an aggregate of all things Johnson

I am not a religious person, but I have an unshakable faith in the power of love.

…and in the power of sweets!

(I woke up in a terrible mood and I am doing everything I can to shake it, including doodling donuts running away with hearts…)

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This is my last BlogHer-related post, I promise!

The BlogHer conference last weekend included two large expo halls where companies had booths to promote their brands and new products – very common for large conferences. The companies in the expo halls were giving out lots of free samples and swag. And by lots, I mean more than you could carry home!

I toured the expo halls twice. I met some really nice people, got my photo taken with the Jimmy Dean Sun, and tried my best not to pick up too much free stuff. Despite my best intentions (I try hard not to be a greedy swag grabber), I came home with two large bags of product! I managed to collect everything from NyQuil to tuna fish – a very random assortment!

The company reps were all extremely sweet and informative (that’s their job, right?) and none of them required any of the conference attendees to commit to blogging about their product. The free stuff really was “no strings attached,” so why am I having an ethical dilemma? I probably shouldn’t be, but I feel guilty for taking the free swag! I tried to only accept things that I truly thought I could use, but I still feel guilty. Should I be feeling this way? Do the big companies know that we will feel guilty about the free product and feel compelled to reciprocate in some way? Am I a sucker?

There is no way I can blog about all of the companies I met, plus, I don’t want to. I have never done paid or otherwise compensated product reviews on this blog (although, I have received some free product that I have reviewed for Craft Critique) and I only write about brands that I really, truly like.

I do not plan to change my style just because I received some free product, but I do feel some pressure to acknowledge my gratitude for the companies’ generosity in some way… So, I would like to highlight some of my favorite things that I received at the BlogHer Expo. Is that an acceptable combination of integrity and reciprocation? I hope so!

My favorites of the BlogHer swag:

• TheYellowUmbrella.org is an organization created by Christine Baze to help educate women on how they can prevent cervical cancer. I received an actual yellow umbrella from Christine and promised I would help spread the word about her cause. Check out the Yellow Umbrella’s sister organization, Say Something!, to learn about how you can help spread the word about cancer prevention.
• The Bounty paper towel area in the P&G House at the Expo was co-hosting a collage art project table with the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. I actually use and like Bounty paper towels (they are thick & sturdy) and I was impressed to see them supporting and promoting a NYC nonprofit arts organization. The Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation was founded in 1995 by brothers Russell, Danny and Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons and is dedicated to providing disadvantaged urban youth with significant arts exposure, access and education as well as providing exhibition opportunities to early and mid-career artists and artists of color. Very cool!
• The one piece of free product that I was most excited about was my new pair of Assets underwear. Yes, underwear! I know that is extremely weird, but Assets are the new, less-expensive line of Spanx undergarments and the company was handing them out to us at the conference. (Don’t worry, we got to choose the perfect size!) Ladies out there know how incredibly popular, but how terribly expensive Spanx are, so I am excited to see the company offering a more “value” version. Assets will be sold at Target.
• PUR Water Filters handed out free aluminum water bottles and hosted water filling stations all over the conference. BlogHer was trying to go more “green” this year and not providing bottled water was one step they took. PUR sponsored the water stations as an alternative. I actually love my new aluminum bottle (it isn’t too large and it has a little carabiner hook on top that you can use to attach it to a bag…) and I filled it up many times throughout the weekend.
• The new Jimmy Dean French Toast Griddlers that they were handing out at their booth were truly delicious – plus they use turkey sausage. I would honestly recommend them and will probably purchase them in the future. (And the actor who plays the sun is really sweet.)
• You already know that I love S’mores! Or at least you should, because they are one of my favorite foods. So I couldn’t resist the Hersheys + Honey Maid + Jet Puffed suite at BlogHer. You could visit the room anytime and make delicious S’mores over their mini fires. I only had one, but it was fantastic! I also picked up a little S’mores backpack and plan to use it and show my devotion to the treat.

For those who went to BlogHer, what were your favorite swag items?

Related posts:

1. crafting a vision – day 2
2. BlogHer – helpful notes and more thoughts
3. worrying

I know, I know… you are most likely sick of hearing about the lady blogging conference. I apologize for being so single-minded lately, but I feel like I need to write down all of the good info I picked up at BlogHer before it slips out of my mind and is lost forever! Wow. That sounds dramatic! I better get to it.

Today, I have a list of all my favorite new websites that I learned about over the weekend. Hopefully, you will like some of them as well…

Crafty Blogs & Sites:

• Handmade Detroit – If you are in Michigan, this site is for you. And even if you’re not, the blog has lots of great crafty content.
• Tonya Staab – This and That – Tonya was on the Etsy blogging panel with me and she is fantastic. Her blog covers just about everything – including cupcakes!
• DIY Buiness Association – A new blog and organization from Amy Schroeder, Founder of Venus Zine and venuszine.com.
• Teen Angster – The personal blog of Allison, one of the authors of the amazing Etsy blog.
• The Creative Empire – You already know about Tara Gentile from ScoutieGirl and Megan Auman from Crafting an MBA because I link to their great sites all of the time. The Creative Empire is their new project – a community built to help web entrepreneurs.
• The Honey Pie Tree – A hand-crafted toy designer’s blog.
• The Studio Creations – A very pretty art blog by Thais, a Brazilian living in NY.
• Louise Gale – An artist who hosts the The Creative Color Challenge.
• Kipiboo – A blog of art and inspiration from a Brooklyn artist.
• Design Mom – Gabrielle is one of the founders of Kirtsy, a designer, and a mom of six.

Other Blogs:

• The Token Fat Girl – Lorrie writes about her weight loss adventures, plus lots of other stuff like fashion and recipes. I hung out with her a bit at the conference and she is really sweet and multi-talented.
• The Bloggess – This is a “famous” blog that I had read in the past, but somehow lost track of. It is super-funny.
• Pine Creek Cottage – Marcy’s sweet blog.
• Zipbag of Bones – Funny. And a little inappropriate. But mostly funny.
• Mama’s Keeper – A work at home caregiver’s journey.
• Just a Girl in the World – Adventures of a southern girl, sometimes traveling the world.
• One Bored Mommy – A mom of four blogs daily.
• Little Tech Girl – A tech geek blog written by a mom of two set of twins!
• You Can’t Call It “It” – A hip baby names blog.
• Things of Random Coolness – A blog of very cool design-y things.

Other Cool Websites:

• Indie Biz Chicks – I’ve already linked to this site a couple times, but Crissy’s website is an excellent resource for small business owners.
• Reware Vintage – a vintage clothing shop and blog.
• Food on the Table – A meal planning tool. Amanda, the rep, was super-sweet!
• Cake Lab – The most beautiful and delicious mini cupcakes. I had them at Etsy.
• Girlfriend Circles – A community that matches up online friends for real world get togethers.
• Graph Jam – A funny graph builder.

Whew! That is a long list of websites… and the thing is, I am sure I left off some good ones. Please add more of your favorite links from the conference (or just in general) in the comments…

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1. BlogHer 2010 – day 1
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3. BlogHer. wow.

I am sure you are already aware (especially if you follow my Twitter account – hello, too many tweets!), but I attended my first BlogHer conference this weekend. Since it was held in NYC this year and I didn’t need to buy plane tickets, I thought I should give it a try. Man, was it a packed two days of sensory overload! I am still processing the experience and am really not prepared to write a comprehensive post with all of the links and blogging info that I picked up, but I wanted to get down some of my preliminary impressions on my favorite experiences from the weekend…

Unfortunately, I neglected to take any great photos, so I am stuck sharing the few iffy ones I did snap. Above is a photo of the final keynote on Saturday, which was one of the most inspiring parts of the entire conference. It consisted of four amazing women (“Need to Know PBS anchor Alison Stewart moderates a powerhouse panel: Marie Wilson, Founder and President of The White House Project and creator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, author and activist Gloria Feldt from Heartfeldt Politics and P. Simran Sethi, Emmy Award-winning journalist, blogger and environmentalist.”) pretty much just having a conversation about how women can use their blogging voice to make change in the world. They inspired me to take myself more seriously and make a commitment to talking about more “important’ issues, both online and in real life.

I went to four different “sessions” or classes over the course of the two days: one on using your passion, one on intellectual property law, one on WordPress theme creation, and one on good blog design. The blurry photo above is from the design session, and you can see Grace Bonney from Design*Sponge on the far left of the three-woman panel. I was excited to hear her speak and she did an excellent job. She showed us a lot of examples of great blog design and even shared a sneak peek of the new re-design of her own site that will be released soon. All three panelists were very informative and realistic about what it takes to create a well-designed blog. They stressed the importance of being extremely descriptive and clear when working with a designer, and that it can cost many $1,000s of dollars for a truly professionally designed site.

What was my favorite part of the whole conference? Definitely the Etsy Crafty Blogging panel that I participated in on Thursday. I guess technically it wasn’t a part of BlogHer, but it was hosted to line up with the conference. I am so excited that Crissy from IndieBizChicks.com invited me to participate. I immensely enjoyed meeting her and the other speakers (Tonya Staab, Amy Schroeder – creator of Venus Zine, and the Handmade Detroit girls, Lish Dorset and Bethany Nixon). We had great questions from the audience and I think/hope we all gave some good suggestions and tips. Danielle and all of Etsy were such great hosts. They provided awesome snacks and drinks, and there was even a DJ! I had so much fun with the other panelists that I basically forced myself upon them and hung out with them throughout the conference. Above is a photo of me and Lish late last night… Thanks for adopting me, Michigan girls!

To end out the conference last night, I attended the Sparklecorn party hosted by MamaPop. I had no idea what to expect from an “official” BlogHer party, but I was blown away by the craziness that was Sparklecorn! My original twitter description: “So great. It’s like a mom rave with a unicorn cake and poprocks.” Exactly. There were glow sticks and lollipops and giant pretzels and Chex Mix and random movie posters from the 80s and the amazing unicorn cake. It was all extremely silly, but totally cool. I only stayed for a short time and did NOT hit the dance floor, but if I ever host a massive party, I hope that it is exactly like Sparklecorn.

So… overall, BlogHer was a pretty awesome experience. …and I haven’t even given you any of the good blogging info I picked up or talked about the MOUNDS of swag that I took home. I’ll have to get to that tomorrow. Two days of lady blogging hoopla wiped me out! Gotta go watch some tv and veg out…

Related posts:

1. BlogHer 2010 – day 1
2. blog, baby, blog!
3. my calendar is filling up!

The very first time I went to Disneyland (with Travis for our high school spring break over eleven years ago), I took a silly photo with the wooden indian statue that they had in Frontierland. I thought it was such a funny photo that I tried to recreate it on my second trip to Disneyland last year. So… when we were in Disney World last week, you know I had to search out that indian for the traditional photo op. I am a huge dork.

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