BlogHer 12 and Martha’s new goods for Staples

I think I’ve finally come down. From my first BlogHer conference that is.

What.

an.

amazing.

experience.

holy.

cow.

Five thousand bloggers converged on the New York Hilton and it was epic. For real. Passing in between sessions, I was overwhelmed with enthusiasm and a little bit misty. All these women (and a few brave men) here, longing to contribute something positive to the universe. It made you so proud of your craft. Validation.

I can’t tell you how many wonderful people I met and I’m chomping at the bit to go through all my business cards and say HELLLLLO LOVELY LADIES! I owe it to every one of them. They changed me. I am a changed girl.

I have a “homework” list the size of Texas. Great revisions to Vreeland Road coming soon as well as some new life goals, the biggest being a wish for my Husband and I to start our own foundation for a beautiful cause. What that is right now, I do not know but it will be one we are passionate about and where we feel we can do the most good. You don’t need to be independently wealthy or highly connected to make a difference in this world. Maybe some worthwhile fundraising efforts/campaigns and next thing you know, a successful foundation?  Just watch CNN’s Heroes every year. BUT don’t forget your tissues or your self-confidence because chances are you’ll feel like a major deadbeat after watching. I sure did.

I discovered a new found love for Twitter and set a goal to blog more often. Look. Out. Hope you all don’t get sick of me yapping.

Each day was filled with informative sessions (so many great choices that I was often torn and would try to hit two within one time frame). And each night plenty of parties with the grand dame being “Sparklecorn” a party theme of glitter, glow sticks and unicorns. Bring it on. Who didn’t love unicorns growing up??? The Last Unicorn was kiddie crack movie for my childhood friend Karen and I (wedged somewhere in between Wizard of Oz, Footloose, Grease and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun). “I wanna be Sandy! No you got to be Sandy last time! MOM!”

Walked into the party and was like cool, a Unicorn. No y’all – its a cake! Can you imagine? Notice all the glow sticks ;-))))

And the one that actually fit around my big melon…

Glitter flower compliments of my new friend Amy over at Plucking Daisies (check out her blog and how to make your own HERE -great party favors!). We bonded over our love of thrift and Goodwill finds. 🙂 The tall beauty pictured is my hero friend Katherine. She is a beacon of light, saving lives everyday with her blog on Postpartum Depression. It was a gift to witness her reconnect with women she’d helped in the past. I could go on and on. No, really I could so check out her blog and her column “something fierce” for babble HERE and get inspired. Maybe you have an expertise you wanna blog about and touch lives in the process? Not a bad gig aeh?

In between day and night activities, I set out for the city…

The House of Mirrors. No, not really, just a gorgeous wall in Juicy and some design inspiration for you. Think about it, you could start a collection of old/new/cheap mirrors and paint them all the same finish and fill a fun space in your home. This was, however, the sight of my first fashion diet cheat. Only two left until 2013 (damn!).

A shot of New York City street style. I enjoy capturing pics like this to share with you what people are wearing NOW across major metropolitan cities.

The best $4 lunch in the city!

How does one ever eat sushi again after having this ____ on a plate? Seriously? I’m going to have to trek it down to Tomo in Buckhead if I ever want anything close. Art form.

Besides meeting cool girl, after cool girl, the highlight of the conference was MARTHA and KATIE. And it was Martha’s birthday! We all sang. Big smiles.

Five thousand bloggers getting ready for our awesome keynote speakers. They did not disappoint.

Katie shot right to the top of my list. She’s many things: personable, sweet, normal, not afraid to cuss, inspiring, funny…she opens up with “I love the smell of estrogen in the morning!” I got the impression  she’s probably a great Mom and friend. Very real. She took us through the entire Sarah Palin interview and it was mega-interesting.  I’ll definitely tune in for her new talk show, which by the way, will have two bloggers on it every week… or was it every day? Can’t remember exactly.

Of course my all time favorite is MARTHA! I just ADORE HER!!! Naturally. Everything she touches is gold and in excellent taste. I would drive thirty miles to the nearest Kmart at Christmas and Springtime when her stuff was there. Which leads me to our next topic (wow this is a long post), her new line for Staples HERE. 

I perused her expo space and took a few shots for you to enjoy…well maybe not this first one of me looking a little too excited.

 

 

Another great desk offered…

This was definitely my favorite exhibit. I wanted to hang out here but that would of been weird so moving on with a mental note to hit a Staples soon!

And that’s a wrap on my first BlogHer experience! So much more so check out their website. BTW we made history. First BlogHer to be addressed by our President via video conference. Brought me back to the time President Clinton spoke at our commencement address pre-scandal. Pretty special regardless of your political affiliation. I was raised hearing “never discuss politics or religion” but I do wish, as a nation, we’d have more respect for the office. Katie Couric put it best, politics is such a “bloodsport”today discouraging those that would be, could be, excellent public servants, like, for instance, maybe me? I’d like to make a difference. I look around and think damn I could fix that. I bet you do to. Practical common sense laws that help the majority, how this whole party got started. But unfortunately the water is made murky with special interest. I thought about texting my Aunt Lana after my dinner with “the Other Julia Roberts” on how I go about getting a law passed on organ donations. Its on my list of things to do. Did you know there was a man who walked in off the street to donate his kidney and it sparked a wave of 30 more kidney donations? Random acts of kindness are for real! And save lives!

BE KIND,
Jen
xx

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