It’s been just over a week since I returned to California from my New York BlogHer Conference and I am still tired, HA! This was my second BlogHer national conference and it didn’t disappoint! The event was amazing and filled with tons of professional development, celebrity sightings, and laughs.
I was also very happy to able to meet-up with my friend Nichole (who I met at last year’s conference and reconnected through Instagram recently) and when I arrived in New York she introduced me to some great gals that I stuck with for the whole weekend. It is much easier to travel in a pack ,especially when there is so much going on. We kept each other organized and motivated to keep exploring and networking with other bloggers and brands.
The event kicked off with a party in the expo hall featuring vendors like Dyson, World Market, WordPress, and Best Buy to name a few. My goal was to connect with brands that are important to me and of interest to my business and my readers. It was easy to break the ice with the BlogHerBu, it was like a vacation in a glass…
My first stop by Dyson, obviously one of my favorite companies on earth. I am addicted to vacuuming and it was fun to chat about the challenges we have with our estate sale vacuums each week. We basically use the vacuum at the house until it dies and in most cases that only takes 2-3 days. I was hoping the Dyson would sponsor Kuzak’s Closet Estate Sales and after my demo with their handheld wonder I am expecting it will come true. Well, I might be reaching quite far but a girl can dream!
I made a new friend in the Expo Hall, Lauren from Cooking with Giggles. She loves food and I love food so the connection was instant. We also met the Aquafresh dude along the way who happened to be handing out cases of toothpaste, gotta keep it fresh at the conference!
After the expo hall closed down the “after parties” began. Food and champagne is everywhere at this point and new friends are made and old friends are reconnected. I was surprised at how many people I knew from the online community and how many people knew Kuzak’s Closet. The internet is a fabulous thing. My gals and I closed down the after party which is pretty amazing considering I typically go to bed around 9pm, I guess keeping up with California time while on the east coast paid off. I didn’t go to bed until 2am most nights and I am still paying for it.
The conference kicked off with an amazing keynote and interview with Soledad O’Brien. Friends, I can’t tell you how beautiful and funny she is in person, talk about WOW! Her segment was one of my favorite from the entire weekend and she really inspired me.
In between keynotes there were breaks to visit the Expo Hall and attend blogging breakout sessions on a variety of educational topics. I attended a few great social media sessions as well as business sessions. I also maximized my time in the ExpoHall by connecting with celebrities and working on my blog at the WordPress station. Here I am with Sally from Sally’s Baking Addition. It’s pretty neat that she has her own cookbook through blogging don’t you think? Best Buy was giving away signed copies at their booth and the book is gorgeous.
I also met this guy at the Best Buy booth. I am not quite sure who he is but I think this is one of the best photos taken of me this year. I need to crop him out and put Chris in for this year’s holiday card.
And then there was Gwen. Yes, Gwyneth Paltrow. Talk about a fox with legs for days. She had a boring talk but it was okay with me, I couldn’t focus on anything but her looks. She talked about Goop, her controversial blog and her lifestyle and upcoming projects. Although she wasn’t as interesting as I hoped she was a highlight.
And then there was Carsen Kressley. Yes, he is pushing Depend Diapers which is weird but I couldn’t resist the photo opportunity. My heels that I had planned to wear with a great outfit on this day broke so I had to bust out a more casual look and I am sure he was horrified but who cares. I did tell him I was happy to see him on The Real Housewives of New York this season and chatted for a bit about the episode he was on.
And then there was Christy Turlington, I’m telling you this conference was star studded! She was just a beautiful and classy in person that I imagined her to be. She was there on behalf of her project Every Mother Counts. She is bringing awareness back to childbirth in the US and had a great panel with her. You should check out the project…http://www.everymothercounts.org/
Those are my highlights from the actual conference but it doesn’t even tap the surface, check out my Instagram for a complete behind the scenes look. I was so engaged in the final keynote Ava DuVernay that I didn’t even snap a picture. She directed Selma and gave a fantastic interview.
After the conference the closing party sponsored by McDonalds kicked off at Pier 84. I am not a fan of fast food but at this point in the conference I was so tired and hungry that I ate 3 happy meals. Delicous! Everything was piping hot and being served out of a neat food truck and passed by waiters, so fun.
Boyz II Men performed and it brought back so many Jr. High memories. They played about 5 songs and I sang along with each and every one of them.
There are only 3 men left, I am not quite sure where #4 went but I’ll have to research. I wish I still had all of their old cassette tapes, ugh, the downside of being a professional organizer since birth, they have been purged…
Dessert was obviously an Oreo Frappe, at this point my eyes were almost swollen shut due to sugar consumption. I wanted to tell the waiter hanging them out no but I just couldn’t resist, with the view and the music, it was a perfect finale to a wonderful experience at BlogHer.
The next morning I organized all of my swag, purged what I could, packed then hopped on a plane back to California. It was a great trip a nice little break at this point in the year. We’ve had almost 50 estate sales so far and the organizing calendar is booked (always) so it is important for me to take time out to learn new things and reward myself for my hard work.
That’s a wrap, make sure to stop by BlogHer to read the experiences of other bloggers and I hope this encourages you to attend next year, I know I’ll be there!
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