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Tuesday
Aug092011
I Saw And Did All This Stuff At BlogHer '11
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
After BlogHer '10, I recapped like a motherfucker. You were irritated, and I was irritated. It was all New York's fault. I fell in love with its animal stink.
This year, BlogHer '11 gets this entry, and that's it, unless I'm lying, which I'm prone to do, although I always admit that I'm lying within thirty seconds of uttering a lie, because I usually feel a sense of pride in the lie I just told and want to share my accomplishment with you. I'm very modest.
I bought these Kam Dhillon glasses before heading to the conference, and it turns out that Drew Carey glasses make a person very recognizable. This helped, because if people hadn't recognized me and come up to say hello, I would have ended up standing around alone looking like Mr. Magoo. I am terrible at recognizing people from their Twitter avatars.
On Wednesday night, my first night in San Diego, the brilliant Suebob gave me a dog tag:
Bleep blorp.
I attended the pre-conference day, Pathfinders, as an excuse to hang out with our session leaders, Gwen and Karen, where I had the pleasure of meeting Heather and managed to spend a scant few moments with Brené:
It's extremely hard to tell, but that's a very tiny, little Laura at the end of this picture taken outside our Pathfinders room:
I went to a MamaPop party thrown for writers past and present where I got to see Tracey and Charlie:
I hung dangerously far out a window at the Keating Hotel to get grainy photos of traffic:
I took moody shots of Catherine haloed in lamplight:
Have I lost you yet? This is the equivalent of those slideshows your aunt used to show of her trip to Honolulu.
Don't worry, though. I forgot to take photos throughout most of the conference. This will be over soon.
There was a lunch on Friday with my homies:
I have homies.
Alexis and I wo-manned the Serenity Suite, where I got to hang out with a number of fine folks, including Anissa, Katherine, and Robin:
There were sculptures made out of soap and cans and licorice:
I saw so many people I love that I can't even tell you who all of them were, but Deb and Loralee are some shining examples:
You're with me still, right? I feel like I need to check in now and again.
The Palinode ate rabbit at this little Italian restaurant called Buon Appetito:
I had no idea that rabbit was such a visceral dish until I watched him pull a surprising amount of rabbit skeleton out of his mouth and line the pieces up along his plate. The ick factor did not stop me from rolling my four-cheese and spinach tortellini in a creamy tomato sauce around in my mouth like I had a sexual fetish.
Little Italy tourist picture!
After our supper in Little Italy, we dipped into a tiny food boutique where the Palinode found his favourite drink of late, Kombucha Wonder Drink:
He did not pose for that shot. He really looks that pleased to see kombucha every time we run across it.
On Saturday, the last night of the conference, Aiming Low threw a fab party where we decorated each other with descriptive stickers and Sharpie markers and ate my favourite food of the entire conference. Rice Krispie cake will win me over every time.
Before our flight back home on Sunday, the Palinode and I had breakfast with Bon, Dave, Jen, Kyran, Kate, Neil, and Black Hockey Jesus. I am going to sound a little over-the-top here, but I felt honoured to be with each and every one of them. These people aren't just playing. They've been around blogging for a long time, and they're good at what they do.
Again, as I do every year, I started making plans for a semi-nomadic yurt community made up of my favourite people. It always starts out like a mass kidnapping, but everyone realizes that yurt living is the true way to happiness in the end.
And then we hung out in the airport with Jen, Tanis, Shawn, Katie, and Catherine, got on a plane, and went home, which is the most depressing part of the BlogHer conference every year. Not the hanging out part, but the hugging goodbye and knowing that it might be another 360-some days before I see them in the flesh again.
Goodbye all you bright, loud, creative, inspiring, thoughtful, discerning, and enjoyable people of the internets. I miss you already.
And now we're done! And because you're still reading this, I know you're not asleep! Punishment glutton.
----------------------------
PS. I completely forgot to mention that Karen Green and I were to lead a Birds of a Feather discussion group called Twitterholics on Saturday, only she couldn't come to BlogHer at the last minute, so I pulled in the Palinode and Tanis to help me keep it together, and it went swimmingly. The discussion attendees were smart, engaged, and generous with sharing their experience and know-how. Thanks to everyone who came out!
This year, BlogHer '11 gets this entry, and that's it, unless I'm lying, which I'm prone to do, although I always admit that I'm lying within thirty seconds of uttering a lie, because I usually feel a sense of pride in the lie I just told and want to share my accomplishment with you. I'm very modest.
I bought these Kam Dhillon glasses before heading to the conference, and it turns out that Drew Carey glasses make a person very recognizable. This helped, because if people hadn't recognized me and come up to say hello, I would have ended up standing around alone looking like Mr. Magoo. I am terrible at recognizing people from their Twitter avatars.
On Wednesday night, my first night in San Diego, the brilliant Suebob gave me a dog tag:
Bleep blorp.
I attended the pre-conference day, Pathfinders, as an excuse to hang out with our session leaders, Gwen and Karen, where I had the pleasure of meeting Heather and managed to spend a scant few moments with Brené:
It's extremely hard to tell, but that's a very tiny, little Laura at the end of this picture taken outside our Pathfinders room:
I went to a MamaPop party thrown for writers past and present where I got to see Tracey and Charlie:
I hung dangerously far out a window at the Keating Hotel to get grainy photos of traffic:
I took moody shots of Catherine haloed in lamplight:
Have I lost you yet? This is the equivalent of those slideshows your aunt used to show of her trip to Honolulu.
Don't worry, though. I forgot to take photos throughout most of the conference. This will be over soon.
There was a lunch on Friday with my homies:
I have homies.
Alexis and I wo-manned the Serenity Suite, where I got to hang out with a number of fine folks, including Anissa, Katherine, and Robin:
There were sculptures made out of soap and cans and licorice:
I saw so many people I love that I can't even tell you who all of them were, but Deb and Loralee are some shining examples:
You're with me still, right? I feel like I need to check in now and again.
The Palinode ate rabbit at this little Italian restaurant called Buon Appetito:
I had no idea that rabbit was such a visceral dish until I watched him pull a surprising amount of rabbit skeleton out of his mouth and line the pieces up along his plate. The ick factor did not stop me from rolling my four-cheese and spinach tortellini in a creamy tomato sauce around in my mouth like I had a sexual fetish.
Little Italy tourist picture!
After our supper in Little Italy, we dipped into a tiny food boutique where the Palinode found his favourite drink of late, Kombucha Wonder Drink:
He did not pose for that shot. He really looks that pleased to see kombucha every time we run across it.
On Saturday, the last night of the conference, Aiming Low threw a fab party where we decorated each other with descriptive stickers and Sharpie markers and ate my favourite food of the entire conference. Rice Krispie cake will win me over every time.
Before our flight back home on Sunday, the Palinode and I had breakfast with Bon, Dave, Jen, Kyran, Kate, Neil, and Black Hockey Jesus. I am going to sound a little over-the-top here, but I felt honoured to be with each and every one of them. These people aren't just playing. They've been around blogging for a long time, and they're good at what they do.
Again, as I do every year, I started making plans for a semi-nomadic yurt community made up of my favourite people. It always starts out like a mass kidnapping, but everyone realizes that yurt living is the true way to happiness in the end.
And then we hung out in the airport with Jen, Tanis, Shawn, Katie, and Catherine, got on a plane, and went home, which is the most depressing part of the BlogHer conference every year. Not the hanging out part, but the hugging goodbye and knowing that it might be another 360-some days before I see them in the flesh again.
Goodbye all you bright, loud, creative, inspiring, thoughtful, discerning, and enjoyable people of the internets. I miss you already.
And now we're done! And because you're still reading this, I know you're not asleep! Punishment glutton.
----------------------------
PS. I completely forgot to mention that Karen Green and I were to lead a Birds of a Feather discussion group called Twitterholics on Saturday, only she couldn't come to BlogHer at the last minute, so I pulled in the Palinode and Tanis to help me keep it together, and it went swimmingly. The discussion attendees were smart, engaged, and generous with sharing their experience and know-how. Thanks to everyone who came out!
Reader Comments (22)
Your recap posts are never irritating. That's the truth. I'm a shitty liar.
I love that photo of Neil and Kate. Love.
I'm so glad we got to meet in person this year. I'm looking forward to next year, even though I do not love the animal stink of NYC. (Hi to the Palinode!)
this is my favorite blogher post ever. because it included a whole lot of love and a whole lot of my very favorite bloggers, but also because, HELLO KOMBUCHA WONDER DRINK!!! now i have even more reasons to love the palinode. seriously. best drink on the planet.
Wow, you even found a way to make too sunny San Diego to look gritty with your black and white photography. Nice to see you and your wonderful husband again. Make sure he keeps wearing that cool hat.
This is the realest BlogHer post I've seen yet. And the Palinode just wears that hat like a mutha doesn't he.
Seeing you is always a treat. I sure hope it won't be 360-someodd days until the next time.
Whose cleavage is holding the Sharpies? Because 1) impressive cleavage and 2) innovative use of said cleavage.
Glad you had a great time. Fun photos.
Not boring. Almost felt like being there. ;)
Makes me want to blog more than you know... I would love to go, and wonder if I'd find my peeps? For now I will read posts and tweets and just live vicariously through you.
I have bloggers-block.
Glad you had an awesome time!!
I met you. And it didn't at all feel like I was just meeting you. I think that's win.
You're a rock star to me! So glad I had an opportunity to see you ever so briefly and tell you in person how much I loved the whale video.
Sounds like you had a terrific time. Thank you for bringing Canadian charm to Blogher11. See you at the next conference.
sara
I love this re-cap.
And guess what I did yesterday?
Bought tickets for BlogHer12.
This antipodean girl is coming to NYC. Freaking out, but also happy. I've been talking about this for years! I hope I get to meet you there x
Rice krispie treat cake thing with M&Ms was my favorite, too.
And here is where I admit that though I am merely a lurker, I have had a big blog crush on both you and the Palinode and haven't been able to approach to tell you that in three years. I am writing it now so that I will be forced to act upon it, er, I mean, tell you about it in person next year.
I loved our little encounter more than words could ever express.
Yes, readers. Our little encounter.
Schmutzie and I had an encounter.
Envy me. I would.
:)
I can't be anything other than weepily earnest when I tell you how happy that picture of Neil and I makes me. We're both just leaning forward, you know? Figuratively, I mean. It's a picture of what it looks like to be engaged by other like-minded people and it makes me feel very blessed to have all of you as friends.
And you're right. That was a bummer hug after breakfast. Always is.
Hey, I remember that!
I've never heard of Kombucha Wonder Drink, but if it makes Palinode that happy to see it, you can bet I'll try some the next time I see it. Sorry we didn't get to do much more than wave. Next time.
Can I tell you what joy it was to meet you?
First at Pathfinders, then to see you again at Twitterholics.
Your smile?
Like a burst of sun that warmed my shaky newbie legs.
You may not remember, but seeing you in the second hour of my day there, on Pathfinders, put me at ease.
I knew somebody.
Thank you for being so nice.
Sounds odd...but thank you for being nice.
There were some I saw, that I had admired, that brushed me off and didn't smile back.
But, you saw me, and burst into a big smile.
Like you knew me.
That I will not forget.
You walk the talk, woman.
You know who else did that? Neil. Neil did that.
It makes a HUGE difference to a small blogger, to be received with joy back.
It set the tone for the rest of the conference, and I felt like I was among the rock stars.
Because of your smile back, lady.
So glad you had such a great time!!! I hope to go, one day, and recaps like this make me want to go even more!
Well, now, why would I even bother to write a post-BH essay when this says it all and has the best photos? I wouldn't. It pleased me enormously that I got to spend even a little bit of lunch time with you and The Palinode. It felt so comforting to sit there and just catch up and relax a bit and you make it super easy to be around you (not that you're difficult! you're not!). You just have a way about you, Schmutzie.
what beautiful pictures. it was nice to see you.
It was lovely to see you in San Diego. Everything was lovely in San Diego, wasn't it?