up chatting, drinking free drinks, and watching a trick-performing wizard (he corrected me when I mistakenly had called him a magician). That first party was hosted by 3 Green Angels and was called A Green Affair. I got to check out the latest in green technology while I ate candy apples, snow cones, organic popcorn, and drank two glasses of red wine.


Which set me up for a great time when I finally got to meet The President!
Yeah, so, not really. Actually, by the time I got to him, he had been (wo)man-handled so many times, he was buckling at the knees.

The most fab party of the night, and maybe even the highlight of the entire conference, was Sparklecorn. I was wicked excited to attend, as it was sponsored by a site (MamaPop) that my favorite blogger contributes to. If you have all the time in the world, check out the video at this post here. I'm not in it, which is crazy given the amount of time I spent on the dance floor, but it gives you a sense of how awesome the event was.
Seriously, every single one of those glow sticks was worth it.
The room was full of unicorn confetti, Pop Rocks were on every table, and movie and music posters adorned the walls. The first 100 attendees got t-shirts that read "Judy Blume Did Not Prepare Me For This!"

The next party was CheeseburgHer. I believe it was something started on a whim some years ago, and has now evolved into a full-fledged, formal party. Seems that McDonald's sponsored it, as there were beautiful displays of burgers and angus wraps everywhere... and plenty of bag-heads.

I skipped out early, though, if you can call 11:30 early. I was beat, and I knew that Jim and the kids were coming into the city the next day to join me at Jen's place. My cab ride back to Tribeca was totally awesome, though. The cabbie apologized profusely about the (normal) traffic in and around Times Square. And then he drove like a lunatic once we got through it, arriving at my destination a whole $1.50 earlier than the cab I'd taken the night before.

Times Square looked beautiful-- as crowded and lit up as it might at three in the afternoon.

I'm now going through my stack of business cards and emailing some new friends. I hope to add some of their sites to my blog roll soon. Thanks for the memories, BlogHer '10!