BlogHer 2010: Did that all really just happen?

I'm not completely sure where to even begin.

The past five days were a complete and utter blur of travels, New York City, trying to be in six different places at the same time, finding out there are indeed women behind all of these blogs, learning a little, chaos and confusion, learning a lot, wondering why I didn't just wear my flip flops the entire time, finding a way to condense 100 bags of swag into a suitcase and having the experience of a lifetime all at once.

In answer to the main question: yes, I had fun. It's New York City, so by definition you know that you're going to be amazed and thrilled just by being there.

I'd like to think that I tried out a little bit of everything that BlogHer had to offer, from attending informative sessions to making PR contacts to checking out both the public and private parties that happened all across the city - although the sight of me slipping off my heels to book it a few blocks so I wouldn't miss the car picking me up to go from one to the next probably gave a few New Yorkers a good laugh.

Whether I did everything "right" or not will never be answered, but for me, it worked. I think that the main lesson to be learned from attending this conference is that if you tailor the many possibilities at a blogging conference of this size to be the most beneficial for you, then you've done the best you can. It's all about making connections, so figure out the ones that matter the most to you and then dive right in.

Was there drama like what has been talked about in past years? I don't know, maybe. If so, I wasn't a part of it. Most of the women I met were wonderful and amazing and beyond friendly, fully willing to chat with me as if we had been buddies for years, whether they had heard of my blog before that moment or not (there are really only two that come to mind that I "knew" beforehand that turned out to be slightly... unimpressive. I'd consider two out of a zillion pretty good odds in favor of meeting great people).

I even managed to ramble incoherently for a few minutes while fawning over Amy and she didn't at all act like I was nearly as much of a gushing fan as I know that I was.

But being able to find out that talented bloggers like Kailani and Victoria and Heather are just as cool in person as they are online was such a big treat for me... and of course, of course, no blogging get-together would have been complete had I not gotten to spend a huge chunk of time finding out that I love my darling Nicole even more in person than I do through email.

For some reason she hasn't agreed to move from NY to WI yet, I'm really not sure why.

I have to say a huge thank you to Energizer for allowing me to be a Smart ChargHER, because their sponsorship obviously made a huge difference for my trip. I got quite a few laughs when people recognized the green polo shirt and made "Hey, you're one of those Energizer Bunnies..." comments, but that's okay. I couldn't have been happier to represent such a high quality, generous company (stay tuned for another post soon on how you can receive a little swag from them, even if you didn't attend BlogHer).

Would I do it all again? Definitely. There are some aspects I would do the same and some I would do differently, but it wouldn't change the overall great experience that I had. In fact, BlogHer 2011 is already planned for San Diego - who's with me?