Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Two Days in the Life: a few bottles at a time BlogHer 09 Part 2

(This post is dedicated to the many wonderful friends I finally met, and the amazing new friends that I made, at BlogHer '09. I will be shamelessly dropping blog names, because they all deserve the linky love and more. I am POSITIVE that I will forget someone that I met, please pardon my old age and forgive me if I missed you here!)

Prepare yourself, for you are about to be see some pictures of a very shiny, happy Karen MEG, likely leaning a little too much on alcoholic courage, to reach out and "touch" (in other words, grab for squishy hugs) virtual friends, who were previous-to-BlogHer-but-will-never-be-again, IRL "strangers". Having attended last year's BlogHer as a head-on-a-stick, I fully intended to enjoy this year's entire-body experience. This is the "fun" post.

It began Thursday afternoon with a BlogHer event in association with Estee Lauder, that I will post about later. It was a big deal as I got to hang out with some great bloggers, including Angella, Anissa, Ree, Renee, Tena among many others (okay, already getting scattered...)

Then came Thursday evening, as we waited outside for the People's Party. Running into Momo Fali and Piper - yippee! Finally squeezing Melissa, Kelly and Tara, Rachel and Donna... and hey look, there's Maggie Nap Warden, Melisa, Weaselmomma ... turning around and seeing Colleen (beautiful sass with glasses), oh and then the other beautiful Colleen ... (oh, I know I'm going back and forth with names/blognames, but my head is still spinning...) ... well hello Black Hockey Jesus, and I look over there and there's Sandy, and Don Mills Diva, and Mandy, and, and...

Well, then it got crowded so I headed over to Room 704 party with - look, it's JustMiss, Red Lotus Mama, my GAWD it's Maria, and lovely Mommy is Moody with their roomie and my new friend Nancy (where have you been all my blogging life?) ... and there's OHMommy grabbing me, with SmartAss Mom by her side...more craziness...to finally meet Lotus, Vdog, Mrs. Flinger...BusyDad, Mr. Lady ...

There was screaming, there was squeeing, there was streaking (yeah, the most calm streaker I've ever seen...). Okay, I'll shut up, here are pics...

Me and Donna




Beautiful Maria

Cynthia and Melissa



The beautiful Misses



The Fab Vdog, and me being drunk much?
Asian Invasion



Stark Raving Hot



Channelling 704



That was Thursday night. The conference hasn't even started.

*****

Friday morning I woke up with a big crease across my face, and I am still puzzled as to the origin of said crease, as I had been sleeping on one of the softest beds on the planet. A little too soft to be truly heavenly.

So I was on my best behaviour and didn't start any alcoholic imbibing until after 6 PM. And this time I did eat. It was kinda neat being checked in at registration by Avitable - a nice guy in real life, although he may not admit it. I met his partner in crime, the fab Miss Britt later too.

Karaoke, the Gecko, Mrs. Potato head, and more partying at the BlogHer Cocktail party with Haley-O, Kelly, Mandy, Colleen and Nancy, Courtney... and then headed over to the fantabulous Mamapop Sparklecorn Extravaganza... more dancing, more party pics...



Ignore my triple chin: focus on gorgeous Nic and Nancy



It's OHMommy and Me!



Me and BFF Melissa


Mommy Always Wins with Piper




Canadians RAWK (Mandy, Kelly, Haley)





Courtney, Anissa, Melissa


Girls with Glasses (Angie and Mishi- CUTE!)



*****

Saturday, last day of the conference, last night of parties. But what a night...

Who else did we see again? Bowlher... with my chicas Courtney, Melissa, Mrs. 4444... and hey, there's Renee, and got to chat with ScaryMommy...


Next up: cheezeburgher, cheezeburgher, we can haz cheezeburgher...












*****

Sunday morning, I finally got some quality time with Haley



and then Emma found me.

What a way to end it, with two local gals that are within reach of a post-BlogHer meetup.

Sweet.

It was a crazy, wild, thrilling weekend. If there was one thing that would have made it better, it would have been to spend more time with more friends. Hugs are not enough.

Will I do it again next year? Well, if I can recover in a year and my new BFF is there, you betcha for damn sure ...

34 comments:

Angella said...

It was SO GREAT to meet you and hang out.

You're a bundle of sunshine :)

Rachel said...

I LOVED finally meeting you!
You are GORGEOUS and such a sweet sweet person (although I expected nothing less)

YAY! Can't wait to see you again!

MarĂ­a said...

UGH. The ONLY photo I got of you, the flash was covered so it's a big black blur and I can barely make out anything but your silhouette. :(

I love you! I'm so happy I got to hug you!

petite gourmand said...

that looks like sooo much fun!
wish I had been there.

and might I add that you have quite the collection of lovely frocks in all the photos.
how many outfits did you bring exactly?
looking very snazzy and VERY happy- good for you.

ConverseMomma said...

I am so bummed. I brought a camera and never took it out of my bed. I have no way to prove to my mom that I actually put on a cocktail dress :)

It was a pleasure to meet you. YOu are so lovely and down to earth. Can't wait to party again at Blogher 10.

Tara R. said...

You are just as sweet and beautiful in person as I thought you would be. It was wonderful finally meeting you.

Melisa Wells said...

Two things for next year:

1. We need a photo together

2. We need to put each other on our dance cards! 30-second meetings a couple times over a huge weekend just aren't enough for me! ;)

BusyDad said...

I love the Asian invasion pic!! It was definitely a very cool moment for me. And so was finally getting to meet you, Kmeg! And I'm now going to ask Mr Lady to change the name of our website! And maybe even post on it again. It's been like a year!!! haha

Anonymous said...

And I'm very glad I found you! Fantastic to meet you both in Chicago and at Pearson :-)

OHmommy said...

Every time I turned around and saw you, you were smiling. It was so stinking awesome to finally see that smile in real life. :)

Blog said...

LOVED hanging with you!!! Miss you already!! Seriously, glad we had that quality time together!

mommy4life said...

Looks like a great time! Thanks for sharing my featured SITS day today!

Don Mills Diva said...

Apparently I was a little tipsy at the Cheeseburger party.

Loves ya!
:-)

Miss Britt said...

Funny story you may not remember:

At the very END of the conference, you and Emma came up to Adam and I outside - and you introduced yourself to me. Again. And I was like "ummm.. I'm pretty sure we DANCED together, lady! I know who you are!" LOL

I don't know if you remember that or not, but it makes me giggle.

melissa said...

i love you! i'm so glad that we got to hang out as much as we did! you are as wonderful in person as you are on your blog. and i'm so so lucky that i'm able to call you my friend!!
xoxo

Anonymous said...

I KNOW! Where have YOU been all my blogging life. You are such an awesome person and meeting such a kindred spirit is a true highlight from my trip.

And WTF was up with me making kissy faces at the camera all the time? Dude, next year, tell me to stop and that I look like a total dork.

Jocelyn said...

Just reading this, I had to go get a drink.

And it's lunchtime.

Kim said...

What a great recap.. and I absolutely love that shirt in the last photo!!!!

PS.. I am not going to mention how utterly jealous I am.. I just have to wait a year is all.. :)

Miss said...

OMG ITS KAREN! I saw you from across the room and dragged everyone over so I could meet you. One of my favorite memories from that trip was sitting by the river that first night. You're gorgeous, I love your clothes, and holy crap are you just as funny IRL as you are right here.

Please, please send me that pic of me and Melissa. Love it. I wonder if anyone got one of us. Hmmm. I'll be sad if not.

Lynn C Mama to 3 said...

Yeah cuz post number one didn't make us all jealous enough....

Lollipop Goldstein said...

Oh my G-d--you are the original head-on-a-stick woman! I took another blogger's head on a stick around blogher this year because she read about your experience last year. I love that all of us are IF bloggers too :-) We are a brilliant bunch.

Cynthia said...

Hey girl...It was so great to meet you and hang out with you! I'm so in for next year:)

Kamis Khlopchyk said...

Next year, let there be a picture of me, you and Mrs. Potato head. Preferably all inebriated.

:)

JC said...

What a wonderful Blogher post. I'm making the rounds visiting folks that were kind enough to give me cards. Whether you remember me or not we share the limo(not) van ride from the airport to the hotel. I'm amazed by all the brilliant women I met in just a couple of days. Hate your flight was cancelled. I sat in the airplane for over an hour waiting for a part to be replaces. Oh, well, we are back in our routine now. You have a great site, so glad I had an opportunity to met you.

Nanny Goats In Panties said...

You and Mrs. Potato Head make a very cute couple!

Nice to have met you at BlogHer (even if it was very very brief!)

- Margaret

Gina said...

It looks like you had so much fun!!!!

jmt said...

I had to scroll through your comments to be sure I didn't already leave one. LOL I know I read this post before, but for some reason said nothing. :) Where was the conference held at, in Chicago? I'm so happy to hear that you had a great time.

Michael from dadcation.com said...

Hey! Sorry we didn't meet, but I'm glad you were present for my "performance" and hope to see you in NY!

Unknown said...

Oh, oh, oh.......sooooooooo jealous!!! I didn't make it to BlogHer this year. There was that minor issue of my baby girl being baptized on that weekend. Hopefully next year :) Glad you had such a blast! Love ya! XOXO

Karen said...

I am shocked at who I knew from your pictures! Looks like you had the time of your life - how wonderful!

Momisodes said...

How did I miss this post!!!?!?

I suck.

But I am SO thrilled that I had the chance to meet you. You were one of my original blog friends when I began blogging years ago. It was amazing to finally see your smile in person. You are gorgeous inside and out.

KimMalk said...

This looks sooo outrageously fun!
@cheapchichome.blogspot.com

Angelia (Texas) said...

This is really cool that you got to meet so many fellow bloggers. Just makes me smile.

Lorri S said...

It looks like you had a lot of fun :) and made a lot of new friends :)

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