BlogHer 10 Recap

I'm back from BlogHer and what a whirlwind! It was 2.5 days of networking, geeking out, swag bags, partying and shopping. I'm sorry for the following laundry list of all the hub bub, but I'll try to make it as interesting as possible.

Thursday night:

After getting off the plane, I dashed over to the coveted Social Luxe Lounge again and it was better than last year's. The event's main sponsor, Avery, allowed us to create customized binders using their online Zazzle store, so I of course made a When Tara Met Blog one, which I then used to organize all my conference materials for the rest of the week:
Here are pics from the Stride Rite photo booth, which was at the lounge with Rosa and Divina from Dancing Hot Dogs:

Like my outfit? Thanks to a free pre-BlogHer shopping trip to the GAP, where the store's employees kindly styled me for my trip, I was wearing a yellow ruffled micro-print sleeveless top and their denim leggings (jeggings are all the rage right now!). The light weight shirt was perfect for the NY heat. I loved it on me, but it isn't something I normally would have picked out for myself, so was glad it was suggested for me. I felt like Pretty Woman during the makeover scene ;). I also wouldn't have tucked the blouse in if it wasn't for their advice either, but again it worked out well. We also paired the outfit with this cute thin gold belt, also an accessory that I usually forgo.

Speaking of outfits, check out this Frito Lay one:

I then cabbed it uptown with Elizabeth to the Bumble Bee Foods VIP Party, where Hell's Kitchen chef Scott Leibfried made some recipes using Bumble Bee Sensations and their prime fillets.

Friday:

BlogHer officially kicked off in a grand ballroom at the Hilton announcing that next year’s conference-BlogHer 11-will be in San Diego on August 4-6 at The San Diego Marriott and San Diego Convention Center. I was excited about this since it means I won't have to buy a plane ticket and because I love San Diego.

I didn't get to stay too long at the conference on Friday though as I was one of the lucky few selected to participate in ShopAtHome.com’s shopping excursion after submitting my reasons why I'd love to go the bargain hunting trip. I forgot what I wrote exactly, but I'm sure it consisted of some begging. In the end it worked out as I had an amazing time visiting the private Garment District and seeing behind-the-scenes at the different showrooms. I was also given $150 and the chance to shop at wholesale prices! I ended up shelling out an additional $60, but walked away with a shirt dress, two scarves, a cashmere top and a hoodie. Check it out:

As if that wasn't enough. I then headed to my friend Vera's Getting Gorgeous event, where I fell in love with Remington Hair Care's new pearl ceramic styling tools in pale pink. I then had my hair curled by one of their stylists using their new curling wand. The new line comes out this Fall and I can't wait to buy the straightener too.

After all this excitement, I
bailed on my Friday evening events to meet up with some friends in the city. However, after 3 glasses of scotch I was once again singing Karaoke in a tiny bar that I don't know the name of and I didn't get home till 4 a.m.

Saturday:

It was a rough morning after the late night prior, but this was my first real day to explore the show's floor and see the different booths and to meet my friends and ... the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
Almost all the exhibitor booths had free samples to give out (It's crazy!) as well as the standard drop your card in a bowl to win a prize type deal. Which is why I loved that Eggland’s Best drew a daily winner from those that used the Four Square app to "check in" at their booth. Also, several brands had twitpic contests like Tropicana, which told people to take a photo with one of their Tropicana beverages being given out during the show and twitpic the photo to @TropicanaOJ to win a prize. It's a social media conference after all, so it was nice to see some of the companies being more social and not so brick and mortar in their PR tactics.

I especially liked that PUR and Filtrete provided water filling stations throughout the show to fill up our water bottles during. I went at least twice for a refill.

I also did an interview at PepsiCo's booth with Jennifer Brandt, the Managing Editor of Momversation, who is not only beautiful but very sweet too. Unfortunately, I look super pale in the final edit due to the aforementioned night out and not because I was auditioning for the next Twilight flick.


That evening, I put on my black dress and hit the Unilever PentHouse Make Life Better Event at the Royalton. Here I got to indulge in all my favorite Unilever products like Suave and Dove! I even got a reflexology foot massage. After all the standing and walking I had done, my little feet were in heaven. I also now have plenty of their nice smelling products that I had shipped home.

Lastly, that night I also attended the Glamour & Games e.l.f event where I got to play the new Kinect for Xbox 360. I didn't think I'd like it, but the game Dance Central was awesome and I ended up dancing twice to Lady Gaga's Poker Face. It's like the wii with the more of the movement oriented games, however, no remote controls are needed as it uses a sensor to track your movement. Below you can see my poker face in action, lol:

After all this and my hangover, I was way too tired to go to the infamous CheeseburgHer event at midnight, too bad though as I loved my photos from last year's party.

5 comments

  1. A nice recap -- sounds like you had a lot of fun but were equally running all over the place! Guess that's how you pack a ton of stuff into 2.5 days. I do especially love the fact that you cut loose one night, downed the Scotch, and did some singing. Atta girl! :)

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  2. man you were one busy lady, no wonder i barely saw you, haha.

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  3. Sounds like you had a great time.

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  4. so glad you made it to SocialLuxe and got your binder ordered before the party - it's adorable! thanks for coming!!

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  5. BlogHer is a dream vacation for me....maybe someday I'll get there!

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