Schmoozing and Boozing at the SF Bay Area BlogHer Meetup

This July I'm leaving my babies behind with their daddy for the first time ever for to attend the BlogHer conference in Chicago. I have my conference pass (thanks, Label Daddy!). I have my plane tickets (okay, the flights are crappy but I used airmiles to get the ticket, so I guess a red-eye outbound flight and an inbound flight with a stopover is to be expected). I have my hotel room (thanks, Linsey and Carla !). And most important of all, I've RSVP'd for all the cool BlogHer parties out there!

But when it comes to parties, I'm rusty. The only parties I've attended lately involve jumpy houses, goldfish crackers and birthday cake with disgusting red frosting. So when I was invited by Elisa to help organize a pre-conference meetup for bloggers around the San Francisco Bay Area, I jumped at the chance. Hooray, a warmup! A way to ease into the party circuit! And on a more serious note, a way to get to know more people before I actually go. Even though I'm not a total newbie, I can still see myself hiding away in a corner during some cocktail party, holding a drink and pretending I'm waiting for my BFF or smiling at my cellphone, hoping people will think I'm reading and responding to a particularly witty Tweet on my iPhone. I figured organizing it would be an easy way to make conversation ("Hi! Let me take those olives, we've got a nice bowl for them").

Thanks to the lovely @lizhenry for hosting our little shindig! (I shamelessly borrowed this photo from @rbucich's Flickr Photostream)

Much to my relief (Yay! they're not directing my email to their spam folders!), the SF Bay Area BlogHer meetup was well attended, with thirty or so (I didn't count and I must have had a pitcher of sangria, so my estimate might be off) bloggers coming together to meet, mingle and enjoy. Liz Henry gamely volunteered her home, and everyone really came through with the best nosh ever. I was so worried we'd end up with potato chips, some wine and lots of paper plates, but the tables were overflowing with goodies like these:

I brought my macro lens by mistake, so the only decent shots I could get were of the food. And it was definitely photo-worthy. Check out the gigantic chocolate truffles from http://www.ettores.com/!

I'm really not good at cocktail hours and small talk, so I didn't expect to have so much fun, and the feeling had nothing to do with the wine or the sangria. It was well past the cocktail hour when we finally broke up, and even then I wasn't ready to go home. Good Lord, but bloggers are interesting people! I got to talk and laugh with old blogger friends like Kim, Nicole, Lia and Stefania. I got to meet BlogHer rock stars like Jory, Elisa , Liz and Lisa, as well as some great bloggers like Rick, Abi, Meggan and Lorraine. And I got my party mojo back.

Yours truly eagerly waiting for @jonesabi to finish pouring a drink for @citymama. I want some white sangria, dammit! (I shamelessly borrowed this photo from @rbucich's Flickr Photostream)

BlogHer, I'm ready for you!

For more awesome photos and posts about the meetup , check out:
* Rick's photos
* Liz's photos
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