Out and About at BlogHer

I had an amazing week in NYC, despite going through nearly an entire box of tissues (thanks, cold that decided to hit me two days before I left the Bay Area!) :)
My coworker Helen and I flew out on Tuesday afternoon to attend an HR summit put on by one of Disqus' investors. We had some really awesome conversations with fellow HR pros, and talked shop about extended leave policies and career development in small companies and the ups and downs of managing culture and morale in changing startup environments...super interesting, engaging discussions (which are basically my soul food). That was a whiz-bang super start to what would prove to be a jam-packed week of awesome!

Rather than trying to write beautiful prose about the incredibly fun things I did while in NYC, I'm going to list them out. Because damn. I packed a lot in. No wonder this is the city that never sleeps. And now, presenting...a lot of photos of things I did while in New York.

Nothing says summer in NYC (to me) like a
late night stroll with a soft serve cone.
And sneaking into the Rockefeller building.

There was dinner at Butter (I'm a big Alex Guarnaschelli fan).

Tuna tartare with shaved radish, cucumber balls, and a
nasturtium sauce.

There was Fun Home, which moved me to tears. There was lunch with Jolie. There was a screening of Ant Man, at which Paul Rudd made a guest appearance (and I nearly swooned).

He was utterly charming and adorable, even from as far
back as I was sitting.

There was a late night standup show in Greenwich Village, featuring some new comics and some great comics (including Jon Rineman, who writes for Fallon and was super funny).

We sat right up front. Fun place to be, but
didn't get teased as much as I thought we
would. 

There were multiple keynotes and sessions at BlogHer that gave me crazy inspiration (Soledad O'Brien totally made me cry, surprising no one), including this one featuring a few Girl Scouts. It reinforced my belief in the power of communities for women. I only made it through Brownies, but if I ever have a daughter, I'm signing her up!

I didn't realize how many Girl Scouts and Girl Scout alumns
there are in the US (more than 59 million American women)!

There was an awesome session on being true to yourself when developing your personal brand, featuring my buddy Irvin.

You do you.
Find your niche, identify what makes you who you are,
and run with that.

And then there was Wild Party, a show who's music I've loved since college. Oh, and Sutton Foster played Queenie. So there was that. More tears.

Seated up in the balcony, but the view was just fine :)

There was breakfast with college buddies, and a really interesting session about "when you're 'too much' for your audience" -- my takeaway? You have to be true to yourself and your voice. If an advertiser wants to pull out unless you change your voice, that's a decision you have to make. I sometimes struggle with saying things the way I might think them because I know my audience ranges from friends to family to coworkers...but you know what? You don't have to write everything you think, the way you think it. Endrant.

Anyway, after the midday sessioning, there was Something Rotten (after running around the blocked-off Times Square), featuring a former classmate of mine. And more tears.

And it was a damn good show.
Aleks is a singing, dancing superstar.

And then there was cheesecake. And then there was the closing night party, featuring Boys II Men (who sang the hits and tossed roses into the crowd) and a DJ and Nick Cannon (who I did not stick around for). And my annual McDonald's food fest.

Chowing down with the mom.me ladies, sending Lyz texts.
Because that's what friends do.

There were minions, and I freaked out a little bit, but Helen is a big brave girl.

I just really, really don't like mascots/people in costumes
where I can't see their actual faces.

We left the party around 9:30 or so, because I was like, "My ear hurts. I don't know why. I am a party pooper, I swear something is wrong with my ear." Turns out I had an ear infection. Oops.

And, as is the case most of the time I travel, I didn't wear half of the things I brought with me.

These are all the clothes I DIDN'T wear.
Only two of them are things I purchased
while in NYC.
I am an over-packer.

It was quite a whirlwind of craziness, but craziness of the best sort. I'll write a whole separate blog post about the swag and the vendors and all that madness later :)

Did you do anything awesome while you were in town for BlogHer? Did you get out and see the city, or did you hole up in the A/C of the Hilton?