MelissaEsplin.com

BlogHer Recap

August 12, 2010
BlogHer was a whirlwind of a trip. I've realized I'm not as young as I used to be; parties, prepping for parties, fab suites & the bustling of the big apple just WORE.ME.OUT. If you're not familiar with BlogHer, it's a crazy pants blogging conference. I just bought the expo hall & parties pass, so I didn't attend any sessions. I didn't even have time for sessions, it was SO crazy busy.

The first two days were spent being crazy, crazy; prepping for the SocialLuxe party. We all worked so hard to get everything perfect for the big event. Can you believe these swag bags?! They were completely stuffed with the most amazing things. Chris was pretty happy to find out that I was coming home with another pair of skull candy headphones.

{Survival kit photos courtesy of She Posts}

The Avery survival kits were a big hit at the party. I had the privilege to work with Avery & design the labels for the kit. I can't tell you how handy these kits were & how wonderful Avery is. The bandaids, hand sanitizer & Starbucks gift card definitely saved me! Friday I spent half the day touring private designer showrooms with 31 other bloggers with Shop At Home. Thanks to them, I went home with some fabulous shoes & a yummy scarf that's getting me all excited for fall(I'll share pics later). After my little shopping spree I got pampered yet again at the Getting Gorgeous party & met up with some really fantastic bloggers & sweet brands. Friday evening I helped out with the Kirtsy Gala by painting inspiring words on people. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of what I did. If anyone has any, would you send them my way? Pretty Please? I'd like that. In addition to the body art, I participated in the art gala by donating a piece to the show. I've been dying to share it with you & now that the party is over, I can! I was assigned to read & create something in reaction to this epic post. You better believe I was sobbing after reading it. I wasn't quite sure how I could do any justice to this post. It was a pretty tough assignment. I finally took inspiration from an ad on the sidebar & made a little piece about that. I'm not sure I've done any justice to the author or her story, but it was an honor to work on this project & so great to have an excuse to break out my watercolors. This trip was exhausting, but absolutely worth it. I'm not sure I would've been able to survive the big apple without my friends & family looking out for me!! My mother-in-law drove 11 hours up to SLC to spend time with Penelope & Chris. My mom met me in New York & helped me survive by making sure I had enough food!! Moms are the best. Did you go to BlogHer? I'm not sure where to find all the BlogHer recap posts, so if you've written one, please include the link in the comments! I'd love to read all about your experience.