BlogHer11 | Because, why not.

The catch phrase for the week. Because, really? Why the hell not. And? Settle in folks, it's a long one. There will be a completely separate post about my sessions, likes & dislikes so hang tight if you're waiting for that one. This is basically my recap. And a shit ton of pictures.

San Diego. What a beautiful place to hold this conference.
They were actually the very first pictures I took when I arrived on Wednesday {best. decision. EVER.} and they were taken from this room...
...with all these wonderful bloggers that I was finally meeting in real life. Ya know... the ones that live in my computer.

We talked. We laughed. We drank straight out of wine bottles....after all the laughing. And the talking. And the wine. We went to dinner.
I felt like I've known these girls forever, but I had actually just met each and every one of them. A year ago that may have seemed crazy to me. But now? Not so much. It's amazing.

Chelsey, Torie, & I stayed in a hotel a few blocks away on Wednesday night. It was SO NICE and I wish one of us would have actually taken pictures of it. I guess that's what happens when you stay up for 24 hours straight.

On Thursday morning, we checked out of our hotel and checked into the Marriott where the conference was being held, and where we'd spend the remainder of our trip. Around noon, we had realized that we hadn't eaten yet {yes, you forget to eat at BlogHer} so we headed to breakfast.
And it? Was yummy.

Once we got back to the room, we took pictures of our gorgeous view. It was unbelievable.
We seriously had the best room ever. I don't think the balcony door closed once during the day. If we were awake? It was open. The cool breeze, boat horns and laughter below were perfect. At night, the pool bar would have live music that we could hear as we got ready for the many parties we attended.

Thursday night, we checked into the conferenceand then got ready and headed to the Clever Girls party a few blocks away. It was fabulous. I didn't take many pictures at any of the parties because that would require me to carry my camera around. {Yeah...not happening.} Thankfully Chelsey brought hers to a few parties, so there is some evidence {besides iPhone pics} that this stuff actually happened....and the pedi cab home...We were up bright and early on Friday morning, excited for the conference to officially begin! We headed to breakfast, then went to a few great sessions... {separate post to come!}In between sessions, we cruised the expo hall. Here I am in the Retail Me Not booth trying to win me some money! {Or an iPad2}
..I love this pic...
I was so excited when I was finished. I had high hopes of winning the kind of money {yes, they handed you CASH} that everyone else had won after going through the booth. $62. $46. $23.

As they counted my monopoly money I got more and more excited and dreamed of all the bottles of wine stuff I could buy with it

Except? When the counting was done. I won effing $2. All the monopoly money I grabbed was blank on the back {the stamps on the back determined the amount that you won.}

Eff you Retail Me Not. {I will still search you for wonderful coupon codes, however.}

After my dreams were deflated a bit, Kel and I headed to some of the sponsor suite's to see what they had going on. And what's more uplifting than s'mores at the Hershey suite?
Outside the convention center...

On our way back to the room, we ran into Wendi from Reno 911.After dinner, Chelsey, Torie, and I headed to a few local parties, including the Eden Fantasies Suite.{That's Chelsey, so feel free to give her the side eye, mmkay?}

Yes, that really happened.

And then? It was finally time to get ready for Sparklecorn. And yes, it's as amazing as you've heard.We danced for 5 hours straight. No breaks. 5. Hours.
It was wonderful, but boy let me tell ya? On Saturday morning, my feet/legs were killing me. I think it took me a good 15 minutes to lift them up and force myself out of bed.

We headed to breakfast bright and early. {Yep, we were up at 7am!} But we were disappointed to find not the wonderful eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, bacon and bacon that they had the morning before. No. It was oatmeal. The morning after Sparklecorn. Oatmeal. Ew.

The Expo Hall was a fabulous place to go in between sessions, or just to waste some time. Due to the oatmeal fiasco, we headed straight to the Jimmy Dean booth for a breakfast sandwich. And the sun."Can you tell me how to get..."
I only headed to one sesison on Saturday because (1) I was tired (2) there was only one that interested me and (3) I was tired. So I did a lot of this......and this...
...and this...
We decided to actually eat dinner on Saturday night, so we headed down to the hotel bar/pool area to hang with some pretty awesome people.

My Retail Me Not bottle {the one that I basically won out of pity. Effing $2!!} came in good use for Chelsey and I. It may or may not have been filled with red wine. Probably not. But it just may have.We then headed to a few parties, including CheeseburgHer. Epic.
I loved this party, but at the same time it was so sad. It's the last party of BlogHer and it's basically where everyone must say goodbye. And it's where I said goodbye to some of the greatest people I have ever met.

So, until next year...
Thank you to Medifast and Boudreaux's Butt Paste for sponsoring my trip to BlogHer'11. I was so honored to represent two amazing companies and none of this would have happened without you!

Vote if you plan to go to BlogHer'12 in NYC!!
Or? Even if you don't =)