First Thoughts (and Pictures) on BlogHer10
By the second session of BlogHer10, I was exhausted. My nervous system felt inflamed from the constant stream of people, the constant stream of information, the constant stream of opportunities rushing by you at any given moment. You could turn in this direction and speak to this person who just may write the blog that will change your whole life, or you may turn in that direction and meet a food blogger who will pass along her pie crust recipe. You just don’t know.
And the choices, the endless choices of which sessions to attend and where to sit and how long to talk and what to do with your day is the best and worst part of the conference. Because you can’t really go wrong–all the roads take you somewhere–but it is easy to start walking down one path and wonder what is on all the roads not taken, and somehow miss the path you are on entirely because your focus is elsewhere.
It is an ongoing process of reminding myself to stick to the road I’m on. To take what I need. To enjoy myself rather than trying to do everything.
New York is a strange city for me. It was one of my retreats during graduate school, but I can’t really say that I love the city. I’m not a New York person. Plus, I find my figurative battery draining the second I get through the Holland Tunnel. By the time I hit midtown, I’m a puddle on the floor of the bus. I literally can’t comprehend how I’m going to do anything beyond lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling. No other city drains me like this one.
And, at the same time, I am having a lot of fun. I spent Thursday night at two parties. The first was one for BlogHer editors.
Devra at Parentopia
Devra from Parentopia and Sarah from Sarah and the Goon Squad
Laurie from LaurieWrites
Liz and Me
Talking to Erin’s Head
Honeybeast and Devra
Devra’s weird shoes…
AV and the butt plug shoes
After dinner, I went over to Alexa’s hotel room to celebrate the release of her book, Half Baked. The book looks incredible and I can’t wait to read it. We stood out on the wrap around balcony and admired the city below, and I felt awfully small amongst the enormous buildings and endless lights. We ate cupcakes. We met up with friends.
City lights
Look at those lovely books.
With Heather
We returned to the hotel and met up with Lori and her sister, sharing a single cupcake well into the night that I completely missed photographing for the Cake Extravaganza (and an enormous thank you to the people who participated so far). All in all, a lovely evening. Next post–onto the sessions, the ALI lunch, and beyond.
14 comments
Sniffle.
Focus on the fun – you can never see everything!
Ah, sounds like you are having such a great time. So good to see Alexa (and her book). So much to celebrate with so many witty, insightful, thought provoking women.
I’m so jealous!!! Looks like so much fun!
It sounds overwhelming, exciting and exhausting all at once! Hope you are able to walk away feeling like you got the absolute most out of the experience!
It looks like a blast! Mmmm…cupcakes…
Soooooo jealous….. ; )
So much fun! You were definitely one of the bloggers I met at BlogHer ’09 who were life-changing!
It makes me sad that I have to go to conferences to see you and we live like, 15 minutes apart. But as always, it was awesome to see you.
Devra’s shoes really creeped me out. Although she was right when she told me they attract men like flies. My husband saw her in the lobby holding them and didn’t say “hi” or “how’s it going, Devra?” but “where did you get those shoes?”!
Woah! I love Devra’s weird shoes… You really had fun with your friends. Be healthy!
Sounds like a fabulous first night. I love Devra’s shoes. Who gave them their name?
Oops…Devra had the funky toe shoes. Who named the butt plug shoes?
I am having so much BlogHer envy! It looks like so much fun.