Some Things are Meant to Be, No Expectations and Not Disappointed {Blogher10}

Just two weeks ago I was at Blogher in New York City. Blogher is the largest Blogger conference garnering the attention of over 2500 women (and a few men) for a weekend of connecting, learning, sharing, discovering brands, and parties…lots of parties, on and off site.

Now that doesn’t mean that women go to Blogher for All of the reasons that I just mentioned. Some go for the parties, while others may go for the learning and connecting. Me? Well, I made it to one session–Photography and the Microsoft Suite which I’m so glad I did, as I’m blogging from the new Windows Live Writer-amazing tool for Bloggers (a separate post to come).

Why is it that it’s taken two weeks for me to write a post? Being that I spent four crazy days (non-stop-on-the go) in the “city that never sleeps” well…neither did I. So…needless to say…I’m catching up on sleep, family, kids and oooh the homework that I fell  behind on.

Ok, those of you who knew about how I woke up just a few minutes before our bus was taking off for Ellis Island…don’t laugh. I really was up in the wee hours working on a project with Chicagonista- MJ Tam, one of my Blogher traveling buddies).

Yes, MJ and I both almost missed the Liberty Mutual-Responsibility Project Ellis Island tour and wheww am I glad we didn’t–that tour was incredible! Thanks to Danielle, of Liberty Mutual for waiting for us! As a matter of fact, I will have to write a separate post about Ellis Island, so stay tuned.

With just days away, I hadn’t booked my flight; my roommate Beth Rosen and I didn’t have a place to stay, and I didn’t have Blogher ticket, (I did have an early bird ticket but sold it to Beth when I didn’t think I could go, LOL).

The conference ticket was the least of my concern, but if I cared to attend any of the Blogher sponsored parties, I needed to have one just in case. Speaking of parties, most of them were wait-listed by the time I decided to go. My thought was, how about not having an agenda and just go with the flow.

If I’m suppose to be at Blogher, I’d better start finding a reasonable flight and hotel since the The Hilton New York (host hotel) was booked at the Blogher rate- $199.00. I searched Priceline.com and contacted nearby hotels directly and they were much more than I wanted to spend. I decided that if I was going to attend Blogher at all this year that…

1. If it’s Meant to be it’ll be (everything will fall into place).

2. I will have No Expectations (who, what, where-will share more in next post).

I heard my Pastor share many years ago…

”don’t expect and you won’t be disappointed.”

Too often we put expectations on situations and become awfully disappointed when things don’t turn out.

Well, things began to fall into place one by one…I found a FULL PASS to the conference for $50.. yes, $50 bucks!! After searching the Blogher swap board and seeing last minute tickets get snagged, there was a very slim chance of getting one.  But a student was selling her $75 student pass and Hmm…I’m currently a student, why didn’t I think to buy a student pass? Any-hoo, I offered her $50 and it was a done deal. The ticket transferred to my name and so did a bunch of parties she RSVP’d for (even though I never made it to any of those).

The hotel find was also a sweet deal! A tweet caught my attention from a lady who she was giving up her room at the Hilton because she decided not to go to Blogher. I immediately contacted her and after a few exchanges she added my name on the reservation for the weekend but we still had to find somewhere else to stay on Wednesday and Thursday since Beth Rosen and I were flying in early for NY/Chi Dyson Tea Party at The Plaza, hosted by MJ Tam of Chicagonista.

Hilton Hotel Revolving door decked in Blogher...so cool!

You know what? It’s just a pain to go from one hotel to another if we didn’t have to, so one last attempt to contact the Hilton to see if they’d honor the Blogher rate of $199 for us to arrive two days early. I’d already checked the website, talked to reservations a couple of days before and those rates were simply not available.

Lesson: Try to call back later, you never know who you will get on the other end who has the power to make decisions.

To my utter surprise, the night time manager, Mr. Lloyd picked up my call and added the two additional nights to the existing reservation at the Blogher rate of $199. Whoo-hoo…I can’t tell you how how exciting that was! That was definitely the deal of the day, not to mention how convenient it was to be on the property and to have access to your room whenever you need it. (Beth and I were going to take a subway to her sister in laws every night if this had not found a deal….So glad we didn’t have to).

When we arrived to check in, we were put on the Executive Level only because it was available and granted access to the Executive Lounge. Now that was AWESOME to have during our stay, which included a daily continental breakfast, coffee, gourmet tea, fruit, water and appetizers around dinner time. I love these kinds of perks from being a Marriott Rewards member so I really appreciated this at the Hilton.

Let’s say, I took full advantage  of my morning coffee and headed up there several times for water bottles, an expensive commodity when you’re at a hotel.

Thanks to my Chicagonista LIVE co-hosts Beth Rosen & MJ Tam for sharing this fabulous weekend with me…you girls rock! And MJ, I’ll never forgot how we got separated from the tour group at Ellis Island (geeze, a couple of kids in a candy store with our new NIKON cameras). HILARIOUS!

Also, a very special thanks goes to The Hilton’s hotel manager Mr. Lloyd for hooking us up with the two additional nights and the registration for accommodating us so graciously.

Some things are just meant to be; planning for my trip to Blogher, I had no expectations but was certainly not disappointed…At All.

P.S. I’m breaking up my Blogher posts so they don’t turn into a book. Feel free to check out this video about some of my favorite “People, Places, & Things” during Blogher (probably will be one of my next posts).

No related posts.

Tagged as: Beth Rosen, Blogher, Blogher10, Chicagonista, Chicagonista Live, Duong Sheahan, Dyson, Ellis Island, Hilton Hotel, Liberty Mutual, MJ Tam, Responsibility Project