After being in the big city of New York, home in Suburbia seems a little, well, boring.  It is indeed true what they say that New York is the city that never sleeps.  And apparently BeachMama had a hard time sleeping in the big city.  I am not sure if it was being away from my family or just the noises everywhere (car horns go all night long) but I did not get my best sleep while in New York and I was never so thankful for my own quiet bedroom as I was last night.

I have been trying to decide what to write almost all day.  I have done laundry, wrote a few lines, made lunch, wrote a few lines and downloaded pictures then wrote a few lines.  Then it all didn’t make sense so I started all over again.

I went to BlogHer and I loved it.  My partner in crime and roomie, A Crafty Mom made it to NYC only to come down with a tummy bug that saw her spend a day and a half sleeping it off in bed. I would have rather that hadn’t happened so I could say that the trip was perfect from beginning to end, but it did and we have to acknowledge it.  We did agree that it was probably the best place to be for her to get sick as she could spend the day and a half in bed getting better instead of trying to take care of her children while sick.

While A Crafty Mom was getting better, my other roomie, Barbara, was helping me get around NYC and keeping me encouraged to do stuff by myself.  I had registered for the BlogHer 5k Tutus for Tanner along with A Crafty Mom and thought about bailing out.  Why would I run around NYC by myself in a tutu? Why?  Because I can and Tanner can’t. That is why. With everything that went wrong for Tanner to make it NYC, surely I could put on my running shoes and run around the streets of Manhattan with my tutu flying in the breeze.  Shannon was live Tweeting the run, so she caught me bright and early in my tutu.

I made it.  Imagine that. I am almost 40 years old and I managed to run a 5km square through Manhattan with strangers staring, laughing and me singing, taking pictures and crying.  Yes, crying.  Running is emotional and when you do it for someone else that makes it worse.  Add to that I was tired and the song “Forever Young” by Alphaville started playing as I was pushing the last few blocks. It was all I could do to not break down and sob.

With the run behind me it was officially time to start attending BlogHer.  I made it to the opening speeches and the first round of sessions and was having a great time.  I did expect a little more from the opening, a chance to meet others or something, but we were a large group so there were other ways to get out and meet others that I had to make use of.  The sessions I attended were great.

After listening to others talk about their experiences, good and bad, I have come to the conclusion that BlogHer gives you what you want to take out of it.  I went there with very little expectations.  I have a teeny tiny blog, it isn’t even small to me, just teeny tiny and all I wanted was to either confirm what I was doing was right or should I be moving in a different direction.  And that is what I got.  I got to hear others share in their experiences of writing, photography, small blogs, fitness blogs, environment and activism.  And all of it was great.  Even if all I took away was that I was doing the right thing,  I am happy.

I did not go to Blogher expecting to walk away with sponsors or book deals or even to be recognized. I went for the community and the sharing and that is exactly what I got. Were there sponsors onsite? Sure, did I talk to any, nope.  Did I try, nope. I went to a few parties and built more of my community and it was fantastic.

Was I recognized?  You bet. I met two fabulous ladies whom I have known for a few years now, Emily and Cooper from the Motherhood.  We tweeted with each other and Emily was certain we would meet, I on the other hand wondered.  Then I stepped into a very full elevator and who was right in front of me?  Emily.  And we were going to the same floor.  After years of emailing and talking through blogs and comments I got to give them hugs and share for a few minutes.  And that for me, was fabulous.

I also got to meet Kathy Buckworth, whom I did a book review for and that was really lovely as we were dancing it up on the dance floor and I saw her and knew I just had to say hi as we had tweeted that we should meet up at some point there.  I ran into Erica and Sharon from the Yummy Mummy Club, whom I had met at Winterlude. And Candace from Best Tools whom I volunteered with at the Food Bank. It was a little like a reunion of sorts, but a good reunion, not an old High School reunion.

I also got to meet another special lady, but I must include a photo and really it is a post of its own so I will save that for tomorrow.

So yes, I loved BlogHer10.  I loved the women that made it wonderful for me Shannon, Lara, Brie, Barbara, Shannon, Andrea, Julie, Sherrie and Cheri-Lynn.  And a huge shout out to Chevrolet and Adria for making out drive there and back quite lovely in our fabulous Chevrolet Equinox for our #ChevyBlogHer Roadtrip.

And yes, I would love to attend BlogHer11 in San Diego next year.

When I heard that there would be a small trade show before the start of the Workshop on the Waterfront, I was quite excited.  I love getting a look at all the new and fabulous things that are available to us photographers out there.  I also heard that Epiphanie Bags would have a display.  I really wanted to pick one up while I was there, save on the shipping, go home in style, all the good things came to mind.  Unfortunately they weren’t selling any of the bags that day.

There was, however, a drawing to be held at the end of the workshop where they would be giving away one of their bags.  I did my thing and filled out my card.  On with the workshop.

Everywhere I turned I saw Epiphanie. Many of the fabulous speakers had an Epiphanie bag and lots of guests had Epiphanie bags.  There may have even been a couple used to carry beers to a pajama party, not that I saw this or anything.  Needless to say, I had made up my mind to go back to my room and order one.  Except, I ran out of time.  Oh well, I would order it as soon as I got home.

As we were wrapping up the Workshop Marta Locklear, who was sponsored by Epiphanie,  headed up to the front with not one, but two bags for the drawing.  I had pretty much forgotten about it since my head was so full of amazing information and insight.  Marta called out a name and the lady went up and chose the red bag.  I thought to myself, good now there is still a brown one left for me, not really thinking that my name would be called because honestly, that just doesn’t happen to me.  Except that this time it did!

And as Marta called out my name, I actually said, “are you kidding me?” to which she replied, “no!”.  I really couldn’t believe it.  What a fabulous way to wrap up an already fabulous Workshop.   I have already been out shooting with it and if I took off the little camera tag, you really truly wouldn’t know it was a camera bag unless you looked inside.  My camera, lenses and flash all fit nicely with extra room for my wallet and all the little stuff you need to have tucked into your bag when out shooting.

Thank you Epiphanie, both in sponsoring Marta so we could learn from her and in sending along a couple of bags for gifts.  I appreciate it very much and rest assured, I will be telling all my friends about your fabulous camera bags.