BlogHer wrap-up: 11 BlogHer bites

It’s so so great to be home. Lacey has been stuck to me like glue for the past couple of days, and Hubby and I are so so so glad to be back together. BlogHer was brilliant, yet exhausting and the flights were long but worth it. Here’s my wrap-up for BlogHer 2o11, things I learnt and memories I made:


1.

Listening to the inspiring Gretchen Rubin in my first session at BlogHer ’11 was a great way to kick off the conference. She shared gems like, “One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make others happy and one of the best ways to make others happy is to be happy yourself.” As well as how simply making your bed each day can make you happy. I know that one is a little odd, but I also know it makes a difference. I draw the line at making my bed at hotels, which she suggests. Does anyone actually do that?

2. Hearing food photographer, Penny De Los Santos, speak inspired me to tears. She’s so passionate, so in love what she does that it made me want to reassess my whole life. I want to live with that zest. One thing we both share when it comes for photography is our search for the perfect light. She rarely shoots with a flash {nor do I} and the way light inspires her really hit a note with me. One of her wisdoms she shared was, “If you do not love what you do, you will not get the magic.”


3.

Wearing the right shoes is important! I’d read before BlogHer that one of the best bits of advice was to wear the right shoes for the conference. I packed my thongs {flip flops for those playing in the USA}. By day two I was struggling to walk, had blisters on the soles of my feet and was hobbling about. If you’re planning on attending BlogHer in 2012 {which I know a few Aussie bloggers are} wear comfortable shoes. By the end I was dreaming of tying pillows to my feet and getting around like that. Seriously.


4.

It was confirmed, after traveling half way around the world, that we have some of the best blogging talent in our own country. Eden is so inspiring, writes from the heart and pushes herself to the limits for the sake of creativity. She stood up in a huge room full of bloggers to read one of her blog posts for Voices of the Year. Seeing the admiration and respect people have for Eden was so heart-warming. You can see Eden read her blog post for Voices of the Year here.


5.

Having breakfast with Bob Harper was one of my favourite moments. When I walked into the room I thought he might move around the room and berate people for their breakfast choices, not because that’s who he is, but because of my own insecurities, I guess. It couldn’t be further from reality. Bob was so inspiring, so into self-acceptance too. A woman stood up and shared that she’d lost 100 pounds and needed to lose 10 more to be happy. Bob assured he she should be so proud and happy right now. I loved when Bob shared, “Decide that you’re worth it enough. If there has to be someone in your corner, it has to be you.”


6.

Hot tip: If you’re invited to a raisin luncheon then expect to have raisins in every single dish. There were raisins in every salad, raisins in the wraps and raisins in the desserts {see the brownies above}. There were raisins in the little table favours and a dancing raisin as we sat and ate our raisins. Thank goodness I like raisins! When I shared my surprise with Sarah {my travel partner} she looked at me in amazement, “What did you expect? It’s a raisin lunch!”


7.

Speaking of food I continued my love affair with American bacon on my trip. I only had it once, but boy is it delicious.


8.

There was a huge focus at BlogHer around bloggers working with brands, which excited me and scared me. It excited me because we were invited to fun and informative events {like the launch of Salma Hayek’s new beauty line Nuance} and also scares me because working with brands reminded me a lot of work. It was interesting to talk to bloggers and hear how they work with brands, and how they value themselves. I wonder if the Australian blogosphere is heading in the same direction {as we already seem to be to an extent}.


9.

American bloggers are passionate. As I sat down to rest my weary feet for a moment, a blogger passed me some condoms for the cause that she was supporting. I had a little giggle.


10.

Bloggers make great mates. You’re going to have to excuse the gushing for a moment, but I honestly had the perfect travel partner in Sarah. Having only spent a short amount of time together before taking this holiday, it had all the ingredients to go awry – but I had the time of my life and couldn’t have picked a better travel mate. We’re very alike, like to do the same things and picked each other up when we needed it. I also ran into a handful of the friends I made whilst visiting Orlando for the Disney Social Media Mom’s conference, and made some new mates too. I love bloggers. They seriously make such great people.

11. My favourite session from the conference was around blogging your way to self-acceptance. It was a beautiful session that really brought me back to why I love blogging so much. Many brilliant tid-bits were shared, and in a blogging world when it can quickly become about hits, traffic, brands and business – I loved when Brene Brown brought it back to why I started blogging. She said, “Write for yourself. Don’t write for your audience.” And GlutenFreeGirl shared that when it comes to blogging, “I don’t want hits, I want readers.” It was a brilliant session.

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37 thoughts on “BlogHer wrap-up: 11 BlogHer bites”

  1. Great summary Telle – thanks for sharing with us all. Looks like you had an amazing time and that you learnt a lot. Being the pioneer here you are certainly steering the Australian ship in the right direction x

  2. Great wrap up. Following all the tweets and posts from the Aussie girls over there the conference definitely seems to be pretty awesome. I've got my ticket for blogher12, now I just have to figure out how I'm getting there 🙂 hope all the blisters are healed. Tatum xx

  3. love the feedback. great reading. sounds like a wonderful time. ps: the one time i definitely don't make my bed is when i am in a hotel room even with my type A addiction to keeping things neat and tidy. have a lovely day!

  4. I love that bit about “blogging your way to self-acceptance”. I've been following Brene Brown for a while, she has some real gems to share.

    You make BlogHer sound almost worth attending next year, although I really don't know what I would do with my kids for a week. I wonder if a generous sponsor would pay for the three of us to fly up as well as a nanny while we're there?

    Sounds like you had a great time! Thank you for sharing your highlights with us…

  5. Oh my sweetheart just when I got it together I read this and cried. Thank you for such kind praise. Thanks for telling me what I do, sometimes I don't know. And I think, “WHAT HAVE I DONE?”

    Blogging is important, for so many reasons.

    Then I scrolled down to Bob HUBBA HUBBA.

    Love you like a mofo xox

  6. Raisins in every dish! Shame I wasn't there! Raisin is my last name, spelt excatly like that RAISIN, not like the cooler Raison! We grew up with jokes like, 'Do you watch a current affair?' Raisin' hell, and my mum used to be called “Raisin's cuurent date.' when she first went out with my date. All useless information for you but it's not often there's a paragraph about Raisin's!

  7. oh I love it and great tips! might need to wear birkenstocks the entire time! see you guys had to go this year to give us all the advice so we have a great trip next year:) and number 5 made me cry! I love it!

    great info and keep it coming! did you pack really light and buy lots there or just shop at the end of the trip:)

    corrie:)

  8. I'm with Eden re: Bob. Hubba Hubba indeed. What a top bloke too. My husband was all keen to make the trip to blogher2012 a bit family trip. I had to say no. Maybe 2013. I love that he is excited about it though.
    I can just live vicariously though others. I'm ok with that. for now.
    Shoes are totally important! I completely ruined a trip to Europe because I did not have the right footwear and I had travel cankles and blisters on my blisters… ouch, feeling your pain.

  9. I am loving reading all the wrap ups – I definitely wore flats for everything but the parties! Only managed to meet 2 other Aussie bloggers there, but didn't know any when I went…onward to 2012!

  10. Great wrap-up Chantelle! I am so glad I at least got to see you a couple of times. Wish I would have had longer moments with you, it is a crazy busy conference for sure. Until we see each other again…. 🙂

  11. I love your wrap-up Telle, thanks so much for being generous with what you've shared with us. xxxx ps. Lap up those Lacey cuddles.

  12. Amazing! I am just beginning, and I hope to become a better writer, blogger, through the coming years. What an amazing experience you had- Bob Harper and safe sex condoms?! Aren't we just crazy? Oh and to answer your question, yes I do make the bed when we stay at a hotel, resort, or even a motel. I can't help it… Let's call it a quirk.

  13. Thank you for sharing so much of your trip with me. I have really enjoyed hearing about the things you have experienced and Have loved the pictures too.
    You sure are lucky to have such a great travel buddy that could have changed the whole experience. I hope to read more about what you have learnt in the coming weeks. I would love meet Bob as he seems like a gorgeous soul. I hope you are enjoying being home and to me the sore feet totally sound like it's worth it.

  14. Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Chantelle. I loved hearing what you gained from it. There are some great tips here!
    Americans have the most inspiring quotes, don't they! 🙂

  15. Great wrap up Chantelle – I have followed your fun for the past week and I have loved it – it has really inspired me to look to Blogher '12 – isn't life just great when we have these wonderful experiences. Leanne x

  16. oh man- it sounds awesome!! such a great opportunity (I WANT IN!). Also, im pretty much stocked to see your beautiful face in some photos… you should do that more often!

    xo em

  17. Sounds like fun. Is it wrong that my favourite bits contradict each other SO much. Bob Harper and then that bacon looks sooooo good.
    Oh the only way it could get better is Bob Harper serving you that bacon….

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