Mommin' It Up!

February 11, 2009February 12, 2009

Lest We Forget to Say “Thanks”…

Ok, I SWA-EAR this will be my last post on BlissDom, but Emily and I would be remiss if we forgot to thank the great sponsors who made BlissDom possible. So, please give these companies some LOVE because they care about what bloggers and their readers (i.e. YOU) think!

So here, we go, time for some SPONSOR LOVE!
First up, Lands’ End. They provided us with the SWEETEST swag bag – the actual bag was one of their totes! HOLLA!

They also gave us a free shipping code to share with our readers! It’s Promo Code: BLISSDOM and PIN: 2175 – it expires this Sunday the 15th so use it FAST!

Next, we have Little Debbie, who supplied a never-ending pile of 100 Calorie snacks to keep us happy between session! And the Little Debbie DUDES who were there were SO NICE!

My favorite, favorite thing in the swag bag was a gift certificate good for up to $50 for a FREE pair of CROCS shoes! Now it has been well-documented that I love Crocs! So I am super-stoked about that, and I already ordered my FREE shoes! Here are the Crocs I wore to the PJ Party at BlissDom, my Malindi Leopards. I LOVE them!

And here are my YOU by Crocs I wore to both cocktail parties, the Positano:

Another sponsor that was really helpful at BlissDom was the Geek Squad! They were there to help us with all our technical difficulties and make sure we were all able to connect to the hotel’s wi-fi. ‘Cause a blogger with no internet is like a junkie without crack, ya heard??

Wal-Mart was an event sponsor and gave away THREE iPod Touches. And even though I did not win one, I am still thankful for their sponsorship, and for that of the other BlissDom sponsors: Lijit, RGM, Care.com, Sony Music, New Line Records, Wind Up Records, and Blue House Blogs (wazzup DAISY!) – THANK YOU for making such an amazing event possible! You’ve just made the blogosphere a whole lot happier!

February 11, 2009February 12, 2009

What do you get when you mix 25 bloggers and one swanky southern restaurant?

You get the funnest (yes, funnest) dinner EVER.

(You didn’t think we were done talking about Blissdom yet, did you?)

Our good buddy AmyInOhio (Public Service Announcement: if you haven’t yet read her account of the Elevator 13, you do not want to miss it) arranged a big dinner with a gang of Ohio bloggers at the New Orleans Manor (that’s what it looked like before we rearranged the tables. You’re welcome, restaurant staff).

So after we made the most of our drink tickets at the cocktail party (BTW the bartender told me that a Blisstini is just a cosmo with sugar on the rim, so we can order them up any time we want!) we headed out to the lobby to meet the group for dinner.

And who did we see in the lobby, but the Blissdom keynote speaker, Jen Lancaster! And since I have a little bit of a girl crush on her (go to Amazon and buy all her books now. All of them, I tell you! Especially “Such a Pretty Fat.” Trust me on this.), Jenny and I rushed over to see if we could get a picture with her, which she happily obliged… until Jenny completely freaked her out.

“Emily totally wants to lick you right now,” Jenny said giddily.

“There will be no licking,” Jen said sternly.

“….” I couldn’t say anything because I was on experiencing emotions ranging from elation (from being in the presence of one of my favorite authors) to mortification (because of my cousin’s lack of social graces). The result? Me looking scared to death. (Jen, if by some odd chance your google alert leads you to this blog, know that I would never, ever lick you. Or anyone else for that matter. And also, I am pretty sure that we could be BFF, because if someone asked me who my favorite authors were, I would totally say you, Jennifer Weiner, Emily Giffin and Christopher Moore. The exact same answer that you gave at Blissdom. So if we ever cross paths again, we should totally hang out. I promise to leave Jenny in the elevator.)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The best dinner ever. Right. So after my moment of happiness/horror, Jenny and I ran out to the bus that the New Orleans Manor had sent for us. That’s right, they sent a bus! Can you say “no designated driver?” I can!

As you can imagine, we took the New Orleans Manor by storm. We immediately made ourselves at home, rearranging the tables and breaking the sound barrier. Chef Claude knew how to handle a room full of 25 women, however. This was not his first rodeo. He was part maître d’, part Comedy Central, and part Barry White. He provided great service and great entertainment, and made sure to hug each and every one of us on the way out the door!

The food was amazing, but the company was even better.

The only way we could have improved upon our dinner was to do it speed-dating style and rotate seats every five minutes, because I did not get to spend enough time with each of these fabulous women!

Seriously, this was one of the most fun nights I can remember. I had such a great time, and I wish we could do it again tomorrow. These are women you want to know, people. I highly recommend reading their blogs, following them on Twitter, and pretty much stalking them. For real.

They are, in no particular order (wait, that’s not true, it is kind of the order they were sitting in)…
Amy from AmyInOhio (@amyinohio)
Shannan from Mommy Bits (@shannanb and @mommybits)
Andrea from Mommy Snacks (@mommysnacks)
Cortney and Tricia from Once a Month Mom (@oamcortney and @onceamonthmom)
Heather from Queen of Shake Shake (@queenofshake)
Heather from Domestic Extraordinaire (@dextraordinaire)
Christina from A Mommy Story (@amommystory)
Marcy from Stretching a Buck (@stretchingabuck)
Carrie from Money Saving Methods (@moneymethods)
Shari from Diary of a Crazed Mommy (@shash)
Jennifer from Playgroups are No Place for Children (@playgroupie)
Kelly from Mrs. CPA (@mrscpa)
Kate from A Simple Walk
Erin from $5 Dinners (@5dollardinners)
Toni from The Happy Housewife (@HappyHousewife)
Victoria from VDog and Little Man (@vdog)
Dawn from KaiserAlex (@kaiseralex)
Julia from Hooked on Houses (@hookedonhouses)
Amy from Living Locurto
Angie from The Arthur Clan

It was a lot of hotness for one room. Are you jealous?

February 8, 2009

Weekly Winners: Emily & Jenny at BlissDom ’09 Edition

Welcome to the Weekly Winners BlissDom ’09 edition! We had an amazing time and this week we’ll both be telling you all about it and showing you LOTS of pictures. But to start off we’ll be a tad narcissistic. Before BlissDom, Emily and I realized we really hadn’t had a good picture taken of the two of us since her sister’s wedding…in 2005!!! We decided this terrible oversight MUST be amended at BlissDom, so…I bring you…pictures of Emily and Jenny (and sometimes some other people!) at BlissDom ’09!

Here we are Friday afternoon before the opening session:

And Friday night at the cocktail party:

I know there were some pictures taken of us during the day Saturday…but they must’ve been by other people, because they are not on my camera! So, other people, please email them to me!

Saturday night with keynote speaker and Emily’s girl crush Jen Lancaster. I seriously have NEVER (not an exaggeration) seen Emily SO EXCITED in my whole life. She was totally googly-eyed over Jen (who is totally awesome and funny – go buy her books!!)

Saturday night at the MOST FUN DINNER OUT EVER (story to come!) with AmyInOhio and Shannan from Mommy Bits:

And here with Julia from Hooked on Houses, whom we originally met in an elevator at IKEA 11 months ago:

And with Tricia and Cortney, our Dayton friends from Once A Month Mom (yay for co-bloggers!!!):

That’s a little taste of all the fun we had at BlissDom. Stay tuned for the whole story including the tales of the Best Bus Ride Ever, the Worst Elevator Ride Ever, and much, much, more! Oh and also what we learned about blogging. Yeah, that too!

Fore some photography that is amazing and NOT picture of Emily and me, visit the Weekly Winners HQ at Sarcastic Mom.