Thinking Back to BlogHer ’11

Tanya from Mommy Goggles was my roommate for BlogHer ’11 and we had a blast!

It’s hard to believe sometimes that I’ve been blogging at The Mommy-Files for 4 years now. My site has grown so much over the last 4 years, I’ve made so many amazing contacts, and had the opportunity to participate in many awesome campaigns!  I remember when I first started blogging and learned about BlogHer ’08.  My blog was only about a month old and I believe the conference was taking place in San Francisco, California.  At the time, I was living in Seattle and had just giving birth to Sammy in May of that same year, so needless to say, BlogHer ’08 was out.  So, I set a goal for BlogHer ’09.

The announcement was made at BlogHer ’08 that BlogHer ’09 would be held in Chicago.  I was super excited about that.  However, I was unable to make the conference in Chicago because money was very tight and there was no way I could afford the cost of a conference ticket, plane ticket, and hotel room.  So, the next goal was BlogHer ’10, which was going to be held in New York City.  I had never been to New York City before and was already starting to make plans to attend the conference.  However, in March 2010, the boys and I left Seattle and moved to California and the process of my divorce started.  Needless to say, it wasn’t the right time to leave my boys behind to go to BlogHer in New York City with all the changes they were already facing.  So, next goal was BlogHer ’11.

The announcement was made that BlogHer ’11 was going to be in San Diego, California.  Yes!  I could drive there and save up to stay in the hotel in which the conference was taking place.  I made an executive decision and purchased my conference ticket as soon as they went on sale.  I was finally gonna get to go to a BlogHer Conference and was so excited!

As BlogHer ’11 came closer, I began signing up for parties, receiving lots of invites, and received one of my favorite emails, in which a company said they would love to sponsor me for the Conference.  Yes!  Everything was working out!  Let me tell you, my schedule was packed, but I had so much fun!

I had some ideas of what to expect from BlogHer, but it was so much better than I imagined!  I knew there would be lots of swag…..and there was (that isn’t an understatement).  I actually found myself giving stuff away to other bloggers, including my roommate – Tanya from Mommy Goggles.  I saw other bloggers shipping stuff to their homes because they didn’t have enough room in their luggage.  Thank goodness I was driving!

I met Lisa from Crazy Adventures in Parenting (along with Elmo & Cookie Monster).

It was so neat to finally meet so many different people I had become virtual friends with and PR Reps I had worked with on various different campaigns.  It really brought things life when I was able to shake their hands and talk face to face.  I got to meet in real life for the first time so really great bloggers that I had become friends with, including Lisa from Crazy Adventures in Parenting, Kim from Crafty Mama of 4, Susan from 5 Minutes for Mom, Jen from Eighty MPH Mom, Erin from Slice ‘O Heaven, Robyn from Robyn’s Online World, Kate from The Shopping Mama, Ellen from Thrifty Chic Mom, and so many more!

Twizzlers had a bunch of displays made out of Twizzlers.  We would check in on FourSquare at the various Twizzler Displays throughout the conference.  Tanya even won a prize!

There were so many things to do, parties to attend, PR Reps to meet, and bloggers to hang out with. I honestly wish I had more time to do all of the things I wanted to do, but I made it work anyways.  I was excited to have Filtrete (3M) as my sponsor for BlogHer ’11.  I walked around the conference in my Filtrete shirt and surveyed different bloggers, asking them questions about water.  Even Tanya participated and wore a Filtrete shirt.  It was a lot of fun!

Tanya and another blogger – Tanya got to take home the guy from The Hangover – lol!

I got to give big hugs to one of my favorite Canadian bloggers – Sue from 5 Minutes for Mom!

We attended one of the dancing parties and it was so much fun!  We danced, ate, and socialized.  There was even another blogger there who really, really wanted the cardboard stand-up of one of the characters from The Hangover.  It was pretty funny!

Hanging out with Tanya and Jennifer from Momma D and Da Boyz at the Flip Flop Party.

There were tons of parties at BlogHer, which kept me very busy!  I was able to meet some of the bloggers I’ve been talking to online for years, as well as PR Reps I’ve been working with for years.  In addition, I was sponsored by 3M and attended a fun Luau party with food, drinks and socializing.

Me, Louise from Mom Start, and Tanya at the 3M Luau Party (we even had grass skirts!  Sweet!)!

We also checked out the Hershey’s S’Mores Exhibit, where we got to roast our very own marshmallows.  I had way too many!  LOL

Yummy treats and S’Mores at the Hershey’s Suite at BlogHer ’11.  So good!

One of my favorite events was the UPS Store get-together, where I had the chance to meet up with PR Reps and socialize with some amazing bloggers over food and cocktails.  It was so much fun!

So, are you going to BlogHer ’12?  I am really hoping to go – fingers crossed!  Please email me themommyfiles@gmail.com if you are interested in sponsoring The Mommy-Files at BlogHer ’12.

I received no compensation for this post.  All opinions expressed in this post are 100% mine.