Top 10 Surprises of BlogHer 2010

After a half dozen cab rides through the crazy-busy streets of New York City, a sweat-your-life-away romp through the Central Park Zoo, more parties than I typically attend in a year’s time, better food than I ever cook for myself, and general fun with my friends, I am finally back home in the land of wash-your-own-dishes and make-your-own-bed. I am uploading my BlogHer pictures as I speak (all 760 of them!), and am struggling to get back into my blogging and children-tending rhythm, when all I really want to do today is sleep.

I must say that BlogHer was nearly completely different than I was imagining. Does that make sense? Nearly completely? Here are a few of my biggest surprises from BlogHer 2010:

1. I didn’t use my computer. In fact, I only pulled my laptop out once. It ended up being a waste of precious extra space (which I was running very low on come Sunday morning). Who would have known that I would do no blogging while at a blogging conference?
2. I saw the same people almost everywhere I went (usually people that I already knew quite well) and others I couldn’t meet  up with for the life of me.
3. They fed us….and they fed us well! I was expecting free water and maybe a few cookies, but we had fancy food at every meal. The only time I had to buy food was on my way to the train station to leave on Sunday afternoon. And I felt compelled, anyway, to eat a gyro from a street vendor (which ended up being a little piece of heaven!)
4. Even New Yorkers stare at three tut-clad women walking the streets at 7:00 in the morning with strange looks.
5. The swag from all of the vendors was way better than I was expecting, and way MORE than I ever could have imagined. And the brands who attended BlogHer were so much nicer and engaging than I could have hoped for.
6. Ree, the Pioneer Woman, was both gorgeous (and tall) in person and kind enough to stop and chat. But even more amazing was the fact that she remembered a picture of mine that she featured on her blog back in January 2009. How cool is that?



7. I hardly made it to any classes. And yet, I feel like I came away having learned a lot.
8. I won tons of cool things (like a great new phone from t-mobile and shoes of my choice from Ecco). Last night was seriously like Christmas when I got home and opened my suitcase.
9. I love bloggers. Not that that is a huge revelation. But this weekend was immensely positive. And I connected with people I never would have expected to.
10. My sponsors, Mabel’s Labels, SEED, and Hershey’s S’mores were the MOST AWESOME companies ever to work with (did you guys see the S’Mores suite?!). I have nothing but the best things to say about them!!

If you went to BlogHer this year, what surprised you the most about the conference weekend?

Note: During BlogHer 2010 in New York City, I received many items free of charge, either as swag or contest prizes. I was not obligated to write about any of the cool stuff I received, and all mentions are purely because I really appreciated them!

© 2010, Food Fun Family. All rights reserved.

About Lolli

Lolli has written 3734 post in this blog.

I became a mom in 1996, and in 2005 I had my fifth. Yes, 5 kids. In 2007, this blog was born (my 6th baby that will never grow up) and I've been sharing recipes, photography tricks, parenting tips, and everything in between. (Formerly Better in Bulk)

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