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| The Blackberry Z10 took some great photos at BlogHer13 |
Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Savers Voices program and have been provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product.
I have been very busy with my 9-5 job for the last few months so I am just now getting around to writing about my experiences at this year's BlogHer13 conference in Chicago. For those of you who don't know, BlogHer is the largest women's blogging conference in the world with over 5000 bloggers attending each year.
This was my 4th year going to BlogHer and I loved going to BlogHer10 in New York, BlogHer11 in San Diego, and BlogHer12 in New York for a second time. Since this year the conference was in neighboring Chicago, I and Laura from LauraintheMotorCity.com were able to take a 4.5 hour road trip from Detroit and save some serious money on transportation.
For the 3rd year in a row, Verizon Wireless was an official BlogHer conference sponsor. And for the past 4 months, I have been reviewing a Verizon 4G LTE Blackberry Z10 smartphone due to my involvement in the Verizon Voices Savers Program.
Since the Verizon Blackberry Z10 takes some wonderful photos, I decided to use the Z10 to take all the photos during my trip to Chicago. And this smartphone did not let me down.
So come with me as I take you through all of my BlogHer13 adventures...
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| A visit to the Hersey's store is a must... |
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| The Tumi collection at the new AT&T store - this store is fabulous |
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| I totally enjoyed eating at California Pizza Kitchen... |
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| Dinner at Morton's Steakhouse was fabulous... |
A stop at California Pizza Kitchen gave us enough nutrition to move on for more window shopping at Macys, Victoria Secret, Louis Vuitton, and furniture store Room and Board where we fell in love with all the beautiful items. And dinner the first night was simply amazing at Morton's Steak House, where I highly recommend trying the BBQ Ribs and Shrimp.
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| LauraintheMotorCity entering the Verizon Wireless Time Shift Party... |
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| The view of Chicago from the Verizon Time Shift party... |
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| The 80's band at the Verizon Wireless "Time Shift" Party at BlogHer13 |
Verizon Wireless hosted a simply fabulous invitation only BlogHer13 party at the Art Institute of Chicago. We had a perfect view of the Chicago Skyline from the venue balcony. The party had a Blackberry Z10 theme created around the Z10 "Time Shift" feature that allows you to produce perfect photos by shifting faces from other photos to get everyone smiling in one photo.
All the food at the Verizon Time Shift party was from different eras in American history. And everyone left with their own Verizon Blackberry Z10 smartphone in the exclusive Verizon white color. Verizon really knows how to throw a great conference event.
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| Sweet Suite Party is toy heaven!! |
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| The Beatrix Girls dolls |
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| Postable.com |
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| Razor's Crazy Cart |
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| VTech InnoTab 35 |
The Big Toy Book's Sweet Suite is a yearly favorite due to the party being all about toys. And this year's venue of a huge Chicago loft space was perfect for the event. From Razor's new Crazy Cart to Hasbro's new and improved Furby to VTech's InnoTab 35 tablet to Peanuts products (as in Scoopy and Charlie Brown) to the rock-star band The Beatrix Girls dolls, this party had a little something for everyone for the upcoming holiday season. Postable.com was also at the party showing how to easily do holiday thank you cards online to save time and money.
I fell in love with The Beatrix Girls rock band dolls while at the Sweet Suite party and I was chosen by the company to be one of their VIP bloggers. So watch for my review of Beatrix Girl band member Chantel coming up soon....
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| Laura at the Samsung booth |
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| Ryobi gave away everything in their booth |
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| Everyone entered to win a trip to Orlando Florida |
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| Daily's Cocktails was serving up samples |
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| Turning Leaf Wine was in the house |
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| Gordon's Seafood was cooking up a storm for all the bloggers |
Connecting with brands is the reason that most bloggers come to BlogHer every year. Samsung was one of the most popular brands at the conference since they were not only showing off their products, but also giving away smartphone flip covers and tech bags that were personalized for each blogger. Ryobi was showing off their lawn equipment including a beautiful lawn mower. They were also giving out gardening gloves (I so needed a few pair) and they raffled off all the products in their booth. Visit Orlando and Universal Studios representatives were on hand to talk about vacationing in Florida - plus they were giving away Orlando vacations.
Daily's Cocktails, Refresh Turning Leaf wine, and Gorton's Seafood were also on hand giving out tasty samples to everyone that came by. Other brands including conference sponsors Windex and Coppertone have since meeting them at the conference partnered with my blog to do product reviews and giveaways.
Metro Detroit Blogger Becky Fixel put on a very "sweet" event at Bella Bacino's at Club Quarters on Upper Wacker Drive called "Sweets and Treats in Chicago." The event was appropriately named since the entire menu consisted of desserts. I think my thighs are still wearing the great food from this party :)
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| Queen Latifah at BlogHer |
BlogHer attracts tons of celebrities and this year, Queen Latifah was part of the "Voices of Tomorrow" presentation to help introduce the bloggers who were chosen to read aloud submitted posts to the audience. Unfortunately she showed up fashionably late (90 minutes late to be exact) and Laura and I had to leave before the end of the program. I love ya Queen, but next time be on time.
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| photo courtesy of McDonalds |
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| Me with Donald's Head Chief Jessica Foust |
McDonalds is a longtime BlogHer conference sponsor and I and Laura were invited to attend their private cocktail party event at the beautiful Bridge House Tavern restaurant located along the Chicago River. During the party we meet McDonald's head chef Jessica Foust who is in charge of coming up with healthier selections for the McDonald's menu. Jessica was super nice and very personable. You can follow Chef Jessica at the Twitter handle @ChefJessRD.
After the McDonald's party, Laura and I stopped by the Disney Party held at the Lucky Strike Bowling Alley. It was standing room only as everyone came out of a special invitation only screening of the Disney movie "Delivery Man" which opens in theaters in November.
There were many VIP movie screenings this year during the conference which is one of the reasons that I love going to BlogHer since everyone is treated like a VIP.
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| Savings Expert Maria from A Savings Wow and me at the Mom Select Swag Suite |
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| Sister Save-a-lot is a Chicago couponing queen featured on TLC's Extreme Couponing |
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| photo courtesy of Lori, tech goddess, at the Well Connected Mom |
Blogging conferences are all about seeing blogging friends in person that I don't get to see the rest of the year. And it is always good to see Lori from the tech blog the Well-Connected Mom, Antoinette from the frugal living blog Sister Save-a-Lot, and Maria from the savings blog A Savings Wow.
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| You did not have to be in Chicago to be part of BlogHer13... |
For those who want to know, yes Laura and I did make it to a few blogging sessions while at the BlogHer13 conference - although we attended more parties than sessions :)
But the good thing about BlogHer is that they live blog and audio record their conference sessions so everyone can hear or read them at a later date. And unlike other conferences, Blogher does not charge a fee for their BlogHer Virtual Conference.
Everyone can check out the BlogHer13 Virtual Conference at this link
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| I am glad I used the Blackberry Z10 to take all my BlogHer13 photos... |
Did you enjoy all my photos taken with my Verizon 4G LTE Blackberry Z10? It is great to have a smartphone easily accessible in my purse that takes great photos and also edits video. So to end this post, I thought I would use the Story Maker feature on the Blackberry Z10 to put together a BlogHer13 video using all my photos.
The Story Maker feature makes it totally simple to create a video because the Z10 does all the editing for me. All I had to do is choose the photos from the Z10 and the music. The Z10 did all the rest. Then I used the FREE Blackberry Z10 YouTube app to upload the video directly to my YouTube channel - Easy Peezy!
So click below on my BlogHer13 video made with the Blackberry Z10 and watch for the next post in my Verizon Savers Voices series coming soon where I will tell you about the new smartphone that I will be reviewing for the next 3 months - the Verizon Droid Ultra by Motorola ....
Click here if freeismylife #BlogHer13 video is not shown
Enjoy!
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