BlogHer 09- What I Did, Who I Met, Part One

My previous post was something of a diatribe on the swag situation at BlogHer 09, but a comment left by Grace on the Facebook page for that post reminded me that now I want to focus on the positive and tell you why BlogHer 09 was an incredible experience that I feel fortunate to have had.

WHAT I DID AT BLOGHER 09

On the first day I was at BlogHer, Thursday, I:

had a great time driving down with Deb and Diana,
toured the office of t-shirt company Threadless,
said hello to my Mom Central pals at their cocktail reception,
made new acquaintances at the GM reception for the Carpoolers,
ate an incredible dinner at Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush with Child’s Play PR/Team Mom, learned that I do NOT like Calamari, and met some of the terrific Team Mom bloggers.
was stunned to discover that President Obama was in the very same hotel as the SocialLuxe party, where I met very nice representatives for Swiffer (there’s a new Wet Jet coming out and yes that makes me happy), Land’s End, and Moms Like Me. I want to tell Swiffer and Land’s End that having people fill out a card to have a product sent to them (free Wet Jet, free striped cotton cardigan!) was GENIUS.
Hugged dozens of people, shamelessly asked them to post for photos with me, passed out business cards, gazed out the window at Chicago which I think is a beautiful city, wished I had brought tennis shoes instead of strappy sandals (OW my FEET), and felt that happy glow of being surrounded by over a THOUSAND people who all BLOG just like ME.

On the first official day of the conference, Friday, I:

Spent about an hour after breakfast walking through the exhibition area, jaw dropping as the “booths” got more and more elaborate. The lounges set up by PepsiCo and Wal-Mart could have slept 50 people!
Found the bookstore booth, location of my official conference volunteer position, and finally met Selena of BreakPoint Books, who did an incredible job of setting up the bookstore. She and I had been emailing and g-chatting for over a month so it was nice to meet her in person.
Hugged something like 50 women, men, and babies-ohhh, the babies at BlogHer this year! Year old, 9 months old, 6 months old, 1 month old, two WEEKS old. With the parent’s permission, I touched a fingertip to impossibly soft baby toes and arms, stroked velvety cheeks and did my best “who’s a cute baby? YOU are!” routines to elicit gummy, drooly smiles.
Had my picture taken with the Michelin Man, with Rick from Tiny Prints, with Mrs. Potato Head, with celebrity hairstylist Luke O’Connor from the Suave booth. Gave business cards to any blogger I met who didn’t already have one from previous years and to the PR reps at the booths.
Did a recording for Tropicana’s “The Juice” that involved a very polite young man explaining that I needed to tape a microphone to “um…your cleavage…inside your shirt”. Poor guy lol
Was interviewed on BlogTalkRadio by the woman who trained me for two weeks at her apartment for my previous job with BlogTalkRadio. Did not even recognize her because she wasn’t wearing a messy ponytail and SpongeBob jammies. Congrats on the promotion, Shannon!
Got a kick-ass blowout from Luke O’Connor himself at the Suave booth. He called my hair “beautiful” (such a compliment!) and when I pointed out that he had given me Farrah Fawcett flips, said “I styled Farrah”. And then told me how lovely she was and what rat bastards all the men in her life were to her. Now I just need him to move to Lansing because I swear I’m following all of his hairstyling tips but I STILL can’t recreate the look he gave me.
Went to the EA Summer in the City event after my roommate got me an invite, stood in a loooong line at the House of Blues watching some very interestingly dressed people come through the door-apparently you CAN still buy skin tight black leather pants, who knew? Turned out that the live entertainment that night was none other than RATT. And EXTREME. And those have what to do with blues, exactly?
Went to the Nikon party, learned from Carson Kressley that when I pose for a photo I should sweep my hair back so my neck looks longer, and wished I could have sat down and chatted with him for a minute. He seemed like just a regular guy who likes helping people look their best, not like a “celebrity”, you know? On our way out we discovered the CHOCOLATE FONDUE BUFFET. I resisted the urge to tip my head upside down and drink directly from the chocolate fountain.
Came back to the hotel with my throat sore and feeling extremely dehydrated even though I had only been drinking water and diet coke all night. Ordered French Onion soup and ice water from room service, watched half an hour of “Con Air” on TV and passed out cold.
Somewhere in all of that I actually FOUND two people I was dying to meet- Sheena from Mommy Daddy blog and Wendy from Sparkplugging. You can find people at BlogHer, you just have to walk until your feet are bleeding!

I was going to keep going and recap Saturday, but the word count on this post is already insane enough. To see photos, visit my Flickr page. I have to get Nathan ready for a weekend Up North, and my husband said we can go out for dinner and a movie tomorrow IF I get all the product review boxes unpacked and the stuff put away, so I need to get off the computer.

Have a great weekend everybody!!!

More from BlogHer – Party Edition (tarametblog.com)

Elizabeth (1812 Posts)

I'm Elizabeth, a 40-something Michigan wife and mother of three. I created Table for Five in 2005 as a way to connect with other Moms, and I've been blogging ever since. Please click the About tab at the top of the page to read more about me and my family! email: table4five@gmail.com