ALONG COMES MARY

I will always recall my very first event for bloggers. Jamie (Minnesota Girl in the World) had just helped Erin (Horsing Around in LA) and myself start our little blogs April, 2012, and  invited us to join her in Burbank for a dinner with The SoCal Lady Bloggers. It was both exciting and nerve wracking to attend this meet up! It was the very first time I met several ladies whom have become my peers and mentors.

I will always recall meeting one of The SoCal Lady Bloggers founders, Sidney Patrick. We lost Sidney much too soon that October, and I still think of her last words to me, which were on the evening (in person, anyways; Sydney was one my first faithful readers of mine and always left a comment): “Blogging can be scary. Thats why we’re here. Let me know if you need anything.”.

That evening, I listened to several of these women talk about their up-coming trip to New York for BlogHer. These women travel for their blog?! There are conventions?! I remember thinking. Managing a blog just like you would a business seemed daunting and impossible to me. I wondered if I would actually stick to Along Comes Mary, but, knew if I did, that I would one day attend BlogHer, too.

Fast forward over 4 years later, and I am sometimes amazed at all I have accomplished on this blog. Its my longest relationship, followed by Michael. And, guess where I am going this week? To my first time ever at BlogHer! Get ready for me, Downtown Los Angeles.

I am also excited that this year’s conference could be the most controversial yet: Kim Kardashian West is a Key Note Speaker. Yes, that Kim. While at first I was extremely surprised and somewhat disappointed to hear that she would be a speaker (Reality TV? Sex tapes? Kanye?) I had to take a step back and really think about this: Yes, shes really not my image of an ideal speaker (Where are my friends who’ve built their empire? Where are the young women who began, like me, and are now at the top of their game?) BUT, this business mogul does make a rumored $10,000 per tweet. and Google “Kim Kardashian social media” and the second article is titled “How to use social media like Kim Kardashian.” She knows her way around a platform, that is for sure.

Even more exciting to me than West speaking, will be all of my friends I will get to see, new ones I will make and connecting with so many awesome sponsors and brands. Remind me to load my wallet with business cards, will you? 😉

Something I have wanted to try out for awhile, and thought that since this is my first BlogHer, I would also debut my first link-up form! If you are attending BlogHer, please drop a link (or 2!) to a blog post. It can be any kind; newest one, favorite, anything goes. I would love to connect with as many of you as I can. If you see me (Most likely I’ll be talking to someone, or on my phone…holding a coffee cup…), say hey!