And I am FREAKING out. (BlogHer is a conference for women bloggers and there will be upwards of 3,00 in attendance) Not about flying all the way to San Diego from New York, or being in a large group of other fabulously talented women who will make me feel pretty small, but about leaving my babies! Every time I imagine myself getting on that plane and kissing my husband and babies goodbye for 4 days the tears spring up. I’m going to be a total puddle. I will be self medicating with alcohol since my plan is to pump on my layover and dump it (rather than bring it on the next flight.)
Avoiding preparing for BlogHer has been part of my coping mechanism for dealing with the scariest thing I have ever done. I mean, I sleep with my baby every night. He has never been away from my side for longer than 6 hours. The last time I went on a date I was crying before I got home!
Alas, I do need to prepare for this gigantic conference. I am following the lead of The Eco Chic and my roomie, The Cloth Diaper Geek, and posting my to-do list.
So far I have:
- Designed and ordered my Business Cards. (Zazzle.com)
- Designed and ordered my App Download Cards. (Zazzle.com)
- Designed and ordered my QR Code Stickers. (Zazzle.com)
I still need to:
- Decide which Sessions to attend. There are 2 time slots with 2 sessions I want to attend and I need to pick which ones I want to attend more!
- Make plans to meet with my pal in San Diego during the chaos of BlogHer.
- Find a breastmilk donor recipient. (read more on my plans to donate my pumped breastmilk)
- Strategize my Pumping and Storage plans while traveling and attending the conference. (I’m thinking of packing my single electric pump for the flights and layover and my amazing Hygeia Enjoye to use while at the conference for maximum pumpage)
- Plan my wardrobe. I said it, I am a little nervous about what to wear! In the previous years of watching other bloggers attend BlogHer who incessantly tweeted and blogged about their wardrobe I thought to myself “How silly.” And now I am doing it too. I plan to stay in jeans and a top for days, plus bring a sweater since I am usually cold indoors. But for parties I have NO CLUE. Usually my wardrobe is dictated by access to my boobs. I also usually keep jewelry to a minimum since babies are pulling on them. Shoes- daytime I will probably break out my new Crocs from Zulily. Nights- I have a BADASS pair of blue stiletto platforms itching to be worn.
- Tech Gear- I will have my iPhone and Laptop with me. I had planned on buying an iPad before BlogHer to use but I don’t think I will have the money. Now I need to figure out what laptop case to use that won’t look too dorky.
- Decide who I need to hug. There are plenty of people I want to meet while in BlogHer. Most I have a feeling I’ll be meeting on Thursday… there are also quite a few people I follow on Twitter who I need to put an avatar to a face.
- Print off shipping labels on stickers. I’ve heard this is handy when entering any contests.
- Finish my cross stitch. What does that have to do with BlogHer? If it is cool then you will see. If not, forget I ever said anything.
I am going to BlogHer thanks to: Swaddlebees– makers of the amazingly trim Simplex cloth diaper. They also have some adorable prints in their line! And Boba– creators of the unique and super comfortable baby carrier made just for toddlers. I’m happy to say I loved both companies before being sponsored so I’d say nice things regardless! I’ll also be pumping in WHO Code compliant style thanks to my Pump Sponsor, Hygeia, who generously sent an Enjoye to use while away. Thank you all for your support!
