Posts Tagged ‘BlogHer10’

August 18th, 2010

DIY : What to do with all those BlogHer Business Cards?

If you are like me, you probably came out of BlogHer with a giant pile of business cards, and now you are thinking to yourself as you go through them… where do I put them now?  What can I do with them?  How can I organize them?

And I totally have an answer for that!  I am not creative by any means, but I felt like a rocket scientist when I came up with this idea. I am sure it has been done a million times before, but I thought I would share what I did. And also make my first Do It Yourself post.

What will you need?

Binder Rings
A Hole Puncher
BlogHer Business Cards

So now that you have all of your materials together, it is time to start… LOL!    You are going to grab your first business card, and your hole puncher. When punching a hole in the top corner of your choice, be sure that you remember, there is a lot of information on these cards, you do not want to punch a section that had an e-mail address, or telephone number, or even someones name!

After you have punched the hole, take your binder ring, open it up, and put the card onto the ring. Like shown in this picture below…

Then repeat for the rest of the cards you have…
In the end you should have a finished product that look like these examples…

I know that for me, this was a much easier way to organize and go through all the business cards I got at BlogHer. I wish I would have done this when I was at the actual conference because I fear I may have lost a couple cards here and there when I was in transit back home. So next year, I for sure will be bringing this along with me.

August 9th, 2010

BlogHer Wrap Up

First things first!  I want to thank all the amazing companies that helped me make my trip possible.  Lamaze, Kandoo, Go Mama Go Designs, and RJS Designs. Without all of you, I would not have been popular because I had swag, but I also would not have been able to afford to go.

I was able to give women Potty training wipes, coupons, and awesome Lamaze pregnancy skin care sets.  Total scores all around especially since I became the queen of swag before I left!  LOL  (I will get to that later in the post)

Friday I hooked up with Gina, Jill, Jenn, and a ton of bloggers I have talked to over the past year and really become friends with. Of course my luck I ended up continuing to run into this woman I had no interest in associating with. She blew me and my roommate off sticking us with $450 of charges for our hotel room. She made a commitment and backed out the day before the conference. Shitty if you ask me. Of course I ran into her at The People’s Party, the newbie breakfast, EVERYWHERE!  I finally hooked up with Gina at the breakfast and we hung out basically all day. The Expo hall sucked us in, and I totally missed the first session I wanted to go to on Friday.  We made rounds till lunch time then grabbed some lunch.

Then went back to the Expo hall, I think I entered for almost everything, but of course I knew I wouldn’t win. I never win anything. We also spent some time at the Ecco shoe’s suite and get pedicures, and of course I stopped by the Windows Suite.

We have had such bad luck in the past couple years that I was almost certain I would go home without all the swag everyone was telling me about before I left for BlogHer.  WRONG!  4 on Friday I headed up to my room to relax, and blog, which didn’t get done. About a half hour into my “relax” hour I got a phone call from a random number, it was the Playtex booth calling me to tell me I won a Flip Cam!  No way!   So I headed down to the Expo hall to pick it up and it was for real!  I won a flip cam!  Something I have wanted, but just couldn’t afford to dish out the $200 for!  Score!

I headed out to the Babble.com party as a plus one of Jenn, it was fun, different, and certainly something I didn’t expect, but we had some totally exciting news at the party…  Gina found out she was pregnant! For those of you who don’t know the back story of Gina & her husband… they have been trying to get pregnant since January.

I also went on a great tour of NYC with NYCityMama and won a huge basket of toys valued at $300 for the kids. Needless to say between all the toys that were given away, the basket, and swag… I got my Christmas shopping virtually finished.

Needless to say, it made for an exciting night. I hung out with my roommates, made some rounds in the hotel, and conference space, and went to bed. I knew I had a long day on Saturday.

I woke up Saturday morning to some crazy exciting news…
“Congrats to @birthbabiesblog on winning 2 Dell Inspiron 14R PCs. Stop by the #Win7BlogHer suite (4331) by 2pm EST to collect your prize!” – BenThePcGuy on twitter

Um… no shit? Really? No!  It couldn’t be!
So I strolled up to the 43rd floor to the Window’s suite, and of course, it was right. I had won not one but TWO Dell laptops!  I couldn’t believe it. I really still can’t believe it, and I am home, checked them out, and gave one to my rockin’ husband.  Our desktop died about 2 months ago, so it has made it hard for him to get online, and download music because that is what he does best.  So, now I was up to 2 laptops, a flip cam, the toy basket, and all the free stuff I got in the Expo hall which included toys for the kids.  I hit up two sessions, and decided to make one last lap around the Expo hall.

I stopped by the diapers.com booth… and won $100 gift card!  Woot!  So needless to say, it was super eventful.

I had a dinner that eventing provided by Tavern Direct, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. A great cause I plan on getting involved with once things calm down a little.

Saturday night was for SparkleCorn, CheeseburgHer, A Bloggy State of Mind… and every other party I could get into, or sneak into considering I made friends with the event staff, and the guys watching the door. Smart huh?  Oh and don’t forget the wine party I rocked in my room provided by The Wine Sisterhood!

Sunday morning I was on The Feminist Breeder & Friends radio show, then headed over to 11th ave, to pick up my Lincoln MKT press car for the week.  Score huh?  I can’t wait to share some more about that!  Stay Tuned!

So overall, BlogHer was amazing. I met SO many awesome women I look forward to following, linking, and getting to know better, including another Fire Fighter wife, a couple women from Connecticut, and some rather interesting women.

Huge success all around, and DH and I are already planning our trip to San Diego for next year’s BlogHer 2011!
Check out some of the pictures!

August 4th, 2010

BlogHer 2010 Schedule

A couple other people that are heading to BlogHer this weekend took the time to post their New York City schedules, to help navigate meeting up with some of the other women, and blogger friends… so I thought since I have a list of people I want to hook up with in the city I would post my schedule also.

Thursday

11:13am – Metro North Train into New York City w/my awesome Dad!  (BTW tomorrow is his birthday, we are going to have some fun in the city before he heads home!)
1:00pm-3:30pm – Touristy stuff!  We are going to head to Central Park, the 9/11 site, and other various places around the city I can have fun with my camera.
4:00pm – BlogHer Registration
4:15ish – Meeting up with @BabyDickey @KristineBrite and others for Coffee in the Lobby of the Hilton
5:15pm – Hotel room to get changed
6:00pm – Martha Blogger Party
8:00pm – The People’s Party (I am going to be a little late)
11:00pm – Photo walk

SLEEP!

Friday
8:00am – Newbie Breakfast
9:00am – BlogHer Welcome
9:30am – Speed dating BlogHer Style
10:30am – Session – Making Your Passion Work for You!
11:45am – Private lunch with the Publishing Company
1:40pm – Pedicure
2:00pm – Swag Pickup
2:15pm – Free time for the EXPO Hall
5:00pm – Voices of the Year
6:00pm – VOTY Reception
7:00pm – Gala & Art Show
9:30pm – NYC Bus Tour with NYCMama

SLEEP!

Saturday
8:00am - Breakfast
9:00am – EXPO Hall
10:00am – Meeting with Stride Rite/Robeez
12:00pm – Lunch
1:30pm – Project Mom Casting Call Interview!!!!!  (Yes!  I got a call back for an interview! YAY!)
6:00pm – Dinner
7:30pm – Wine Sisterhood Wine party at my room!  Space is still available!  E-mail me if you are interested!  Danielle.Elwood@gmailcom!
The rest of the day I have more free time until

SparkleCorn & The Green Affair!

If you want to meet up, please let me know by filling this form out! That will keep me organized and I will be checking it frequently to see if anyone new is on there so that I can make a time to get together!

July 26th, 2010

Project Mom Casting Call

I originally was going to make a VLOG for this post, but because my wisdom teeth were jacked out of my mouth on Friday, and my face still looks like the Stay Puft Marsh mellow Man, I am going to pass.  Although it would have made for a fun post!

Hi!  I am Danielle Elwood, I am the wife of a Volunteer Fire Fighter, A Birth Advocate, Tattooed, Kick ass Mom of two awesome Boys.

My story started over two years ago when my oldest son was born, and I started a blog to ramble about my life. In the two and a half years, and two kids, it has turned into one of the cutting edge Mom Blogs on the internet, with social media jobs, and the chance at a book deal. Yes, I could possibly write a book in the next year, which has be over the moon.  I am kind of an odd ball parent in my community. I am the Rock N Roll, Tattooed, kick ass Mom who goes above and beyond to be the cool mom. Looking back my Mom used to always ask me, What are your kids going to think of all those tattoos and piercings?  I always told her I would never have kids so I didn’t have to worry. OOPS! HAHA

I am heading to BlogHer 2010 this year in New York City. It will be my first long trip away from my kids, and my first Blogging conference also. I was able to get this opportunity through corporate sponsors such as Lamaze, Kandoo, RJS Designs, and Go Mama Go Designs, who I work full time for as their social media director. We are a family that was hard hit by the economy downturn, and have been working hard to reclaim the life we once led.

I may sound like your average American mother today, but I am loud, opinionated, but super respectful of others. I have so many women who have reached out and thanked me for writing about everything from Poop and potty training to birth choices, and informed consent.

I am in the NYC Metro area, so even if Project Mom Casting is not interested in chatting at BlogHer 2010, I am always available to get my booty into the city!  I love living in Connecticut!

July 19th, 2010

BlogHer Thursday Night Dinner

As most of you know, I am putting together a dinner date for Thursday night. I want to start getting a head count, and where we will be going all set up so I can put in a reservation.  Please take a moment and fill out the poll below if you are interested in joining us!

I will also be making a facebook event for this, which the link is :   BlogHer Dinner Get Together

July 9th, 2010

Revealing my Other BlogHer Sponsors

As most of you already know, I am working with Lamaze as a sponsor for BlogHer 2010, and I announced that a couple weeks ago. After working with Lamaze, I knew that if I wanted to be able to fully afford the trip to New York City, considering the hotel room alone is over $300 a night, I was going to have to secure more sponsors, or a large sponsor who would help in a big way.

I am super excited to announce I secured 3 other sponsors, and all are awesome companies!  Which has made me able to go to BlogHer and know we as a family can afford the trip. My first sponsor I want to announce today is :

Go Mama Go Designs is the company I blogged about last week, that makes the awesome safer Wonder Bumpers for Cribs. After the sponsorship for BlogHer they also sent me their product which I fell in love with. I am looking forward to working long term with them over the next couple months through blog projects, and various social media projects.  The women from Go Mama Go that I have been working with have been super awesome, and really helpful!  I am glad that I came across their company, and can’t wait to work more with them.

My second sponsor is probably someone most of us know a little bit more than Go Mama Go because they are slightly bigger on a corporate level.

Since both of our children were born, they have been both in pampers, until recently. Although we are switching Benjamin into cloth diapers, The Kandoo products are what we use to make potty training fun in our house. From the hand wipes to the colorful soaps, it helps our toddler to have fun washing his hands, and make it less paintful to get clean.  I am really looking forward to working with Kandoo long term as I have discussed with the company.  It is a really exciting time to be getting involved.

It is really exciting to be working with such large companies and building long term professional relationships with these companies. Both of which are great, and provide products I support, and use in my own home.   I am sure you have also seen both of those logos go up in my advertising space on my site here also.  Explains a lot huh? Haha!

Now onto the local company!

RJS Designs is a local event planning company run by a couple people in Shelton. I originally came across them while working on The Shelton Butterfly Project with them, and being a good friend of one of the women involved.  Their involvement in the Butterfly Project really impressed me.  They wanted to help out on a local level, and I am super grateful for that!

So there you have it… Lamaze, Go Mama Go Designs, Kandoo, and RJS Designs!

July 5th, 2010

Which BlogHer Sessions?

I am having one hell of a time deciding which sessions I want to go to when I am at BlogHer. Everyone said don’t plan on going to more than 2-3 sessions for the whole weekend because of the amount of other events, parties, and networking there is going on.

On Day one I am certainly planning to go to the opening, and breakfast, Welcome… But then I have the option of going off to one of seven sessions.

There are three sessions during this time period that really strike me as something I want to go to, and listen in on. I just need to figure out which would really benefit me the best. Originally I wanted to go with Feeding the Conversation : How to Build a Community around your Cause.  After thinking about it more, I seem to already really have a community of bloggers, readers, and those who follow me regarding the causes I am passionate about, and I know that over the next year I want to span out from more than just birth and pregnancy, which I did in two posts this past week, Poop Doesn’t Discriminate, and But… What Will I say?

I have to be true to the mom in me, and move in the direction that is calling me. I love the birth community, and I love writing and helping to educate, and I really feel like I am reaching more people than here on the Giving Birth with Confidence blog.
I am taking on a ton more reviews of products that may appeal to Moms, and housewives like myself. One being a Lincoln MKT later on this summer.

Then I saw it!  The session I need to attend!  Passions : ROYO : Generation Y Passionistas : Leaving Your 9-to-5 to persue your passion.  Perfect!  DH and I have been going back and forth about me going back to work, mostly to save my sanity in the long run. But between the kids, daycare costs, teaching, and finishing up my Lamaze Certification this year, there just isn’t anytime for me to go back to the good ol’ 9-to5 again.  But then I scrolled down the page a little more… Jobs Lab : Self Marketing : Resume and Social Networking Profile Writing Clinic… Which would benefit me more?
AHH!  Such the debate!
I am still leaning towards the Passions session, but what do you think?

It was easy for me to skip the sessions right after lunch because none of them really…. PULLED at me. So I am going to enjoy my lunch and head over to the sponsors hall and do some good old networking.

The 2:45-4:00 session has a couple that stand out to me, but I am not sure if they stand out enough to attend… I would love to learn more about photography. They have an awesome session in their Geeks Lab aimed to improve your pictures. It is really open to everyone, whether you have a digital SLR like me (I love my Nikon!!!) or just a regular old point and shoot camera.
The other session that I am interested in is about authentic blogging. TMI or just being real?  Where is the line.  I personally try not to share too much, I know I have some people out there that aren’t following my blog for reasons of interest rather than stalker-ish motives. But at this point, I am leaning more towards the geek lab.  What do you think?

Day two’s morning session doesn’t strike me much, but in the afternoon, I am interested in the Pitch Me session in late afternoon. Once I hit that up, it is back to my room to get ready to parrrrtay!

Thursday night you can look for me at The People’s Party, and then Saturday night you can catch me at SparkleCorn!  I am not sure if I am going to be able to get into any of the other parties that I am on the waiting list for, but we certainly will see.

Overall, I am really excited, and anxious to get to NYC for BlogHer. I can’t wait!  Only about 5 more weeks.

June 27th, 2010

How Safe is Your Nursery?

There are so many debates over baby products today, but one of the biggest debates I continue to see is the use of baby bumpers in cribs. Typically they recommend a bumper that is not pillow like, but I had yet to find a bumper that was not pillow like until I came across Go Mama Go Designs and their awesome new bumper alternative. They call it The Wonder Bumper.

Before I get into details about The Wonder Bumper, my review, what I think about the product, and the relationship I have built with the Go Mama Go Design company, I want to discuss some of the statistics I came across regarding nursery dangers and injuries related to baby products, because I found them to be completely alarming.

In 2008, 63,700 children under the age of 5 years old were treated in emergency rooms across the United States for injuries resulting from some time of baby product incident.

Between 2004 and 2006 there were an estimated 247 deaths averaging about 82 deaths a year. What was the cause of 88% of these deaths?  Crib mattresses, baby baths, playpen/play yards, bassinet/cradles, infant carriers, and infant carseats.

In 2008, 11,500 injuries were caused by a crib, crib bedding, crib mattress, etc.

Now when researching things for my kids, I always came across conflicting information about crib bumpers. Put them in, take them out, they cause SIDS, suffocation, etc. Needless to say by the time my oldest son was born we scrapped the bumper because I am still worried to death about SIDS and he is almost 3!

Which is why when I saw this Wonder Bumper product, I thought to myself… Ok, well why aren’t they more popular?  Why haven’t I heard of them until now?  Why isn’t this the #1 product moms are signing up for on their baby registry if they are planning on using a crib!

It is a GENIUS idea!  Look!  It is clearly not your traditional bumper!  They are basically covers for each individual bar for your crib, which in turn allows the air to flow between the crib bars, unlike traditional crib bumpers. Which helps to reduce the risk of SIDS.

Another plus is as children get older, they can’t stand on these like traditional crib bumpers. I can tell you, as our children got older, and we put the bumper back into the crib when they were old enough to roll over and move around, we have caught a child or two trying to use it as a stepping stool to step right out of the crib.

So why am I reviewing and loving this product and company?  Well Go Mama Go Designs is one of my sponsors for BlogHer this year! I am super excited to be working with them on various projects in the upcoming months also.  Sometime in August-September we are also going to be giving away a whole bedding set including the awesome Wonder Bumper to one of my super lucky readers!

Check out Go Mama Go Designs on Twitter
Check out Go Mama Go Designs on Facebook
Check out the Go Mama Go Designs Blog

Please take a couple minutes and check them out!  I think they are an awesome company for those who do choose to use a crib!

June 24th, 2010

Want to Meet at BlogHer?

Heading to BlogHer 2010 in New York City?  So am I!  LOL!

Want to meet up?

Take a couple minutes to fill out this little form so we can connect in NYC!

Meet me in NYC!

June 14th, 2010

10 Things I want to do Before BlogHer 2010

I am starting to get prepared for my trip to BlogHer which is now less than 2 months away. I feel like, compared to other bloggers I am totally last minute on getting things together. Although I am sure there are others out there way behind me. Actually I know that for a fact because in the past 24 hours, I have learned that two of my favorites are going to be attending.   Kristine and Emily, two ladies who I love to read, and do a ton of good in the Blogging community are going to be joining all the news faces I am excited to meet!

So what do I need to get done??? EEK!

1. Go clothes shopping for something to wear to all these parties!  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights all have important adventures I certainly need to shine up like a new penny for. Plus it gives me the excuse to get dressed up when I rarely have the chance since motherhood.
2. Collect all my favorite Bloggers telephone numbers so I can get in touch with them once I get to NYC. I heard since there are so many people at BlogHer it is sometimes near impossible to find some of the ladies you are looking for without cell phones. What the heck did we do before them?
3. Order my business cards. I currently have them in my cart of Vista, but I am going to hold out another 3-4 weeks until I know for sure if I do or do not have a second sponsor. I would HATE to waste money getting more printed to add another sponsor on the back.
4. Steal my Moms rolling suitcases to pack. I by no means have luggage. We never go anywhere and if we do, we have smaller overnight type bags we use. Not only that but I am going to need to have my stuff on wheels because of the train aspect of my travel.
5. Find a place in NYC that is not only reasonably priced but local to the hotel I am going to be staying in for dinner on Thursday night.
6. Get invited to one of these special parties being hosted by private companies. I would give ANYTHING to be invited to the Nikon party!
7. Find a babysitter for the children for Friday the 6th.
8. Manicure, pedicure, massage, and haircut.
9. Think about other materials I can make with my blog information on them to give out while networking. Since I know I can’t be giving out swag at BlogHer, I need to think of cool things to use my blog logo on. Bumper Stickers? Post Cards? Pens?  What do you think?
10. Thank my husband again for all the help he has been giving me with planning my BlogHer trip.

What are the to do stuff you plan on getting done before heading out to BlogHer?

June 4th, 2010

Announcing my BlogHer Sponsor!

I know everyone has been anticipating it as much as I have, and also has been waiting for my big announcement. I has been killing me to keep it to myself because I have wanted to scream it from the roof tops because, yes, my sponsor is that awesome.

So yesterday I was making my new business cards for BlogHer, I realized not only did I need to make business cards for my blog, which I do not have, but I need to reserve the space on the back of the card for this amazing company that has put their support being me because of my popularity in the childbirth, and new parents community.  So, the front of my business card is going to look like this :

How do you like it?  I am kind of partial to it because of course I designed it. I want to thank Theresa at the Healthy Baby Network again for making my awesome Momotics logo too!   I think it fits perfectly into the design I picked out on VistaPrint.

So are you ready to see the back of the card and see who I am holding hands with for BlogHer this year?
You sure you are ready?
Yes, I have to drag this out as much as I possibly can, because that is what I do!

Lamaze is an amazing company that manufactures all kinds of great products for mothers, and children. Educational books, toys, and mother friendly products including a body care line that is aimed at pregnant women and new mothers.

I have been working with Lamaze recently in their new online community Giving Birth with Confidence, which is an amazing resource for new mothers, as well as veteran pregnant women. They have groups, forums, and all kinds of great informative posts written by amazing women in the childbirth community.  I am honored to be blogging next to women like Judith Lothian!

But I knew finding a sponsor this year was not going to be easy, I am still one of the “new kids” on the block, and why the heck would anyone want to sponsor me?  I sent out a couple e-mails to companies that I love, and truly believe in their cause and when I heard back about Lamaze, I was over the moon. They are just such an amazing company, as well as organization all around. I am even more happy to be working on becoming a LCCE because the women there are just so amazing.

Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for a great giveaway of an awesome Lamaze product, and in the time following the BlogHer conference!

I am so excited to be able to go this year as New York is amazingly close for me making this a reality! So who is going?  Who am I going to be meeting up with?

SEE YOU IN NEW YORK CITY!