Mabel’s Labels is pleased to announce the ten finalists of our “Wish You Were Here” Contest. We came up with the idea for this contest after reading and hearing so many stories about bloggers who were unable to attend the BlogHer ’09 conference last week in Chicago.

We asked BlogHer ’09 attendees who they wished could have been there with them at the event. The winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to for BlogHer ’10 in New York City and so will the blogger they wished was there.

Thank you to everyone who recorded a video and shared it with us. It was a blast meeting everyone and watching your fantastic entries. Here are the top ten finalists!

Leticia from Tech Savvy Mama wishes that Jessica from A Parent in Silver Springs was at BlogHer’09
Amanda from High Impact Mom wishes that Dawn from Painter Mommy was at BlogHer’09

Kim from Prairie Mama wishes that Lara from Better in Bulk was at BlogHer’09
Donna from Spuddy Buddy wishes that Shannon from Everyday Stranger was at BlogHer’09

Heather from The Extraordinary Ordinary wishes that Debbie from Suburb Sanity was at BlogHer’09

Kadi from Womb at the Insane wishes that Greg from Womb to Bloom was at BlogHer’09

Colleen from Fresh Vintage wishes that her Mom from BoggleMom was at BlogHer’09

Trisha from Sweet’n'Sassy Girls wishes that Tiffany from Babes and Kids was at BlogHer’09

Monica from Mommy Brain Reports wishes that Claire from Moms Most Wanted was at BlogHer’09

Amy from Crunchy Domestic Godess wishes that Heather from A Mama’s Blog was at BlogHer’09

I was in Chicago last weekend, attending the BlogHer conference for the first time. In the world of mama blogging, this is the biggie. I was in the company of 1,500 amazing women bloggers — attending great seminars and fabulous parties. It was great fun to see online relationships transform into real life friendships. Really, it was like one big reunion of people who have never actually met before.

In the build up to BlogHer, all the talk was about fashion. This fashion chatter started early on and only got worse. In the final week before BlogHer, the topics flying around Facebook and Twitter focused on what we were wearing, or whether there was time for a French manicure or to lose that last pre-conference10 lbs. It felt like I was getting ready for a really long first date, but one with 1,500 women What was I getting myself into?

I got to thinking about all this fashion fuss. As it turns out, all the fashion hype was in good fun and no one seemed to take themselves too seriously. I did, however, consider a few theories as to why physical appearance was getting so much attention from a bunch of people who spend most of their time getting excited about words and the latest iphone applications.

1) Bloggers spend a lot of their time hiding behind computer screens. The conference provided an opportunity to come out of hiding and show our faces in the light of day. Breaking free from behind-the-screen justifiably warrants some highlights and a mani/pedi.

2) Many bloggers there were mamas. Any opportunity to shed the mama uniform should not be missed. All of our overworked yoga pants deserved a three-day holiday. What a great excuse to go shopping.

3) Our gorgeous profile pictures. No one puts a crappy picture of herself on her profile. That profile picture can be a tough standard to live up to, inspiring all of us to go for that last minute eyebrow wax and other grooming procedures before our in-real-life debuts.

I had the added complication of having to glam up my 12-week-old son. His baby uniform consists entirely of sleepers at this point, so I was hard pressed to turn him into a fashion statement. My solution was to put him in sleepers that had only gone through one or two of his five siblings and if they didn’t have stains on them, I considered it a decent enough effort.

A highlight for me was meeting some other “Mamas of Many”. Mom of quadruplet boys, Jen Murray, was there. I was chatting with Christine Young and Tara Kuczykowski. and discovered that between the three of us we have 17 children.

I returned on Sunday, excited and head spinning from the non-stop conference action. Although overwhelmed and exhausted I’m already counting the days to BlogHer in NYC next year — which leaves me about 12 months to figure out what I’m going to wear.

**Looking glam at one of the parties with my Mabel’s business partner, Mumby.

Mabel’s Labels are teaming up with our friends from Admiral Road to bring you our summer contest. Here’s what you can win:

An Admiral Road Personalized Camp Blanket of your choice, including shipping. Camp blankets are perfect for twin beds, bunks or the couch. Cozy and durable, Admiral Road camp blankets are made to suit any member of the family.

and

A Camp/School Combo Pack of Mabel’s Labels, including shipping. We don’t let our kids take anything out of the house unless it’s got a Mabel’s label in it. Mabel’s Labels are perfect for the stuff kids lose.

Here’s how to enter:

Leave a comment here or on the Admiral Road blog; Blanket Statements. We’ll randomly select a winner on August 1oth.

Good Luck!

Once in a blue moon, you meet a person who rocks your socks off. I hadn’t come to BlogHer anticipating meeting this someone. I wasn’t expecting it at all. PatientBloggers - You Are Not Your Disease, You Just Blog About It Every Day was a seminar I had been planning on attending since I first eyed the BlogHer agenda. I had no idea who anyone on the panel was, nor did I bother researching them. If I had, I would have been suitably impressed. I wanted to attend more because I blog a lot about Autism, and I constantly struggle with balancing being a mom to an Autistic child and being “me”. Some days I write about the battle against Autism, and how pissed off I am at the system. Some days I live blog about reality TV. Other days I write about things I should probably keep to myself, and every once in a while, I ‘fess up on how much I weigh. Is that okay? Is that what people want to read? Do I care? Should I care?

The seminar was excellent. Each of the panelists brought a unique perspective to the subject matter, and the bloghers in the audience, they were in inspirational bunch as well. Top discussion points included “how to have sex while wearing an insulin pump” and a brave blogher who described her husband’s reaction to her blog post about how she felt about losing all of her hair to Alopecia.  The person who stood out the most to me, was a woman by the name of Loolwa Khazzoom, a journalist based out of California and the founder of Dancing With Pain. Loolwa struck a chord with me because she didn’t start out as chronic pain expert. She started out as a self-described “über athletic chick: an avid cyclist, swimmer, and jogger, a women’s self-defense instructor, and most importantly, a dance fiend”. She wrote the book Consequence which chronicled her decision to respond to sexual harassment physically and aggressively. That’s a far cry from where she ended up. How did she get here? Did her readers come with her as she morphed from cool punk rock chick to a pioneer in the chronic pain management field? And does she care? Should she care?  When the seminar wrapped up, I was left a bit overwhelmed.  While I wanted to write about it immediately, I felt like I needed to process my thoughts for a few days.

The next day, as I headed back to my room to rest up for one last night of partying, I saw out of the corner of my eye the one and only Loolwa.  I wanted to say thank you to her, to tell her how she had inspired me to want to write more honestly, more raw, and to not worry about what other people thought, to just be true to my story, whatever that is.  I figured it would be a quick “omg you’re so awesome!” moment.  But it was so much more.  Loolwa asked me to sit down and chat with her.  She was touched to know how much hearing her speak had meant to me.  She wanted to hear my story, and Max’s story.  And not for one moment did I feel like she was waiting to talk, waiting for me to shut up.  She was sincere, and real, and empathetic.  We talked about how much music has helped Max, and how music affects her differently on any given day.  We talked about how vibrations can heal, and that there is so much more out there than what old school medicine would have us believe.  She confided in me that the very editors who had turned down her pitches two years earlier because her ideas were “too out there” were now coming back to the table and embracing these very same concepts as cutting edge and relevant to their readership.  

If I look a bit tired in this picture it’s because I have been going to sessions all day, and partying into the wee hours with all of the incredible women I have met over the past three days. I swear I have blog content for the next 3 months, just based on the inspiring conversations I’ve had, seminars I’ve sat in on, and elevator chit chat.

There is a stack of over 100 business cards in my purse, blogs I need to go check out and add to my daily reading. I feel like my posts while I’ve been here have been very high level, that there is so much more to say but I need to process it all before it will come out as anything more than “OMG I just talked with Loolwa Khazzoom for the past hour and she is the most wonderful person evah!!“. My eyes have been opened up to so many writers that I never would have known had I not come to BlogHer. This community of women is powerful. We are more than mommy bloggers, we are story tellers, renegades, and some of the funniest people on the face of the earth. Time to finish packing and head home to my wonderful family. I will post again tonight once the kiddos are in bed. Thank you Mabel’s Labels for this life changing experience!