BlogHer15: The Highlights Reel

Well, I survived another year at BlogHer!

It would be totally boring if I wrote out every single thing I did during the 5 days that I was in New York City, so I put together a little highlight reel so that you can get the ‘flavor’ of my trip. Of course, even though it’s just the highlights… it’s super long with a ton of pictures. So grab yourself a snack and settle in!

First off, I have to apologize for the crappy pictures. I actually did bring my nice camera, mini tripod and remote with me… I just didn’t use them at all. Instead, every single picture I took was with my iPhone 4 resulting in sucky pictures.

What I wore:

I stuck with the plan and wore either dresses or skirts the entire time (except for one evening where I wore my coral skinny jeans and totally forgot to take an outfit picture). New York City was super hot and sticky the whole time I was there, so skirts worked great for keeping cool and not looking like total crap. If you want sources for any of the clothing, let me know. You’ll find some of it here in my June My Style post and the others might pop up in my July version.

What I did:

Wednesday – I attended an event called Getting Gorgeous that gave me the chance to meet a bunch of brands, hang out with some cool ladies and build my own TrollBeads wrap bracelet, which I love. I also tried something called Not Your Father’s Root Beer which was awfully tasty.

My roommate Chrissy (from Quirky Chrissy) and I also did a bunch of walking around, hit Times Square and ate at Bar Bacon… where everything was all about that bacon. Apparently I was too busy shoving my bacon topped pork sandwich, tater tots and hard cider into my mouth to take pictures, so just imagine me with a big ol’ smile making yummy noises.

Thursday – I started the day by modeling at a Fashion, Lifestyle & Beauty event hosted by Das Rock Haus PR. A professional photographer was taking pictures, so hopefully I’ll have something ridiculous to share with you all soon.

From there we picked up Samera (from Samera Speaks) and ran across town to the City Style Blogger Bash at the Raymour and Flanigan Broadway showroom. Not only were the showroom ladies fabulous to talk to, but I totally was obsessed with/fondled this table and chairs set while I was there. Oh my gosh, it was total perfection and I would KILL to have it in my house. Not kill people, of course, but I’d totally smash the crap out of a spider… Cross your fingers that they want me for their blogger ambassador program, because I could totally style that table a million ways and would probably lick it too.

After getting our fill of wine and appetizers, the ladies practically had to rip me off the comfy leather couch we were sitting on to taxi back to the hotel in time for the opening BlogHer Evening at the Expo event. I ran around and visited all the fun booths for two hours and then worked my way around the parties that were going on around the hotel that night. To be honest, I was pretty much done by 9pm and went back to my room to strip down to pajamas and finish my book.

Friday & Saturday – These were the two full days of the BlogHer conference and OH MY GOSH were they jam-packed. I pretty much was running from place-to-place for 13 hours straight, slept a little and then did it again. I sat in on a bunch of invigorating learning sessions, enjoyed the keynote speakers (I missed Gwyneth Paltrow, but hear she was great), and met a bunch of really fun bloggers. I also hung out with Colgate in their special suite to learn about their new products, enjoy a foot massage and enter for a trip to Canyon Ranch (finger’s crossed!). On Thursday evening, I finally left the building to do a quick visit of the KidzVuz Back to School Bash, which was super cute. I picked up a few things for Jack and jetted back to the host hotel to catch a bus to the closing party.

Speaking of closing party, BlogHer does it up right! The party was sponsored by McDonald’s so they had happy meals for everyone, spiked Micky D’s lemonade and the Minions even made an appearance! Also making appearances was Boys II Men, DJ Spider (who I LOVED) and Nick Cannon. I basically lived out on the dance floor and pretended I knew how to do all those dances that everyone else somehow knew (can someone please explain to me, what is a Nae Nae? I think I might have done it).

Sunday – For my last day, you’d think I’d take an easy… but no, I made it my goal to make the most out of my last hours in NYC. I started off at the M&M’s store because when I asked Jack what he wanted me to bring him back he was very specific with his M&Ms request (blue, green and yellow M&Ms… um, okay). Then, I wandered into the Broadway street fair and found some amazing cronuts, crepes and a necklace that I just couldn’t resist. Speaking of shopping, I was dying to check out The Market and I’m so glad I did… that place is AMAZING if you like handmade jewelry! I ended up just buying a container of solid perfume that smells like gardenias. So pretty!

From there I made my way back to Broadway and went to see Something Rotten. Now, if you are a theater/musical person I have to tell you to RUN to go and see this show. It was SO FREAKING good and is totally in my top three shows I’ve seen in my entire life. I loved it so much I literally had a cheesy grin on my face the entire time and my face hurt when I walked out. The actors were perfection, the songs were incredibly funny (buying the CD is on my list for this week) and the costumes were fantastic. I can’t even explain how much I loved the show, so just go see it and then email me so that we can squeal about how awesome it was!

Celebrities I Met:

Now it’s the fun name-dropping portion of the blog… let’s talk about celebrities!

Billy Currington – When I walked up to Billy, he looked me over and told me I was pretty. Now, I’m sure he says this to every lady who walks up to him, but OH MY does that man have some swagger. I giggled like a school girl and may have accidentally touched his butt as I want in for a hug and picture. When he released me, I told him, “I have to thank you. I was dating a boy and your song Must Be Doing Something Right was popular and he told me the song reminded him of me” Billy said “really?” I said “Yes, so I married him.” And Billy said, “Well, it seems like your husband should be the one thanking me!” And then I squealed and stumbled away.

Josh Peck – I was kind of out of the age range for Drake & Josh, so I really had no idea who this was before watching the pilot of the new show, Grandfathered, where he stars with John Stamos. However, this guy was so funny and cool and approachable that I’m totally a fan now. He also mentioned that he played Ray-Ron on The Mindy Project, which sparked one of those “OH, I know where I’ve seen him before” feelings. When it was my turn to take a picture with him I kind of panicked and suggested we do a Charlie’s Angels post, so that’s how THAT happened.

Mickey Mouse – I had the pleasure of joining Disney for a super fabulous ice cream social and as it was winding up, a surprise guest joined us… MICKEY!

The Minions – Okay, we just saw the new Minions movie this past weekend, so when I saw the three little dudes at the McDonald’s closing party I freaked the frack out! I got a picture with Bob and then with all three of them… I even tried to get video of me dancing with them, but their handler lead them away before I could get it going on.

Boys II Men – So technically this is a picture of me with Boys II Men. Just saying. You can totally check out the video I took of them here. While singing I’ll Make Love to You, the “boys” handed out red roses. Until they reached the end of the song where they just threw everything left out in a big old rose clump. And it hit me in the face… so TECHNICALLY they threw roses at me. Boom.

Well hot damn, for this being a highlights reel this post just went on and on and on… so I’m going to stop it here. I got a lot of swag while I was away (free stuff from brands hoping you’ll like it and write about it), so as I find things I love I’ll let you know about them.

Do you have any burning questions I haven’t answered? Which celebrity is your favorite – Billy, Josh, Mickey or Bob? If you have a celebrity-meeting story, please share it in the comments!