Posts Tagged ‘midway’
Sony Mommy Blogger Event
I am so bad. I have been so busy since I got back, I am finally now writing about this awesome event. I was contacted about this the day before my birthday (I know, what a great birthday present!!!). Sony wanted to talk to 15 mommy bloggers and give us some cameras (I didn’t know this last part till the day before I left for the trip!). All expenses paid trip, how could I say no?
I flew out on April 16th to San Diego. They got me an a flight through Midway (which I seriously needed since Midway is only 15 minutes away and Ohare is about an hour). Sitting in the airport always sucks, but I made due. My plane flight there sucked. A little girl screamed the whole way. This is why I don’t fly with my kids. I am terrified that is going to be me. The mom was by herself, and she walked up and down the aisle for the four and half hour flight. I felt so bad for her.
We then got to San Diego and I had a limo driver waiting for me. He had my name on a sign. It was super cool. I know I’ll never see that again. He took me to the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla (it was about a half hour drive). The hotel was awesome (I’ll be writing about it on my travel blog, so I won’t go into too many details here). Sony had boxes set up in our room (to use to Fed Ex our cameras back). They also had left us headphones for our kids, a rose, and two chocolate candy bars. They obviously know the way to a woman’s heart. We were on our own for Wednesday night (though we did have a $50 certificate to use at the restaurant). I met up with Deanna and Anne Marie , and we went to dinner. I had filet mignon. It was super yummy. It was one of those steaks that you didn’t even have to chew it — it just melted in your mouth.
The next day we had to be at breakfast at 9:00. We had a buffet breakfast (which was awesome). This is the view we had from the room we were in. Beautiful, isn’t it? We spent the first two hours after that introducing ourselves. We then had lunch out in the beautiful sunshine. We were only out there for about an hour eating some of the best food ever and I got sunburned!!! Here’s a list of all the awesome ladies who were there (if you have more blogs that I haven’t listed, let me know and I’ll get them added):
- Ciaran from MommiesWithStyle.com, Celebrity-Babies.com, CarandCaboodle.com
- Jenny from Momminitup.com
- Stacy from MomCentral.com, MomCentralConsulting.com and Mother-Talk.com
- Deanna from DomesticChicky.com, Apronista.com and HappyHousewivesClub.com/hotmama.html
- Kim from InAShoe.com
- Tracey from Sweetney.com, MamaPop.com and RocknRompBaltimore.com
- Erika from PlainJaneMom.com and emomsathome.com
- Heather from TheDomesticDiva.org and idivalicious.com
- Anne-Marie from AMamasRant.com, MyReadableFeast.com, ThisMamacooks.com, The-Write-Spot.com
- Christina from GeekGirlfriends.com and Tynanwood.com
- Amy from Amalah.com, MamaPop.com and Advice Smackdown on AlphaMom.com
- Laura from PaulnLaura.com
- Janice from 5minutesformom.com
After lunch, we got to learn about Sony and the impact of women on their business (Let me tell you, we have a huge impact!!!). We then got to start playing with the cameras we got. Oh wait, I didn’t show you the cameras yet —-
Camera #1: Sony Cybershot
Camera #2: Sony DSLR-A300K
Camera #3 – Handycam HDR-SR10
Yes, Sony gave us all three cameras! They also set aside time for us to work with their trainers so we could learn how to use them!
We then got instruction from photography expert Me Ra Koh. She gave us shooting instruction and tips of how to get specific results. She was really nice and she’s a blogger too!
We then got to go out to the beach and play with the cameras!
We then got a little bit of time to run up to our room and get ready for dinner. I took these pictures from my room!
We then met up with Sony and went to dinner at the Azul Restaurant. I got back to the hotel between 10 – 11 and went to bed.
On Friday, (April 18th), we met again for breakfast. Me Ra took some of our photos and critiqued them for us. She told us how to make our photos better. We then had a presentation from Rocket XL (the advertising agency who helped pull this all together). Us mommy bloggers ended up taking over that session with our opinions and thoughts.
After this session, we were able to do whatever we wanted till we caught our plane. Sony also gave us certificates for the spa, so I went and had a deep tissue massage. I then ate lunch and then had to get on my plane.
And that was my trip to San Diego!
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BlogWorld — Day 1 Morning
I flew into Las Vegas last Thursday morning around 8. (I left Chicago at 6 — had to be at the airport at 4. Yes, that sucked). I was able to get my luggage fairly quickly. What surprised me most about the airport was that they had vending machines for things like Ipods and flowers. Honestly, I have never seen that before. Having used the bathroom in both airports, I have to say the Midway wins hands down (no pun of any kinds intended there). I was able to take a shuttle right away to get over to my hotel. I lucked out — the shuttle was $6 and nobody else was on it, so we went straight to the hotel. Of course, since I was so early, I was not able to check in. However, I was able to leave my luggage there. Oh yeah, when I left Chicago it was a balmy 34 degrees, it was 65 in Vegas. Needless to say, I didn’t need my new leather coat I just bought.
I headed over to BlogWorld since that is why I was in town. Registration was super easy. While I was doing that, I ran into Mr. Fab. The opening speaker was talking, but Mr. Fab said it was pretty boring, so not to rush myself trying to get over there. Instead, we talked shop together until ten when all the booths opened for the trade show. I spent the morning walking around with him. I think I have a picture:
Why, yes I do. This was at the ligit booth I think. (I am going to have to find the sticker they gave me to see if it right). This is one of the few companies that has bothered to contact since the trade show (I’ll leave that for another post). The place looked beautiful. They definitely had some commercial lighting experts with their electrical supplies on hand. (Why would I even notice such a thing? I live with an electrical engineer who points stuff like this out to me in public. Constantly.) Anyway, the place looked good. The thing that surprised me most was that they (the organizers) predicted something like 10,000 people comes to this. There was definitely not 10,000 people there. I spent the morning with Mr. Fab and did run into Christine, Colleen, and her husband too. After meeting with some of the booths, Mr. Fab and decided it was lunch time.
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