Average Jane Goes to Parties

If you're at all familiar with BlogHer, you know that there are some pretty awesome parties taking place before, during and after the conference. I have to admit that I like the idea of parties better than the reality sometimes, so I tend to take steps to ensure that I don't get overwhelmed by them.

The first one I went to on Thursday evening was at the Martha Stewart publishing empire's offices. They had lovely hors d'oeuvres and drinks and lots of tables set up to demonstrate various crafts and product lines, but there were so many people jammed into a relatively modest loft space that I had to take little wallflower breaks from time to time. 

After that was the People's Party, an official BlogHer event. That was my first big chance to start tracking down people I wanted to see. I was delighted to meet V from Juggling Scarves. We've been reading each others' blogs and following each other on Twitter for some time. I ran into her and her sister several more times throughout the weekend.

The only other private party I went to was on Friday evening after the Voices of the Year Gala. It was a lovely dinner at the Central Park Boat House, sponsored by Nintendo. As in previous years, I went along as Liz's +1.

Here's how we got there from the hotel:

The last big party I went to was on Saturday night: Sparklecorn. Here was this year's cake, made by none other than Charm City Cakes.

Yes, even the unicorn was made of cake. Chocolate, to be precise. Not shown in the photo were the acres of plain sheet cakes on either side. I had a piece that tasted like blueberry.

Sparklecorn was the one time that my roommates and I were all in one place at one time, awake:

I swear I am not flipping them off. I just grabbed my napkin in an unfortunate way.

Because I am the introvert I am, I had most of my best conversations in the foyer outside the party. I popped in and out for several hours, but eventually retreated to the Chill Lounge downstairs to hang out with a small group of bloggers I hadn't talked to yet. Yes, I skipped CheeseburgHer. I probably shouldn't have, but I'd reached my party limit by then.

Tomorrow will be my last New York post. I'll be telling you about the fun things I did before and after the conference. So what have you been up to all this time?