After a quick train ride home with my guest, Lauren, we sorted our swag and went to bed at 11:45! eep.
We both tossed and turned all night. For me, it was the fear of falling asleep and not hearing the alarm clock, for Lauren, it was excitment of all that BlogHer had to offer. Of course as my luck would have it, i completely racked out at 3am… I felt a nudge at 5:10 am “Mo, dont you have to get up?”
“Oh shit!” I woke up with the clock already on. I looked at Lauren and asked how long the alarm was on. “About 3 songs long, i wasnt sure if you were awake…”
“Fuuuck”.
We both got up and got dressed and hit the road. Luckily the hotel was only 30 mins away and I got there right on time. 6:45 am.
Look! I’m at the registration desk! Yay! Note to self: If I volunteer Reg desk again, I will study the maps because all everyone kept asking me was “where is this?” “where is that?” And im pretty sure I sent people to the wrong place more than half the time… and I hope they don’t track me down and murder me… that would suck for next years conference.
I am pretty amazed at how clueless some people were! Sure, i know things are a bit confusing on the first day but one lady (a very well known blogger) actually snapped at me when i handed her her badge, badge holder, lanyard, pin and swag.
“(rolling her eyes) So what am I supposed to do with this (pointing towards the stuff I gave her)?
“You wear your badge and you can do whatever you want with everything else”
“(sucking her teeth) No, but what am i supposed to do?”
“(raised my eyebrows) Are you kidding me?”
Stupid diva stood there at my kiosk and took her sweet time placing her badge in her holder and attatching the lanyard; having a fit cuase she didnt understand how to do it properly….How the fuck do people get dressed in the morning??
The first day of registration was a bit chaotic but im glad i survived it. One of the ladies smuggled me a bagel and then i bumped into Joanne! She was registering that morning and bless her heart, she brought me over a much needed cup of coffee and some deliciously sweet honey dew. That pretty much did it. it was way too early to consume food…

I pretended to nibble on fruit but the coffee was enough. Towards the end of my shift I spotted a Celebrity”
Ain’t she a diva? I woulda gotten her autograph but I had her husband stuffed in a giant swag bag and I didn’t think it would go over well… ya know? Im sure she understands though.
After my training, I met up with the fabulous Diva who i happened to bump into in the lobby the day before… I was sitting on the floor in the lobby of the hilton with my new friend Lindsay when I hear someone say “Are you Mo?” and it was Diva! So we planned to be conference buddies for the day. We hit the first session which was the writing lab on “finding your inspiration” which was given by three amazing ladies. I got notes like whoa. You know, sometimes we kill ourselves looking for ideas and the solution lies in doing NOTHING. Let your mind rest and be sure to carry paper with you. Ideas translate much better on paper…
We then hit the expo hall for a spell… and I dont want to talk about how many bags i acquired. It was freakin exhausting. Racking up free shit made us hungry so we hit lunch…
Lots of tables! I got excited but learned that each table had the same offerings: OH BOOOO! Having a hard time deciding, i grabbed a litttle bit of everything.
The pasta salad was good… the vegetarian sandwich was good, the tuna was good and everything else was okay.
My suggestion? Next year’s BlogHer sponsors should be Tums, Rolaids, Pepcid AC, Immodium AD, Pepto Bismol, and Gas X. You’ve heard it here folks, The Hilton’s food made Mo’s stomach Angry! Like Naomi Campbell angry!
What I didnt understand was how people were RAVING about dessert… I mean its nice to have so many dessert options for every meal of the day. But I guess since my hips dont lie- my taste in dessert is different than say, a health food blogger who doesnt indulge as often as i do… The cheesecake was okay… but im a Juniors Girl, it lacked the tartness that comes from a NY cheesecake… Diva and I agreed on that one. The mini cobbler? Pretty good. The cookie? pretty tasty. The brownie? Suckage.
We then hit the 2nd floor of the expo hall and I met a very Sunny dude Im so corny. I said “well hello there sunshine” He must get that a lot. Damn. Good thing I went to a humor writing class later in the weekend… i could sure use some lessons.
Diva and I racked up a shitton of stuff and my arm and back was KILLING ME. There was a big BlogHer party scheduled for the evening that i actually RSVP’d for! and I had scored two drink tickets (yay). I looked at the time and figured i had two hours to go home, drop off my stuff, freshen up and come back.
I did! it only took 1.5 hrs. Not bad. I spruced up a bit ( carrying swag makes you sweaty) and i went to the blogHer Gala with Jen and met a really cool lady.
The Bloggess herself. I am a freak. I have a big mouth and im normally very outgoing! When i saw Jenny, i froze. I had some sillyness going on in my head. Jenny was giving inspirational psychic readings to everyone who waited in line to see her…and when it was my turn she was looking at me, all smiles as usual, and before she could say anything i said “Wolverines!”. It made her smile. And thus, my psychic reading is a piece of paper with the word WOLVERINES!!!! and Jenny’s autograph. Jenny’s ponytail is awesome as is Jenny, herself.
Jen and I stepped aside and admired the gala, taking pics, drinking wine and having sore feet. I came prepared with flipflops in my purse (men, take notes… this is why women have such big purses).And i took a neat photo with a very philosophical statement “If your feet hurt at the party, take OFF your SHOES!” and Jen Loved it.
Oh, why thank you!
We hit the gala and saw gorgeous photos from all of the greats, Pioneer Woman, The Bloggess and so many others and got to put comment stickers. Of course, still on my “OMG i just met Jenny” High, i put WOLVERINES stickers on all of her photos.
Then i entered a sea of balloons… got my arm painted with the words…
I’M FREE on them.. as in IM FREE and Independent. but Independent is a long word and my arms are too short. (i washed it off before i hit the subway ride home… no sense in getting into trouble… being FREE on teh train is not a good idea). After all the beautiful art, Jen and I met up with Lauren and hit the ballroom for some music, and finger food.
Since I was starving and drinking wine, i loaded up on the finger foods. I only recognized coconut chicken… but er, everything else was just kinda edible. Oh! and a mystery meat dumpling. that was good too.
This is when I got bold and signed up for Karaoke. I was really pumped to do Karaoke with a live band and 2000 women looking on… I was number 10 on the list. After the 3rd song, the band took a break… that lasted 30mins. when I looked at my watch and saw it was almost 9 and i had to be up with the sun again, i crossed my name off the list and started to head out… but Jen was laughing her ass off at something and I had to see what..
I looked over in the direction she was looking in and shared a laugh with her….
Thankyou!.
In all seriousness, this man is dressed for a fundraiser. Tutus for Tanner. Thinking of Tanner and his family! I heard they had a bit of bad luck on the way home from the conference. ANd i thanked him for being so sweet and we posed together.
Tomorrow: The conclusion of the BlogHer’10 Conference where I pick up another Jenn…this time with two N’s and make arrangements for BlogHer ’11… yes, its gonna happen. Theres gonna be a bunch of pics…cheeseburgers in bed, giant unicorns, rubber peepee painting and lots of dancing.