Thanks to @alphamummy

I know that I have already posted today - but this afternoon I came across an article from yesterday's Times that fellow attendee Jennifer Howze wrote.

It was a great piece - that summed up BlogHer09 really well.

So a big thanks to Jen for the mention - you can read what she had to say about her BlogHer experience here.

Shhhhh......I haven't told her yet that she features on my crazy CheesburgHerz photo montage - perhaps I'll keep that one to myself!

Stokke News. Kids go Dotty for Sleepi™ Spotty

It has been a good couple of weeks since I bought you any Stokke® news - so here you have it hot off the press once again. New for August across the world you'll be able to get your hands on this lovely new bedding collection.

Made from beautifully soft high grade Egyptian Cotton the new bedding is totally fab. I know that there are going to be lots of people out there saying that they don't have a Stokke® Sleepi™ but that doesn't matter at all. The Stokke® bedding can be used in any nursery and the Spotty comes in pink and blue.

If you'd like a more zen option that the dotty spotty - take a look at the new Classic White, it has beautiful detailing and feels so soft and yummy.

The bedding collection consists of Sleeping bags, cot bumpers, Bedlinnen (pillow and duvet) and also the shaped Sleepi™ cover and will be available from all Stokke® retailers soon.

Whilst I am talking about the new textiles I should also give the Sleepi™ a mention. I love this cot. FunnyGirl had one and loved it from the moment she first went into it. To be honest I didn't think that we would use it past cot size but we so did. Off went the side when she was big enough and then we bought the Junior Bed Kit. At five she has just gone into a big bed but she still loves her Sleepi to bits.

All of my other children had this thing where they went round and round in circles in their cots. We put them down facing one way and in the morning they would be in totally the other direction. FunnyGirl didn't do this once in the five years that she slept in her Sleepi.

She went down easily at night and has always been a fantastic sleeper. There is something about that cot that is calming and welcoming at the same time and it really is something that is built to last.

If you are looking for a crib, that can be used as a cot, a cot bed, junior bed, sofa and two chairs then i challenge you to find anything to match the beautiful Stokke® Sleepi™.

Info at Stokke.com

BlogHer09 round up .. some great blogs to read.....

In response to the live Q&A over at British Mummy Bloggers yesterday (If you missed it you can view it here) - we had a few people wanting us to suggest blogs to have a look at, here are a few yo get you started. I do still have a huge pile of business cards to go through as I came home with about 300, so I will keep updating as I go through them!

Here are a few perspectives of BlogHer.

This post from Charming and Delightful sums it up exactly for me. I guess that there were lots of us walking around feeling that we were totally out of our comfort zone but too scared to admit it.

Another interesting point. Does having 10,000 Twitter followers make you an expert? Stephanie Bam Bam thinks not.

BlogHer09 from a founders perspective.

An interesting round up from the Chicago Tribune.

A post from the best session at BlogHer - blogging through pain. The women on this panel were an inspiration to the whole room. Six Until Me

An ode to BlogHer from a man's point of view, and he wasn't even there in person! TellingDad.

But the true encapsulation of the whole conference doesn't come any better than the Community Key Note speeches. It gives blogs a whole new meaning when they are read aloud with the raw emotion of the original author. The 21 bloggers had us laughing and crying in equal measure. It was an emotional ride for the room packed with over 1000 attendees. If you only read a couple from the 21 listed then these are my top picks. If you want to laugh read my new buddie Danielle's post and if you would like to capture a bit of that raw BlogHer emotion have a read of this from State of Grace.

And finally... I should have added this earlier, but it slipped my bedraggled mind. This is a great post by fellow UK blogger Sandy Calico that was inspired by me enquiring about others blog life balance.

Enjoy

BlogHer09 round up

I have just about settled back in at home. The last couple of days have been a bit of a whirl as I arrived back in the UK and had to go pretty much back to work.

I have taken a couple of days to digest everything that I saw and heard whilst over in Chicago and I must say that the whole event was one big roller coaster ride.

I was so excited about going to the conference and I had no idea what to expect when I got there. I did the full three days including the Business BlogHer session on the Thursday. I found this really interesting but the case studies that were highlighted as successful campaigns were so individual that it's difficult to take any ideas that you could incorporate into your own projects. But I met some really great people including Bridget Brennan author of Why She Buys who was great company throughout the conference (even if she did make me eat re fried bean stodge for lunch).

So what did I come away from BlogHer with (apart from a hangover and the lingering reek of Cheeseburgers)?

I have been sitting on answering this since I came home. I thought that if I sat back and let it digest I would be able to say I have come away with x, y & z - but it hasn't worked out like that. I do however feel a pressure to come forth with lots of forward thinking ideas but if I am totally honest what I came away with was more of a gut feeling, that I am on the right path. That I know what I am doing in the social media arena and that I should have more confidence in my abilities. Not just in the blogosphere but in all avenues of my life.

I met some beautiful people, each one with amazing inspirational stories to tell. Some that I will keep in touch with and others that I will not. One totally amazing thing is that in an environment packed with over 1500 women the vibe was really friendly. If you sat down alone a group would quickly gather around you likewise if you chose to join a group you were welcomed with open arms.

I am thrilled to be one of social media's early adopters and for the first time in my life I feel like I am at the forefront of a revolution. It excites me to see where this will lead me personally and professionally as the UK market tries to catch up with what has been the norm over in the US for years.

The social media revolution is huge over there - it has to be for global brands such as Pepsico and Johnson & Johnson to see the importance in sponsoring a Women's Blogging conference. They see the importance in being able to tap into their key target consumers for what it is - essential.

I missed my family dearly and them me. When I came home I felt such a surge of love that can only be felt by absence so another thing that I have learnt is that I shouldn't take those close to me for granted.

You may want to take a look at the pages of some of the lovely people that I met. Knotty Yarn, Grasping for Objectivity, Moosh in Indy, Chronic Babe, Advocation me, and the lovely Tim Gunn - who is so nice. He signed a pic for my hubby!

And finally I have learnt that the American's love the word Awsome! On Saturday I decided to count just how many times I heard it and by the time I passed out from an OD on cocktails courtesy of Knotty Yarn the count was nearly at 700! Awsome!

I will add a list of good stuff to look at later on today. I wanted to get this post wrapped before we did the live chat on BMB. If you were there, thanks for joining us. If you have any more questions about BlogHer and what i got out of it, please leave a comment and I will come back to you.

DinoBoy Reviews Gulliver's Kingdom

Whilst Mummy was in Chicago at her BlogHer09 conference Daddy took us to Gulliver's Kingdom for a day out. We don't usually do things without Mum - so that was a bit odd but we had a really good time.

The best ride was the Junior Drop Tower which is a ride that takes you up really high and then just drops you down.

When we first got on it I was really excited then it dropped about 5ft and my tummy went funny inside - urghhhhh.....

It was just ModelGirl and me at first, FunnyGirl was scared but came on when she saw us having such good fun. She screamed loads and daddy told her to stop!!

We had a go on the fire engines which I really liked. I was playing with the hose and when I lifted it up the water ran straight down my sleeve into my top and left me with a big cold wet patch on my side! We did manage to put out a big fire though.

I really wanted to go on the Log Flume - but no one else did. I talked the girls into it but dad said NO WAY! But we begged and begged and begged and finally gave in (I think that he only did that so we would shut up!).

I sat at the front, then ModelGirl, FunnyGirl and Daddy at the back. FunnyGirl and Daddy got soaked - we thought that was hilarious - but Daddy didn't! He wouldn't take us on a second time because he was too wet.

Then we went over to the Princess Play area where the girls dressed up like princesses - they really liked doing that, Dad and I hung around taking pictures of them.

For lunch we had kids meals - we all had chips and sausage. The meals were big, but I ate all mine - if you know me, you know that isn't a surprise. (I did feel a bit sick afterwards but I didn't tell Dad. Good job we didn't go on anything swirly or there might have been trouble!)

After lunch we went on the Big Wheel. At the top you could see the entire park - it was a really good view. Then we went into the Mini Maze, I was obviously the first one to make it to the middle - the girls got a bit lost because they went the wrong way. I had to be a hero brother and rescue them. I was being totally nice and got them back out again - I could have left them but I that would have been mean.

We went on the Jungle River Boat three times. That was so much fun. The ModelGirl went on a big carousel swing all by herself, she said it was not scary at all.

I really wanted to go on the Bumper Cars but i wasn't tall enough to go on my own unfortunately and Dad had to look after the girls. Next time when Mum is with us I'll be able to do it with her, or maybe I will have grown that extra millimeter by then!

We had a really good day at Gulliver's, but we had to leave to get home to let our dog out. There are lots of other fun things that we didn't make it to like the Dinosaur Eco Farm park. I would really like to go back so that we can visit them. After all I am DinoBoy!

We visited Gulliver's Kingdom Milton Keynes.