Yes we subscribe to Entertainment Weekly. It originated when I was writing the TV Boyfriends blog and it was just so much easier to have info at my fingertips other than searching online. However, since the company that handled that blog shut down, I opened My TV Boyfriends but have yet to get to working it. But, we still get our magazine. It makes great bathroom reading regardless.
And, naturally, I need a quote from this particular edition of the magazine…..and this is it…
Michael said, ‘You don’t understand — if I’m not there to receive these ideas, God might give them to Prince.’ ”
And, with that, I give you my personal take of how this fits into my life…as I work into the wee hours of the morning, then sleep for 3 or 4 hours and get up and get back online.
Mom~E~Centric said,”You don’t understand – if I”m not there to receive these ideas, God might give them to Dooce.”
And, with that, I can only sit back and laugh a good hearty laugh….and figure you can substitute the name Dooce with Beth, Kim, Buck, Jessica, Stacie, Jenny, Yvonne, Katja, Jay and so many more……but it’s funny people, no matter how you look at it, it’s just doggone funny!
I’ve written a few posts already about Blogher but this is the final one. It is only befitting that I arrived home to find we have no internet service. That was on Wednesday (it’s Saturday evening) and so, with that, I’m going to put out my final thoughts and post it whenever I get internet back or I make it back to a fast food restaurant with Wi-Fi.
Let me say this as a preview of my thoughts…..being without internet has made me think long and hard about what I have to say, just so you know that I didn’t sit down in haste and write some bunch of crap. I am home, I’ve emptied all the bags, worked on laundry and carefully studied my feelings about Blogher (and read Jen Lancaster Pretty In Plaid in 2 sittings because people, she is THAT awesome).
Part Two: The greatest sponsors out there for anyone.
Part Three: The next four hundred great blogging women that I met. (Four hundred might be a bit of overkill but as I haven’t started writing them all down yet, I’m just guessing there’s that many)
Part Four: The Most Famous “Nice” person on the Earth
Part Five: Two of the biggest fakes in the blogging world that I’ve ever met
Part Six: The single most snotty and unbearable blogger I’ve ever met.
Part Seven: People I missed and I may just cry because I wanted to meet/see them soooo bad.
So, here goes…..
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PART ONE – THE FOUR GREATEST WOMEN IN BLOGGING
1. Stacie from StacieinAtlanta and The Divine Miss Mommy came to my rescue on more than one occasion. We didn’t get to hang out like I had hoped we would but when I sent out an SOS because I had lost my wallet, Stacie was the person who showed up with cab fair and an extra 20 bucks for the remainder of the weekend. Stacie was also the person who I spent the most time with at the Atlanta Mashable Event so if you are looking for good bloggy friends, Stacie is an excellent person to start with.
2. Stephanie from BizzieMommy was my roommate. She endured what any other roomie that you’ve never met before would have to endure. And, I think we did quite well as we often managed to share a cab without even planning to do so. So, in the future, if you need a roommate, I can say to you that Steph is a great choice and will treat you well.
3. and 4. Kim from CraftyMamaof4 and Crafty Mama of 4 and Beth of PlusSizeMommy or The Plus Size Mommy are tied and not necessarily for 3rd and 4th. I simply got my brain to them in this order. They were my rock at Blogher. The let me lounge on their bed when I thought I wouldn’t be able to walk another step. They drug my arse to a few places that I really didn’t think I wanted to go but had a blast once I was there. They volunteered me to volunteer at an event that I wasn’t invited to volunteer at originally. I managed to talk Beth’s ears off the first night out of excitement and then only got like 3 hours sleep before hitting the trail for the Ford event…but oh my, it was the greatest weekend with these people. Honesty, they were fabulous. I can’t say enough about them. I have no idea how they were able to run and rip all weekend like they did because I couldn’t keep up with them for anything…they are machines people, machines.
PART TWO – THE GREATEST SPONSORS OUT THERE
This is again not in any order other than the way my brain thinks about them over the course of writing.
1. I’ll start with Stacie who was kind enough to help me with a room in Atlanta for 2 nights before I actually flew to Chicago. We had planned to have dinner together but we were both running crazy trying to get our stuff together. Like I said above, I didn’t get to spend enough time with her. The best part is… Atlanta happens to be my favorite city ever and it’s a car drive and a weekend hop away. So, look out girlfriend, I’m coming after you.
2. My flight was on a buddy pass on Air Tran which doesn’t fly out of Birmingham so that was why I wanted to go to Atlanta early and rest up (I’ve explained my penchant for fatigue already). A great sponsor by the name of Joseph who is the owner of J n J Collections was kind enough to help me get this flight arrangement. He also provided me with some great jewelry to wear at the event. I even gave away a $25 gift certificate (and as soon as I have internet, I’ll remind you who it was because right now, my brain is fried).
3. Slim Perfect, Girlfriendology, MuffinTopless and Oh Social were rocking the house. I had an awesome make-over (from Bombshell Artistry) and if you didn’t see the photos of that transformation, you missed it all. The best part was that I had sent my Slim Perfect items ahead of me via UPS and they didn’t make it. And, the dress I ended up wearing was absolutely nothing short of “meant to be”. The shoes I had were my black flip flops with the big black and white zebra striped bows on them and the dress…not only did it match and fit, it was given to me by the sweetest woman I know. Folks like Carole aren’t around every corner just handing out clothes now are they?
4. Ford was another party responsible for part of my trip. I slept on a super comfy bed at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers courtesy of Ford and I was able to take part in a tour of the Ford plant and meet many great people during that event, including but not limited to Scott Monty.
5. The biggest and bestest (is that a word, screw it, I’m using it) sponsor was the Affinia Chicago who are listed in your airline guide as one of the “must see” places in Chicago. Their lounge on the roof, known as the C-View, hosted a tweet-up on Thursday night for the Bloggers and hey, how cool is that? When I was being escorted to my room on Thursday evening, the bellman asked me who I was and why I was in Chicago. I gave him a rough low-down on me and my purpose. When we exited the elevator, he asked my room number, I gave him the number and he looked at me again with a surprised look and said, “Who are you again?” I laughed and asked why, he made me stand in the hall while he prepped what he called the “best suite in the building”. He lit the rooms with the diming lights, the bathroom with it’s glass shower and all. It was really just as awesome as the photos (see flickr jamcgyver is my username over there, but you can search for Blogher and seen thousands of photos) make it look.
6. My Precious Kids was kind enough to send me 300 of the car seat tags and I graciously handed those out.
7. Lap Belt Cinch, Inc or more commonly known as SeatSnug sent me 3 seatsnugs to give away and as I said, the winners will be revealed when I am online long enough to find out.
8. The Blush undershirt sent to me in burgundy which I wore more than I probably should have but it was awesome and it made my too short shirts look so cool, is something I will wear a lot, I can assure you of that.
9. And, there was the awesome pants that came to me via Dreamsacks and I really didn’t want to take off. I could have worn those suckers the whole weekend and then some.
10. Kelly Lynch Ring of Vital Earth Traditions sent me 2 shirts from Hawaii…yes you heard me right, from Hawaii which I graciously accepted and wore and again, major comfort zone.
Part Three: The next four hundred great blogging women that I met. (Four hundred might be a bit of overkill but as I haven’t started writing them all down yet, I’m just guessing there’s that many)
Again, these are only in the order that I pick them up out of the stack.
Barbara Jones from Everywhere! I mean really, this woman is a super hero.
Last and certainly not least…..
So Mi Speaks was looking at me intently, upon investigation, her business card looks almost just like mine…or at least with the same girl and green background…too funny.
And, finally, I was already a big fan of George from Crocs but after I thought my wallet was missing and this young man saw me in the state of “upset-ness”, he turned from a funny, silly, croc-loving guy to a sweet and adorable young man who cares. Don’t miss him, ever!
Part Four: The greatest famous person on the Earth
Jen Lancaster who is by far the most famous person I’ve ever met and happens to be the author of several books off of Best Seller Lists Everywhere recognized me when I approached her. I told her how I had ordered her book and received something different and we had a good laugh (That story is coming soon).
I think the reason I like her so much is I can relate to her writing because she is very much like me. She is the same age and she has a wonderful outlook….depending on who you ask. If you ask me, I have a great attitude and always have, if you ask Jen, she’d tell you the same about herself. Or as more than one blogger repeated this weekend, “It’s all about me”….it wasn’t Jen who said that but it is so very the way of the world.
So, if you haven’t purchased her new book, whatcha waiting for? Go, do it now.
Part Five: Two of the biggest fakes in the blogging world that I’ve ever met
As I mentioned, the whole experience is what you make it and there were 2 individuals (and I’m not naming names, they know who they are) who do not practice that whole “transparency” thing that has been preached ever so much at every conference I have attended.
I’m telling you, it’s one thing to be nice to me on twitter, to say nice things in comments on blogs but if you can’t look me in the eyes and be that same nice person, pfffffft, then so be it. I’ll be honest with you, one of these bloggers I had never met before Blogher and the other one I had met only once.
Both of the women were very clicky, very rude in the presence of their “buddies” and basically, I won’t go out of my way to be nice to them again. The same two people who return home and tweet nice things to me for the public to see acting as if they hadn’t just treated me like ass. Honestly, is that really necessary?
I mean, what happened to being transparent or being what you are in person as you present yourself online.
Part Six: The single most snotty and unbearable blogger I’ve ever met.
I met a blogger online a few months back. We seemed to connect. Everything was nice enough. Then, by some mark of the beast, she changed from a nice, sweet person to chat with, to a mean and nasty individual. This person made a name for herself at Blogher and trust me when I tell you, it’s not one that you would want to have labeled on you. Honestly, if you aren’t part of the click, then just move on, kissing ass won’t get you there any faster. OOPS!
Part Seven: People I missed and I may just cry because I wanted to meet/see them soooo bad.
I had major aspirations for meeting Backpacking Dad and reuniting with Tanis from Redneck Mommy and Jenny from The Bloggess. It is so wrong on so many levels because I really needed some of Tanis’s encouragement and Jenny’s good vibes…
Ok, so yea, Blogher was all that and a ball of wax. I did post already that the single most important thing I learned was that I prefer small groups. I was part of 2 of the most elite parties held at Blogher. The one which Carole hosted for the make-overs by the winners of the Slim Perfect contest, there were just six or seven of us hanging out there with food and wine for a few hours and hello, that was way cool.
The other party was the one that took place in the hotel room when I was with Beth, Kim and Stephanie (and I wish I had seen more of Stacie, she would have fit in nicely with our little party of people – call us clicky, whatever, we rock).
I did find that I enjoyed sitting in the lobby people watching a big part of the time and certainly it shouldn’t cost a fortune to sit in the lobby and people watch. Normally I save that particular activity for Christmas Eve when I love to go to the mall and watch the not-quite-finished shoppers run around in a frenzy. This year, I got a bonus shot of people-watching.
Never mind that I sat in the airport in Chicago on Monday, all day and Tuesday all day and into the evening watching people. Some were great, some made an ass of themselves and others were just fun to…watch.
