Travel - Pocketful of Joules

BlogHer14: My Whole Experience Shoved in One Post

If you’re curious about what I ALMOST named this post and how it went wrong (so, so wrong), check out my Facebook post. Also, while you’re over there… click “like” on my page because every time I get a new fan I do a weird little dance. And maybe I’ll make a video for you, because one thing I learned at BlogHer14 is that I need to start making videos…

I tried to avoid giving you a play-by-play of everything that happened in the 5 days I was in San Jose for the most amazing blogging conference in all the land. Mostly, I just included a daily overview and all the photos that make me smile (most of the photos are also on my Instagram page if you want to see them larger). If there is anything I don’t cover that you want to know about, just leave me a question in the comments and I promise to answer them all!

For those of you who think that attending a blogging conference is like the Hunger Games – we all hate each other because there can only be ONE awesome blogger – yup, that’s totally true.

Want proof? Check out Holly from My Years of Fabulous…

See the bloodlust!?!

Just kidding. It’s truly like a love-fest. See, now Holly and I look all cute again.

My Crew
Speaking of awesome people, my main crew of cool chicks was: Holly, Chrissy from Quirky Chrissy, Lily from It’s a Dome Life, Jen from Me, Myself & Jen, Jenny Kelly from MarketingWerks, and Hege and Cotille from Stitch Fix. I also had the wonderful experience of hanging out with Sara and Dave, when they took me out to dinner at Blowfish. YUM!

I’d also like to give shout-outs to the following lovely ladies:
Nora Miller from AMP Anderson Miller PR – thank you for letting me talk your ear off at lunch and I totally LOVED every minute of it. Marcella Campbell from 24 Volumes – so glad we ran into each other again, 2 years after our first meeting! Stephanie Precourt from Listen to Your Mother – you may have ACTUALLY convinced me to try out next year… Kristin Swenson – thanks for hanging out with me at the BlogHer baby shower and talking fashion! I also have a stack of business cards to go through of people I hung out with, so I can’t wait to start shooting off some emails.

Now on to the pictures!

First off, the MOST important… what I wore. And yes, I say that with a teensy bit of sarcasm and a little {wink, wink}:

Look, I even took pictures each day in front of the snazzy hotel curtains! And yes, I thought about trying to convince the Fairmont to gift me the curtains as swag, but I digress. You can see a bit of a theme — bangs back and lots of Stitch Fix. Day 1: Loft t-shirt, Kensie jeans (Stitch Fix), etsy necklace. Day 2: Daniel Rainn shirt (by way of Nordstrom Rack), Steampunk Garage necklace (bought on day one), same jeans. Day 3: Pomelo dress (Stitch Fix). Day 4: Banana Republic Marimekko collection dress. I’m wearing the same Sam Edelman spiked sandals in each picture. I also threw this Soho hat from Ashbury Hats on for some of the evening events.

Wednesday
I left my house super-dooper early and flew for almost 8 hours. Luckily, the time change worked with me and it was only noon when I got to California. I spent the day walking around, shopping and also had dinner with the adorable Sara and her husband. I’m not sure why I didn’t get a picture with Sara and Dave, I can only assume we were too full of sushi, sake and beer to think about taking one.

Thursday
By far my busiest day! I stated off at the Speck Products #RESPECKED Suite and learned all about their snazzy new cellphone and electronics cases. While there, I also checked out the new line at Stella & Dot and had my head shot taken by a local photographer. From there, I met with Kristin and Hannah from Ashbury Hats (I LOVE THEM)… full blog post and GIVEAWAY coming soon. After that giggle-filled meeting, I stopped by the Astroblast Smoothie Social and met Nina from “The Good Night Show” on Sprout (she’s super sweet). From there, I ran off to the 2014 BlogHer Baby Shower (and chatted with so many cool mommas) and then hoofed it to the Eppa Sangria Sundown Sioree. Tired yet? Well, I kept going… and ran around the Evening at the Expo with Lily until they kicked us out! At that point, I was exhausted and ordered some room service.

Oh and to every single person who stopped me in the Expo Hall and at random times during the weekend to tell me that they KNOW me… THANK YOU. You guys made me feel like a total rockstar and sloppy KISSES to you all!

Friday
Bring on the learning! I was in BlogHer keynotes and sessions all day long and even squeezed in a couple brand meetings in between activities. I also had the chance to see The Hundred-Foot Journey, which I LOVED SO MUCH. See, I’m even quoted saying how much I love it on That Was Something. After the movie was over and I was walking on a cloud of loooooove, I met up with my friends at Killer Karaoke and did free shots of Twisted Shots until I ended up on stage in a group number. And yes, Cotille and I are just a little tipsy in that picture…

Saturday
MORE LEARNING! I also finally met up with my girl, Holly, and we basically talked all day long. I wish she lived closer to me, because she is my kinda people. In addition to attending the BEST session in the conference – “New Rules for New Tools” – I was also excited to have an appointment in the Flawed but Authentic suite. It started with an amazing hand massage with special oils and ended with an uplifting photo session and I loved every moment of it. After doing an emergency trip to Ross to pick up an extra suitcase, I grabbed Cotille off the street and we ended up having one of the best meals I’ve had in a LONG TIME. I’m not even kidding when I say that the first bite of mushroom risotto almost knocked me off my chair. So. Freaking. Good. Almost as good as the conversation… LOVE her. From dinner I made my very last stop… the Closing Party Sunset Bash. It was sponsored by McDonalds (HAPPY MEALS FOR EVERYONE) and our entertainment was Rev Run from RunDMC.

Which brings us to this story: At the closing party I danced like a fool and munched on a ton of French fries. Yes, I know I had just inhaled a whole dinner… but FRESH McDonald’s French fries are not to be denied.

Inevitably I had to use the restroom and started waiting in line for the fancy porti-pots. Well, the line was long and I started doing the pee pee dance. Apparently a guy across the way noticed, because he suggested that I use the porti-pots in the next parking lot over, behind a row of bushes. So, I leap through the bushes, jump into a porti-pot and immediately regret it. The ones I was waiting in line for were the NICE ones with lights and toilet paper. These… were not. They were your run-of-the-mill Ren Fest porti-pots with a dark, stinky inside and OF COURSE no toilet paper. So, I quickly use the bathroom and then stumble out as soon as humanly possible. As I’m stumbling out (mumbling how GROSS it was) and making my way back to the party – drip drying all the way – I nearly body-check Rev Run and his security team. Because, of course I did.

Hmm… that turned out a lot longer than I anticipated. I guess I could have just summed it up in one sentence: I had an awesome time at BlogHer. I missed seeing a few people that I was hoping to meet up with, but all-in-all had an excellent adventure (wheehew Wyld Stallyns!)

I’ll be sharing some new brands with you all over the next few months that I’m really super excited about. I also have a few fun giveaways coming up, including a sassy hat from Ashbury Hats, some super cool iPad cases from Speck Products, and a gift card to Chuck E Cheese!

Do you have any questions about BlogHer that I didn’t cover? Have you had a near run-in with a celebrity? Do you kind of want to go and watch Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure now?

Plane Worries & Travel Prep

After months and months of looking forward to the trip, I’m finally leaving for the BlogHer conference super early on Wednesday morning. However, although I LOVE traveling, I can’t really say I’m looking forward to the 7 ½ hours of plane travel (2 flights with a quick layover).

In the hopes that by writing about them, they won’t come true… here are my top 8 worries, in no particular order:

1. Sitting next to someone who will not stop talking.

2. Sitting next to someone who is super STINKY.

3. Sitting next to someone who squishes over their seat onto mine. Wings optional.

4. The airlines losing my luggage during my layover, resulting in me having to wear the same outfit for 5 days.

5. Starving to death within the 7 ½ hours. {Yeah, I know I wouldn’t do well on Naked and Afraid}

6. Missing my connecting flight.

7. That my kindle battery dies or for some reason I can’t use it to read or watch movies and I have NOTHING TO DO!

8. That moment in time where the plane lands and EVERYONE stands up and just stands there stuck until I start getting claustrophobic and want to shove them all out of the way and RUN off the plane for fresh air.

So, with those worries in mind, here is how I’m trying to prepare:

I can’t really do much about who I sit next to… other than this, of course.

I am super concerned about losing my luggage though – which is why I’m planning to pack everything in a carry-on sized suitcase for the trip out to California. My plan is to check my suitcase on the way back and use a BlogHer provided tote bag as my carry-on to get home (with any swag that wouldn’t fit in my suitcase). My ‘worst case scenario’ plan is to stop by the nearby Ross to buy an additional suitcase if I can’t get everything to fit.

I’m pretty sure airlines don’t serve food anymore, so I’m going to pack myself some snacks for the trip. The 3 hour time change works to my advantage on the flight out, so I’ll be arriving in California right around lunchtime.

And we all know #8 is going to happen, no matter what.

I downloaded a few books for my Kindle, so that they are all ready for me to read without needing wi-fi access. I’d also like to be able to watch a movie or two. My Netflix subscription needs wi-fi access to use it, so I think I’m going to try and download a couple movies off Amazon.

Have you guys ever downloaded a movie onto your Kindle before? Is it relatively easy? Here is a list of their new releases, do you have any recommendations? Also, if you’d like to share… tell me about your BEST or WORST flying story in the comments?

PS, if you are a blogger heading to BlogHer you may want to check out this post by Sara on lots of fun stuff to do in the area: BlogHer: Welcome to Silicon Valley

Petting Zoo Fun (aka Trying Not to Step in Animal Poo)

After months and months of having it on my list, Jack and I finally had a chance to check out Baugher’s Petting Zoo over the weekend. The petting zoo is located right near their ‘you pick your own’ orchards and is an easy drive from both Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC.

Of course, it’s an even easier drive for me – 15 minutes to be exact – which is why I’m kicking myself for not visiting before now.

The best part: it’s TOTALLY FREE! There is no fee for the petting zoo and it’s less than a dollar if you want to use their coin machines to purchase zoo food. It’s also insanely pretty out there with the animals, so bring your camera for an impromptu photo shoot.

There is a playground outside the zoo area, along with a HUGE pipe that you can slide down. And yes, I was the only grown up there that jumped inside the pipe with my kid and screamed as we rocketed out the other end.

In cages at the entrance of the petting zoo were gorgeous peacocks, a couple sleepy piggys, chickens and bunnies. There were also some roosters wandering around.

Once I figured out how to open the gate, we walked around the open petting zoo area. Jack found a pile of discarded feed and hand-fed the sheep. He also checked out the (apparently fat) donkey, little pony and stared down a goat.

I’m pretty sure this is my new favorite picture. I just love that Batman and the goat are having a staring contest…

Oh yeah, and we totally stepped in a bunch of poo. Animals running around means poo all over the place, so definitely don’t wear your best shoes when you come to visit!

We had a super fun time petting and feeding the animals, but nothing compared to how much fun Jack had at the miniature hand washing sink.

I’m not even kidding. Even after playing on the swing sets, sliding down the pipe and petting all the animals, he only decided to complain when I tried to get him away from the sink to take him home!

If you are a Marylander and are looking for something fun do to with younger kids, I absolutely recommend stopping by the petting zoo. Also, while you’re there, be sure to stop by their market to grab some fresh fruit and jams. I was super disappointed to miss strawberry picking season, so I’m hoping that we will be able to get by as soon as the peaches are ready to be picked in the orchard!

Have you visited a petting zoo recently? I was kind of obsessed with the bearded goat and wanted to take him home with me! Do you wish you had a Batman shirt with a velcroed on cape to wear around?