#BlogHerFood15

Well, that was fun.

I made it home from my first ever blog conference – BlogHer Food 15 in Chicago! I’ve never had an experience where I was learning so much while meeting so many women while eating SO MUCH FOOD. Instead of a plain ol’ recap, I thought I’d share some of the takeaways I got!

Each day was separated into a general session and then more focused breakout sessions. The breakouts I attended were mostly focused towards the social media aspect of blogging – I’m really going to try and implement what I learned! The rest of the time was filled with sponsor breaks and pretty much nonstop eating. For real, I don’t know if I’ve ever had such fabulous food so readily available to eat.

Here we go!

Bring. A. Bag.

Yes, you get a little burlap bag to hold the swag, but especially if you’re an over-packer like me, bring another bag to hold your stuff to take home. (I think the price of my ticket easily paid for all of this!)

Don’t be shy.

It may seem like everyone already has their own posse and that you’re this weirdo loner, but I promise that there are so many other women right there with you, and probably just as intimidated. Just go and say hi! You never know. You might meet your future BFF.

Also sending a huge shoutout to everyone who looks past the fact that they’re hanging out with a 16-year-old ?

Bring your computer.

I didn’t think I’d have time to use my laptop, but I ended up pulling it out a lot during speakers and in my room at night. You can do the things they’re speaking about right then, and there’s complementary wifi for all attendees!

Get business cards.

Yeah… you need cards. I exchanged so many with bloggers and handed out a ton to the brand reps. I didn’t put a picture on mine and wished I had a headshot on it after seeing others’ cards!

Remember why you’re there.

All of us attendees at the conference have one thing in common: we’re all bloggers. We obviously care enough about our blogs to go, so we are pretty ambitious. Just be thankful that you had the opportunity to attend such a wonderful place!

That didn’t quite go as planned for fitting in the pictures… so I guess I’ll do a short recap!

The ride down took about 7 hours and wasn’t too bad – I finished a book and listened to music. Once we checked into the hotel and brought our bags we found dinner!

I could eat Gino’s crust forever.The next morning I woke up e-a-r-l-y to go to November Project Chicago!!! Just like in San Francisco it was one of my favorite things about the trip. Meeting a ton of people who want to wake up at an ungodly hour to run and workout in the cold? My kind of people.

From there I got ready and had my first day of sessions! And food. So. Much. Food.

I learned a lot about the social media aspect of blogging and am going to try to get better at it. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, I’m lookin’ at you.

Dinner was at California Pizza Kitchen (my first time there!!)

Followed by a stop at Glazed and Infused. I didn’t get to make it to all the doughnut shops I’d have wanted to.. that’ll be my goal next time I’m in Chicago!

And then back to the hotel for karaoke and snacks! If you followed along on my Snapchat story you saw us having some fun ?

I went to the hotel gym the next morning for a quick treadmill run and a couple weights, then had another full day of learning and eating!

I went to a breakout on creating recipe videos – is anyone interesting in me doing those?! I think it’d be awesome but I feel like I would be extremely awkward on camera.

The traditional lunch “excursion” was to Eataly. I had never heard of it before but it’s basically a two story building filled with everything Italian you could imagine. Like, I could live there.

One more breakout and an interview with Sarah Michelle Gellar and then it was time to head out of Chicago! I couldn’t go to the closing party but oh well – I still had so much fun.

I fell in love with a new city.

Huge huge huge thank you to Dad and Lynn for bringing me! I wouldn’t have been able to do it all with out you. BlogHerFood16, I’m coming for you in Austin!

Any questions?? I’m all for it! Let me know!

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