BlogHer ’11 Friday Continued – Old School Bloggers Session and Two Parties

Read this post first.

So I left off having taken some Immodium (thanks again, Robyn!) and deciding I was up to doing at least something conference-related. I found the room for the Old School Bloggers session where I met up with some of the bloggers I’ve known since BlogHer ’06! Here’s TwoBusy, LaurieWrites, and IzzyMom:

And here’s Jenny, SJ, and Sarah:

On our way out I snapped a photo of three women who have been there for me since the beginning, who I think of as part of my blogging family – Jenn from Mommy Needs Coffee, Liz from This Full House, and Elizabeth from Busy Mom:

From there, I went to the MomCentral and Johnson & Johnson cocktail party, which was wonderful because there was actual FOOD and not just tiny nibbles grabbed from passing trays. I stuck to a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri, got lots of hugs from the MomCentral reps, sat and chatted for a while, then a bunch of us left to go to the Cheap Sally Dance Party, which was AWESOME.

The party was at a bar in the Gaslight district called Stingaree, and we had it all to ourselves until 9:00 pm! They laid down a red carpet for us to walk in to get inside, then there were three floors all for us, each floor had a bar (with free drinks, woo hoo!) and REAL FOOD again (penne arrabiatta and a sourdough roll, so good). On the rooftop though was the real party. This was the first thing I saw:

Yeah, just a little freaky. So, all around the perimeter of the rooftop were these cabanas, and inside each one were couches and chairs, a table, and the sponsors. Free drinks were flowing, there was a DJ spinning great tunes, and lots of great people to meet! I learned about Gordon Ramsay’s new line of kitchen appliances, got some cute flip flops from SearsStyle, posed with a cardboard cutout of Roseanne from her show Roseanne’s Nuts on Lifetime at the Lifetime Moms cabana (I hope someone posts that picture!), and scooped up a ton of Smarties (excellent choice for a sponsor!). I also chatted with the folks from Big Fuel, a social media agency, about joining their Mom Network that connects bloggers with large brands, it’s called momentum.

And yes, I did let my hair down a bit! I did a little dancing (yes, really) and then caught a Pedicab back to the hotel. A Pedicab, if you’ve never been in one, is a person on a bike pulling a cart with two bench seats. And while it feels weird letting a person do that, they must do all right because everywhere I went, if I stepped even close to the curb, a Pedicab rushed over to see if I wanted a ride.

Our driver (biker?) had a stereo, and he blasted Rapper’s Delight as we flew down the street. What was awesome is that people we passed would raise up their hands and yell “whoooo!” and start dancing along! One guy ran down the sidewalk next to us for half a block! It was definitely an adventure.

It absolutely sucked not having a camera. My cellphone camera’s not great, and while the tablet does do okay, I didn’t always have it with me. I’m hoping in the next few weeks I’ll pop up in some pictures on Flickr or Facebook that I can grab and share. Next up, BlogHer ’11 Saturday!

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