I Think I'll Go To Boston Bloggers

Alright, so I finally got my act together to do a Boston Bloggers recap. Everyone and their mother that attended this first ever conference this past Saturday has already done theirs, and I already feel like I'm way behind. But this was too good an experience not to cover. So let's start from the beginning, shall we?

You may have seen a few posts ago when I overanalyzed what I was going to wear to said conference. Lots of people weighed in on Facebook, but what was really exciting to me was that I got like 12 comments on the actual post, mainly because all of us that were attending were all reading up on who else was going to be there as well. I get lots of feedback from people when I see them in person or via the 'Book, but I get very few actual comments on my blog posts themselves. And to a blogger, those comments are liquid gold. I got so many nice messages from people that I hadn't even met yet, so I went into Saturday feeling really excited to put faces to the comments and tiny profile pictures.

Of course since I'm hardly a together person, by the time I woke up on Saturday I still had not selected a winning outfit. I thought about just wearing what outfit most people liked the best (which it seemed were outfits 9 and 12 according to the comments), but like blogging, I had to choose what I was going to wear (or write) to represent myself, and I kinda just had to act on what I was feeling that morning. I decided on the neon yellow polka dotted sweater with the pink skinny belt, because it just made me feel bright and happy and that was something I wanted people to know about me from the second that I walked in. Once again, my very very VERY nice husband also arose early (7:30 am!) to take my photo before I headed out. Please ignore the flats, I had my heels in my big girl purse. Also, on a scale of one to ten, how much do I look like I'm ready for the first day of school?!

present!

I arrived at the Google offices BEFORE 9:00 am, which is when breakfast/registration started, which just goes to show you that when you're actually excited to wake up for something, it's really not a big deal to rise so freaking early. I headed right to the table, and was excited to get my name badge, the attendee list and there was even a COAT CHECK. Granted, I had packed my hot pink Kate Spade Stevie (thank you, Uncle Peter!) with the intention of being a bag lady and having to carry my crap around all day, so this was a very welcome surprise. When I walked in, I was shocked to find that a few people knew who I was by the outfit I was wearing. And everyone was really polite about it and said they liked it instead and didn't question my decision.

I decided ahead of time to bring a notebook and my little Canon Powershot instead of my Rebel T3i. I just didn't want to have to lug around more stuff than I already had to. A bunch of people took notes on their iPads or laptops and shot what were probably amazing photos with their SLR's, which made me regret my decision a little bit. However, my laptop is four and a half years old, so it's definitely from the days before Apple made things that were svelte enough to fit in manila envelopes. But oh, the iPad. How I covet thee, if I didn't already before.

see? neon is in

Amy and Alana did an amazing job organizing this event. So amazing that I didn't even realize until I talked to Amy at the after party that this was the first time they had ever done an event like this. That's them on the right at the "opening ceremonies" of Blog Better Boston.

heels & nametags: a winning combo

They had one of those things there to take your picture in front of, which I thoroughly enjoyed because it made me feel like I was at an Us Weekly party. Which let's face it, is how I aspire to feel in life all the time.

if only we could stare at our phones all the time & not be perceived as bitches

So they had all these great panels and workshops and an airtight schedule that allowed for an appropriate amount of breaks, mingling and free food nabbing from Dunkins & Au Bon Pain. One of the things that they really encouraged us to do was to Tweet all day long, which as you can see on the picture on the right, people did furiously. I have barely used Twitter in the past unless I wanted to find out what Kim Kardashian ate for lunch that day, so this was kind of a foreign concept to me. Also foreign? Staring at your phone/laptop/iPad while people are standing in front of you, speaking for your benefit. That's kind of the cool thing about this group- no one was offended not to be holding your full intention. Because it was a room of bloggers, everyone understood (and was probably flattered) that you were expressing to the world (i.e., your followers) what they were saying. Still, it kind of goes against everything you learn in school, from your parents and general good manners so it was a little weird for me to get used to.

um wait, who is that on the left?

That is, until they featured one of my Tweets on the big screen and I was totally okay with it, because again, anything that makes me feel slightly famous is okay by me. Luckily, many of the other bloggers I met were much nicer than me and I got to partake in one of my favorite past times: Collecting people's very cool business cards. As I said in my last post, I had worked very hard on my own cards, and I'm really excited with how they came out. And I still have about 70 of them, so message me your address and I'll send you a stack that you can wallpaper your home with, or else my friends and family are getting these as Christmas cards this year.

please don't steal my identity, unless you want to inherit a wicked banana republic credit card bill

i'll take some of those natural, voluminous curls, please

This is Amy, one of the co-organizers from Stylish Year. She was super nice and has gorgeous mermaid-esque hair and she introduced me to fancy technological things like Tweet Deck.

The after party at Think Tank was a blast, particularly because by now we had known each other for a whole day and Katy Rose gave us extra drink tickets. It went on even longer than planned, and I was a little bummed to leave but I had made some very special plans with my former roommate of 77 Hancock at our favorite Cambridge eatery:

lindsay & liz, chips & salsa: reunited

We drank margaritas and shoved our faces with Mexican amazingness, which was kind of the cherry on top of a perfect day.

I'm sad that it's over now. It was kind of like going to camp and not wanting to part with all the new friends you made that summer. At least that is what I imagine happens because everything I know about summer camp is from The Parent Trap (the Lindsay Lohan version, clearly).

While I did not discover a long lost twin, I met a lot of other nice people who I immediately went home and stalked online. They are now all being followed (ON TWITTER, calm down) and have been added to my already extensive Google Reader. Carley, Sara, Germana, Jamie, Meaghan, Erin, and even Emily from middle school were all awesome and I'm excited to read more from them.

I took all these photos on Instagram, which I am obsessed with because it makes it look like I am artsy and totally lets people know that I'm cool enough to have an iPhone. Kidding, but I am obsessed. If you are an Instagram user too, follow me at linzphoto731 because I have very few friends on there (sad face) and I want to see how cool and artsy you are too.

Until we meet again, bloggers!

~L