BlogHer had a BUTLER!  Provided by Pepsi, these butlers roamed around the conference providing cold beverages to us all the time.  So much so that Tara, at Feels Like Home tweeted during a session that she wished she had a drink.  Moments later, he appeared with an assortment of beverages for her to choose from!  Now that is a great way to use twitter!  The butler game me this nice beverage while I was waiting in line for THIS:

TIM GUNN!  He is just as amazing as you would imagine him to be.  I actually got a chance to help 5 Minutes for Mom interview him.  They don’t have the video posted yet (I’m writing this a few days ahead of the actual publish date) but as soon as they do, I’ll share it here.

I only wish my appointment at the Suave hairstyling area was for before I met him.

I’m so sad I can’t remember her name!  She was so great and fixed my hair up nicely.  She looked so much like Taylor Swift and that is what I called her in my head.  Anyway, she got my hair all gussied up for what I think was the best event of the weekend:  BowlHer.

BowlHer was an after party put on by One2OneNetwork and Collective Bias.  It was at the Lucky Strike Bowling Alley.  That is one tricked out place.  AMAZING! 

The first thing we did was practice our poses for the red carpet.  I try, you know.  After we walked the red carpet, we checked out our surroundings.  We weren’t there so much for the bowling.  For me, it was all about the music.

Three artists were there: Anya Marina, Suai, and Brooke White!  I saw Anya Marina a couple of months ago when she was the opening act for Jason Mraz.  I fell in love with her music then and couldn’t wait to see her in such an intimate setting.

We parked ourselves front and center in the room with the music and didn’t move the rest of the night.  It was amazing!

Anya did a great set and she’s now got a Christynelson.net shrinky dink bracelet.

Suai is more R&B and she didn’t stay after to take pictures.  Unfortunately my pics of her singing were all blurry.  I never professed to be a master photographer!

Brooke White was next!  You might remember her from a little show called, American Idol.  Brooke was always a favorite of mine and I had been looking forward to her new album (available now!) She totally caught me singing along to Radio, Radio and called me out on it when we were chatting!  She told us to sing along!  Verdict: Brooke White is such a talented artist and a super sweet person.  We talked crafts and she had me put one of my friendship bracelets on her wrist.  Definitely a highlight from the trip!

The rest of the night we spent dancing!  Sleep is not on the agenda at BlogHer!

The next day I flew home and the day after that I left for the Craft and Hobby Trade Show in Orlando.  These last few weeks have been such a whirlwind I don’t know what it is going to be like when I get back home to my normal, everyday routine.

Here I am with Erin from Schlosser Designs and Sarah from All Hail Queen Mommy.  I sat by Sarah on the way to the Ford Ride & Drive event.  As we talked throughout the day we realized how much we have in common.  Plus, she totally used to live in the town where I taught high school so we know a lot of the same people.  Let’s dismiss the fact that had she still lived there, she is young enough to have been one of my students.

Speaking of my students, I’m sure most of them were made to watch a little show I happen to love called Mexico: One Plate at a Time.  You know who made that show?  RICK BAYLESS!  Who is my favorite celebrity chef of all time?  RICK BAYLESS!  Who was at BlogHer?  RICK BAYLESS!  Who took hauled her cookbook all the way to Chicago?  ME!  It was great to chat with him and be a dork going on and on about how much I love him.

There were several people I wanted to meet at BlogHer and one of them was Andi from Udandi.  We follow each other on twitter and have had some good crafty conversations on there.  It is often serendipitous to be able to find someone in a sea of bloggers.  Lucky for us, we happened to choose to go to the restroom at the same time.

BlogHer isn’t really a crafty scene but there was one really cool demo in the Shutter Sisters lounge that we had to check out!  Design Mom was demonstrating the Yudu.  I even won one of them!  I’ll be putting that baby to good use around here.  She’s making a tote bag that says, “Oh. My. Blog.”  Perfect.  I love that bag.

Dave Lieberman did a great cooking demo.  I was front and center and got to eat a sample.  Yum.  Paula Deen was there the next day but the crowd was unbelievable so I didn’t head over there.

That night we headed out for a couple of parties.  Erin and I attended the EA
Sports Interactive party at the House of Blues.  The party was nice.  The food was great!  The limo shuttle was a blast!  It was there where we really got a chance to know Mummy Deals and Coupon Geek.

We hit a couple more parties and we hung out a bit with Jenny from the Spot at the Mommy Needs a Cocktail party.  This picture tells me many things:

1. I think I need bangs again.

2. I must find a powder that lasts all day.

3. It’s time to get back on WW.

The next day was even more jam packed with goodness!   Stay tuned for Part II.

A lot of people asked me if I made all those BlogHer friendship bracelets by myself.  The quick answer is no.  I had a lot of help.  I took all of my supplies on a quick vacation the weekend before BlogHer.  I made some in the car on the way and then I got all sorts of relatives working on them.  Here you can see my husband separating the colors.  My uncle wanted to learn how to make one, too.  He made one for his wife.

My cousin got in on the act.  She made several of them and I sure appreciated her work!  I personally was only able to finish about 20.  I was feeling pretty good about that considering I didn’t decide to do this until a week before the conference.  I also got a family friend to make as many as she could.  She is a young teenager and loves to do it.  I offered to pay her per bracelet and she went to town!  She’s going to keep making them for me so I’ll have a good supply for next year and any other events I might go to.  Guess I better make some more shrinky dink charms!

Would you like a Design Mom approved BlogHer friendship bracelet?   I’ll try to get one to anybody that wants one.  It will just take a while.  However, if you’re a craft challenge participant for August (packets still available!), I’m pretty sure you’ll see a little something extra in your packet.

The other day I went over to a friend’s house for some “styling”.  I needed a little help picking out some shoes and jewelry.  I wasn’t able to try on the jewelry (I forgot my necklace extender so it didn’t look right without it) and I wasn’t really concerned about shoes for the black dress so I didn’t bring them.

*Please excuse the photos as my camera has a bit of a learning curve*

Here is my outfit for Friday.

This is my outfit for Saturday.

My Thursday outfit hasn’t been photographed yet.  You’ll see it soon!

What do you think?

Want your own IGIGI clothes?  They are having a special sale in July.  20% off your purchase.  Use discount code “MYFRIENDS” at checkout.

Now I just need some jewelry and shoes.

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