I can’t believe what a hard time I’m having writing about BlogHer! It’s like, I don’t want to say too little, but I don’t know how much to say, so I’m just sort of stuck! I arrived last Thursday just in time to hop on a shuttle bus to the Kirtsy/Alltop party, and while waiting for the bus, I had a chance to hug Julie and Kristen from Parent Bloggers Network, Liz from Cool Mom Picks (Kristen is CMP too), and Krisco from Crib Ceiling. I ran into Gwendomama in the lobby, she’s a PBN blogger, and my roommates were Anne and Dana who reviews at Dana Reviews. When I got to the room, I found Lori waiting for us, she has a bunch of great blogs including Cowgirl Critiques. She is so cute and she just jumped right in to all the BlogHer craziness! I was so glad she came!
On the shuttle bus, I chatted with Dana, Lori, Jennster (she just gets hotter every year), Kristie from SlackerMommy, and Corinna from A Celebration of Curves, who has cleavage like you wouldn’t believe! And then, I start chatting with the blogger sitting across from me, and she goes “Elizabeth! It’s MICHELLE LAMAR!” Michelle blogs at White Trash Mom and was one of “my” authors in the BlogHer Bookstore! I just wanted to pack her in my suitcase and bring her home, she was so sweet and fun.
Despite our shuttle bus driver having NO CLUE how to actually get to the party, we arrived at Guy Kawasaki’s house in Atherton to find all the Kirtsy ladies, plus so many other wonderful bloggers whose sites are listed on Alltop. There was a photo area where you could dress up in costumes and get your photo taken, a huge bowl of paella, fancy wine, and my favorite, plastic cups of mashed potatoes with barbecued chicken on top-yum! I was so happy to see Gabrielle from Kirtsy again, she was at the Disney event I went to in April. I met Laurie from Kirtsy at last year’s BlogHer too.
I ran into BOSSY, big smooches for her, and Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing and Stephanie from Ladybug and her Blogging Mama, who also went to the Disney event. I talked to Kristen from Mommy Needs a Cocktail but DIDN’T get a photo with her, darn it! I hugged Casey from Moosh in Indy about half a dozen times, plus shook hands a little nervously with Eden from Fussy, Alice from Finslippy, and Melissa from Suburban Bliss. I don’t know what I was so nervous about, they are all quite lovely and friendly.
I gave a big hug to Christina from A Mommy Story, and squealed a bit when I met Wendy from Sparkplugging! After picking up buttons that read “Kirtsy, we bring bitches together” (ha!) and debating over the one that read “I heart Guy K” or the one with Guy’s face on it (I went for the face one), and grabbing a ginormous swag bag (cute red totebag from Scholastic positively STUFFED with swag) and a black tee that reads “I Write For Me”, we boarded the shuttle back to the hotel. Fortunately, that driver knew where he was going, plus rush hour was over.
We got back to the hotel just as the MomCentral “First Drink on Us” party was wrapping up, and after hugging the heck out of the adorable Abbey, I gratefully accepted a Cosmo and a totebag with three new hardback books I can’t wait to read. I also met Kara and Stacy from MomCentral, and let me tell you, they are all the nicest people you could ever want to work with. Then I bumped into Anne-Marie Nichols, who I first met at BlogHer 06 when I knew absolutely no one and asked if I could sit with her at breakfast. And here we are 2 years later!
Okay, so let’s see, where are we? That’s the second party of the night, TWO MORE parties to go! We took a cab over to Rye bar even though it was only down the street and around the corner because we hadn’t been there long enough to get the lay of the land, so to speak, so we didn’t realize just how close to the hotel it was. Rye bar was the site of the party hosted by The Experience Project, where I happily greeted Armen and Julio, who I first met last year. They are still so awesome and so enthusiastic (and rightfully so) about their website. I sipped a Cosmo, picked up a cute gift bag, snapped some photos, and then it was time for the FOURTH party of the night, the People’s Party!
Hosted by a bevy of amazing bloggers, the People’s Party was where I met Loralee from Loralee’s Looney Tunes, Leah Peah, Mr. Lady from Whiskey in my Sippy Cup, and ran into my blog pals Liz from This Full House, Shannon from PHAT Mommy, Kerry from Crunchy Carpets, Amber from Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck, and Shannon from Believer in Balance. I also met Mrs. Flinger (finally!) and found Charlene, formerly of Maya’s Mom, who now runs Shine, the parenting site for Yahoo!. AND, I found James and Zameer from BabySpot, who are like big huggable teddy bears and I am so happy to be writing their weekly newsletter! Thanks for the job, guys!
Oh, and someone, I totally cannot remember WHO, but I know she’s a relatively new blogger and it was her first BlogHerCon, bought me a drink at the party. THANK YOU, whomever you were! Turns out, four Cosmos is my limit, and after that, I needed to go to BED. Unfortunately for my roommates, I fell right asleep while they were still up, and I started TALKING IN MY SLEEP. According to Dana I said something like “no, I already did that”-ha! And then I tried to SPOON Dana, but it’s not my fault, we slept together last year too, and I’m just so darn comfortable with her! LOL Sorry sweetie!
And THAT was Thursday at BlogHer. Turns out a 41 year old out of shape mother of three CAN go to four parties in one night! Just not more than once a year. Tomorrow? I’ll recap Friday!
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