To Attend BlogHer ‘10 is Human, to Whrrl it is Divine

Last Thursday, I flew to The Big Apple for the BlogHer ’10 conference – my first time attending the ever-growing, widely popular yearly affair. I was excited to meet bloggers in real life (finally) who I’ve followed on Whrrl, Twitter, Facebook, etc.  And of course, new bloggers so I can introduce them to Whrrl!

While it’s impossible to capture all of my experiences in one post, I wanted to share some of my favorite highlights from this year’s conference:

Sex and the City Walking Tour

Saturday, Whrrl hosted a Sex and the City walking tour in Greenwich Village. We stopped off at the most famous places from the series- Carrie’s doorstep, Magnolia Bakery (where Miranda & Carrie bought cupcakes), Jefferson Market Garden (where Miranda and Steve got married) and more.  It was so fun to meet everyone in a smaller, more intimate environment and get to know some fabulous bloggers one-on-one while teaching all of Whrrl’s features.

You can read two awesome blog posts with more details about our walking tour on Tonya’s blog here and Jennifer’s blog here.

Thank you so much @tjstaab, @mommadanddaboyz, @aliciamarie112, @pacifierpocket, @boredmommy, @sandyel, @doniree & @lastminutemandy. Your attendance meant everything!

Cheeseburger Party:

Holy cow. I heard about the famous Cheeseburger party tradition – but I had no idea how fun and silly it would be. Imagine hundreds of people with decorated, glittery and flowery McDonald’s bags on their head, dancing their booty off in between eating Mickey D’s cheeseburgers. If that isn’t the makings of a great party, I don’t know what it! Thanks to all the people who made the evening even more fabulous – @scrappinmichele, @carissarogers, @misslori, @jamielovely, @nomadicmatt, @katelin, @doniree @wishfulnals and more! The nomination for the best decorated cheeseburger hat EVER goes to @sweetlifeinthe. Pinwheels and everything on there! It was amazing, I tell yah!

Other Parties & Events:

The BlogHer conference during the day was awesome – but the parties and nighttime events were where it was at. Thanks to Nikon for gifting us with Staten Island firemen as eye candy all night, Nintendo for escorting me through the streets of NYC in a pedicab driven by Mario, and the talented Alison Sands for sneaking me in last minute to the Glamour and Games party with e.l.f. and Xbox. And how cute is that pic of Kim Tracy Prince Xbox dancing above! By the way Kim, hanging out and chatting with you was some of my favorite times at BlogHer this year.

But, even better than all the parties, all the food, all the sightseeing – the people I met!

I loved meeting April, Joanie, Stephanie and Tauni and the well-attended CraziBeautiful Event that Whrrl helped sponsor. Congrats to those who won for checking in to sightseeing places around NYC with Whrrl! After so many planning emails with the ladies over the months, it was great to bring our online relationships offline and relax with each other over fruit, cheese and girly things in their suite at The Warwick!

I wiggled into MiracleBody’s fabulous “look 10 pounds lighter” jeans with Julie, @Stage_Mama, and Yolanda from @cuponeandoLive at Audrey McClelland’s super fabulous Getting Gorgeous party!  (Not to mention, finally being able to meet Audrey for the first time, who is everything I thought she’d be in person – so stinking cute and nice! What a powerhouse).

I ran into Janice Croze, @5minutesformom, steering her toward the Pepsi booth in the Expo hall for her interview and loving her fabulous K-Mart bag. It might have been only a 10-minute meeting and conversation, but I liked her instantly.

I met Jessica from the hilarious blog, BernThis.com and Alma from OlliBird.com (who has seriously the best story on how she met her husband – ask her!) while waiting in line for a poem from Jenny, The Bloggess, who wrote me the following poem and signed it (hello, awesome!): “Marilyn Monroe would like to be you. And not just because youre alive and shes not” [SIC].

Sara Lancaster, @saucydipper, and I chatted about books (and food blogging) at the BlogHer book store & Angela, @hangingwitmrsc, and I shared an inside joke about McDonald’s oatmeal booth while cruising the Expo Hall. I’ve laughed for hours about that, Angela! Thanks for making my day!

I met so many women during lunch every day! Namely, Karen from VolunteerSpot.com, Dawn from BecauseISaidSo.com, and the beautiful Stephanie Bryant from S Bryant Social Marketing, who won our $250 black leather Hobo bag giveaway for checking in at The Museum of Modern Art.

Thank you Carissa Rogers, @carissarogers, Rachel Ferrucci, @rachelferrucci, Lori, @misslori, and Michele, @scrappinmichele, for dancing the night away with me – you ladies are so much fun and put a huge smile on my face.

And finally, thank you to all the 20-something bloggers I was finally able to meet in person, and a big shout out to @Doniree from Doniree.com for introducing me to the group and being the best midnight in Time Square partner ever. Allison, @amblass, all the best in your job hunt; Rachel, @livitluvit you can rock a cape like no one else; Jamie, @jamielovely and Jess, @bayjb,  you girls both crack me up and are so much fun; Katelin, @katelin – I wish you all the happiness in the world in your up-coming wedding; and Matt, @nomadicmatt, – you are THE Dooce of travel blogging. ;)

You can see all of the Whrrl check ins and stories during BlogHer ‘10 here.

Till next year’s BlogHer ’11 in San Diego!