Average Jane Goes to Chicago

Written by

Man, I'm having fun already! I flew into town on Wednesday with Rita Arens and we took the train from the airport downtown. After a quick stop for lunch at Potbelly, we cabbed it to the hotel and checked in.

Rita went off to chat with Lisa Stone and I walked down the street until I found a place to get a pedicure (and, I eventually decided, a manicure). Rita and I decided to stroll down to the Navy Pier after I caught up with them again. Once dinnertime rolled around, we gathered a bunch of dinner companions and had Mexican food and delicious margaritas at Adobo Grill.

On Thursday morning, I looked around for breakfast companions and eventually ended up attaching myself to a random group going to West Egg Cafe. I'd already had a protein bar by then, so I just had coffee.

BlogHer Business was next on my agenda. I took notes and got some value from it, but there just wasn't enough time to discuss any of the case studies in depth.

Last night, the parties started. I never made it over to the SocialLuxe Lounge at the Hyatt because it was raining when BlogHer Business let out. However, I did go to the BlogHer Business reception, the People's Party and the Room 704 party. Somehow in that span I also managed to grab a quiet dinner on the waterfront with Liz Rizzo and Gena Haskett.

Our additional two roommates, Kelli and Blondie also caught up with us yesterday evening. We all made it back to the room around midnight, but there was a certain amount of giggling and goofiness that ensued before everyone turned in. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep long before the lights went out.

I woke up today at 6:35 a.m. the way I always do. I still have some time to kill before the conference kicks off, but I'm going to use part of it taking the immense swag bag back to the room and dropping off my laptop. I also still need to track down Blaugra, Tom Guariello and Laurie Ruettimann. I know they're here somewhere.

More stories and pictures to follow. If you're at BlogHer and you're looking for me, I'm wearing my Average Jane t-shirt today, as well as my scrolling LED name badge, which I understand is very attention-getting. Come up and say "hi"!

Comments

11 responses to “Average Jane Goes to Chicago”

July 24, 2009

Deb

Thanks for the update! Wish I could be there with you!

Reply
July 24, 2009

Keith

I can tell from your tweets that you’re having fun you little tinker.

Reply
July 24, 2009

Maureen at IslandRoar

Aw, I’m jealous.
Have a fun time and keep us posted!

Reply
July 24, 2009

monkey

I LOVE Potbelly. It’s a really really really good thing they only opened it in Chambana the week that I graduated, because I think 3 years of munching on it and they would have had to roll me out of town. I still got my quota in flying in and out of Midway, though.

Reply
July 27, 2009

Barb

I am so jealous that you had a chance to enjoy Chicago. The only time I really left the hotel was to ride in the weinermobile and walk to bowlher. I am going early next year to see NYC 🙂
@chaotic_barb

Reply
July 28, 2009

thatgirlblogs

you’re home now, so post away! can’t wait to hear allll about it.

Reply
July 29, 2009

Keith

Looking forward to your pics on Flickr. I just can’t hack it with Face Buck any more.

Reply
July 31, 2009

Elizabeth Johnston

Great Blog! Enjoy our city – check out Rockits and Decero if you get a chance.

Reply
July 31, 2009

Danielle

Celeste, it was so much fun to meet you. I sincerely hope that you’ll be at the conference in NYC next year – I definitely want to buy you a beer and have a much longer chat. 🙂

Reply
August 1, 2009

Sandy – Organize with Sandy

It was great to meet you and yes your scrolling red name tag did stand out. I think at Bowlher I saw you without it and wasn’t positive if it was you because it wasn’t there. LOL

Reply
August 1, 2009

thatgirlblogs

so, we need the deets now…

Reply