I’m home! Okay, I say that as if I just walked in the door, but I’ve been here since yesterday evening. However, my brain? Possibly still in NYC. I had to leave *something* there to make room for all the awesome goodies (swag) I got to bring home with me. So this re-cap post will just hit some of the highlights and throw some pictures at you. I hope to have a more thought out one, sort of an advice column to myself for next year sometime tomorrow.
My travel to NYC was strangely uneventful. All flights were on time, all baggage arrived where it should, and the Super Shuttle had working AC and a driver who I’m sort of confident had a valid license (which was all great for my schedule and bad for my blogging muse). I got to the Hilton just in time to check in, change clothes and walk 11 blocks to the SocialLuxe party. 11 blocks doesn’t sound that bad. I mean, I run marathons, I could totally walk 11 blocks over waiting 45 minutes for a cab… except I don’t run marathons in heels 20 weeks pregnant. I arrived a bit of disheveled mess, but it didn’t matter because I still had a kick ass time (and no, I didn’t win, but still SO honored to be nominated and amongst those who did- truly). I finally met up with Gina from The Feminist Breeder and we had a lovely time partaking in all the events festivities, like free massages and manicures. I should be getting a nursing tank from Yummie Tummie in the mail soon after stopping by to speak with them. And then we finished off the night by getting our glam on and taking this:
We split a bicycle taxi on the way back to the hotel, which we managed to negotiate down from $25 to $10 (we were so street). The driver did try to convince us to make up for the difference by kissing each other, and I realized we might be able to get a lot of things for cheap in NYC if we were willing to agree to some girl on girl action. He had already agreed to the flat price of $10, though, before we even boarded so I didn’t think his additional request was all that fair.
After finally meeting all of my roomies (Mae, Mandy and Beth Anne), we got to head down to the second party of the night- The People’s Party, then we finally crashed in the room around midnight. The alarm was set for 6:15 the next morning so Beth Anne and I could get up and put on our #tutusfortanner.
Beth Anne, being the dedicated person she is, actually managed to get her butt out of bed on time and partake in the 5k. I (being the pregnant and totally exhausted person I am), put on my tutu and headed downstairs around 7ish and just wore the thing through breakfast to show my support (it’s the thought that counts, right?).
My first session was “Making Your Passion Work For You” (click here for a link to the session’s live blog) where I got a few ideas and nuggets of inspiration to do more with my new venture Party Like A Kid. In my fantasy future, PLK runs more like a business for me and this place stays my personal sanctuary, so this was not only a great way to kick off the learning part of Blogher, but also to open the floodgates of inspiration.
I skipped the second session to head over to the Getting Gorgeous event where I had my hair done by the Remington team and came home with SO. MANY amazing goodies, like a pair of jeans I plan to wear postpartum that promise to make me look 10 lbs. lighter in 10 seconds. TALL order, I know. I’ll be sure to let you all know if they are true to their word when the time comes. It was really an amazing event.
I managed to squeeze in a quick coffee date with Jenn, owner and creator of Bum Genius diapers (and the company Cotton Babies), and her lovely assistant Libby. It was one of the highlights of my weekend. I got so much insight into the process of how they go about developing new products and what the thought process was behind the changes in the new Bum Genius 4.0 diapers. These ladies are really on top of their game, and I love that they are striving to appeal to the masses, to make it easier for anyone to cloth diaper their baby. I’ve always been a super huge fan of their diapers, as many of you who have kept up with my cloth diapering experience may know, but it makes me even happier to purchase and use their products knowing such genuine and kind people are behind the name.
Jenn and I enjoying a little liquid energy
My second and last session of the day was “How To Take Great Pictures,” which promised I didn’t need a fancy SLR to participate. And though many of the tips (like the rule of thirds and paying attention to naturally occurring lines) were something I’d heard and worked with back in my video days at the J-school, there were many more that were new to me. My favorite? Don’t take pictures of sleeping babies in boxes. It’s morbid. Ha! I typed out the most thorough notes I could, knowing so many of you would be most interested in what I took away from this session, but you know what’s so much better than the jumbled mess I created in Word? The live blog you can read here.
After my last session of the day, I took some time to meet up and pass out some of the Twist N’Pop straw cups BornFree provided for the conference. I am SO, SO grateful they sent me as their Blogher Ambassador. It was wonderful representing such a well loved company and the cups were very well received.
Then it was a quick wardrobe change and out the door to the Babble.com party at a swanky bar with Gina, Leah, Danielle, Jennifer (and her precious 4 week old baby girl)and Tina. The highlight of the party was when Gina snuck off to the bar’s bathroom to pee on a stick and discover that, after 8 months of trying, she’s finally pregnant with her 3rd!! Here she is all glowy and gushy minutes after finding out:
And here we all are celebrating with her by taking Shirley Temple shots (bartender’s idea- how cute is that?!).
The final stop for the night for me was back at the Gala, where Jenny the Bloggess let my aura wash over her and then typed a little snippet all about my boobs. This awesome moment brought to you by my fetus who made my jugs grow again to their once glorious size:
Thank you, Jenny, for making me feel like a college girl piece of meat sports bar waitress again. It was refreshing and missed.
I’m going to end this here, and no, it’s not the whole story. 1. I am aiming to be a little less long winded as a new goal around here so that I may post more frequently and you may roll your eyes less at the walls of paragraphs I vomit onto the keyboard. 2. I’m f-ing exhausted y’all. And just *writing* about Blogher is taking everything out of me. So I’ll be back with part 2 tomorrow and then hopefully my advice column to myself along with it.
I’m taking my glorious breasts and sizeable bump to bed.
Kendall is 2 and survived the weekend with his dad just fine, and I’m 20 weeks pregnant.
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13 comments
Look like you had a hell of a time! Thanks for sharing with us!!
oh I wish I could’ve gone to the getting gorgeous event. Sounds amazing! Glad you had a great time! I had a blast.
#1. Our picture may actually be the coolest picture ever taken in the history of pictures. Anywhere.
#2. I bet we could have ridden around NYC for free all week if we’d agreed to the Girl on Girl action. That dude reminded me of the lead singer of Kings of Leon, btw. Not entirely unattractive (if he’d had a shower.) And was less smarmy.
#3. What I learned at the BlogLuxe party is that the really good swag is at the parties like that – and the Hair party. That’s where it’s at. If you can keep getting invited to those things, BlogHer is totally worth it. I only got to go to Social Luxe because some people clicked on my name a bunch. I wasn’t invited to anything else. *Sad Face* :'( Eh. Maybe next year. Maybe.
#4. Your boobs were boobalicious. They almost hit me in the face when you got out of the Taxi. Thank You Fetus!
Blogher looked like so much fun! I love that you went to a bar and had Shirley Temple shots.
Thanks for posting the live blogs! Sounds like you had a great time. Looking forward to the rest of the recaps!
Gah. You’re a walking commercial for BlogHer. Sign me up now please.
You looked great and sounds like it was awesome. I need me some swag!
So jealous! Blogher seemed like a blast! I can’t wait to go next year!
It sounds (and looks) like you had an amazing time! I am SO going next year, so mark down “Cocktails with my best friend Jessica” on your calendar, please.
You look amazing, kudos to you for wearing heels while pregnant. I still haven’t put any on six months after the fact. And yes, your boobs look really good. 🙂
I’ve read like, fifty of these recaps today and yours is the first one that made me REALLY REALLY sad I wasn’t there. We could have compared 20 week baby girl bumps – although yours is INFINITELY cuter.
I even cried a little when you said you went to the Babble.com party, since their invitation is the first thing I’ve ever gotten simply for being a blogger.
…and to think I wasted all my time making out with the Jimmy Dean sun. Clearly I need to get out more.
Perhaps the funniest comment ever?
Looks like you had an amazing time, Jill. I watched the whole thing go down on the twitterverse and although I’m sad I wasn’t there this year it just makes me even more excited to go next year!
And yes, your boobs look pretty awesome. Go baby girl!
It looks like you had a totally fab time! Like your own little babymoon 😉