<p>My experience at BlogHer this year was very different than last year.&nbsp; Since I live in Manhattan and BlogHer was held in New York this year, I didn&#39;t get a hotel room at the Hilton. I also took very few pictures this year -- of others and with others. </p><p>And although I had a full conference pass last year while at BlogHer in Chicago, I opted to purchase an expo hall/party only pass at the last minute for this year&#39;s BlogHer conference. It was a wise choice for me as I only went to one session last year. </p> <p><strong>Parties, Suites and Events:</strong></p> <p>I was RSVPed for quite a few parties. But even with the best intentions you cannot make every party. I found myself at home every night long before the 10PM parties started. And this year I missed CheeseburgHer, Sparklecorn, Aiming Low and The Mouthy Housewives.&nbsp; </p><p>At the Hilton, I visited the Hersheys, Edelman, Firefox, MyBlogSpark, Serenity suites.&nbsp; </p><p>And I got a chance to attend some parties and off site events -</p><p>Hanes was great because once again I found out my new bra size while catching up with <a href="http://www.ladyandtheblog.com" target="_blank">Vera</a>, Audrey, Colleen, Melissa and Dana at Nikki Beach. The wine glasses in the gift bag were so cute I drank water from them until my guy put them in the dishwasher causing them to look a bit deformed. </p><div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/stories/4882888391_4f934e2e43_o.jpg" border="0" alt="Melissa Dana Vera and I at Social Luxe 2010" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="300" height="200" align="middle" /></div>  <p align="center">&nbsp;<sup><em>(photo courtesy Secret Agent Mama) </em></sup></p><p>We headed over to Social Luxe in a cab and got there early enough to not worry about the line that we later heard formed. It was ridiculously cold in Arena but chatting with Heather Thompson of Yummie Tummie (thanks to <a href="http://www.clevergirlscollective.com/" target="_blank">Stefania</a>) and noshing on Moroccan chicken and goat cheese tarts with friends we spotted was nice. This year I didn&#39;t have to give out an award so it was truly just a relax and chat with familiar faces type of evening. </p><p>I headed over to Schick Intuition KISS with <a href="http://www.stepbystepmom.com" target="_blank">Dana</a>  and sat right in front of Gavin DeGraw at their private concert at Stone Rose in the Time Warner Center. Gavin DeGraw was wonderful. I wished he played a longer set. But I&#39;m pretty sure it was a highlight of my summer.&nbsp;</p><p>          <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <o:DocumentProperties>   <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>   <o:Revision>0</o:Revision>   <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>   <o:Pages>1</o:Pages>   <o:Words>6</o:Words>   <o:Characters>36</o:Characters>   <o:Company>Victoria Pericon, Inc.</o:Company>   <o:Lines>1</o:Lines>   <o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>   <o:CharactersWithSpaces>44</o:CharactersWithSpaces>   <o:Version>12.0</o:Version>  </o:DocumentProperties>  <o:OfficeDocumentSettings>   <o:AllowPNG/>  </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:WordDocument>   <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>   <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>   <w:TrackFormatting/>   <w:PunctuationKerning/>   <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>   <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>   <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>   <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>   <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>   <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:Compatibility>    <w:BreakWrappedTables/>    <w:DontGrowAutofit/>    <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>    <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>   </w:Compatibility>  </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">  </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]-->  <!--  /* Font Definitions */ @font-face 	{font-family:Cambria; 	panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; 	mso-font-charset:0; 	mso-generic-font-family:auto; 	mso-font-pitch:variable; 	mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}  /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal 	{mso-style-parent:""; 	margin:0in; 	margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:12.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 	{size:8.5in 11.0in; 	margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; 	mso-header-margin:.5in; 	mso-footer-margin:.5in; 	mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 	{page:Section1;} -->  <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>  /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable 	{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; 	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; 	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin:0in; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:12.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]-->  <!--StartFragment-->  </p><div align="center"><img src="images/stories/4885292313_6f05fe2a5c_o.jpg" border="0" alt="Dana and I at Schick Intuition KISS and Tell Gavin DeGraw party" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="300" height="200" align="middle" />  </div><p align="center"><sup><em>(photo courtesy Secret Agent Mama) </em></sup></p><p>The next day I headed over to the Warwick for the Getting Gorgeous event hosted by Vera and <a href="http://www.momgenerations.com" target="_blank">Audrey</a> . I love supporting friends with what they have happening so I went to the first session. I met Audrey&#39;s mom Sharon, caught up with her sister Jane and talked with Vera&#39;s husband Bill for a bit before going around and looking at the various vendors.</p><p>Across from Getting Gorgeous was the Mom Select room where Maria Bailey hosted an event for brands. The Build a Bear teddy I got from her room is sitting on my bedroom dresser. Thankfully none of my children tried to claim it.</p><p>I met up with my guy and the kids for a private Toys R Us event complete with a ferris wheel ride. The party bag they handed us had toys for each of the kids and a Geoffrey doll for me. (What Bob it wasn&#39;t for me? Shhhh... don&#39;t tell.) </p><p>Another event I brought the kids to was #TasteLoews which was hosted by <a href="http://www.newyorkcitymama.com" target="_blank">Carol</a>  at the Loews Regency near our apartment. The executive chef made us braised short ribs over a potato pancake that Natalie and I enjoyed a little too much. Luke was busy in the kids Fisher Price play area the Loews hotel was promoting. </p><p><strong>Expo: </strong></p><p>The expo floor this year was much larger than the one in Chicago. I won a $100 gift card at the HauteLook booth and ate a sandwich from the Hilshire Farms area even after Padma Lashmi cut me off at the escalator. I filled up my water bottle thanks to Pur and was given a Lightening McQueen lunch box from Mission Tortillas for Luke. The expo area was a nice way to catch up with friends so much of my time spent there was doing just that.</p><p>          <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <o:DocumentProperties>   <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>   <o:Revision>0</o:Revision>   <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>   <o:Pages>1</o:Pages>   <o:Words>6</o:Words>   <o:Characters>36</o:Characters>   <o:Company>Victoria Pericon, Inc.</o:Company>   <o:Lines>1</o:Lines>   <o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>   <o:CharactersWithSpaces>44</o:CharactersWithSpaces>   <o:Version>12.0</o:Version>  </o:DocumentProperties>  <o:OfficeDocumentSettings>   <o:AllowPNG/>  </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:WordDocument>   <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>   <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>   <w:TrackFormatting/>   <w:PunctuationKerning/>   <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>   <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>   <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>   <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>   <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>   <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:Compatibility>    <w:BreakWrappedTables/>    <w:DontGrowAutofit/>    <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>    <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>   </w:Compatibility>  </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">  </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]-->  <!--  /* Font Definitions */ @font-face 	{font-family:Cambria; 	panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; 	mso-font-charset:0; 	mso-generic-font-family:auto; 	mso-font-pitch:variable; 	mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}  /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal 	{mso-style-parent:""; 	margin:0in; 	margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:12.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 	{size:8.5in 11.0in; 	margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; 	mso-header-margin:.5in; 	mso-footer-margin:.5in; 	mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 	{page:Section1;} -->  <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>  /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable 	{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; 	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; 	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin:0in; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:12.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]-->  <!--StartFragment-->  </p><div style="text-align: center"><img src="images/stories/4878143450_b06842679c_b.jpg" border="0" alt="With Adam -- the blogger behind Avitable.com" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="300" height="225" align="middle" /></div>  <p align="center">&nbsp;<sup><em>(photo courtesy <a href="http://www.avitable.com" target="_blank">Adam Heath Avitable</a> ) </em></sup></p><p><em>Disclosure: My entire BlogHer 2010 experience was sponsored by me -- just like BlogHer 2009! At many of the events I received complimentary gift bags which made their way home to the delight of the kids. </em></p>