BlogHer 12: New York City

Being back in New York City for the BlogHer conference last week was thrilling and exciting.  It was only my second time to visit the Big Apple and it is one big, amazing, fast-paced city to say the least.

I had one of the worst travel days ever when flying up there last Wednesday and was supposed to arrive by 1:30 in the afternoon.  That turned into a cancelled flight, picking up another one that left a couple hours later, getting into New York just in time for severe weather that shut down the Newark airport and forced our plane to land in Baltimore until all was clear and we could refuel and fly back.  All that to say, I arrived just in the nick of time to a Broadway show that I was meeting up with 2 friends, at 8 pm on the dot.  I can finally say I’ve seen a Broadway show and we sat through Rent.  I can’t say I loved it, but now I can say I’ve been there, done that. I’m sure there are many other shows that I would love, this one just didn’t grab me at all.  The talent was good, just didn’t love the story.  OK, enough about that.   Have you seen it?

The rest of the weekend was fun and jam-packed, from attending a few sessions, to getting invited to a BlogHer/brand breakfast meeting, to speaking on a panel and being in a fashion show.  Being with the BlogHer ad network since 2008, I have grown right along with them and I’m happy to be associated with this network of mostly women bloggers and the brands that want to work with us.  It’s been a win-win for me in every way.

A few shots of the city that never sleeps.  New York is energetic and very exciting.  Wish I had a few more days to really do some shopping and sight seeing. One day I’m going back to do just that.

View from the Hilton on Avenue of the Americas or 6th Ave.  We were in a really great spot, within walking distance to Times Square.

BlogHer12 had around 5,000 bloggers in attendance.  Big, yes!

Take a look at the notables expected.  I saw most of them.

Including a live video chat with the President himself, speaking directly to BlogHer attendees.

At the BlogHer brand breakfast, I got the pleasure of seeing this sweet gal again, Ree The Pioneer Woman.  You might remember I met her 2 years ago, when I got to go to the ranch, another huge highlight for me.  She’s so friendly and down to earth and doesn’t act at all like the blog rockstar she is.

Martha was live and in person at one of the lunch keynotes, being interviewed by Elisa Camahort Page, one of the 3 ladies who founded BlogHer.  BLogHer was started by 3 women bloggers back around 2005, when they saw a need for an organization to promote women bloggers and came together to form an ad network.  Brilliant, they are!

I also had the great pleasure to speak, along with 3 other style bloggers on sharing pics and how important they are to blogging.

Ms. Kathryn Finney, editor at large for BlogHer, was our moderator and she did a marvelous job at keeping us on track with questions and answers.

Kathryn was also in charge of our fashion show and coordinated all of that fun-ness.

I really enjoyed sharing on this panel with the other bloggers, Marcy, Christina, and Jenni. Those 3 ladies are fashion bloggers and it was fun to see what they do.

Another keynote lunch with Katie Couric, interviewed by Lisa Stone, another BlogHer founder.

You never know who you’ll run into in NYC.  My friend, Kate, was breezing through town on the way to Canada for a family vacation and we met up for about 15 seconds.  Always fun to catch up with her.

Going out to lunch with the 3M brand was extra fun too. They were at Haven and I had a great time catching up with their group again.  They are always up to some creative things.

My salad was very tasty.

Met up with some new bloggers too that I’ve wanted to get to know.  Kelly, from Eclectically Vintage (on the left) is such a sweet gal, from New Jersey and we had a super time one afternoon doing a little shopping.  I’ll share that on a later post.  Let’s just say, there’s a huge H&M clothing and Anthropologie in NYC, the largest of either I’ve ever seen.  I might or might not have broken something in Anthropologie and they didn’t even arrest me. Oops!

Leslie (on the right) blogs at My Old Country House and that girl is an amazing artist.  I love her work, check her out! She’s also a thrifty shopper and finds the most amazing deals.

Kelly and I hamming it up in the Duck Tape booth.

I met up for a carriage ride with my friend, Rachel, from Birmingham, along with her hubby Chris, who did an insane amount of running while in the city.  Go him!

A night time carriage ride is extra special. One of those things I’ve seen on TV all my life and finally got to experience.

Night in NYC is really pretty.  This is the Plaza Hotel.

Took one afternoon to walk around and do a little sight seeing.  Couldn’t leave this city without seeing a few landmarks like Rockefeller Plaza.  Last time I was in the city, I visited the Top of the Rock at night and that was gorgeous.

It was nice and hot while we were there, summer was in full bloom.

Flags were flying in the hot breezes.

Yellow cabs everywhere.  Fast and crazy, but lots of fun.

We stopped in St. Patricks, since last time I was here I didn’t visit the interior.

It’s awesomely beautiful.  There was a wedding going on and people were just walking in and out. I guess when you book a wedding here, you have to expect that the doors are not closed to tourists.

I zoomed in to see the bride and groom.  How beautiful a wedding is in this stunning setting.

Reminds me of visiting cathedrals in Europe, they are just amazingly beautiful.

Outside, the stretch limo was waiting for the lovebirds.

Next on the agenda to wrap up the weekend, a fashion show.  We were treated to a fitting of shoes and clothes, as well as hair and makeup by professionals, Elizabeth Arden and Paul Mitchell.  You can imagine how much fun that was!

Beautiful clothes awaiting us.

And I got to wear these sparkly beauties by Nine West with my fancy pinky/purple pants suit.  I felt glam for sure!

(photo courtesy of Mark Von Holden Photography)

It was nice to get out of my paint splattered clothes for a few days and feel girlie again.  We strutted down the catwalk to cheering and loud music.  Here’s the whole scoop on the fashion show, as well as videos!

Doing my model pose.  These 2 runway pics courtesy of new blog friend, Kelly, at Live Laugh Rowe. Thanks, Kelly for sharing your pics with me.

And the grand finale of all of us walking the catwalk, waving and smiling.  It was a fun-filled week and weekend and I’m so glad I was a part of it.  Blogging has truly changed my life.  I have to pinch myself all the time to think that I get to do all of these incredible things.

And here I am this week, back to paint splattered clothes, crazy hair, and working with my dad at the house putting together those Ikea cabinets.  Glamorous, not hardly!

My life is full, happy, blessed and fulfilled and I’m so, so grateful for all of it.  Thank you ALL for coming along on my adventures with me, I’m so glad you do!

I’ll be back with more NYC shopping and a house crashing that I got to do my last night there, which will be on this week’s Feature Friday.  Have you ever wondered how they live in NYC, in those small apartments?!  Well, I’ve got a grand tour of a 470 s.f. apartment of an adorable Southern single girl that I met at BlogHer. You’re going to love her cute apartment!

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