Getting back to real life this week has been crazy hectic. Here’s my BlogHer recap as quickly as possible (which is still probably way too long). Expect sentence fragments & a ton of links ahead!
* Flew in on Thursday. Minor flight issues (re-routed to JFK instead of LGA), but otherwise fine. Registered, settled into the hotel, met my roomies (I already knew Angie, but this was my first time meeting Patrick and Mandi), couldn’t get the wi-fi to work, and met my Boyfriend of the Weekend, Armand – aka the Hilton’s IT guy. (He was awesome. And cute. And he flirted with me, which, like, never happens. I mean, come on, I’m a chubby mom in my mid-30’s. I’ll take what I can get.)
* Got dressed up for Thursday night parties: first the People’s Party (highlight: I met The Bloggess!), then the Schick Intuition party (and I know, it feels weird to say I’m going to a party sponsored by a ladies’ razor, but really? That party was freaking awesome. Open bar!).
Danielle! (Who I’d never met before, but she’s awesome! And very pretty!)
* Left the party and sat in Jen and Brittany’s hotel room and ate greasy pizza at midnight and gossiped about all kinds of random stuff with Heather, Heather’s cousin Leah (Leah, do you have a blog?), Ali, Mishi, Danielle, and… um… at least 1 more person who I’ve totally forgotten. (I’m not trying to be rude, I’d just had like 4 drinks that night, so things are a bit… blurry.) That might’ve been one of the highlights of my weekend, I love those ladies.
* Got up way too early on Friday, and Angie and I went to Dawn and Lotus‘s room to wake them up. I saw Dawn’s boobs. (Side note: WOW.) We all split up since I was in DIRE need of breakfast and Diet Coke.
* Went to lunch at Carnegie Deli with Angie, Aunt Becky (who is awesome and hilarious; she threatened me with physical violence within like 5 minutes of meeting me, so she’s totally my kind of people), and the one and only Anissa freaking Mayhew, which was amazing. There were also husbands there, and a couple of people who met with us later, but OMG the links are getting obnoxious, aren’t they?
* Had a free reflexology foot massage. Another highlight of the trip, for sure. That felt amazing.
* Community keynote speech. Awesome. Left my iPhone on the table. Not awesome. Realized it when I got upstairs to our room, then ran back down to retrieve it. I ran into Armand, my Hilton IT Department Boyfriend, and he said he’d help me find it. I almost kissed him. (I didn’t.) (Oh, also? Found out that because Patrick and I had been alone in the room when Armand came to set up our wi-fi, and we were both talking about our spouse and kids, who obviously were not the same people, he thought that Patrick and I were having an affair. Even though I’d just met Patrick, like, 15 minutes earlier. I found this highly amusing.) Ran back to the ballroom where the keynote speech had been, but my phone was gone. Found some friends, asked them to tweet about it, and Armand very sweetly walked me ALL OVER the damn Hilton looking for it. I filed a report with security, he took me way back in the kitchen to make sure it hadn’t gotten scooped up with the dishes & linens, etc. It was really so nice of him, since it was way above & beyond his regular job duties. I even tweeted the Hilton that they need to give him a raise.
* My iPhone never turned up. Broke my damn heart.
* More parties on Friday night. More booze too. Wish I knew that the photobooth pics were going to end up online, because I would’ve taken more. (Although that one with Miss Grace is awesome.) Snuggled with miss Annabel Spohr, made my ovaries ache.
Tried to go to sleep that night but stayed up talking about hair metal with Patrick. We share a common love for c0ck r0ck. (Angie slept through that conversation, but we kept poor Mandi awake with all our talk of Warrant, Bon Jovi, etc.)
* Saturday, went to a couple of sessions. One of them was the session on writing through grief and loss with Cecily, Loralee, Kim, Anissa & Peter. It was a really touching session, and everyone around me was crying, but I was doing a really good job of holding it together. Until I got an email from my sister, which said, “I want you to enjoy your weekend in NYC, so go to the Apple Store and buy yourself a new iPhone, and I’ll pay for it.” THAT, my friends, is the moment that I burst into tears. (It wasn’t just the phone, it was a combination of everything, I think.)
* Saturday afternoon, went to lunch at Serendipity with a bunch of people (seriously, enough with the linkage already), then walked over to the Apple Store to get my new phone. Walked back to the hotel, synced my iPhone with my laptop, and I think that probably everyone within a 5-mile radius heard my screams of joy when all my data was restored. (Sorry about that.)
* Saturday night, more parties and more booze.
It was awesome and so fun, and I’ve totally lost my voice from talking over the loud music. (In fact, that was my only teeny-tiny complaint about the parties – the music was TOO LOUD. Which I think shows that I am officially old.)
* Sunday morning: cab ride to LaGuardia with Lotus and Jen.
We look good for how tired we were.
* Got through security and found Casey.
Who also looks good for how tired she was.
* Flight home was uneventful. Saw Catie and Dave waiting by the escalators at baggage claim for me, Catie started jumping up and down when she saw me. I picked her up, and for the first time in ages, I didn’t care that all 37 pounds of her hurts my arms. I just couldn’t get my face out of her neck. I missed the feel and smell of her. Who knew you could miss someone so much after just three days?
I think she was pretty happy to see me, too.
What a fun time you had!! So sweet of your sister to buy you a new iPhone! I know how devastated you must have been when you lost your phone. I love my iPhone, so loosing it would be like loosing an appendage. Ok, maybe not an appendage, but you know what I mean. Anyway, am glad you got it replaced. Did you get iPhone 4? If so, how do you like it over your other iPhone? (Am thinking of upgrading my 3g to iPhone 4, but not sure if it’s worth the extra expense since my 3g works just fine.)
BlogHer looks like an absolute blast! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
@Brandy, I had an iPhone 3G. I figured I’d get the 4, but the Apple store was sold out (not surprising, since the line just to get in the store stretches around the block!), so I got a 3GS, since it was all they had. But, I can exchange it within the next 30 days (and just pay the price difference), so I can swap it out for an iPhone 4 from the Apple store here in Raleigh. I’m thinking about doing that.
P.S. – Did I seriously misspell “loosing”? Twice?? Oh brother, where is my brain this morning!?! Apparently I stayed up too late last night watching Bachelor Pad and it killed off some obviously, much-needed brain cells! 🙂
@Brandy, HA! I noticed that, but I never would’ve said anything. Good for you for catching it. 🙂
That was a great post. Totally made me wish I was there and that I knew all of you. But I wasn’t and I don’t… not yet. But really, excellent. Also thrilled you got your data back!
Hamlet’s Mistress´s last blog post ..If I could have anything…
@Hamlet’s Mistress, Aww thanks. You should think about going next year, it’s always a lot of fun. Exhausting, but fun.
It was so great to meet you IRL after chatting with you on Twitter!
Wasn’t it a great weekend?
@Susan @WhyMommy, It was great! And you totally made me cry during the Community Keynote. So well done to you. 🙂
So glad you had such a great time, you know, minus the phone incident! Such a great sister!!
Next year we shall wreck havoc on San Diego together!!
AmazingGreis´s last blog post ..New York State of Mind…
@AmazingGreis, Orrrr…. maybe New Orleans in February? You could drive there. Heh. (We’ll talk about it later.)
Love it- SO glad we got to meet and thank you for the sweet compliments 🙂 I’m going again next year for the sole purpose of meeting new people and having them say nice things about me. Does wonders for your ego.
@Daisy, I know, right? I always get a lot of “you’re so cool/nice/pretty/etc” stuff afterward, it’s one of my favorite parts!
Dude. Good job with the croppage on our picture 🙂 It was SO good to meet you!
@ally, You? Are freaking adorable. Loved getting to meet you too!
I truly enjoyed seeing you again this year. I am sorry that we didn’t get to spend more time together. ((hugs)) Glad you were able to get a new phone & who knows maybe the other one will turn up and you will have an extra.
xo
Heather @ Domestic Extraordinaire´s last blog post ..The Big Apple
@Heather @ Domestic Extraordinaire, I guess if I get it back, it’ll mean that Catie will have her own iPod Touch.
So good to see you too! There’s never enough time with so many people around, but I’m glad we at least got to chat for a little while.
Awesome, except for the part where I only saw you for a second. And, I’m sorry for the cycle before you left and I have all my good thought focused on this one. I know that negative test feeling.
anymommy´s last blog post ..Not a snowballs chance in hell
@anymommy, I know! And I never got to smoosh on Baby Nater at all! Sad. And thanks for the good thoughts, I’m sure I’ll need them!
I find it ironic and super sucky that you had your phone stolen at a keynote where one persons whole story was about returning a iPhone.
Am so glad I got to see you a few times.
Issa´s last blog post ..Why you will see me at BlogHer11 in San Diego
@Issa, Dude. Seriously. The irony was not lost on me. My suspicion is that it was a hotel employee and not a fellow blogger who took the phone. Sigh. Oh well, karmic retribution will catch up to them, right?
So glad I got to see you too!
I had a smile on my face the whole time I read this. So awesome Cindy. I kind of wish I was in the blogher scene to enjoy the fun in NYC!
And the best part? Catie’s grin in the last picture. 🙂
@Jess, I know, I was so tired when I got home and seeing that face at the airport was awesome. 🙂
so, so, so good to meet you, lady!
MWAH!
alimartell´s last blog post ..Well- If I Learned one thing from BlogHer ’10- it’s that I am not pregnant
@alimartell, I loved getting to meet you too! We need to do it again and share even MORE crazy family stories (cuz believe me, I got PLENTY).
It was awesome meeting you. It was even more awesome talking hair metal with you. I must say I never called it c0ck r0ck but perhaps that’s just me. Poor Mandi could have slept had Angie not been interrupting our conversation with the snoring! 😉
Hockeymandad´s last blog post ..It’s Show Time!
@Hockeymandad, I’ve heard both c0ck r0ck and butt rock. I guess either sort of fits.
Also? HOW do I have NO photos with you, Angie, and Mandi? WTF? Epic photographer fail!
@Cindy W, That is a truly sad sad shame! I may have to do some Photoshopping…
Hockeymandad´s last blog post ..It’s Show Time!