I Popped My BlogHer Cherry.

And it was just as fabulous as I hoped it would be!!!

My sister and I arrived in New York City on Friday afternoon and sadly didn't attend the first full conference day. What we missed of the conference we made up for in taking in the city, but that is a post for another day. 

On Saturday morning we were up bright and early to shower and get ready to head over to the Hilton where the conference was being held. Since we booked our hotel kinda late we got bumped to their overflow rooms at the Sheraton, and I would completely recommend this hotel if you want to stay in the city. Not only was it  a gorgeous hotel, but it also was in the heart of everything. Only minutes from Times Square, Rockefeller Center (which we could see from our room), Central Park and Broadway. 

We got an early start and made it to the Hilton in time to eat breakfast and got our badges and conference passes...

It was surreal seeing the conference floors fill up with women upon women (and a few scattered men) who were here to enjoy something that we all loved, blogging. 

There were three main floors where alot of the conference events were being held, among all the sponsor suites scattered throughout the hotel. I was dense and didn't even realize about the suites until our day was practically done, boo.. me. : ( 

Since we only had one day to fit everything in, our day was jam packed and we could only take in a few of the sessions. The ones we chose though, were right up my alley and atleast for me, I took alot away from each of them. The first one we attended was the 'Erotica In The Open' panel...

Which was held by four bloggers who blog or write for sex columns or about their love life in their blogs. 

For my more conservative readers this might be an 'ehh' but let me tell you not only were these ladies hilarious, but they also shared some profound and insightful things, that I know some of us bloggers could take from. I know I did. 

After this panel, I also attended a 'Incorporating Graphics, Pictures & Iconography Into Your Blog'   session, A Blog Design Audit (she didn't get to mine in the sesh but I'm looking forward to hearing what she has to say in her email) and a session called BlogHer12: A Conversation which discussed the state of blogs now a days and where this panel thought blogs would be going. This one was pretty cool since it was also a type of Q&A session. 

Sadly, those three sessions were the only three that I could fit in but there were some other bigger events going on, so we gathered into the grand ballroom....

And after chatting it up with some new blog friends (hello loves!!) and scarfing down our lunch, we were greeted by our Lunch Keynote Speaker...

Katie Couric

I'll be honest and say I really didn't know much about Katie, except for her stints on the Today Show and her brief run on the CBS news, neither of which that I really watched but after seeing her in person I am kinda smitten. She seemed really down to earth and shared some fun things like her new show (which will have seats for 2 bloggers for every taping), her home life with her kids, as well as her thoughts on the infamous Sarah Palin interview, which she admitted that she felt horrible for her as a person, but she felt it was necessary to know the answers to these questions if you are going to be the possible VP of the United States. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what her new show titled simply Katie is all about.

Up next was a interview hosted by Soledad O'Brien with Christy Turlington Burns and Malaak Compton Rock (Chris Rock's wife) about their respective charities and how it is important for us as women and women with voices, to make a impact on the world and help for the greater good. 

I think it is wonderful what these ladies are doing and it was amazing to hear the life changing moves they are making but if I'm being 100% honest, it was painful to watch Malaak speak. I'm not sure if she was just nervous or if she wasn't sure of the information she was providing but she slipped up alot and didn't seem like she was altogether with it. I give her props though, because I know I would be shitting bricks if I had to speak in front of 5000 other women. 

After that, my sister and I decided to finish our conference day exploring the Expo halls, and let's be truthful, grabbing some swag....(some good....some eehhh...but whatevers free is for me...lol) 

Me and The Milkmen....

That would be my sister checking out the loot and myself in a vibrating bathtub....ooooh weeeeee.

And one of the more unexpected pieces of swag....

A Vibrator from the lovely folks at Trojan

And let's not kid ourselves, you know I grabbed one!  : ) 

And I also picked up something of the ring variety from Big Man at the Eden Fantasies stand...lol. 

There was a fashion show later that night that was amazing and that you need to check out here. I think every woman felt empowered after they left that show, I know I was jacked up on estrogen after that... effin' GIRL POWER my friends!!

We then closed out our night with the Come As You Are party with cotton candy and Mouthy Tini's (pink lemonade cocktails) and some dancing, cocktails and McDonalds hat at the awesome CheeseburgHer party. 

I was in rough shape the next morning but I'm so glad I got to experience this conference for myself. 

Next year it heads to Chicago, and I'm contemplating making the trip.....will you be going?!?