Green Blogger Soiree

BlogHer was over a month ago and I’m still talking about my first day – it really was an overwhelming weekend and I can’t even begin to share all of the little details. (But I’m trying!) Thursday night after the Martha Blogger’s Night Out (which I left early)it was time too meet my tribe – my community – my fellow greenies!

Safe Mama (and the 3 Green Angels) had hosted a small, private function to allow the green bloggers to meet up and mingle – and meet some green companies. With the help of the awesome sponsors the event was hosted at the Remi Restaurants Rialto private dining room.

I had already met up with Maggie(@RoyalDixie) and it was time to meet up with my next new friend – Kelly Wels from DiaperShops.com, Kelly’s Closet, and the Cloth Diaper Whisperer. We found one another in the lobby of the hotel and the bond was instant! After a few shared hugs and introductions it was time to go meet the others.

After a day full of awkward and insecure feelings it was REALLY nice to walk into a room full of people that you ‘know.’ Everyone was so warm and welcoming and I couldn’t wait to mingle and get to meet everyone. I can’t remember who I met first but I’m sure it included Kathy (Safe Mama) or one of the 3 Green Angels (Sommer, Alicia, and Jennifer) – it was like seeing old friends you’ve known all your life. I ‘mingle’ with these ladies almost every week on Twitter and it’s strange how similar they really are to their online personalities.

The sponsors (both present and in kind) were fabulous and allowed me to meet some of the companies that I’ve worked with in the past and allowed me to meet some that I look forward to working with in the future. Some of the sponsors had personnel present (owners, marketing reps, etc) along with samples of their products so that you could really ask those burning questions to the people who know the answers. It was really nice to network in person since most of my networking is spent online through email. What a wonderful opportunity.

The sense of community is absolutely amazing and it’s wonderful how supportive everyone is of one another.Since I had the opportunity to serve on the BlogHer Green Team I had spoken with some of the ladies on monthly conference calls.

It was really nice to meet a fellow newbie – Jenny (@Sometimes_me) from Coscientious Confusion (which I can never spell). She is such a sweet joy and I’m really glad we got to meet and hang out this weekend.

Some other personalities I was excited about meeting included Condo Blues, Mindful Momma, Crunchy Domestic Goddess, and Fake Plastic Fish. At some point in time I’ve connected with these women through their blogs or on Twitter and it was an honor to meet them. While I didn’t get much time to chat with them all during the Soiree we would reconnect over the weekend and especially at the Green Affair on Saturday night.

Another wonderful woman that I was ‘stalking’ in excitement to meet was Sara Sophia from tout-es-des-roses. I’ve written before about how inspiring and poetic her posts are and I was beyond excited to meet her. When she walked into the room it was like a ray of sunshine had shone down upon the room – I know it sounds sappy but it’s so true! Her personality it just that energetic! Anyways it was nice to chat and realize that we are both Peaches from the great state of Georgia – I guess I can always pick out a Peach – even online! Sara actually presented everyone (I think) she met with little tokens from her sponsors. I was blessed with a beautiful pair of earrings from www.allorahomemade.comthat were upcycled from fabric and clothing scraps.

I know I’ll probably end up saying this about other events that happened over the weekend – but this truly was one of my favorite experiences of all times! The partying could have continued all evening (and in fact I was invited to a smaller, casual gathering later that evening) but I was so exhausted from my first day at BlogHer that I had to finally close my eyes at midnight so I could be ready to go the next day. 8am would come way to early and I had a Magic School Bus to catch for a date with Scholastic.

Many thanks to the wonderful sponsors (who some will appear in upcoming blog reviews) and the fabulous Safe Mama for hosting such an amazing event. Hop on over to Safe Mama’spost about the Soiree for a full list of sponsors and some additional pictures.  I will also have a follow up post with more encounters with the wonderful ladies I met at the Soiree – afterall we closed down BlogHer with A Green Affair and a pizza party!