HANGOV-HER … not alcohol induced.

Me & one of my faves- Elise (of Baby Bites) at Cheeseburgher

Contrary to how it may sound, HangovHer has nothing to do with alcohol or dancing til the break-a-break-a-dawn with your girlfriends on beds in a ballroom and eating cheesburgHers … ok well maybe some of it does- but it primarily is due to 3 days of Go-Go-Go, talking-talking-talking… and being very much sleep deprived.

As I mentioned in a party recap, I came home from Blogher with barely any voice- my 2 yr old daughter wouldn’t even come near me. Seriously, her face lit up when she saw me and then I crackled out “Mama!” and she immediately retreated as if to say  “Who is this scary creature, and what have you done with my mother?”

Things are finally getting back to “normal” though. I {mostly} have my voice back, my daughter is no longer scared of me…. but as far as recaps go- there was much more that I wanted to cover about my experience at Blogher this year, but my mind has been in a fog of sorts- and now that its almost a week later- most of it hardly seems relevant. It’s all been said already.

But you know what is still relevant to me post-Blogher? How much I freakin’ miss all running into my friends all day long.

On day one of the conference, I met for breakfast with some of my bloggy friends and ended with an all-star table made up of so many of my favorites, including:  Jill from Scary Mommy, Devan from Accustomed Chaos, Erin  from I’m Gonna Kill Him and Heather from Theta Mom- who lucky-for-me  lives near by and occasionally meets up with me for a Mommys Night Out.

When I looked around at our table after the opening keynote, I thought to myself- how great would it be if all of this whole table lived near by and joined Heather and I for our Mommy’s Night Out?

But then I realized that in just 2 short days these ladies were going to return to living inside of my computer ::tear:: So we took a picture to capture the moment:

And now looking at the picture….  dammit, I miss them.

This year, even if we weren’t at sessions or parties together,  I was running into my friends all over- and every time it was like meeting up with a college friend between class. Chatting for a bit, filling each other in on our day and  “See you in a few!”

Photo credit: www.scarymommy.com

The casual run-ins every day with all of my blogosphere favorites was one of my favorite parts of blogher.

I mean where else besides Blogher would you just happen to run into The Bloggess hanging out in the bathroom?

Or pose for pictures with her by urinals-hidden by a curtain in the ladies room?

…Those pictures by the way, I cannot find anywhere on the web but I know they are totally going to resurface when I’m win the Miss America pageant- and then I’ll have to be all “I  feel violated, I thought those pictures were private… I was young and naive.” It’s going to be embarrassing.

But I digress.

My point is- even though the schedules and the days are exhausting, besides the once a year at Blogher- these moments never happen… and that makes my HangoveHer totally worth it.

Blogher 2010 Party Recap- Sessions? What Sessions?

Sessions, Smeshions.

There is no doubt that this year, Blogher was all about the parties and networking… at least it was for me.

It’s not that I didn’t care about the sessions,  I just didn’t care FOR the sessions this year. (Though, admittedly – I didn’t attend many last year either- but at least I tired! )

Over all the sessions for Blogher 2010,  just seemed like a lot of the same to me. Panels of fellow bloggers talking about- Monetizing your blog, Blogging for newbies, How to pitch your blog, blah blah blah. It’s not that those classes aren’t good topics- but, for those of us doing this blogging thing for a while- we want the next level.  We want to hear from authors, PR Professionals, etc.  The more I spoke to people, the more it seemed this was an echoed feeling- so hopefully, next year Blogher will make an advance track and beginners track so that there is something for everyone.

Fortunately, even if you had no interest in the sessions- you still had plenty to do because  there were so many parties going on. I’m not sure if its because it was in New York or because the interest in working with Bloggers is growing- but the red carpet was being rolled out night, after night (sometimes literally).

Thursday, I split my night between Child’s Play & Bloganthropy’s “Dinner’s on Us” event and NYCity Mama’s Madame Tussuad’s Wax Museum Party.

The Mamatini’s at Dinner’s On Us were so yummy, I had 2- craved 3 but feared a headache. I was sad that I had to leave before the award ceremony- there were some amazing women nominated – however,  I was thrilled to have finally met the brilliant Maggie of Violence Unsilenced, the hillarious Becky of Mommy Wants Vodka and fellow Jersey Girl, Jen of MamaSaid there.

After I left Dinner’s on us, I booked to Madame Tussuad’s Wax Museum to hang out with my New York City Go-To-Gal, Carol Cain of NYCityMama.com.

I almost forgot how scary and frustrating it is navigating through the crowds in Times Square when you are in a rush… and 3 inch heels (What was I thinking? I know. My feet have served me with divorce papers.). The Museum was party had great food, great drinks and great people (both wax and living). I got to see spend time with some of my favorite blogger friends, like Nancy, Issa, Jesse, Jen, MJ & Duong…. and yes, I even got to take a picture with P-Diddy…. which was almost as exciting as meeting & hanging out with Carol’s good friend and fellow blogger- Tod of The Reluctant Dad. That is one Daddy blogger people need to watch out for- he is hysterical.

Friday, I attended the amazing “Getting Gorgeous” event put on by the fabulous Audrey McClelland & Very Sweeney… and Gorgeous is exactly how I felt walking out of there– Hello, MircaleBody Jeans-that-make-you-look-10-lbs-lighter! I made a conscious effort not to “load up on swag” this year, but these jeans I could not pass up! Oh, and Mr. Complicated was pretty stoked about the PowerMat I came home with too! ;)

After Getting Gorgeous, it was all about getting ready- for Sweets In The City that is.  Planning it had its stress filled moments, but  really can a party with cupcakes, wine, Sharpies and Toys ever really go wrong?

You can read more about my experience & that party on The Big Toy Book Blog.

After our party was over, all of The Big Toy Book Moms and I headed out to Faces and Names for Baby Bites. And after 5 hours and 3 cupcakes at Sweets In The City, they had SLIDERS! We heart Baby Bites! :)

Saturday, I was invited to a launch party for the upcoming Nate Berkus Show, but before we headed there- my  roommate, Jen (Mommy Instincts) and I headed to Hair Rules for an ICandy event by Nicole of Mom Trends. ICandy is sleek and trendy new stroller hitting US Markets- and no, we did not get to take one home as swag… however, we did get hair & makeup done by some of NYC’s best stylists. Jen, even got a haircut by celebrity hair stylist & Hair Rules owner- Dickie. Is that the best swag ever or what?

After Nate, I met up with Liz, Alecia and Elise for Blogtourage 2010 (An exclusive made up event by a group of saucy awesomeness). This year The Blogtourage was a larger group– I unfortunately do not have a picture of the larger group— though if anyone does I’d be happy to add it.

Once the Blogtourage dining festivities had ended, we continued by heading back to the Hilton and dancing the night away at CheeseburgHer- always so much fun! Because even though your stomach will beg to differ at 5am, Cheeseburgers always sound like a fabulous idea at 2am – especially on the last day of blogher! ;)

As one can imagine I woke up EXHAUSTED the next day, and with the voice of a pubescent 12 yr old boy – all crackly and losing it more by the minute.. but had one final event to attend.

NYCity Mama’s #TasteLoews. An absolutely phenomenal event, chauffeured by Chevy. The room was filled with an amazing group, an over abundance of delicious food and even a Fisher Price play area for the kids!

I messed up the hashtag about 20 times, I blame it on lack of sleep… so my twitter stream was filled with many retweets about it with different hashtags– so, my tweeps definitely got the memo of how amazing this event was… and if they could taste the Brisket, hashbrown and power smoothies- they would be green with envy.

More on Blogher tomorrow.. discussing non-party stuff…. Right now, bed is calling me.

Is there such a thing as catching up on sleep post Blogher? … I don’t know, but I’m about to find out.

T'was the night before Blogher

“Twas’ the night before Blogher and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring- not even the spouse.

The suite case was packed, but wide awake here I stare

Thinking of NYC & Bloggy Friends who’ll be there…

Am I the only one feeling like a kid awaiting Christmas morning?  I cannot sleep!

I have mental check lists that keep running through my head- apparently even when I thought I turned my mind to “sleep mode”.

I am afraid I’m going to forget something crucial- business cards, iphone charger, phone numbers, and my schedule. Though I don’t know why I bother trying to make head or tales of it. After all Blogher schedules are only a loose outline right?

And as I sit wide awake at 4am, for really no reason at all- I am painfully aware that the next 3 days will be jam packed with many things, but sleep will not be one of them.

That’s the difference between Christmas morning and Blogher. As a child on Christmas morning, you can wake up at 5am- play til’ 9am, have breakfast and go back to sleep- or at the very least lounge on the couch and watch “Its a Wonderful Life”.

Blogher, not so much.

Still I sit here-

Now, looking at tweets of “Good Morning” and thinking …

Thank God there is a Starbucks on every corner of Manhattan because

I. Am. Screwed.

** If you can’t make Blogher this year, my friends Tina and Lori have a fun event on their blogs called “The Blogher Pity Party“…. its really not a pity party- its actually really fun. Its like a virtual Blogher- they even have swag!…and the best part of it is– you get to sleep. **