Whimsical September

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BlogHer Conference 2015 Day Two: Best Day Ever

By the time day two of BlogHer was over, I found myself sprawled across my hotel bed at 9:30 p.m. in my pajamas with take-out food, even though it was a Friday night, the weather outside was gorgeous, I was child-free, and my hotel was right in the middle of prime NYC nightlife.
 
I just couldn’t muster the energy to use my brain to have one more conversation or move my feet to do one more thing that evening. Friday blew my mind from start to finish, and I recognized the need for quiet time to refuel from what was unexpectedly one of the coolest days of my life.
 
Like I mentioned a few days ago, my alarm went off at 5:45 that morning so that I could get ready for a private Today Show Parenting Team breakfast. I had no idea when I walked in the room that I was in the company of such accomplished women, but I soon found out! I really appreciated the time that several of them took to speak with me to find out more about my background and my blog.
 
The next highlight was attending a Sears party where a group of us conference attendees listened to a panel of women discuss the Sears Connected Solutions (I would love to have this smart technology in my home someday!), and one of the panelists was Randi Zuckerburg (second from left). 

 

She was very well spoken and frequently discussed her own family’s practices for social media and technology control in the home. Considering her brother is the king of social media, I found myself hanging on to every word of advice she offered to families while speaking from experience.
 
We left with a copy of her book and a small Sears gift card.
 
After that session I dashed over to Best Buy’s booth at the expo and met Sally from the wildly popular food blog Sally’s Baking Addiction. She was a doll and told me I looked like Taylor Swift. What?! #ILoveYouSally 
 
 

She signed a copy of her cookbook and I was off to make a plate for lunch and find a seat for our midday keynote speaker, Gwyneth Paltrow!
Besides being a little star struck, listening to her speak was one of my favorite parts of the day. She had a slew of practical advice about entrepreneurship and even blogging now that she has her own site, Goop.com. She kept things light by discussing her children, family life, and even her recent divorce. Very cool opportunity to hear her speak!
As soon as that keynote wrapped up, I zipped off to the next event on the calendar – a party with  a company called Happy Baby that creates organic baby food.
 
I unexpectedly found this to be one of my favorite parts of the whole conference because I thoroughly enjoyed listening to guest Heidi Murkoff, author and founder of the book and brand What to Expect When You’re Expecting. She already has huge credibility with me because I read her bookwhen I was pregnant and still continue to get daily emails from her app with parenting tips based on Hadley’s current age and stage. I’ve joked with family and friends ever since I became a mom that so much of my parenting knowledge comes from that app, and I was really excited to thank Heidi herself for compiling such wonderful information for mamas around the world.
We talked about the military a bit because she’s passionate about the USO and partnering with them to throw baby showers for new military moms. She lit up when I told her that we used to live in Fort Campbell and are currently at Fort Riley because she said that she visited both of them last year. Before we said goodbye, we took a selfie, because that’s what you do in 2015 I guess. 😉 I really, really enjoyed Heidi!
 
Immediately after I left that session I ran upstairs to the ballroom balcony for a champagne reception for all the Voices of the Year honorees. Again, I felt like I was among a group of women I didn’t quite belong with yet because I was in awe of their talents and successes. 

 

We each received a beautiful, personalized glass award and had the chance to mingle with other honorees for about an hour.

 

 

 

One lady I ran into was a part of the SheKnows Media team, and we actually started talking because of my outfit (that never happens to me! Ha!).  A couple minutes into our conversation she asked me out of the blue if I wanted to run downstairs and tape a segment for HLN. 
 
As in national TV HLN? I don’t think I know how to do that kind of thing, but yes! #LetsDoThis
 
She quickly whisked me downstairs, introduced me to the HLN team, they wired me up, and we did the dang thang! It was so wild. I was more nervous to introduce myself in front of everyone at the Today Show breakfast than I was to do the interview because it just didn’t seem real. So bizarre but so fun!
 

We talked about things I normally don’t talk about out loud much, such as breastfeeding, early motherhood struggles, and politics, and before I knew it we wrapped up. The whole team was filled with awesome people, and hanging with them was a fun experience. Thank you Mara Raphael for making me feel so comfortable!

 

As soon as we finished filming, the SheKnows Media rep brought me back to the ballroom to get seated for the Voices of the Year keynote. There were around 80 honorees, but only about 10 were selected to showcase their work on stage; I was not one of them. They still had one of my pictures from the post circulating on the front screen with my name and blog title, which was super cool to see! At the end of the keynote they called all the honorees on stage for a big group picture.
 
Two piece skirt & top outfit: Kieu’s (boutique located in Manhattan, Kansas)
 
I wish I had a better picture of the outfit because it was so fun to wear, but there wasn’t much time for picture takin’! 
 

Whew. Almost done!
 
After the keynote, a Voices of the Year reception was held with fancy finger foods and an open bar. Not only were bloggers given the chance to mingle with each other, but we could also choose to attend an open mic night and/or karaoke. I stayed at the Open Mic night until it a little after 9, and by then I was more than ready to call it a night.
 
And that’s exactly what I did, complete with take-out food and the easy company of my roommate and new friend.  What a beautiful day full of opportunity that I’ll remember for years to come!

Conference day #1 recap
Travel day recap 

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