I have many thoughts on the experience at BlogHer. I'm going to revisit it several times this week as I reflect. I have to thank Elisa Camahort, Lisa Stone, Jory Des Jardins, Purvi Shah, and Katrin Verclas for their dedication and inspiration. You have created a monster.

What an amazing weekend! I am just thrilled to have met so many talented, inspirational people, and look forward to the next chance to gather with kindred spirits.

Sleep was impossible to come by in the days heading up to BlogHer. What with all the illness and my husband's business trip, I netted a mere four or five hours of fitful sleep total. I dropped the kids off (for the first time ever overnight!) with my parents, and returned home to tie up loose ends. Finally, with my sanity in shreds, I loaded my suitcase into the minivan and headed to Santa Clara.

As I neared the hotel, I fought a sudden wave of apprehension - what ifs flooded into my mind as I made my way into the lobby. I learned that "I" was already checked in. When I knocked on the door, Meghan answered with a giant smile on her face and all the misgivings flew right out our ninth story window. Jenn arrived a few minutes later, and after much jumping and squealing, we enjoyed a pre-meeting beverage and caught up on the last week's worth of news.

Outside the meeting, I met Our Grace and my crush was validated 9000 times over. She is amazing, as advertised. Donna was also at the meeting, and it was so much fun to meet her!

Arriving at the Friday dinner was overwhelming. 150 excited bloggers make a joyful, if deafening, noise. While eating, I was at a good vantage point to watch the pilgrimage to meet Heather. I never did introduce (intro-dooce?) myself to her. She is a lovely, vunerable woman, and she handled all the attention with grace and style.

The friendships I've made as a blogger are incomprehensible to some of my "real" friends. Sitting in that cacaphoneous restaurant, listening to the musical cadence of the happy attendees and drinking mexican beer with friends, new and old, was a moving experience. Every time I would raise my eyes from my plate, I would get a little zing of recognition. Melissa! Alice! Mrs. Kennedy! Ken! Jen! Amanda!

This was my first meeting with the lovely Jenijen. Girl - you made me smile. PostHipChick also made a huge impression on me.

After dinner, the party continued in the lounge of our hotel. My stomach ached from all the laughing. Finally, Meghan, Jenn and I dragged our carcasses up to our room and collapsed, the start of the big day only a few hours away. Not surprisingly, morning snuck up to our bedsides. When we made our groggy way to Techmart, we found a lively group gathering and hot coffee waiting. Bliss.

Mindy and Mr. X joined our little huddle, and we enjoyed breakfast while waiting for the first session to begin. Mindy is fan-freakin-tastic. Mr. X? We love him.

My single conversation topic seemed to revolve around the diversity of women and men in the building, and how passionate everyone was about their topics of choice.

I'll share my thoughts on the sessions I attended as I get the chance. I will say that opting to gather a birds-of-a-feather group for obscenity in blogs was a great way to step out from under the "mommyblog" banner for a while and hear some interesting takes.

The "mommyblogging" session was lively, fast moving and the participants the most eager to engage and share of all the session I attended all day. Jenn, Meghan and I were thrilled to have so many non-moms participate. We were only able to tackle half the subjects we wanted to address (probably because I went on for five minutes rambling about how I'm not Jennifer Lauck, even though I'm Jennifer Lauck. Hi! It was sort of relevant, just long-winded. Podcast people? Please cut that part out. Thanks.)

I was also gratified to have an Acquisitions Editor for Seal Press in our room - It is exciting to know they are actively seeking mothers to tell their stories - especially the quirky or difficult parts of mothering. For the first time, I felt that our little niche blogs may be tiny voices in the whole of the blogosphere, but like in the restaurant, we make a lot of noise when you put us all together.

While the negative connotations of "mommyblogging" persist, even through the closing remarks of the conference, I feel that our presence did open some eyes and gain some respect for our "identity blogs." That we manage to draw such ire continues to keep the media and other bloggers focused on what we say and how we say it.

I was surprised at the question "Are there DaddyBlogs?" Yes, there are many. But like most of the "mommybloggers" - the stories they tell are the stories of a person - a parent, yes, but a person in their own right. Much of our content is about, well, the author, and their world. Children are part of that world, and compelling subjects.

I arrived home on Sunday afternoon to a houseful of peaceful but green snot trailing children and a frisky husband (Hey, baby!) It seems that everyone survived the weekend without me, underscoring my suspicion that they just keep me around because I'm pretty cute. Heh.

I had a hard time switching back into "mommy" mode, which tells me that the weekend was a success in pulling me out of my rut. I feel shiny and new, even if I look a little worse for the wear.

So often in the past few years, I have found myself aggressively navel-gazing, seeking affirmation only from my peers. This weekend, my sight was expanded again and again. Wonderful faces. Wonderful words. Wonderful insight into the whys and hows of online writing.

To be continued...