My experience at BlogHer this year was very different than last year.  Since I live in Manhattan and BlogHer was held in New York this year, I didn't get a hotel room at the Hilton. I also took very few pictures this year -- of others and with others.

And although I had a full conference pass last year while at BlogHer in Chicago, I opted to purchase an expo hall/party only pass at the last minute for this year's BlogHer conference. It was a wise choice for me as I only went to one session last year.

Parties, Suites and Events:

I was RSVPed for quite a few parties. But even with the best intentions you cannot make every party. I found myself at home every night long before the 10PM parties started. And this year I missed CheeseburgHer, Sparklecorn, Aiming Low and The Mouthy Housewives. 

At the Hilton, I visited the Hersheys, Edelman, Firefox, MyBlogSpark, Serenity suites. 

And I got a chance to attend some parties and off site events -

Hanes was great because once again I found out my new bra size while catching up with Vera, Audrey, Colleen, Melissa and Dana at Nikki Beach. The wine glasses in the gift bag were so cute I drank water from them until my guy put them in the dishwasher causing them to look a bit deformed.

 ^{(photo courtesy Secret Agent Mama)}

We headed over to Social Luxe in a cab and got there early enough to not worry about the line that we later heard formed. It was ridiculously cold in Arena but chatting with Heather Thompson of Yummie Tummie (thanks to Stefania) and noshing on Moroccan chicken and goat cheese tarts with friends we spotted was nice. This year I didn't have to give out an award so it was truly just a relax and chat with familiar faces type of evening.

I headed over to Schick Intuition KISS with Dana and sat right in front of Gavin DeGraw at their private concert at Stone Rose in the Time Warner Center. Gavin DeGraw was wonderful. I wished he played a longer set. But I'm pretty sure it was a highlight of my summer. 

^{(photo courtesy Secret Agent Mama)}

The next day I headed over to the Warwick for the Getting Gorgeous event hosted by Vera and Audrey . I love supporting friends with what they have happening so I went to the first session. I met Audrey's mom Sharon, caught up with her sister Jane and talked with Vera's husband Bill for a bit before going around and looking at the various vendors.

Across from Getting Gorgeous was the Mom Select room where Maria Bailey hosted an event for brands. The Build a Bear teddy I got from her room is sitting on my bedroom dresser. Thankfully none of my children tried to claim it.

I met up with my guy and the kids for a private Toys R Us event complete with a ferris wheel ride. The party bag they handed us had toys for each of the kids and a Geoffrey doll for me. (What Bob it wasn't for me? Shhhh... don't tell.)

Another event I brought the kids to was #TasteLoews which was hosted by Carol at the Loews Regency near our apartment. The executive chef made us braised short ribs over a potato pancake that Natalie and I enjoyed a little too much. Luke was busy in the kids Fisher Price play area the Loews hotel was promoting.

Expo:

The expo floor this year was much larger than the one in Chicago. I won a $100 gift card at the HauteLook booth and ate a sandwich from the Hilshire Farms area even after Padma Lashmi cut me off at the escalator. I filled up my water bottle thanks to Pur and was given a Lightening McQueen lunch box from Mission Tortillas for Luke. The expo area was a nice way to catch up with friends so much of my time spent there was doing just that.

 ^{(photo courtesy Adam Heath Avitable )}

Disclosure: My entire BlogHer 2010 experience was sponsored by me -- just like BlogHer 2009! At many of the events I received complimentary gift bags which made their way home to the delight of the kids.

We had the amazing opportunity to attend the 2010 Jordan Brand Classic at Madison Square Garden which aired on ESPN2.

Each year, the best in high school basketball come to New York City for a East vs. West basketball game that brings out fans who want to see top basketball players before they go to college and then later the NBA.

As someone who pretty much only cared about basketball as a whole during March Madness, the Jordan Brand Classic was a wonderful opportunity for me to experience a different side of basketball -- basketball before players have endorsements and expensive cars.  It was also a very family friendly event as children were seated all throughout the area we were seated.

One of the highlights about going to the Jordan Brand Classic for the first time is the energy that had me immediately saying I want to return next year. And with Miss Nat (my almost seven year old daughter) also enjoying the basketball game, I had a feeling it would easily become one of our family's springtime traditions.