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So here’s my BlogHer 2011 “Run Down” (yes there is a pun intended, reading this may just exhaust you!)

One of the most exciting parts about BlogHer 2011 in San Diego, was for me, how much anticipatory excitement there was. There haven’t been any other professional conferences I can say I’ve been to that gave me sweaty palms just booking the hotel room. I left hopeful to make some new brand connections, build better relationships with friends and acquaintances I already knew, praying that I might just possibly end up being at the right place at the right time.

Heading from Boston to San Diego, went mostly without a hitch, except that there wasn’t a whole lot of time for my connecting flight in Chicago and let’s just say I got the running tour of the American Airlines terminal at O’Hare.

When people say BlogHer connections are everywhere, for me they started in the taxi line after arriving at the airport. Everyone in the taxi line getting to the hotel was very friendly and happy to share cabs to the hotel area, since there were roughly 2 men in a line with 48 other women, it wasn’t hard to make conversation. Though for future reference, keep your business cards in your pocket from the moment you leave your house until your feet make it back in the front door. Keep reading to the end of the post to see how this all comes full circle!

First stop for me leaving the airport was to Bumbleride. I recently purchased a Bumbleride stroller and have been chatting with this brand about how much I adore them for the past few months. When I saw they were located in San Diego a few miles from the convention center, arranging a meet and greet with them in person was a no-brainer. I got to preview the new Indie and Flyte Product lines for 2012. Coincidentally Hollie Schultz from Baby Gizmo stopped by at the same time and it was great to meet her in person as well.

So off to check-in to my hotel I went. I did not stay at the San Diego Marriott, the host hotel, first because there were no discounted rooms when I booked. Second, we do remain to be  a very loyal Hilton family (Hilton Inn, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn) and there was one located across the street, so why would I stay anywhere else? I had a lovely room on the 12th floor, overlooking the Gaslamp Quarter and the Convention Center. It was steps from several great outdoor restaurants and some shopping. I scored some great Hilton Honors points to accumulate towards a future stay and it was nice to get away from all of the convention craziness being only a 5 minute walk away.

The first night Charlene, from Charlene Chronicles, and I began roaming the Expo Hall. We sampled some of the new Dannon Greek Yogurt (Key Lime was my favorite), saw the Ivory BlogHer sculpture and waited in a pretty long line at the Dr. Scholls booth, for which I am now eternally greatful. Dr. Scholls fitted everyone who waited, using their new kiosk as a guideline, for orthotics. I put those babies in my shoes on Sunday, and they have found a permanent home there. I have very wide, flat feet, I have always needed orthotics but I was too cheap and too lazy. No excuses now!

Then off to my first BlogHer party! We all know how much I love toys, so I headed over to the Hard Rock Hotel for the Big Toy Book and KidzVuz Sweet Suite Party. I always love seeing some of my favorite toy PR peeps and had a great chat with my friends from Hasbro, Leap Frog, and Briarpatch. I had two firsts at this party. I got to play Xbox Kinect, with the new Sesame Street game which is adorable and after no sleep for about 20 hours was absolutely exhausting. But though there were lots of amazing toys, Pinkberry ice cream, I will never, ever forgot you. I don’t even know what kind it was, but it was the most amazing blend of ice cream with coconut, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, fresh diced strawberries that got me googling looking for the nearest Boston location.

Friday’s highlight’s came with the Playskool event where I got to hear a little conversation about blogging without the live characters from Sesame Street: Abby Cadabby, Elmo and Cookie Monster.

I got some great time to meet up with some friends, both old and new, and some that I could finally meet in real life! So here’s a quick shout out to some of my favorite BlogHer 2011 peeps:

Starting with Scrubby Bubbles, the Brawny Man, the Swiffer Guy, the California Raisin, Elmo, Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster, I’ve never had my picture taken with so many characters and personalities, I thought for a second I might have been in Disneyworld and should have brought my autograph book.

To Rachel & Darren Lister of Busy Mommy Media and Rusty and Rosy, I will never see a McDonald’s cheeseburger the same again because of our fun at the CheesburgHer party! It’s so great find another husband and wife duo navigating this crazy space. No matter how big conventions are, it was so comforting to see your smiling faces literally on every corner, because somehow in the midst of all the chaos, we always seem to bump into each other.

Here’s a big shout out to Charlene of Charlene Chronicles and Kate from Adventures in Parenting, I love the fact that we can live so close here in Massachusetts, but learned so much more about each other, 3,000 miles away from home. Here’s to some great conversation, fabulous dinners and future play dates.

I got to finally meet up with Heather of Thats It Mommy, at the Itemize Party. Though she lives on the other side of the United States, the crazy similarities in our lives are wild. Heather is the only physical therapist professional by day, blogger by night that I have met. In chatting we realized we used to write medical rehab papers (I know boring stuff) for the same company, even on the same topic one time, and I don’t think that it was a coincidence that my room was one floor above hers at the Hilton. It’s a small world after all.

So here’s how the business card example goes full circle. I got to meet my last connection of BlogHer in the security line at the airport way after I thought I might not possibly meet anyone else. I was tired, run down, exhausted, am pretty sure I didn’t have any make-up on and the bags under my eyes matched my rather large, black suitcase. There I met Jennifer from Wholly Guacamole, who was literally missing her flight, while we connected about all things social media and BlogHer.

Since the day I started this blog I’ve come to have a little faith in the whole secret of the universe. Being in the right place at the right time is something I’ve only come to understand in the blogging world and is the force that keeps me going when I’m literally exhausted trying to navigate the unknown. Did I spend a lot of money to fly half way across the United States to ship home a 20 lb. box of swag, most of which I probably didn’t really need? Sure, but the people I met and the relationships I reinforced made the experience that much richer. When I couldn’t decide about attending BlogHer and sent my fate out into the Twitterverse, Adam Cohen from Dada Rocks tweeted me when I was on the fence about it and said “You need to be in it to win it.”  I’ll just leave this post with his wise advice.

I attended BlogHer on my own without any sponsorship, representing myself and ToyQueen.com. These opinions are truly my own.