Day One of BlogHer 2011: Bloggers, Food and Vibrators

I know it’s going to be a good conference when the first table I find at the expo is covered in sex toys.  I know it’s going to be a GREAT conference when, a half hour later, I am going through the swag bag from said sex toy company and discover they actually provided two vibrators!

I was sitting with Crunchy VT Mommy and her sister, waiting for the morning keynote, and squealed  “look a vibrator!” I then saw someone at the next table turn to look at me.  It was the “other JL,” JodyLynn of Healthy Heyday!  Big hugs all around! (Check out her great raw, vegan food blog; she just became a certified raw chef!)

After the keynote I started texting a blog friend — soon to become my for real and forever friend — trying to meet up. Finally, in the expo, I met Liz of Run with Sneakers. If you are not yet reading Liz’s blog, you should.  She is a vegan and a runner and she writes really informative posts about the nutritional benefit of vegan foods. She shares great recipes that she finds and she offers great encouragement. Be sure to check her out!

JL and Liz

As soon as we hugged hello I told her she needed to get to the Eden Fantasy table ASAP for vibrators!

Side note:  rest-assured if you ever meet me in real life, I will be my authentic self.  Vibrators for JodyLynn and Liz.  As for my friend Lee of The Vegan Version, I threw the F-bomb and talked about my uncontrollable breasts within the first five-minutes of lunch in Philadelphia.  What you see is what you get.

Liz got her vibrators and then shared something fun. She had not heard of a QR code until she read my post.

Then she made her own!

I spent my first day of the BlogHer 2011 conference following The Write Brain track:

1. Essential Writing and Editing Skills
2. Essential Blog Content Development

I got a lot out of all of the sessions and am anxious to slowly incorporate some changes (I will be asking for your opinion soon).

Liz and I ducked out of the conference for lunch. We walked to a Thai restaurant but discovered it was not open for lunch. Boo.  We walked around and stumbled upon Rockin Baja Coastal Cantina.  Chicken salad, hold the chicken and the cheese, please.

Not bad.  We asked for additional black beans, on the side, to make it a heartier meal. Oh, and don’t miss the self-serve chips and salsa bar!

It was then back to the conference to continue to challenge my Write Brain. The hours flew by and it was suddenly time for a break.  We found a table of vegan treats thanks to the afternoon snack sponsor, Dove Chocolate.

Delicious as it looks, folks, delicious as it looks!

At 6:30 I met up with my husband and friends and we were off to dinner at Spread: nouveau comfort food.  Long time readers, does this sound familiar?  Yep, I dined there last August when I was in San Diego.  Just. As. Fabulous.

Spread offers only locally grown, organic produce. The vegetarian menu changes every day — they write it on a chalkboard and bring it to the table — and most items are vegan. Last night all items were vegan.

The food is served family style. There were four of us so we had them serve every single dish.

We started with the sangria.

Basil Lime Sangria

Followed by a feeding frenzy.

Baby lettuces, red carrot, avocado, yellow grape tomatoes, blueberries, avocado basil dressing

Heirloom tomato bruschetta

Melon "carpaccio" with lime "ceviche"

Tacos de huitlacoche (mexican corn truffle), mashed potatoes, pink salsa, lavender guacamole on corn tortillas

Fresh black truffle and sweet corn risotto

Mushroom lentil ragout

Finally, for dessert, the PB & J Slider.

Last year I enjoyed my dinner at Spread. This year, I loved it even more.

Yesterday was filled with intellectual stimulation (and clearly, provided an opportunity for other kinds of stimulation) and fabulous vegan food. I’m looking forward to another great day at BlogHer ’11. But first an early trail run with my friend Lisa this morning.

See you tomorrow!

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Yesterday on Stop Chasing Skinny I wrote about Beautiful YOU and invite you to join me on a journey.  Are you in?

Tagged as: blogher 2011, restaurant