Disney World

Who Doesn’t Love to Go To Disney World?

Just about one year ago today I was posting about Disney World on a trip with Murphy USA and Collective Bias.  This post was originally posted on my Chat with Sandy blog on 1/30/11. Enjoy the sites of Disney again.

I was asked to attend the Murphy USA National Manager Meeting in Orlando FL (Disney world Coronado Springs resort to be exact) this last week, you might have seen my last post.

They asked six blogger to go to their meeting so we could help educate and sign up their mangers with whrrl and discuss how social media could benefit their business.

We were all paired up with a manager from Murphy USA that we would be traveling with. We were asked to be sure to take lots of pictures and whrrl them along the way. I was paired up with a manager from my area and met her at the airport. Jennifer Davis was my manager.

I had no idea there were 40 Murphy USA gas stations in Ohio. I only know of 2, one in Newark in front of the Walmart and one in Whitehall.  (I’ve not been to that one)

We arrived in Orlando and were all staying at the Coronado Springs Resort. There is a convention center attached to it, so it was perfect. It was so beautiful.

We had a meet and greet with some of the managers before dinner the first night. I am not sure if it was the regional managers, but it wasn’t a huge group (and there were over 1000 managers there). I know the president Hank Heithaus was there and the new president Tom (from Scotland) was there. Hank is retiring and just announced it. This picture was at one of the general sessions where Hank (left) is basically saying goodbye and introducing Tom on the right.

Their theme was “We The People” because they were making sure their managers knew that it was all of them that made Murphy USA successful.

Jay Staggs who I had a picture of in my last post, was in charge of running the show.  They had a good time with it, bringing in Tammy and Tommy through out the conference along with “their parents” for comic relief.

They had a speaker Peter Wahl do a speech/painting… lol  He is a motivational speaker and he painted these 3 paintings during his talk. He would have a music video on the screen while he was painting (in like 2 min) these paintings. He used his fingers (Bruce Springsteen’s hair) and spattered paint… really incredible to watch.

Each of us bloggers had to work a 2 hour shift in the Murphy Whrrl booth in the expo hall on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun. Teaching the mangers how to sign up for Whrrl and helping to try to get them to understand how it could help their business. This was my manger Jennifer on the left.  She had been signed up for FB already and I think even signed up for whrrl.. or did it at the airport. But she was all for it and was great to travel down with. We ended up not getting to really see each other much once we were there. It was crazy for both of us.

We had managers signing up via their smart phones, via text on their phones, or by computer. They could also sign up for a Facebook or Twitter account.

Melissa Garcia from the Consumer Queen had several managers recognize her from her picture being on the pumps or her fun Murphy videos.  Ok.. Melissa on the left.  The Red Strike girl on the right.

John Kim from Whrrl was there to help the managers and he also helped me… as usual with my problematic phone.

The managers could win a $50 gas cards and chances to win this autographed  Slash guitar worth over $900 just for signing up and checking into Whrrl.

I took this picture of Casey from Murphy USA with the Slash guitar and then posted it to Whrrl.  The screen it came up on was just outside the booth in the expo hall.

We had time to go and check out the rest of the expo hall. It was really huge and there were a lot of fun things to do. Wii games were set up, prizes to win… hippies to see

Mars candy and Wrigley’s were there in a both together. Neither of them knew much at all about social media or how it could help their business.  Melissa and I talked to them about it and told them bloggers would love to work with them!

I mean.. really? Who doesn’t love M&M’s?  They had a new candy bar for us to try, actually 2.  There was the new 3 Musketeers Truffle Crisp and the Peanut Butter Snickers.

Here is my verdict.  Loved the 3 Musketeers.  I was actually surprised. Well… I mean I love # Musketeers anyway, but when I first broke it in half. It didn’t seem gooey and it almost seemed… well…boring inside. But… I took a bite and it was so light and it was like the chocolate was so creamy and just filled the whole taste. I loved it!  It gave you the feeling of Dove chocolate (not sure if I should say that or not… but that chocolate is about my favorite.. so it is a big compliment) creamy and light… oh… I WILL be buying more of these. Just not in high numbers since I have really been trying to not eat as many sweets.

I tried 1/2 of the Snickers bar. It was actually in 2 square pieces, so unlike a normal Snickers. I ate half on the plane on the way home and was saving the other half to take a picture of when we got home. But …. my dog found it first in my purse. Oh yeah.. nice.  It was good… the peanut butter wasn’t over powering. But do I think I would pick it over a traditional Snickers… no, probably not. I love the regular Snickers too much.

Here are the 2 reps that were in the booth. Nice guys, but they need to realize how social media can  help them!

Wrigley was giving out packs of their new gum – Prism.

There are 15 pieces of sugarless gum in the pack. This was electric watermelon. I will tell you what. The smell of watermelon is strong, you can smell it as soon as you take the wrapper off the box.  The green foil that wraps the piece of gum looked kind of cool too. Different you know? My mouth was watering before I put the piece of gum in. I thought it was really going to be a gum for kids…. sour and all. But it wasn’t. As strong as the smell was, the taste was nice. I mean it was totally watermelon, but not a sour one. It is good… and with just a hint of that gum mint to it after you chew it for a little bit. (does that make sense).  I know the kids will love it, but it is a refreshing favor for adults.

There were ICEE’s there. I love Icee’s! I have always liked the Coke best. They are coming out with Root Beer float and a blueberry one (oops forget the name of it). I tried the root beer. It is awesome! It really tastes like a float. The foaminess of the Icee is just the right consistency.  I do have a new favorite favor.  You will have to watch for them to be released. (Try the root beer!!)

Dr. Pepper was there… giving away guitars and pictures with a couple cute girls.  What did I like? They had diet Dr. Pepper. It is one of my favorites. Really nice people too… also learning about social media and how it could benefit them. (Yes…. I had 2 diet Dr. Peppers that afternoon.. although there were other drinks I could have picked from.)

Are you used to seeing gas pump handles?  I wasn’t.. I thought they were cool.

What about a full size gas semi?  I wanted to get in and see the cab… but I didn’t.

John Andrews from Collective Bias was there. This is who these people need to talk to about social Media.. he knows first hand how the power of bloggers and social media can benefit the Brands. (That is what Collective Bias is all about)

The announced to the whole group of managers that they were taking us all to Disney World on Monday evening. That was about 3:30 and we had about 45 minutes to get ready to be on the buses.

I got to have dinner with the Collective Bias team that was there, Jerra and John and also with Casey from Murphy USA and John Kim from Whrrl. Also Kerry and Kristine from Nomadic were there.

Us bloggers ran around together at Disney. Mel Lockcuff from MamaBuzz and Leigh Caldwell from Theme Park Mom

Along with Courtney Solstad from My DFW Mommy and Melissa Garcia from Consumer Queen Jerri Ann from Mom~e~Centric was on the trip but didn’t come to Disney.

Mel introduced us to Dole Whip.. it was good.

I also got a picture with Eeyore. what fun!  I don’t know… I guess there is still kid in all of us!

Jerra from Collective Bias looked so cute with Piglet.

We had a full day on Tuesday and they announced all the Murphy USA Circle of Winners. After that they again surprised everyone with a trip to Sea World. I felt terrible because it was pouring rain, and storming.  But they had rented out half of Sea World and 2 roller coaster (announcing there were 2 coaster got a bigger whoop out of everyone than telling them they were going to Sea World).
I didn’t go. Even if it was beautiful outside, my feet hurt so bad (I’m such a wimp) and I hadn’t had a chance to get work done that I need to get done on my computer. So I took the evening off and had a wonderful dinner with Mel and Leigh..and then went back to my room and relaxed.

Thanks so much Murphy USA, Collective Bias and Whrrl.. it was great fun!

Disclosure: My trip was sponsored by Murphy USA and Collective Bias.

Reflections of 2011

This Has Been An Awesome Year!

I want to look back at some of the highlights of this year. Although I don’t really have an event or pictures for it, the biggest highlight has been that we are all healthy and happy.  To have ten members of your immediate family there can always be so many things that can happen.  Knock on wood, but we have all been safe and without any serious illnesses.  For that we are TRULY BLESSED!

January

I was asked to go to Disney World with Collective Bias and Murphy USA to attend their National Managers Meeting. They wanted some bloggers who could assist in teaching some of their managers the value of social media, namely Whrrl (which is unfortunately no longer available). I had an awesome time!

February

My two oldest boys graduated from Army boot camp. They both joined the National Guard and had just completed the toughest training they had ever experienced. They  both came through with flying colors and I was the proudest Mom ever! They went on to San Antonio where they went through training to become lab techs. Talk about basically a medical degree in 6 easy months! Wow…. this was intense. They graduated from there in August and are now serving 6 months in an internship working and learning and still taking tests at Fort Campbell, KY (until March 2012)

March

I returned to Disney World, but this time with Disney Social Media Moms. ( Day 1 , Day 2, & Day 3 posts ) I had SO wanted to take the kids with me this year. I signed them up, but when it came down to actually getting the plane tickets, we just couldn’t spend the money.   I of course still had a wonderful time. We got to be a part of a Disney Wedding, oh the magic in a Disney wedding…

 

May

Gleek Retreat

This was my 2nd year attending Gleek Retreat. It was in Holland, MI. I was one of the speakers this year at this small conference.  Being in such a small group is really nice.  We had loads of fun (as always).  This picture was taking on a dinner cruise that we got to go on.

Joe gets Married

This was one of my two big shocks this year.  Joe and Fulton had only met about 3 months ago. She was going to be shipped to another location and they decided to get married. Turned out that they sent her back to San Antonio after just a week and they did get to spend some time together. But it has been very difficult for them as even then, they were both in their barricks and not able to be a couple unless they went off base on the weekends. Then she was shipped to Ft. Lee, VA and he went to Ft. Campbell, KY. They thought they would get to stay together, but because she is active and he is National Guard, the Army rule didn’t apply to them.  They won’t be able to be together until March when Joe graduates.

Tim’s Graduation

Tim graduated from HS this month. He had an awesome senior year and really poured it on with his grades this year. We had a small family graduation party at the house afterwards. This is a picture of my Dad (80 yrs young) and Tim.

 

Here is a video I made for his graduation party

 

June

Family Vacation

We stayed close by and got some great opportunities to review some fun places due to my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog.  The favorite for all of us was getting to do the Canopy Tour in Hocking Hills. Alex doesn’t look too happy in this picture, but it is because he didn’t want to lean out over the edge (we were high up here, although you can’t tell from this picture). The guide was making them do it to trust the their lines.

Here is a video I made of our canopy tour

Collective Bias Job

While we were at the Columbus Zoo, riding on the train I got a call from Courtney Velasquez.  She offered me a job working with Ted Rubin helping to manage a new division they named cbSocially.  I was in shock.  I had worked as a member of Social Fabric with CB for almost two years, but had been doing less with them lately and was trying to figure out where I was going to go from there. I was scared to get excited, fearing things were going to fall through.  I was jumping up and down in my head, but I think I came across as very subdued on the phone.  It has turned out to be nothing but absolutely wonderful!  I started off as a consultant and was officially employed by Collective Bias in September. Can’t imagine a better job! I get to work in social media with my “CB Family” from home.

Type A Parent Conference

This is the 3rd Type A conference I have been to.  I drove to NC with Debba from Girlfriendology. It was fun having someone to talk to on this trip. Getting to see all my social media friends is always great. We talk online, but getting to see each other in person is always fun. You can’t beat a real life hug!  Here I am with Kim from CraftyMamaof4 and Debba.

 

Bentonville, Arkansas

Visiting the corporate office of Collective Bias for the first time.  I got to be there for their official ribbon cutting of their new location (which they have already outgrown!)  I’m not in the picture, because I’m taking the picture, but the Mayor of Bentonville Bella Vista is there in the red tie. John Andrews and Amy Callahan are holding the scissors.

July

Joe & Fulton visit

I was glad to get to meet my new daughter in law for the first time. She and Joe were so cute together, and I’ve never seen my son happier.

Evo

I was so excited to go back to EVO conference which is in Utah! It is just so beautiful there! As I was riding up the ski lifts looking all around, I was determined to bring at least my husband next year, if not the kids too.  I’m working on it for 2012!

August

Blogher in LA

I loved the weather in LA and the non-hectic pace! I had never been to LA before and really enjoyed it.  I was photographer for CB for our big Cheap Sally party we helped sponsor.

I think this was the first time that I went to a conference and really didn’t attend much of the conference, or parties. I was working while I was there. I had been putting in bunches of hours 80-90 per week on my job with cbsocially helping to get it off the ground.  But I still had a great time!

Here I am with Courtney Velasquez and Kim Janocko from CB.

October

Drive my Dad to VA to see my Sister

I have become my Dad’s official chauffeur to see my sis. I took him last year and he talked about going this year before we had even left there last year! My brother came this year also and we all had an awesome time.

November

Dave and I celebrate our 5th Anniversary

We went to Colorado to celebrate. Dave had been stationed out there when he was in the service and has always talked about and loved Colorado Springs. I found an awesome cabin to rent not far from that. It was so beautiful. I didn’t think we would have any problem with the altitude, since I was fine in UT, but I didn’t consider that the difference between 6,000 feet and 9,000 feet would make that much difference. Well it did. We both had problems with headaches and not feeling well, even though we were downing the water. But other than that, it was a great few days.

 

Thanksgiving

I got to have most of my family home for Thanksgiving.  Drew (striped shirt) came home from Ft. Campbell and my other son John (blue shirt to my left) came home from Lexington KY.  Joe went to VA to spend time with Fulton, so they weren’t able to make it.

December

Christmas

I did get to have all my kids home, but not at the same time.  Joe came from Dec. 19 – 22. He then went to VA to see his wife since she was unable to go further than 250 miles away from base (she was out of leave time). Drew my other son in the military came in on the 22nd, just in time for Tim’s 19th birthday. So the group in the picture above was the group we had home for our Christmas.

We celebrated Christmas eve on Friday December 23rd and our Christmas morning on the 24th. Then the triplets and Dave’s Drew went to their mom’s and my three boys went to see their Dad who was in town. But we had an awesome time.

I’m excited for 2012, and pray that it can be as wonderful as this year has been.  I don’t want to take any of it for granted.  I pray for healthy, safety and wise decision making for my entire family. Lord willing, I’ll be recapping 2012 with just as much joy and happiness.

 

 

 

Disney Social Media Moms Conference #DisneySMMoms

I was lucky enough to be able to go to the most sought after conference of the year. The Disney Social Media Moms Conference in Disney World!

I wanted to bring the family in the worse way this year. But after doing the finances and seeing what it would cost us all to fly here, and eat and stay at least 1 more night (in a less extravagant hotel), we realized we just couldn’t swing it. Ugh!

So I came by myself and Zippy Sandler from Champagne Living is going to meet me here tomorrow and have fun with me and the rest of the gang.

I got in today (March 17th) and came to the Grand Floridian Resort. omg! This place is beauuuttiiful!

This has always been one that I have seen when I have been to Disney and thought to myself, wow…. I’d love to stay there!  lol (yippee!)

Look at the view from my room!

Then out on the balcony

I got a short nap in, but long enough to miss the beginning welcome reception that took place before the presentation.

Off to the Wedding Pavilion I went.  We were given Minnie Bride Ears (loved that!) and got to go into the place where Disney Magical Dream Weddings take place.

There were brides everywhere!

We got to hear the Vice President of Alfred Angelo Wedding Dresses; Michael Shettel speak.  Then we got to see the new Cinderella inspired wedding gown. (although because of where I was sitting, I didn’t get any good shots of the dress.

Look at all the cameras us Social Media Moms have! lol

Walking back with Michael Shettel

We got to hear from Carley Roney from www.TheKnot.com and we also got to see and hear David Tutera from a show called My Fair Wedding. (I’m going to have to find that and watch it now!)

Then we got to witness a vow renewal from a couple that was married here 2 years ago.  She had always wanted a Disney wedding in this chapel ever since she was a girl and saw it looking down from the monorail.

But it wasn’t just any wedding vow renewal. This was a “flashmob” kind of wedding, with dancing down the aisle!

Here comes the bride

It was fun watching a real life wedding.

What I loved was the Cinderella carriage picking them up. How cool!

Wouldn’t this be fun?

Here they go (after fireworks as they came out of the pavilion)

This event was being run my Fronk the Wedding planner and his assistant

Then we were off to dinner on the Grand Floridian lawn.  It was so beautiful there. The families were invited to this event.

So guess who was there for them to see and take pictures with? And those of us who didn’t get to bring our kids…. got to be kids too!

I took this picture of Goofy for my Z. He likes Goofy!

Kim @craftyMamaof4 and I

Here were just a couple pictures I took of the table decorations.

They were just so pretty

Thanks so much Grand Floridian for hosting such a wonderful event!

Sandy’s Blog Summary Friday

For my Blog Summary Friday… there isn’t going to be a lot this week!  There were a couple posts I had planned and ended up not getting up on my sites. Tuesday and Wednesday morning I worked on a project that was unexpected (but fun) that took me 17 hours to complete… then yesterday I was gone all day at a couple meetings with Brands here in Columbus.

Did you see my blog remodels?  My great blog designer Revka from Berries and Cream Blog Design did it for me.  (My affiliate button for her is on my right sidebar) but that isn’t why I am telling you she did a great job… I mean really…look at my cool Organize and Chat sites blog redesigns!

Also notice the cool Twitter/FB buttons on my Explore Ohio site. Kim from Craftymamaof4 has started a blog designing company too. She is also going to make me buttons for my Chat site and this site.  My Chat site they are going to be pink coffee mugs and my Organize site I think they are going to be post it notes. (hee hee…fun!)

Explore Ohio with Sandy

I’m really bummed I only got one post done for my Explore Ohio site.  I’m going to hopefully get another one posted today. These posts with the videos take me the longest of any of them to do.

Sept 13 Ohio Caverns in West Liberty, OH

Chat with Sandy

Sept 10  Win a Trip to Disney

Sept 13  Lose-a-Polooza with Weight Watchers

Sept 14  Click it For Breast Cancer Twitter Party

This event is actually taking place today at 1pm cst or 2pm est! So watch for it on Twitter and join the link in the post to rsvp for some great prizes!!

Hopefully I will catch up this week. As you can see… all the best laid plans sometimes change.  Next week I will be heading to Type A Mom Conference in NC and I can’t wait!

Give a Day – Get a Disney Day

Give a Day – Get a Disney Day Promotion

We were really excited to see what was in store for us this morning. We knew it was geared around the “Give a Day – Get a Disney Day” promotion.

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Disney Social Media Mom’s event in Orland Florida at Disney World.  Our first morning there we were given a very nice breakfast and got to hear a great speaker, Guy Kawasaki.

From there we were walked over to another part of Disney Epcot (and for Florida it was a cold walk).  We were ushered into a huge room with a balloon filled stage and hundreds of chairs set up.  Yeah….we were here! To learn more about the Give a Day – Get a Disney Day There was all kinds of media in the back and cameras. The middle section was empty at that point and the Social Media Mom’s (us) had sections just for us.

They brought in a family from every state (except 2 that got held up by the winter storms) to represent the volunteerism that has been taking place. Disney started a promotion this year that you can give a day of service at participating places and get a free Disney park pass in return. Their hope was to get 1,000,000 participants and just 6 weeks in they have had 600,000 participants! Better than they ever expected. I think that is great. I knew someone who signed up at our local zoo to help take down Christmas lights. The projects don’t have to be big and scary. One of the points they kept making over the couple days we were there is how much better you feel and how just giving a day of service somewhere benefits not only those that you are helping….but it benefits you.

There are enough cans here to make up 70,000 meals for people who need them. Wow…is that fantastic. They then used many volunteers after this presentation was over to pack up the cans into boxes to take to those needy people.

They were colorful, decorative and had a message:

They really decorated and had the Volunteer theme going all around. Great

How can you help?  Check out the Disney site and see how you can also Give a Day – Get a Disney Day yourself!

If you liked that, maybe you would like to see this also:

Disney Social Media Moms

Disney Social Media Moms Conference

Thoughts on the Disney Social Media Moms Conference

As I write this post I am sitting in the Orlando airport waiting to board my flight home from the Disney Social Media Moms Conference and I am reflecting on how much I got from it.  I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it due to the weather and some other factors…and after missing my initial “great flight that would have had me there by noon” I spent 12 hours getting to Orlando and got into my room about 11:30 pm this last Wednesday.  But it was worth it.  Getting home is another story since I had one of my “old lady brain farts” when I scheduled my trip and instead of arranging my flight for Saturday the 13th at 7:30pm I scheduled it for Sunday Feb 14 at 7:30pm. (Yes…Valentines day). I changed that flight so that I at least get home by 10pm instead of 11:30pm tonight. Just because I’m an organizer doesn’t mean I don’t mess things up. (for sure)

Guy Kawasaki giving his presentation

Guy Kawasaki – Founding partner of Garage Technology Venture & Co-founder of Alltop.com

Our first speaker of the trip was Guy Kawasaki. He gave me some new insights on twitter.   He discussed twitter  and how he uses it and how we can best use it to further our businesses.  He shared that he was originally against it, not caring that “Jimmy was drinking his coffee” , but realized that it can be an invaluable tool in your business.  Some of the tips that I gained from listening to Guy was that we should tweet out 4  times each thing we tweet.  He schedules them about 6-8 hours apart so that he doesn’t lose page views.  He states that more than 4 times is too much, but less than that we are losing valuable page views.  He also doesn’t tweet what he is doing during the day and he is not talking about tweeting out responses to people 4 times.  He is constantly searching for information that others will find interesting and informing us of that on which is linked to his All Top Site which of course then brings him more traffic.  The site is a pure meca of information!  He also stated that we need to have a tweeter-feed. So that each time we post something new…it shows up on twitter. (I need to do that)

Maxine Clark founder of Build a Bear

Maxine Clark – Founder and Chairman of Build a Bear

Maxine if my new idol I think.  She is the founder and chairman of Build A Bear. She shared with us how she has a love of bears and how much her bear meant to her as a child. Persevering and believing in your dreams and working to achieve them was her message.  She was truly amazing. She told us about her 2nd customer and how neat it was that a boy can get a Teddy Bear and dress it up in Army gear and it’s acceptable for him to get that and be a kid too.  She has kept in contact with these people. She listened to a little girl in Canada who e-mailed her and told her she would like a Build a Bear store in her town and why. That little girl was at that store on opening day along with Maxine. How cool is that?  She manages her own Twitter account, e-mail account and answers people back. She is a very busy running a Build a Bear empire….but she still has time to talk to her customers and friends…she is real. She is a gem.

Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan – Eleven year veteran of Social media and Author of Trust Agents

To be honest I was excited to listen to Chris Brogan at our conference, but I didn’t know how entertaining  he would be. When I saw him at Blog World speak….he was on a panel with a few other people and no offense at all….he didn’t really get to “shine” like he did when he was on his own. I didn’t expect to be laughing as hard as I was. But he also passed on some really great information to us. Listening….Connecting…Publishing… The 3 pieces to Social Media that Chris spoke to us about and the importance of them.

Marissa Jaret Winkour

Marissa Jaret Winkour – Tony Award winning Broadway Actress and Veteran of Dancing with the Stars

You may remember Marissa on Dancing with the Stars. I never saw her in Hairspray the Broadway play she won her Tony for.  Since she was on Dancing with the Stars she has dyed her hair blond and lost a lot of weight and has a son. She told us she was due to have a baby 2 months after she was on Dancing with the Stars. She shared that she was a cancer survivor and before she under went her treatments she froze some eggs and her surrogate was 7 months pregnant with her child. She then went on to tell us about her life as a actress with a baby and how difficult it was.

Kathy Ireland – Surprise guest appearance

Kathy Ireland was not on our programs and we didn’t know she was going to speak to us. She came out looking beautiful as ever. She told us about her work ethics and a business she began going bankrupt, her 22 year marriage and her new book about daily devotionals due to come out soon. (She didn’t push her book, I think someone knew about it and asked her the question…and she answered)

Maryellen Hooper absolutely cracked me up.

Maryellen Hooper – Veteran in the world of Stand-up Comedy

I can’t tell you how hard I laughed. She was cracking me up.  Her act was about motherhood and life as a wife. She has a blog called  Stinky Flowers that you will have to go visit. You will have to get her DVD…she is really entertaining.

Disclosure:  I was not sponsored to go to Disney Social Media Moms conference.  I paid for the conference on my own. We did however get a discounted rate on the conference, our room and Disney tickets, and some of my meals as that was part of the conference package I purchased. I was not asked to blog on it, so any blogs or pictures I post are because I have chosen to do so.

BlogHer

(I saw this on a couple of blogs and loved the idea…so I did steal the idea of taking a picture of all the business cards. I know I was excited to see mine in someone else’s pile….so look for yours and leave me a comment if you see it!!)

I have so many thank yous to everyone at BlogHer. Thanks yous for putting it on , thank yous for coming up to me and saying you recognized me (those were the coolest!), thank yous for being the first person to introduce yourself in line at the hotel (@mom101), for asking me to sit down and eat lunch with you and your daughter that first day (@Mamacita) my roommate who gave up her free room to help me out since I had 2 people back out on me. (@Military_Mom) A big thank you for helping me feel comfortable in an uncomfortable place and for being nothing but nice to me (@craftymamaof4). I have big thank yous for these two Walmart 11 Moms for treating me as an equal although in the blogging world we are no where close (@mommybrain and  @consumerqueen). Thank you to all the sponsors for all the fun swag they gave us and sponsoring all the parties and food and drinks. I feel I learned so much although I wasn’t able to make it to hardly any sessions. (that is crazy isn’t it?)
Thank you to the Label Daddy team for asking me to eat breakfast with them at the Newbie Breakfast.
Thank you to Annalisa from GM for discussing the GM cars and organizational features for a possible review with me.

Thank you to John Andrews from Collective Bias and who started Walmart Eleven Moms for talking to me. I had never been able to meet you and was thrilled to realize how down to earth and nice you really were!
I will be anxious to see the video I made about how wonderful my husband is…although I stumbled through it. Your team was awesome to talk to at BowlHer.
It was a pleasure to meet Ted Rubin.
Denise from Brother was great to talk to and I look forward to working with you in the future.

I was thrilled to meet so many people that I see and talk to online IRL (in real life…I thought I would translate for a few like me who were slow to figure that one out)

To the Sponsors that I have pictures for…and this is such a small portion of you. But Thank you for all you did. Thank you for talking to us about your Brands and how we can help each other in this economy. Thank you for coming out to BlogHer and making it so much fun.
I especially want to thank my sponsors for helping to get me to BlogHer.
The Sock Sacks are a great way to organize your socks in the washer/dryer. LOL Kids and adults both will put their dirty socks in their own sock sack. Then you simply put your sock sack into the washer then the dryer…bring them out and NO SORTING! No more lost socks in the wash/dry cycles. I love them! Thanks Sock Sacks for helping me to be able to go.
The pouchee purse organizer is my other sponsor (well…that would be me, but I sponsored myself! LOL ) I did not make this purse organizer (I wish I did) but I do sell them because I am sold on how wonderful they are at keeping your purse organized.

My daughter was thrilled with this new Moxie Girlz Doll that we received at BowlHer as part of our Swag. They aren’t coming out until September. My daughter had a blast using the markers and painting the motorcycle and I think her shoes? She was showing me her wonderful art work and was so proud.

The kids ended up with so many fun things….book lights from PBS Kids, also a autographed picture from Nina from The Good Night Show on Sprout, a cute pin from Disney  (plus Disney had wonderful Mickey Mouse ice cream bars that saved me on one of my “I missed lunch” days), Disney also showed us a laptop computer made for kids that has a safe internet environment (Hint..hint…I would love to do a review and giveaway of one of those for you Disney!! ) and bears from Build a Bear, a Mr. Potato Head  from Playschool, coloring books and so much more.
Jump Start was there. It was nice to talk to them as I am going to be doing a review and giveaway for them of one of their programs that my triplets are having a great time using.

Nikon put on a wonderful party and I was thrilled to go.
Pepsico also had drinks for us everywhere!
Tropicana had wonderful and cold juice for us to drink that was lower in calories!
This was the Quaker Oatmeal Smoothie bike! (yummy they were good)
So did you know that Pepsico had more than just Pepsi? I didn’t….they have Tropicana, Quaker Oatmeal, Frito-lay, Gatorade Brands. See what you can learn at BlogHer? LOL

Michelin Tires was there with the Michelin Man!

The Swiffer company had a dress up area (as you can see!) at the SocialLuxe party and it was a riot to watch.
Tide gave us a really cool bounce 4 month dryer bars. I haven’t put it in my dryer to try it yet…but can’t wait. I won’t have to have all those used dryer sheets that want to fall out of the dryer onto the floor floating around any more.
They also had Tim Gunn visit their booth. I didn’t have time to get in line to take a picture with him, so I snapped this one on my way through. I think its funny that it looks like the word bubble is coming out of his mouth. Thanks Tide.
There are many more …I mean many more sponsors…and this post would be way too long to list them all. I just want to give them all a very big Thank you!