So a lot of happy things happened while I was at BlogHer. And I just wrote a huge post about them all and then closed it because I wrote it in the same unsaved document as my freak out post and thought it was two different documents and man oh man. Let’s try this again.
In no particular order.
- The morning we arrived, the first non-roommate person to walk into my hotel room was Loralee. I blinked and she blinked and sort of galloped across the room and hugged me. Just the day before I’d put her on the spot like an asshat being all “my goal in life is for you to follow me back on Twitter” (true story) and it was seriously such a dumb faux pas. Who does that?? But she was so sweet about it and is GORGEOUS and while she fawned over my ickle computer I tried not to stare at her incredible rack and milky white skin. Loralee is a bloggy hero of mine and it was super surreal to hang out with her.
- The Room704 girls stayed in my room the night before we got there and I got to see them all while they were organizing for the party and wrangling swag and I may or may not have rubbed myself on their belongings out of sheer admiration and squee. Mrs. Flinger has the cutest voice I’ve ever heard. I wanted to listen to her talk for hours and hours and hours.
- The hotel beds and pillows were magical upon magical.
- Laurin and I forged a stronger friendship over the weekend and bonded over missing our children and fantasizing about running away from the conference and flying home.
- During the community keynote, I felt a power and energy that I’ve never experienced before. Over the past year, I’ve sat alone reading blogs, and I’ve cried and laughed by myself. I felt isolated and a little weird reacting so strongly to the words of others. Then, during the keynote, I listened to those same posts and new ones and laughed and cried again. But this time 1,000 other people laughed and cried around me. I didn’t feel alone. I was part of something. A visceral, beautiful experience. I am immensely grateful for that chance and consider the keynote to be the highlight of all the official BlogHer activities.
- Bringing home “presents” for my three-year-old. I didn’t go nutballs with the swag, but I appreciated the useful samples and gifts. Note to marketers and others: Please stop giving away branded USELESS wasteful shit. We’re more likely to understand and appreciate your brand if you share something that actually speaks to what you’re all about or something randomly branded that we can actually use. Note to attendees: The less we make grabby hands at useless swag, the more likely corporations and businesses will be to understand that we’d rather read a small, informative brochure than use a keychain or a branded coozie.
- I loved having the “is coozie a word” debate in person with my roomies.
- While I was wandering around the Expo Hall being bewildered by crazy shit, I saw The Bloggess and approached her shyly for a hug. She was all, “Maria! You’re funny!” And I died. And she introduced me to Victoria Pericon who is statuesque and gorgeous and funny and we all went on an adventure to the Brand About Town suite. These 15 or so minutes were possibly the coolest 15 or so minutes of the entire conference for me. Jenny is sweet and funny and genuine and so unbelievably down to earth. I honestly felt like a rock star had briefly taken me under her wing. I ended up running into Jenny again at the Nikon party and she continued to be amazing. I filmed her getting Carson to sign her boobs. JOY AND SQUEE.
- Along those lines, Nancy Kappes is fucking REAL. Oh. My. God.
- Mat Moreno from Insight Studios did a gorgeous, fantastic job on my tattoo on Thursday. Don’t let him fool you, he’s a total sweetheart. The shop is clean and professional and all the artists are badass.
- During the keynote, I stepped outside to
stalkintroduce myself to Linda from All and Sundry. Linda was the second blogger I ever read. If I had to pick one blog to read and only one, it would be hers. I pretty much told her that and to her credit she didn’t run away or anything. Linda is just as adorable in person as she is in pictures. She looked so comfortable and casual and happy. It meant more than I can explain to give her a hug. - I got room service on Saturday night. The grilled cheese sandwich was EIGHTEEN FUCKING DOLLARS but it was the wisest $18 I spent. Getting ready in your room while nibbling cheese and toast and fries = priceless. I actually managed to have two glasses of wine at BowlHer thanks to getting some decent food in me and chillaxing for a while.
- Mike Spohr was one of my first blog commenters. I gave him a hug at Lucky Strike. I felt all fuzzy and happy about it, and not just from the two glasses of wine that night.
- But, two glasses of wine gave me enough confidence to approach Her Bad Mother to tell her how cool she is. She is very sweet and real and endearing in person.
- Meeting most of the Aiming Low writers rocked my socks. On Saturday morning, I felt half-decent and walked in the beautiful Chicago sun with Tena. We talked about Andy from Weeds (and kinda wanting to bone him). This, I remember thinking, is why I am here. (And Amy has the cutest baby belly ever.)
- I finally got to meet Maria and Terra. Even though it wasn’t for long, it made my soul very happy.
- Anissa Mayhew. If I say more I will cry.
- Babies. So many women brought their babies, and the babies were wonderful. I never experienced a baby being disruptive in any way. And the babies made me smile every time I needed to smile. In particular, Ivy’s kiss-blowing had the power to shoot lasers of pure joy directly into my brain. I called like four people to tell them about it. No joke.
- Polite, patient and knowledgeable hotel staff.
- Secret Agent Mama gave me photography tips at breakfast and Lotus gave me like three hugs and dude, they are my photography idols. Both were so unbelievably nice and personable and sweet and GAH. GAH. Love.
- The Room Of Your Own panels I attended were inspiring, well-organized, and attended by amazing women who asked lots of good questions. I’d go to an entire conference full of attendee-focused panels. The information and sharing were, to me, much more valuable than “industry,” marketing and tech lectures.
- My friends at home left me sweet, thoughtful emails and DMs asking how I was doing.
- So I walk into the Ballroom on I guess Friday night? Feeling sick, looking for food. And I turn around and a life-sized Geiko lizard is dancing with Mrs. Potato head to Rick Astley. Really.
- I rubbed the Binky Spohr belly.
- Butlers walking around with fancy trays saying, “Ma’am, may I offer you a beverage?” (Mountain Dew.) (Hilarious, and best marketing ever.)
- While I was waiting to do the BlogTalkRadio interview, that I will post a link to when it no longer introduces me as Sarah James, I wandered to the Bing and Intel tables. The Bing dude asked me if I was a Mommy Blogger and I kinda choked. The Intel lady smiled knowingly saying something like, “What, you mean you don’t want to be lumped in with all the drama and fighting?” Some people get it. Thank you for the reminder, cute blond Intel lady.
- Stefanie Wilder-Taylor stopped me in a hallway to admire the dress I had on for BowlHer and we ended up chattering a while and she and her friend cracked my shit up. She is leetle and cute and just as funny in person as she is on her blog.
- All the hugs. The hugs and the hugs and the hugs and the hugs and the hugs.
- Introducing myself as, “Hi, I made your Twitter background.”
- I won $100 at Old Navy from Brand About Town. They ran a totally awesome suite and were very personable and not at all scary to interact with. In fact, I developed crushes on their staff and their wee delicious cupcakes.
- When I was getting my badge, some dude started waving at me. I started to frown all what the fuck who is this guy, ugh. Then I realized it was Black Hockey Jesus. So I gave him a big awkward hug. (One of the major times I wish I’d been feeling better because I think I came across ultra high or strung out.) Jon’s writing means a lot to me. During that brief, weird hug, the universe aligned and something snapped into place in my brain. I needed him to be tangible.
- Breakfast buffet. Third helping of bacon.
- Sugar Jones asked me how my boobs were doing.
- When I handed Tim Gunn my blog card, he looked at my black and white picture of Moose pouting and started laughing and said, “That’s just fabulous!” Dude.
- Carson from Queer Eye had no additional posing or style advice for me and Laurin at the Nikon shindig. Which was awesome considering I was literally counting the seconds until I could make a break for the limos to get back to the hotel to try to sleep. The party was beautiful and gorgeous and clearly well-planned and riding in a limo through Chicago was absolutely surreal. We cruised along rain-glittering streets and I leaned against Grace and we giggled at Jenny and I felt like a little girl.
- I stopped by the MamaPop party briefly on my way to bed and Casey grabbed me and pulled me into a picture and it was super sweet of her and total alleviated my uber disappointment over being too sick to stay and have fun.
- The BowlHer party was exceptionally well-organized and the venue was a blast. We should all stop to remember all the free drinks and free food were funded by sponsors. The marketing is part of that. No marketing, no free booze, no concerts, etc.
- The men of BlogHer, in my personal experience, behaved like absolute gentlemen. I loved meeting some of my favorite bloggy dudes and observing other bloggy dudes who were being awesome in general.
- At BowlHer, I took a picture with Chris Mann. He asked me where I was from and started talking to me and I sort of melted and lost my mind. The man is painfully attractive. Holy panties.
- The city was beautiful. Just gorgeous. On Saturday afternoon during my Afternoon Wandering Alone I stepped outside next to the river/canal thing and just breathed. I could have stayed there all day and only left because the bathroom AND TIM GUNN were beckoning.
- For every eruption of dramallamadingdong, someone else was making a new friend or connecting with an old friend. For every blogger who turned a cold shoulder to a newbie fan or remained stone-faced when being praised, another graciously accepted praise or welcomed a shy introduction with a warm hug.
I will choose to remember the good things about BlogHer09. Impressed by the staff, organization and leadership. I have suggestions and feedback, but I’m confident in knowing that feedback will be heard when I choose to share it with the right people. Stay classy, kids.
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