Categories
Everything Else Travel

Saved My Feet

We roomies knew going into BlogHer that conferences meant learning, growing, & having lots of fun. They also meant lots of standing of your feet & a lot of walking. Oh so true.

We soon made it our quest to have cute, comfortable post-party flats. Enter After Flats. We talked as a group of four bloggers with different backgrounds & blog focuses & friends, how great it would be to not only have After Flats for ourselves but to also be able to share them with our bloggy friends.

Miranda & I met with the owner of After Flats Thursday midmorning. While After Flats is a relatively new company, I was impressed with his enthusiasm & willingness to work with us. We picked up business cards & 24 pairs; gold ones for the four roomies & 20 red pairs to give to preselected {so we’d have the right sizes} friends.

After walking three miles in heels Thursday, I was loving my After Flats. Heck all four of us roomies were. Over & over all weekend long, it was so fun to see out bloggy friends sporting their new After Flats. Fadra slipped them on during Social Soiree, Linz & Krystal wearing theirs after People’s Party, & here I am wearing them & carrying my shoenicorns in their clutch-turned-shoe-holder-bag Saturday night. After using them three nights straight, mine are still in great condition & ready to be used at my brother’s wedding if not before! If you’re interested, visit After Flats website, facebook & twitter.

After Flats

Disclosure: After Flats gave us pairs of shoes for our & our friends’ use. While I agreed to discuss my receiving of them, my thoughts & opinions are honest & truely my own.

Categories
Everything Else Travel

Arrival as BlogHer Newbie

Things just work out perfectly sometimes. Miranda‘s flight into San Diego was delayed while mine arrived early. Katie‘s was on time. We met up with hugs & squees as we dragged our luggage to the taxi line. $15 split three ways later, we’d arrived at the San Diego Marriott. We grabbed room keys, dropped off our luggage then headed out by the pool. BlogHer11 Wednesday NightWhile I have done little outside this summer in NC {besides sweat}, San Diego has the perfect hanging-out outside weather. Wednesday night they had the fire pits burning if that tells you anything. Miranda & I enjoyed a glass of wine. We met Jill, Jen & Kit, & took silly photos with Molly. I crashed with new found friends Kate, Jen & Alissa.

After Alissa & I’s first BlogHer night, Kate asked what we thought. Alissa said it reminded her of sorority recruitment & as I think back & compare the two, I couldn’t agree more. It’s trying your best to look cute but also kind of laid back & comfortable, days of being “on” all the time, & wanting others to like you & you them.

As that set of roommates left to work out, I met Diana & found our room. Miranda joined me there before we left to feast on the P&G sponsored breakfast of fresh fruit & muffins. Alena found us just in time to listen to Gretchen Rubin from The Happiness Project. My how-to-be happy notes: make your bed & keep clutter to a minimum & fake it til you make it.

My P&G hair appointment was at 1030. Before was my normal mousse & go Suz. I love the 20 minutes later curling iron’d Suz {which lasted all day & night long}. Alena’s hair was styled a little later & Miranda had her make-up done.

Alena, Miranda & I had planned to grab lunch outside of the hotel, but when we ran into a crowd of e-friends enjoying drinks on the pool side couches we could help but join in. My margarita & fish tacos were awesome!Time flies by surrounded by these amazing women. After a quick change, Krystal & I walked over to the Dragon’s Den for the Haute Green party. We were joined by BA, Jamie, Jill & Diana, Katie & Morgan as well. Swag included momma cloth, wipes & eight cloth diapers – I have built quite the pre-baby stash!!

Haute Green & Big Toy Sweet Suite PartiesI missed my Big Toy Book Sweet Suite time {thank goodness I quickly learned that party appointments are pretty flexible}, so I walked with BA around the Padres stadium to the Hard Rock Hotel. Welcome to toy overload! I played with a few toys, made a bracelet, enjoyed champagne, Pinkberry, & cupcakes before leaving with a mega swag bag full of games & toys. {bottom left photo from Mandy}

Some brave ladies & I walked over to the Babeland Toy Mixer. Different toys from my previous party. Loved hanging out with Eileen, Jen & Kit here too. Still laughing out loud at my TMI swag mistake.Social Soiree & Babeland Parties BlogHer11We all walked together over to the New Children’s museum for the Social Soiree party. All the roomies were together here for the first time. I had a quick class of wine & sent a few postcards home before grabbing the fabulous pink Scout swag bag & heading back to the hotel.

Everyone {yes, it seemed like everyone} went to party with the Clever Girls. Diana & I are Clever but never made it off the waiting list. Instead we had our own party at the Goin’ Coconuts 3M sponsored party at Roy’s. Diana & I stuffed ourselves with skewered chicken & shrimp, lobster-filled gnocchi, signature cocktails {& in her case mocktails}.Goin' Coconuts Party BlogHer11BlogHer sponsored People’s party was almost over when we finished chatting & walked over. Where I met Suzanne & then with Morgan & Linz, I was able to meet Jenny aka the Bloggess. After the party, I laughed over Miranda’s Clever Girls characture & couldn’t resist another photo with Ree. M & I then walked into the Queerosphere party next door just to talk to Katie, Nichole & Natalie. Add wine & infertility discussions meant sweet Nichole & I are crying & hugging. People's PartyCan you believe this is just one day of awesomeness & BlogHer officially hadn’t even started?!

Categories
Everything Else Travel

Overwhelmed

That’s how I’m feeling when I think of starting after-BlogHer posts. Overwhelmed. I’m slowly getting over the post-BlogHer exhaustion {its kinda like the day after Christmas exhaustion} aka BlogHer11 Hangover that has more to do with flight delays & 3am arrivals, chapped lips & man-voices than the wine, margaritas, & bud lights I downed.

I downloaded the 483 photos last night, & there are so many good ones capturing wonderful memories! I also unpacked my 50 pound swag suitcase with Jason last night. 

I’d planned to divide the conference into three post {parties/swag, location/sessions, & people}. But my photos are divided by day as are my memories of that day’s people & events. I’m hoping to be able to work on the Wed/Thursday post tonight. Stay tuned!

Categories
Everything Else Reading

Catching Fire

Catching Fire After flying through The Hunger Games, I put a desperate call out for the second book in the series, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. My brother luckily had the book & gave it to me before his wedding shower. I started reading on our way back from VA & even with a busy week of work & TTC, I finished it by Friday.

I’d love to tell y’all everything about Catching Fire & why I enjoyed it, but I also don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I hate it when I know what’ll happen before I even open the book thanks to reading or hearing about it elsewhere. So yeah, this is a post to say that you should just take my word on it. You’ll enjoy the action, the young adult romance, & the family dynamics. What I enjoyed about the first book is somewhat repeated in the second book, but it didn’t come across as boring or repetitive. And while I didn’t speed-read it quite as quick as the first in the series, once you read Hunger Games you’re going to HAVE to know what happens next as I did.

Now I’m already a third of the way through Mockingjay & I can’t figure out how they’re going to wrap the whole series up with just 260 pages left to go.

Categories
Everything Else Reading

The Hunger Games

Different friends & family have been recommending The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins to be for years. You know I love Suzannes {:)} & enjoy a young adult series {hello, I’m looking at you Twilight & Harry Potter}. I’d requested & received it from the library a couple times & then wish listed & received it from paperbackswap {I got tired of paying the library overdue fees for it}. But the premise for The Hunger Games kept holding me back. Futuristic North America that’s a dictatorship other country. That this dictatorship punishes the 12 districts every year by forcing them to send in two teenagers in a fight-to-the-death match televised nationwide then celebrate the one of murdered/outlasted everyone else? Sounded too much for me.

I needed a break though from thought-filled book club books & TTC stress, so a couple weeks ago I took off to the pool by myself on a sunny Sunday.  Four hours & almost 200 pages later, I was hooked. Suzanne does such a great job with the story & characters that Katniss felt like a friend. I’d suspended all my disbeliefs and felt like I was part of Penam feeling the struggle & the highs along with Prim & Gale & Peeta & Haymitch.

You might’ve seen my FB message asking for the second in the series, Catching Fire. I finished The Hunger Games by Tuesday night & wanted needed to know what happens next. Thankfully my brother & sister-in-law-to-be own all three & brought the book to my parents’ house so that it was waiting for me when I arrived Friday night. Yep, you guessed it. I’m already 150 pages in & you’ll get a Catching Fire review soon. Put aside your doubts & go read The Hunger Games now.