Green
Last year in June I launched a little blog called MarlaMeridith.com. I went to a conference in San Francisco in October because my friend Momfluential told me it would be a good thing to do. It was my first time away from my hubs and the kids. I was so green in the blogosphere. I had never heard of the White On Rice Couple, Tartelette, Steamy Kitchen, Matt Bites – none of them. Heck, I had not a clue who The Pioneer Woman was. I tell you I was so green & such a newbie I am not sure there is a name for it. Please share if you can think of one. I spent lots of time alone & I was OK with that. There was so much to take in.
My ears listened closely to each & every word at every panel I attended. I even announced in the middle of a HUGE photo panel that I had no time for taking food photos other than the ones I snapped with my iPhone………
A Different Trip
This trip was way different than the last. Not only did I have lots of friends that I see regularly. I also have lots of amazing friends that I had met online & I could not wait to meet in person – Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod, Kristen from Dine and Dish, Alice from Savory Sweet Life, Katie from Good Life Eats, Dara from Cookin’ Canuck, Amanda from Kevin and Amanda, Heather from Multiply Delicious, Susan from FoodBlogga, and so many more. The words “love fest” have been flying around to describe this event and I would agree, that is what it was.
Hear Us Out
So not only was BlogHer ’10 a time to socialize like a wild woman, it was also a time to learn and share. As many of you know I spoke on a panel with my great buddies Carrie from Deliciously Organic and Amanda from I am Baker. Natanya from Fete and Feast was our wonderful moderator. I am so excited to announce that Carrie’s new book Deliciously Organic is available to order! The photos are by Helen Dujardin (Tartelette) & are gorgeous.
We were the breakout Vocation session called “New to Food Blogging? How Do You Stand Out In a Crowded Blogosphere?” This was the most amazing opportunity and I thank BlogHer for choosing me to speak on a panel. It was so fun to share information, listen to questions and meet new bloggers.
I attended many panels too. Which panel grabbed me the most? By far the touching and beautiful one gal presentation called Visuals: Think Outside the Plate. This was presented by the award winning (and big hearted) documentary photographer Penny De Los Santos. She is a true gem & worth every great thing folks say about her. She encouraged us to connect with things larger than the plate – like life.
Parties
Let’s just say this – when I wasn’t at a party I was at another party. I have never been in so many places at one time. On Thursday night we started with the Side of Safety “Iron Chef Cook-Off party sponsored by the Underwriters Laboratories and a Beringer party with the Deen Bros.
On Friday night was the stylish and delicious La Petite Soir̩e co-hosted by Helen РTartelette Kristen РDine and Dish, Jane This Week for Dinner & Stefania РClever Girls Collective
On Saturday evening we went to the grand finale wrap-up party held at Le Cordon Bleu hosted by Elise – Simply Recipes, Jaden Steamy Kitchen and Ree The Pioneer Woman. If you are wondering where all those goofy black and white photos are coming from, there was an amazing photo booth there that captured our mugs. Visit the HP Digital PhotoBooth Galleries webpage to see the slew of pictures from that event.
Love Our Community
We have each others backs, that is all there is to it. Through blogging I have launched into an amazing new career & have met fabulous friends. Fellow bloggers are our colleagues & true friends. We look forward to sharing all kinds of online and real time experiences with one another. From creative wisdom, SEO building tactics, recipes, laughter and sincerity. If someone is down we help them back up. If someone is happy, we cheer them on with pride. No matter what the goal is with blogging, there are many common threads.
It is also fun to connect with the companies and brands that fuel our ingredient lists. There are many great PR people I visited with on this trip & it was wonderful to see those I have known for some time. Yes, there are PR folks who respect us & understand us as people who work dang hard at what we do as bloggers.
Homecoming
Why do I do what I do? I blog because I love it. It fuels me, drives me and pushes me to be my best each day. As our blogs grow we become the voices that carry messages to others. I love our exchanges online. You guys teach me so much & I hope I give you vittles of info too.
At the end of the day I am a wife, mom and daughter. Being away is super fun & it gives me the motivation to push ahead. Coming home to my family is blissful and puts everything I do into sharp focus.
The kids and I had a special treat to look forward to when I got home – Â the Bakerella book signing. I urge you guys to check out her book Cake Pops, it is GORGEOUS!
*kisses*
Feel free to link up your blog posts that tie into BlogHer Food ’10!
What a fab re-cap girl! Love it all, making me wish we could do the whole weekend over again 🙂 At least I’ve got you right here by me in CA! Nice job w your post and pics! xoxo
Wow, that must have been awesome! It looks like you had a great time there.
Cheers,
Rosa
Such fun pics! And so clear for an iPhone 😉
Amazing recap! I so wish I could have been there. I love reading about the fabulous time had by all. Hopefully next year!
I loved meeting you. I wish we would have had more time to hang out. With that said, you are so funny and wonderful!
Alice: I LOVED your post on this event. Spoken with such heart & truth. The fact is that we all have different goals with our food blogging. No matter what the goal, we should all have a common interest – food and the bonds that connect us as humans. You are a very wonderful woman & I am happy to know you. Looking forward to getting to know your spunk and sass as the years go on.
Loved your post and photos!! beautiful! Also loved meeting Bakerella, too! isn’t she the greatest??!!
I really enjoyed this post, it looks like you had such a fantastic time!!! I would love to meet Bakerella, I’ve heard she’s such a sweetie!
LOVE your recap! You got some great photos. One of the highlights of the trip was meeting you! You seriously are the best! Love you girl!
Wow, Marla, it looks like you had a fantastic trip! I was in Boston, but maybe next year I’ll try for it. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures and all about your experience in San Fran!
Great post, Marla. Luv how you organized the images so warmly and it sounds like it was a blast! Looks like this was the conference to be at this year! 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Great recap, Marla! It was such a fun weekend to relax and reconnect. Looking forward to hanging out again soon!
Fun weekend! I would have loved to go if only for the parties 🙂
What a fantastic recap! You got so many pictures! My head was swirling so much that I barely thought to get out my camera! 🙂 It was great seeing you again!
Marla. I love those photos. You had an amazing weekend. Look how far you’ve come and how much you’ve learnt, not how mention you much you have taught us. What an incredible experience.
OK – I had no idea you were at the conference the year before, but I now remember you and your iPhone comment at the conference. Loved it, by the way!!
It was great meeting you, Marla. You took some amazing pictures! I came home and read the live blog of your session (not so much a newbie at 4 years so didn’t go to it in person) but you all had some great things to say for sure!!
Hugs!
Kristen
Great post with great links. You are amazing, and you put so much hard work and passion into every post. I didn’t get to attend, but your post made me feel like I was there. Thanks for the awesome links you provided. I feel so lucky to be your friend, and I can’t wait to meet you one day soon.
Alison: I have to say you were missed. For sure we will plan to meet up at a conference or trip sometime really soon. At least we get great phone time here & there in between crazy deadlines & family time. You are a gal with great energy – you would have loved the go. go, go of this event!
Kristen: As embarrassing as that iPhone comment was – at least it was memorable!
How FUN to have met so many bloggers in REAL LIFE!!! Your pictures are great!
Marla ~ Your photos are beautiful and I literally laughed out loud at the iPhone comment – soooo something I would do! I think I took a total, a TOTAL of 49 photos the entire 2 days . . . ugh . . .
Thanks so much for the recap and am quite sorry we didn’t meet but am looking forward to meeting you someday soon!!
Hugs!
It looks like you had a blast! What all did you cover in your panel?
You rock chicky dee. Love your recap and your pictures and your insight… you offer SO much! Isnt it crazy how new you were such a short time ago and now you are teaching others?!?! (like me!)
God bless!
Amanda
So exciting. This looks like a ton of fun, as do all these blogger conferences! After graduating from college, I hope to be able to make it out to the West Coast a little more often!
what a fabulous post! i love your recap, your photos, your experience. so loved getting face time with you! i loved our walk. next year….we meet every morning at 6am and repeat that walk!! xx
Marla going wild in a Foodie blog fest…now, what’s not to be envious about ;o)
It seems you certainly came a long way since your estranged beginnings;)
I’m so happy that you found a place to exert your creative and dedicated energies.
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia
You’d never heard of Steamy Kitchen!! Ee! She was one of the first ever food blogger I fell in love with. She’s frekaing damn cool and I’m jealous you got to meet her, and Matt and the White on Rice couple, and all these other awesome bloggers!! Glad the 2nd trip was different…and boy you look like you’re having sooo much fun! You’re a proud blogger now! 😀
Marla, it was so good to meet you in person. You are a firecracker full of energy, with a big heart.
I’m SOOO glad you had a good time and I wish I could have gone to meet all of my favorite bloggers! Ah. next year. I can’t imagine going to a food blog conference during my first year of blogging when I was utterly clueless. I’m sure it was so interesting to compare your two experiences though!
Hi Marla! It was so great to meet you at BlogHer Food! We were very impressed with your energy and intensity! And when we saw your blog we were even more impressed! It is absolutely beautiful, so much so that we put a link to it up on Fashionably Bombed in our BlogHer Food post!
Cheers!
Flannery & Katherine
“The Fashionably Bombed Girls”
Loved your recap Marla… I hope I’m able to grab a spot early next year. 🙂
It was so wonderful to see you again, this time under fabulous circumstances! It is amazing how much we learned in two days. I just wish that it was longer. And those cake books look incredible. I wish that I had one right now.
Loved reading all about this Marla!! I’m so thrilled to watch your growing success and proud to call you a friend. Inspirational! Of course you had a spectacular time – I knew you would 🙂 The pics say it all. xo
This looks like so much fun! I wish I could have gone, but I’ve never heard of this thing!! Awesome.
Marla, I’m so glad I got to meet you even if it was after the very last party! I’m glad our paths did cross! Love the round up and great idea for the linky love! Hope to see ya there next year!
Love ya babes!!! So great to see you again!
Your photos are beautiful and such a fun recap. It was great to meet you! Think I’m headed to Telluride next June… would love to see you in real life again.
Thanks for the inspiring post. I just started my own blog and have dreams of attending one of the conferences. I’m hoping to make it a reality next year. I would love to meet you if I do! Thanks for the wonderful posts!
What a fun post. So glad you posted a link for the recaps. I hope you’ll stop by and read mine. Meeting you was a highlight for me.
Barbara: Meeting you was also a highlight for me. I am so happy we found each other at the end there! I hope yo see you again soon.
Rachael: Follow your dreams girl! The conferences are so fun and a great way to network and solidify friendships. It is very fun to be in a giant room of folks that are passionate about the same thing.
Amanda: Don’t think we will be in Telluride in June – we usually head out there in August. It would be fun to see you out there though. Do let me know if you end up there later in the summer.
Megan: Yes, I am so happy we met by chance at the end of the conference. I am sure we will cross paths again soon.
Love the pig snouts! So cute, looks like everyone was having a blast!
What an encouraging post. As a newbie this year, I completely relate to what you went through when you first started. I am so grateful for all the bloggers who made me feel comfortable, and gave me advice. I’m really looking forward to becoming part of this wonderful community, and paying it forward to other newbies.
You have done so good in such a short period of time.
The conference or the meeting with other foodies must have been really helpful, fun and exciting!
Angie
You’ve come a long way, newbie!
Wow, that looks like SO much fun! Isn’t it nice when people support each other instead of doing the opposite and great that there are PR people that understand what we do too! 🙂
Oh I giggled & sniggered too at the iPhone photo comment as I’m only a very little notch up from that with my pics, such a long way to go…. but you truly give me hope with these awesome photos. So great to see who everyone is, it would have been fabulous to attend.
Fabulous recap Marla! Your pictures are amazing! What’s not to love about San Fran and being with others that have the same passions. It was so great to meet you. Hopefully next time we will have more time to chat. And I really enjoyed the session that you, Amanda, Carrie, and Natayna gave. Fabulous!
Have a wonderful weekend Marla!
Great subtitles. Loved the read.
🙂
valerie
What a fabulous time! Thanks for sharing the experience!
Looks like a blast! Wish I could have gone 🙂
Oh this looks like so much fun! I wish i was there.
*kisses* HH
p.s. can I have a piggy nose too?
It looks like you had an absolute blast. I’m so sad I didn’t get to go. I can always hope for next year. Great recap 🙂
Megan: We missed you too! Feels like forever since our Baking with Betty trip.
Heavenly Housewife: Those piggy noses were so hilarious. One of the sponsors for the final party was the Pork Board, hence the get-ups! The food was awesome – pork & bacon everything.
Jeanette: Glad to hear you had such a positive experience at the conference. It is amazing how quickly you can grow and become successful when you open your heart & put your mind to it. Hope to meet you next year 🙂
Love it, Marla!! 🙂 Gorgeous pictures and wonderful recap! 🙂 I am ready to go back. So looking forward to LA! 🙂
Looks like you had an AMAZING time!!!! Maybe I get to go next year!!!
Hey, thank for stopping by my blog! You have an adorable little blog here!
Great recap. Lotsa love at that conference for sure. I had such a great time hanging out w/ you & I ADORED your cowboy boots 🙂 Love ya, my friend!
It looks like you had such a blast at BlogHer in San Francisco! Reading the roster of who you met has me quite excited. Perhaps one of these days I’ll make it out there for a conference.
Christine: You must get out to a conference some day! I look forward to meeting you some day soon.
What an excellent roundup. I’m late catching it, but it’s making me all happy again. It was a wonderful weekend.