MomReviews

I’m having such a hard time writing BlogHer recaps, because there is so much packed into every single day, and so many people to meet! Since this is a product review blog, how about I tell you about some of the great products I got to try (and bring home!)?

I tried a Wii Fit and FELL IN LOVE. I did the balance test and my score was “unbalanced”, ha! I want one so bad, I pretty much shamelessly BEGGED the Wii PR people to send me one. I don’t know if they will, but I left my business card and I’m keeping all my fingers crossed! They did this whole “Nintendo Enthusiast” dinner cruise and when I heard about it I was like “but…but…our family’s first gaming console was a Gamecube! I kicked ASS at ‘Banjo Kazooie’ and ‘Banjo Tooie’! I’m a NINTENDO ENTHUSIAST!!” Sniff. Guess I need to write more about my love of video games, huh?

I met the wonderful ladies at the Leapfrog table, they were SO nice! I just got a Leapfrog Tag in the mail (thanks Mischa!) and even though the recommended age is 4-8, Kaitlyn is ROCKING at using it! She holds the pen correctly, she touches the right spots on the pages, I’m just thrilled with it. At the Leapfrog table, I also got a peek at the Leapster 2, which connects to your computer and downloads game play data that unlocks extra online games and rewards, plus provides info to the parents about what skills the child is learning. Awesome! And it comes with a DORA game, so I’m thinking birthday gift for Kaitlyn! I also learned about the Leapfrog Didj, which combines game playing with school skills like spelling and math, and has the user earn points they can trade for customizable characters, backgrounds and music. I think Nathan would love one!

I also met the Story Reader people, they were giving demonstrations of Story Reader plus Video, which is SO cool. It’s a portable audio storybook, plus you can plug it in to your TV and use the very easy to use controller to “watch” the story and play games that go along with it. I spotted a My Friends Tigger and Pooh Super Sleuths storybook that Kaitlyn would go nuts for!

Picnik was there, if you use Flickr to upload photos and you’ve ever clicked the “edit this” link, the site you go to is Picnik. I love how easy their photo editing tools are! They gave everyone a free Picnik Premium subscription which gives you advanced photo editing tools plus fonts for adding text to your photos and clipart images too. I can’t wait to play with it! I also snagged an extra subscription card which I will be GIVING AWAY here! And they gave me a very nice blue t-shirt which I happen to be wearing right now.

Oh, speaking of giveaways, remember when I was trying to figure out how to get to BlogHer and I mentioned the “Who’s your BlogHer Hero?” contest? Well, I didn’t win, but they did print up a booklet with interviews with each of the people who did win, and I snagged some of those too. I have four of them, let me know if you want one.

Let’s see, what else? I bought a TON of books, I couldn’t help it, I was there working in the Bookstore all weekend, surrounded by all those great books and meeting all the authors! I’ll have reviews for you shortly of “Half-Assed: A Weight Loss Memoir” by Jennette Fulda, “Straight Up and Dirty” by Stephanie Klein, “No One Cares What You Had for Lunch:100 Ideas for your Blog” by Maggie Mason, “Good Night California” and “Good Night San Francisco” which are adorable children’s board books, “Emily’s Sharing and Caring Book” by Cindy Post Senning and Peggy Post (I met Anna Post! Granddaughter of Emily Post! And she was SO sweet and lovely, I wish we were neighbors and could be friends :).

I also brought home three books from the MomCentral party, they are “The Disorder of Longing”
by Natasha Bauman, “Confessions of a Contractor” by Richard Murphy, and “Comfort Food” by Kate Jacobs. From the Kirtsy/Alltop swag bag I also scored “The Wishing Year: A House, a Man, My Soul A Memoir of Fulfilled Desire” by Noelle Oxenhandler.

PBS Kids and SPROUT were there, I scooped up activity books, a DVD about the new show “Raggs” (SO cute), AND, from a total stranger who will definitely be enjoying good karma for a long time, I scored a Raggs Plush toy! They had a bowl to drop in your business card to win one of the toys, and he got the last one, and all I did is say “hey, you won a Raggs toy, that’s great!” and he turned around and said you know, why don’t you take it? I was all no, no, no and he was all I’m serious, I don’t even have kids, just a baby nephew, he’ll never know the difference, and I was all I LOVE YOU KIND STRANGER.

Speaking of PBS, the most awesomest thing they had at BlogHer this year? The SESAME STREET SUITE. A small room completely decorated to look like the street scene on Sesame Street! And inside, cupcakes frosted to look like Big Bird, Grover, and Abby Cadabby, plus bowls of candy, a computer showing the upcoming redesigned PBS Kids site, a TV showing Leslie Feist singing “1,2,3,4″ on Sesame Street. I got the DVD “Countdown to Sports” starring Bert, Ernie, and Elmo (even Nathan liked it!), walked a few more steps in, and then saw HER:

It’s Abby Cadabby! I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to talk to the puppet or the puppeteer, so I did a bit of both. The lady who does the voice is adorable, of course. I could have reserved a time to make a VIDEO with Abby or with GROVER, but all the slots were taken and I was so busy with the bookstore anyway. But I did snap a photo of the Grover puppeteer, who learned the voice from Frank Oz himself! You can see it on my Flickr page as well.

I’m sure I’ll find more stuff as I go, I’m still rummaging through ziploc bags and tote bags and finding more things that I brought home! It is always a bit overwhelming, more than a bit exhausting, and TOTALLY worth it to go every year. Remember, you DON’T have to be invited to BlogHer, it’s open to everyone (including MEN), you don’t even have to BE a blogger to go! So I hope to see more MomReviews readers there next year, okay?!?!?

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I’m actually writing this post from the Michigan Flyer, a Coach Bus that travels from East Lansing (one city over from where I live) to the Detroit airport and back, it has free WiFi, satellite TV and radio, an outlet for my laptop, and it only cost $25 bucks each way! I’m never driving to the Detroit airport again!

We picked up passengers in Jackson and now we’re on our way to Ann Arbor to pick up a few more, then on to the airport! I leave at 12:17 pm Michigan time and arrive in San Francisco at 2:14 their time, so it’s 4 hours and 57 minutes in the air. I brought my MP3 player and my Sony Digital Reader to pass the time. I bought “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer and “Are you there Vodka? It’s me Chelsea” by Chelsea Handler and downloaded them to the Sony Reader, so I don’t even have to carry books!

Excuse me for a moment, readers, I need to address any of the WONDERFUL companies and PR firms who have recently (or not so recently) sent me products to review or agreed to sponsor a giveaway:

I’M SORRY I AM SO BEHIND. I tried, I really did, I even asked a blog friend to help me get organized and she made me this nifty Google Document Spreadsheet with all the reviews and giveaways listed on it, and it was supposed to have me all caught up. But I just couldn’t keep up with the schedule AND get ready for BlogHer at the same time. I promise, PROMISE you that when I get home, I am going to write every single review and run every single giveaway, and not take on anything new until I am caught up.Thank you all SO MUCH for your patience!

And readers? Please keep reading while I’m gone! My sponsors check my stats pretty regularly, and if unique visits drop way off, they will stop sponsoring, and that will mean less giveaways, so please, stop by, read something from the archives, I would really, REALLY appreciate it!

I’ll be home from BlogHer on Monday morning (plane lands at the unholy hour of FIVE AM, Michigan Flyer bus leaves at 6:25, I’ll be home by 8:30 AM). I’ll work on uploading photos and write some reviews of all the great SWAG we are sure to be getting, and then I’ll check for giveaways that are ending or have already ended and choose those winners.

Thank you all so much, dear readers! Thanks to all of you, MomReviews is a huge hit, and I couldn’t have done it without you. It’s because of you and your support of this blog that I get to do the great giveaways and go on the awesome trips. OH! OH! I forgot to tell you! On Monday, July 27th, I’m going to Cincinnati to meet with the people from PAMPERS at Proctor and Gamble headquarters!! Pampers is the only brand of diapers that didn’t make Kaitlyn break out in a heinous rash, so I can’t wait to tell them how loyal I am to their brand. And I’ll have more great stuff to post here, too!

I should stop writing now, GEEZ. We’re almost to Ann Arbor! Big smooches to everybody, have a great weekend, I’ll try to post a bit from BlogHer!!!!

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