*See my last post for a full BlogHer post disclaimer. I know these are annoying and writing multi-parts constitutes pushing the envelope… But I promise I’ll try to keep it interesting (to me).
This is day two of a three part account. I’ve already covered Thursday, my first day in NYC, and am now picking it back up with Friday. So if you’re still interested [I just finished reading through this and it’s LONG – so get ready to skim]…
Friday:
Friday morning I woke a little on the early side. I had plans with Stacey to grab coffee since her baby, Nate (who accompanied her to NYC) is usually up at the crack of dawn. Sadly (for me), Nate decided to be a mother’s dream over the weekend and slept a full 12 hours every night. So Stacey wasn’t available. (Honestly – babies are so selfish! No regard for anyone else’s plans…)
Instead, I just went down to the hotel Starbucks for a little quiet time to myself. I also exchanged some “let’s meet up” tweets with Scary Mommy (whom I will refer to by her blog name, as another Jill figures prominently in my BlogHer experience). But that never happened, as I had barely started to sink into the couch before I got a call from my close friend for many pre-blog years, Christy. She had just arrived at the hotel and was hoping to store her luggage in my room until she could check in.
We then discovered that Christy’s roommate, Jill had also just gotten to the Hilton. So I took them both up to my room to talk loudly around Anna who was trying to sleep in. Since this was rather rude (and Anna pulled a pillow over her head and broadcast a very loud silence indicating that she was not interested in joining the coffee klatch just yet) I accompanied Christy and Jill down to breakfast. And it was there that we actually did run into Scary Mommy and took a couple of pictures:
Christy, Scary Mommy, Me
Me, Jill, Christy
Shortly after that, I met Anna to check out the exhibit hall. While waiting for the hall to open, I randomly started talking to Shauna from Piece of Cake. Do you know her? People confuse us all the time…I think it has something to do with our facial expressions and coloring. Anyway – that was a kind of funny coincidence.
I enjoyed strolling through the booths, though I tried very hard to NOT procure too much junk to bring home. I’m not going to cover my hours (yes – it was quite the time warp in there) that I spent talking to exhibitors in these posts. I’m not much of a brand blogger (unless of course, a sponsor out there wants to pay me a lot of money to become one – call me!) and my BlogHer ads contract wouldn’t allow it anyway. If anything of note comes to mind, I’ll put it on Wishing True or possibly my review/giveaway site, As Good As Cake.
While cruising through the exhibits, I kept an eye out for the people on my “must see” list but it was kind of a zoo. I was quickly realizing that if I wanted to see anyone at all, I would probably have to ask them out on dates with promises of really good swag bags. But it was pretty early in the day, and I always had Twitter to help me figure out where I could find my scattered friends. Note to self: walking through exhibit halls while typing on an iphone will make you very dizzy.
And here is where my second BlogHer fail occurred. I completely lost track of time and missed the first round of sessions. My DC area friend Jean (Stimey) spoke on the Autism panel, and that was one I had planned to attend. So second lesson learned: don’t let the shiny objects in the exhibit hall distract from the rest of the conference. While I’m super excited about my Mission tortilla warmer, I would have much rather seen Jean speak.
There was little time for lamenting though since Anna and I had to leave for our half hour shift in the Serenity suite (the travel time required for catching the elevator from the third floor to the 43rd was, oh…about a half hour). There, I had a chance to to catch up with Carrie, talk to Amie about the new DC Moms blog that will be launched soon, and even meet the S’mores (sponsor of my train ticket to NYC) suite reps. My only complaint about the Serenity Suite was that my shift was just a little too early for the afternoon cupcakes. I was told there would be cupcakes…
By the time we made it down to lunch, I was famished. I have this really bad habit of not eating a good breakfast and that morning was no exception. So instead of finding a group of friends or sitting at a table full of new people to meet, I dragged Anna to an empty table where I attacked my meal with caveman-like attention. It’s not that I was feeling anti-social – I just can’t eat and talk at the same time, and talking usually takes precedence. This would be the reason that I’ve often found myself quite drunk at weddings (I have no problem consuming beverages while chatting).
Once I felt ready to interact with people again, it was time for afternoon sessions. And I had planned to attend Dear Abby 2.0: Giving Advice in the Blogosphere. I don’t actually have an advice blog, but a few of my favorites were on the panel: Kelcey, Marinka and Wendi (otherwise known as The Mouthy Housewives). They were joined by a blogger I’ve heard of, but haven’t actually read before, Aunt Becky. As expected, this was a very funny group and a couple of times I got confused and thought I was in the humor panel. But this didn’t last since all of the people standing up to ask questions started with “I find that I’m often asked for advice on…” Apparently many bloggers who did not start out with the intention of giving advice to readers are e-mailed questions on a regular basis. Like personal questions about whether or not to end a 20-year marriage. Talk about responsibility!
A lot of great advice and suggestions were given by the panel (surprise!), but Aunt Becky provided a bottom line reality check with the statement, “you don’t owe anyone anything.” Actually – this was kind of a break in character, serious moment that I think resonated with everyone. Whether you give advice or not, anyone who writes a blog feels some level of expectation from readers. So that was probably my biggest take away from the session – that I’m not responsible for the feelings and decisions of the people who may solicit me for advice. That, and the fact that no one ever asks me for advice. Hmph!
I would have liked to attend another session after that (AND catch up with friends I was thrilled to see there like Ann and Pauline), but I rushed off to embark on my third big BlogHer mistake. I had an appointment to get my hair styled at the Pantene station in the exhibit hall.
I had been wearing my hair pulled back in a low ponytail all day, but planned to wear it down for that evening’s events. Between the humidity and my inexpert styling skills, I knew that it would probably be a frizzy mess – so the professional help seemed like a fabulous idea. And it would have been if I hadn’t made my appointment for 15 minutes into the Voices of the Year keynote. Sigh. AND – by the time I realized my error, and returned to change the time, all that was left was the slot immediately after the the Dear Abby panel. So there was no time to wash my hair. I would have to just see what they could do with the flat, greasy mess.
Twenty minutes doesn’t buy you much magic time when it comes to hair styling. So what I ended up with was a very stiff coif of waves that didn’t last five minutes into my OCD poking. Ultimately, I had to pull it back into the low ponytail again and just wash it later. That was a lot of time wasted… Lesson learned: don’t prioritize hair appointments over precious conference time. (Although I DID enjoy chatting with the adorable Aussie stylist – glass half full….)
The next big event of the day was Voices of the Year, and Anna and I made sure to get a good spot in the general session room. Before the speakers began though, I got the most astonishing comment on my pre-BlogHer “see you next week” post from my friend Nancy (the one I had met for lunch the day prior):
I had no idea what to make of this and e-mailed her immediately: “What’s up with the X-rated comment? Typo?” Of course, she was puzzled and looked to see what she could possibly have written. It seems to have been a truly bizarre iphone spell check malfunction.
Either way, it gave me a good laugh, as well as some ‘splainin’ to do to Chris when I got home.
The keynote was fantastic. I truly expected to be a little bored by at least some of the speakers, but that didn’t happen at all. I was really there to see these three…
Marinka (the funniest woman online), Scary Mommy (the…I don’t know – she can do everything, but was recognized for her design work) and Amy (the chanteuse who performed her hilarious satire, “The ‘Wicked’ Popular Blogger“) After the keynote, we had a little time to relax (and do our own hair) before that evening’s events. Anna and I planned to meet Christy and Jill at the Kirtsy Voices of the Year gallery and check out the art created to accompany the 75 finalists. This was something I was dying to see (I even wrote a rather angsty post about it) so I really wish I had more time to spend there.
But we did have other plans starting with The Mouthy Housewives’ party at a lounge around the corner. And this is where I started doing EVERYTHING right.
On the way though, we ran into another attendee who had just that second, realized that she had left her wallet in a cab that was now several blocks away. Poor Jorja… But a girl after my own heart, she just did whatever she needed to do to cancel credit cards and inform a not exactly thrilled husband, and then went on to enjoy the rest of her night out. Which pleased us very much as she spent some of it in our company.
The party was possibly the best part of the whole weekend for me. I met some fantastic new people (including Dre, Jillian, Joy, and Kim), caught up with friends (including Amy, Loukia and Maura), enjoyed delicious wine and hors d’oeuvres AND was informed that I would be shipped a free LG vacuum cleaner. But the best part was actually staying in one place for a couple of hours and talking to wonderful people:
Then (and I SWEAR I am wrapping this up soon), we dropped by the Kirtsy Gala room to see if the art displays were still up. Regrettably they were not – but we did run into the adorable Carina of The Jet Set. And she offered to take some pictures of us that just may be my favorites from the whole weekend:
In case you were wondering – yes, Christy is always laughing like that, and yes, she really did semi-seriously consider taking the balloons back to her room.
You will now be thrilled to know that this concludes the chronicle of my every move on Friday, August 6, 2010. I am just as exhausted in the telling as I was at the end of that day.
Tomorrow I will finish up with Saturday, the last day of BlogHer and I will do everything humanly possible (for me) to exercise better editorial skills. Until then…
You did way more on Friday then I did in 2 days. I barely made it onto the Expo floor. Didn't even know that there were updos. Cool!
You ARE a lovely person and I LOVED reading every word of this post. Some of it out loud to my poor husband. Loved every second of it – and good calls on what to skip/minimize next year! You ARE going next year, right?!
Super fun to read this! I loved the blow by blow. And your friend's tweet to you? HILARIOUS! That may be reason enough to start tweeting.
I think your friend was right the first time…you worked every WOMAN you saw!
Great recap…you tell it well.
looks soooo fun and would LOVE to make it back there! we'll see….
LOVE the pics and sexy poses :)
Best recap– I feel like I just relived it!!! LOVED meeting you, though it didn't feel like the first time at all. In a good way.
Squeeeeeeee … I loved the recap! I loved being part of your BlogHer experience. And I'm so excited that you were as excited as I was to hang out and build a friendship!
Find me a house lady!
So fun! And I've always wanted to meet Azucar! Jealous!
I think this was as good as going vicariously to BlogHer gets!
Looks like a great, but exhausting, time!
Rene
I am quite jealous of every other woman you met because I was not, to my memory, entered. If my dog hadn't eaten the entire box of Sugarless Mint Chocolate Chip Gum from my bag o' swag, I'd be chewing one right now. Did I have coffee breath? Also, you blew my secret identity. If I actually had readers, I'd be a bit steamed right now. (I mean what with the blown cover and my apparent "Do Not Enter" status.)
Loved reading this. I miss BlogHer already, it passed by so quickly. Next year, we'll spend more time together. Yes, that's a threat.
Hello! I am just now reaching the beginning of August in my feedreader and just read all of your BlogHer posts. I think what they really show was how much there was at BlogHer and how crazy it was, but at the same time, such an incredible moment to connect with other women.
One of my big regrets is that I didn't make it to that Mouthy Housewives party.