BlogHer 2009..... You know you want to know....

With the bags packed, unpacked, packed again, rearranged, packed again.... (thanks Sherpani) I headed off to BlogHer '09 for so many reasons. Network... Escape my children.... See how clean the hub can keep the house... Meet IRL the girls I feel like I've known forever.... and more that I never even expected. I learned more about who I am as a person, not just a mom and I felt validation.

To be honest, I didn't think this would be that hard of a post to write, but its more difficult than you'd think... Its hard to touch on exactly what was learned at BlogHer... but we'll get to that and for now I'll recap my couple o' days in good ol' Chicago. I rocked out in my Stuck On You shirt, first and foremost, which made me feel a lot less self conscious about what I was going to wear- I left the house at 3 am Friday morning, ready to go...

Of course, being the odd girl out and not arriving until Friday morning kicked my ass. Exhausted as ever... I rushed to the hotel to meet up with my girls- Kristin, Liz and Sarah, and it was as if we never had any distance between us... as if we were lifelong friends, and I know we always will be...

We ran our butts over to the Sheraton where it was everything that I expected and more... there was just an insane mass of women and they were REAL women... now- I don't want anyone to get all bent out of shape about what I'm about to say, but I was relieved to see that so many people looked NORMAL. I'm not thin. I'm no supermodel. Did I go into this feeling fearful a bit? Yes... but I was really relieved when I saw normal people who were down to earth.
Spending the day learning about other people, making new friends, new connections, figuring out what exactly I'm doing here and meeting some of the great PR that I've had the opportunity to work with was absolutely fabulous. The expo floor was amazing, learning about new products from different companies and seeing the one and only Paula Deen.

I don't think I could list all the awesome people that I met, the blogs that are now on my "must-read" list, but please know, I met some really amazing women and 2010 isn't going to come quick enough for me... plus knowing its just a 2 hour train ride to NYC makes me even more anxious for the next BlogHer....

Of course there were the parties, and then the parties that me and my girls created on our own that will sit in my heart forever- getting yelled at my security to stop being so loud because we were laughing about the public lovin' sessions being observed. The BlogHer cocktail party with Mrs. Potato Head and the Sobe Lizard and the awesome photo booth that Kristin and I had to take our picture in... Lizzy kickin' ass in our bowling game at the BowlHer party... Sarah my cabbie to O'Hare...

Goodbyes at 4 am are like no other. Alcohol and lack of sleep don't make goodbyes easy and in a way, I'm glad that its over and done with. I can't imagine how hard the goodbyes would be if I was there with them any longer.

I do want to touch on a few things though....

Grown women with bruises on them is not okay when those bruises come from other grown women due to swag. Please, we are just that- Grown Women. Most of us with children, lets not act like them... though my 5 year old daughter acts more civilized than that. Same goes for the baby that got elbowed over swag... Would you want that to happen to your child? I think not. Lets chill out girls. And by the way... if you think that you can BLACKMAIL a pr or a company or what have you for swag... you are seriously sick.

The mean girls were out in full force. When someone is LOW enough to try and sucker punch someone as they WALK AWAY... thats pretty pathetic. If there ever is a reason to fight, step up and do it, don't be a baby and wait til someone starts to walk away.

The holier-than-thou girls were out in full force as well. News flash. We all were there to do the same things essentially. The looks that I had seen over the weekend, the snide comments, the rude remarks... high school is over and guess what- you probably were like that in high school too... thinking you were better then everyone. Your shallowness and ignorance shines through. And surprisingly, some of the bloggers that I would have expected to have that attitude, didn't. Take note from their sucess and ditch the attitude, you're not a rockstar, you're not anything special when you have a better-than-you attitude, you just look nasty.

Did you get our swag?? If you did, I'd LOVE to hear from you!! Give me a holler if you don't mind... I had such a hard time keeping track of all the kick ass chicks that got the swag bags on behalf of EM!

I do want to thank Stuck On You for being a fabulous sponsor, for helping me with all the information that I needed, getting the swag items to me, and just all and all being super supportive for my adventures in Chicago!

Oh yeah... and we totally were the first ones to ride in the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile... Kristin rode shot bun.