Friday, July 24, 2009

Greetings from the Windy City!

I made it in yesterday with little fanfare. The flight was okay. We hit a bunch of turbulence the last half hour or so and I spent the entire time breathing deeply, swallowing spit and trying to locate a barf bag, just in case. The good news is that I did not throw up, the plane landed just fine and I emerged to meet MEP, who had graciously come to pick me up.

Once E... arrived (she had driven in from City C), we went downtown and checked in for the conference. With our conference badges in hand, we decided to grab a quick bite before the parties. After a bit of wandering around downtown Chicago, we settled on PJ Clarke's, where we dined al fresco and watched people. I saw four much older men wearing brightly colored tie dyed shirts, individually, not together, and one wearing a pink sequined jacket, not to mention what I'm pretty sure was the Village People. And that was a Thursday night. Imagine what I could have seen on a weekend!
















Then we headed back to the hotel for the parties. The parties. I was crazy nervous about the parties. I was afraid that I would be the ultimate wallflower. Even without a slew of drinks in me, it turns out I'm not so much.

A few notes:

- I saw Black Hockey Jesus and Stephanie Wilder-Taylor in conversation and somehow managed to walk my knocking knees over to them to say hello. Honest to blog, I was completely flushed and shaking while I was talking to them. Like a complete boob. They were very kind though and did not give me the cold shoulder even though they are blog elite and I am, you know, not. Stephanie even gave me a hug. Did I mention I love her?

- Jen Lancaster was at the second party we went to. I saw her standing alone at the bar and I pounced. I gushed out in one long breath that I loved her blog and her books and how all around wonderful I thought she was. I was about to run off but she engaged me in conversation. Of course, then she pretty much walked off in the middle of said conversation, so I felt a little weird about it. But still. Squee! Jen Lancaster!

- It turns out I am mostly deaf. I could only hear about every fifth word in any conversation because of the enormous noise from the din of a 1000 people all talking at once. It's tough to be witty when you're having completely different conversations.

- Every time I see one of the "big" bloggers, I am surprised when they are normal sized. It's like I'm expecting them to be super tall just because they are well known in the blog world. Turns out they're just people. Who knew.

- I actually saw a ton of blog friends. There were lots of hugs. I felt the love.

22 comments:

  1. Allright! Knew you could do it! Have fun!

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  2. Well, well, well, I am very proud of you! I just dare you to mention the word whoopie one time in a conversation.....write me and tell what happens....mmmmkay?

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  3. This is so exciting!!

    I am living vicariously through you Cara.

    I want play by play details when you get back, and you will do great! Don't worry ~ they might be just as nervous as you. Just put that smile on and remember that you are there to have fun!

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  4. Oh.... how exciting! Can't wait to read more!!! Yay!

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  5. Oh...I so wish I was there!

    I was reading on Pioneer Woman's site about the people she is meeting. I would soooo want to get a picture with her husband ;-)

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  6. Enjoy your time there! And if you see my friend, Lisa, say hi from me. ;)

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  7. woohoooo you go! and by the way may be it's just me but who is jen Lancaster???guess i'm just not the experienced blogger ? but it's nice to hear your having fun!

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  8. Sounds wonderful! So bummed I'm not there. By the way, that's a beautiful photo of you!

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  9. See... we told you that you'd have a fabulous time!!

    Don't forget us 'little people' ;)

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  10. Glad you didn't puke! Never good to have puke on your breath when meeting new friends. :)

    Sounds like the first night was great, can't wait to hear about the rest!

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  11. I can't wait to hear the rest of your updates. I hope by seeing that everyone is normal sized, you'll realize that you too can be "elite" someday!

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  12. So glad that you are having a good time!

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  13. sorry I missed you - I literally could NOT find one single blogger that I "knew"

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  14. Sounds absolutely fantastic! So wish I could have been there with you. I'm so glad you got to go, and that you had a blast. See? You didn't need to worry one bit.

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  15. Sneaky girl! I didn't even know you were posting this weekend. Thought you were just checking email and tweeting.

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  16. HA! Look at us all dressed up with our bags of swag. Had such a fabulous time with you, so glad we could meet and hang out.

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  17. BlogHer was fun and at the same time completely overwhelming. I am glad we had a chance to meet but it was too briefly and after the first night I didn't see you again. And that is the story for most of the trip - there were so many people I wanted to spend time with and it just didn't happen.

    I think next time scheduling all meet-ups before the conference is in order for me. The conference is just too big to rely on " we will see each other."

    Glad to hear you had a great time and look forward to reading more.

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  18. Wish I could have gone and met you!

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  19. Completely jealous of you getting to talk to Jen Lencaster - I adore her!!

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  20. Okay, this comment comes entirely too late but...
    How is it that there are still so many "big" bloggers I've never heard of? How do you weed through all the internet has to offer from maternal-writer ladies?
    How??

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Give me some sugar, baby!