One of the joys of country life: berry picking (I do have to stick up for Silicon Valley on this one: Palo Alto's Webb Ranch, with their small but succulent patch of u-pick berry fields, is just 10 minutes away from our home) . Note the lush English countryside, with its rolling hills and dales, in the background.
Can you think of a caption for this photo?
Sweeeeet.
Berry good!
Can I pop this into my mouth without getting caught?
Can you believe it, this city girl has never seen strawberries growing out of the ground. They pack straw all around the berries -- Duh, so that's how it gets its name?
There's nothing like having a bowl of luscious, ripe berries, bursting with flavor, that were growing in the ground just minutes before you pop them into your much-deprived mouth.
At Guy Kawasaki's Kirtsy/Alltop party, I spied what I thought were ice cream sundaes, but upon closer inspection turned out to be dessert dishes layered with polenta, pulled pork or chicken, and cream sauce.
They also served a humongous dish of paella. Fortunately for me, the paella did not have shrimp in it so I was able to enjoy it to my heart's content (well, almost; it took a lot of willpower to go easy on the saffron rice).
Back at the St. Francis, the Sesame Street Suite was decked out like an old-fashioned penny candy store, with barrels brimming with candy, stacks of nuts and caramel popcorn, and these cute little cupcakes decorated like Sesame Street characters. Way too much icing, of course, but the kids loved the cupcakes I snuck home to them (and now I need to go and clean out the icing from my handbag).
On the Shutter Sisters Photowalk through Chinatown, we passed stalls and stalls of brightly colored candies and fruit.
At the closing cocktail at Macy's Union Square, we were served some really interesting, nicely plated nibbles. These appetizers
Starbucks unveiled their latest drink, the Vivianno chocolate-banana smoothie.
The desserts were small and sweet -- meringue sandwiches with cream centers.
The meringues came in all kinds of catchy, eye-popping colors. Each one had its own ever-so-subtle hint of flavor; I still can't quite describe what they were. What a sweet way to end the conference!
SV Moms opened the BlogHer festivities with a party at the Slide lounge, where we quenched our thirst on cocktails and chichi water. I much preferred this party to the official BlogHer parties, since this one was cozy and intimate versus huge and noisy.
I couldn't resist going down the famous slide. The ones at Chuck E Cheese are twistier and longer, but on the plus side, this one was a lot faster -- probably because it wasn't sticky with soda and kids' grime and God knows what else. If you are thinking of visiting Slide and trying it out, be forewarned: you will not be allowed to go down the slide if you are wearing a skirt. And no, they still won't let you go if you take off your skirt and slide down in your undies.
The next day we all trooped over to Saks Fifth Avenue on Union Square and for some makeovers. I got my makeup done by Armani, just the way I like it: subtle and shimmery, still looking like me... but a more Bongga me.
After our makeovers, we were shepherded to a mini-studio where we got headshots taken by a professional photographer. One might conclude that this activity was gentle hint that the photos in the SV Moms About Me section are, shall we say, a tad crappy. Or maybe they're just super-nice and want to thank their writers in a special way. I don't care what the reason -- I thoroughly enjoyed the makeover and I enjoyed flirting with the camera. We got to take our photos home on USB drives and I'm quite happy with 1 or 2 shots.
