I had a fantastic time! There's so much to tell. I thought I would provide an overview and if anyone wants to hear anything specific, then I'll write more about that. I may also have a couple more specific posts over the next couple days as well. In case you're wondering, there were 1, 000 people there. Yes you read that right. It was sold out. I also heard that there was a waiting list.
I headed out on Thursday. Over the years, I've become less and less comfortable flying. Hence you can imagine my pleasure when I found out I was seated between two doctors one of whom was a former ER doctor. I felt reassured that should I have a massive panic attack, I was in good hands. Fortunately, I was fine, and the flight although long (seriously the longest one I've been on in 15 years)was uneventful.
After checking into our hotel room, Suzanne and I met up with Average Jane and had lunch. Later on I met up with Suzanne again to attend a BlogHer speakers and contributing editors reception. After meeting some great bloggers there, we went to the newbie party with some friends. That party was held in a gorgeous room on the top floor of the Westin. For reasons I don't understand, I got motion sickness while on the glass elevator and became convinced that the floor was moving for the entire time I was at the party. Sadly, I was not smashed either. In fact I hadn't drunk any alcohol. My theory that perhaps there were small tremors was fortunately unfounded. Hey, this was my first time in San Franciso. Suzanne's old co-worker Claudia stuck by my side and repeatedly offered to get me anything I needed. From there we went with Snigdaha to the People's party where they had awesome swag. After spending some time there and talking to more people, Suzanne and I headed out to a very late dinner at a diner. Honestly this whole weekend I felt like I was living with no sense of time. There's a three hour time difference between CA and MA.
Friday we had breakfast at the conference, and I was psyched to catch up with Plain Jane Mom. I attended a session entitled "MommyBlogging: Is Mommy Blogging Still a Radical Act?" It was a very interesting session and left me with a lot to think about. I even asked a question. I walked away thinking about whether or not I'm tailoring what I write to a specific audience. In other words, am I really being true to myself and my writing? I think this can be tricky for many bloggers. It certainly is for me. I have a tendency not to get very personal in my writings. Right now I have a couple of big things going on in my life that I've never posted about. I have a lot of admiration for bloggers who can say exactly what's going on with them, and I think that's one of the things that makes them very good writers. At the same time, bloggers risk alienating people and losing friends, for example if someone in real life isn't talking to you because you said you didn't like the preschool class gift. In fact, I asked about that during the panel at the session.
After that I attended a session called: "MommyBlogging: Public Parenting and Privacy." That one was also interesting, and I decided to share my thoughts on that one in a future, separate post. The moderator Digital Sista, was amazing, and I repeatedly told her throughout the rest of the conference that she was my favorite moderator.
I had lunch with a whole bunch of bloggers I hadn't met before which was a lot of fun and then darted out for Suzanne's book signing. This was followed by Liz Rizzo's session called "Sex and Relationships." It turned out to be my favorite BlogHer session. Liz did a wonderful job, and I found the questions and stories the bloggers told to be very eye opening. For example, as someone who's 32, I didn't realize how invisible older female bloggers are in the blogosphere and media both in general and specifically in discussions about sexuality.
During this time, I also enjoyed a very tasty Grover cupcake. More on the cupcake elsewhere in this post.
Later on I attended the community keynote where 20 bloggers had been selected to read their favorite posts. I think the majority of us alternated between laughing and crying. The posts were that moving. This was followed by a party at the Ruby Skye nightclub. A bunch of us hung out there for a while talking with other bloggers. There was amazing food. Then Suzanne and I walked from Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf to the Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory. After a lengthy investigation of their wares, we took the cable car back.
The next day started with breakfast followed by a session entitled "MommyBlogging: The Commercial Momosphere: Policies, Ethics and Outreach." Although it seemed to be going well, I had to leave early to finish with Grover. No, I don't mean I needed to finish the cupcake, but I did have to go back to the Sesame Street room. The actors who do the voices for Grover and Abby Cadabby were there, and I had one of the last DVD reservations. What? Let me explain. I got to be on a mock episode of Sesame Street where Abby Cadabby and I talked all about my boys. She talked to them and even sent me home with a hug to give to each of them. Getting to be on Sesame Street for a couple of minutes made me the coolest mom ever in my boys' eyes. It was an amazing experience.
Despite missing a lot of the her panel, I did meet "ebay mom" later. She was incredibly nice. Hey, she's from the Chicago area. What else can you expect?
Afterwards, the Red Stapler, Suzanne, and I met up with Count Mockula, her new baby, and her mom. The Count was one of my roommates last year, but understandably with a new baby could not make the conference this year, particularly since she had her appendix removed last week. She does live in CA, so she was able to meet up, and her mom treated us to lunch. Afterwards, I went to Suzanne's session on feminism and gender and then hung out in the BlogHer bookstore with the Count, her mom, Suzanne, Claudia and the Red Stapler.
If that all weren't enough fun, the day ended up with a reception at Macy's. You needed your BlogHer ID to get there, but once you were inside, you had access to seven floors of different activities. I'll admit to being skeptical about the logistics, but it turned out to be the perfect place to have a reception for 1,000+ people. The 7th floor was the best. It was the furniture floor and they had an area for music and dancing. They also had the book signing for Sleep is for the Weak. I found the editor of the book, Rita Arens, who blogs at Surrender, Dorothy to also be really nice. All the contributors who were there signed the books. There was plenty of food and drinks. It was so spread out that I managed to get a seat on a very comfortable couch with a bunch of bloggers. And hey it was the furniture department so there was plenty of seating and tables for all!
Afterwards, Suzanne and I hung out with the Red Stapler some more. The next day after breakfast, Suzanne and I walked around San Francisco for an hour and a half. Then it was time for me to board the BART and get to the airport. Even there, I saw more bloggers, and I had a nice chat with Velma.
I got home after 1 am this morning, exhausted but excited.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: At BlogHer, there are a lot of great bloggers to meet and many new ideas about improving blogs and writing.
Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 4.5 year old and a 2 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.
So glad you had a great time and looking forward to future posts on what you learned!
:)