Mommy’s Manhattan Adventure

Mommy had to get up super early on Friday to get through rush hour traffic and make it to the opening breakfast, so I made sure to keep her up all night so she wouldn’t sleep too deeply and miss her alarm clock. I woke her up four times and let her drift off *just* before her 5:00 wake up time. Even though I usually sleep until about 6, I got up at 5:30 just to spend some extra time with Mommy and help her get ready. I wanted to make sure she got in all the snuggles she would need for the day, so I wouldn’t let her put me down while she got us ready.

I gotta tell you, even though she almost *never* wears make-up, she can apply it pretty well one-handed! She even got a compliment on her eyelashes.

Anyway, she got up at 5, I got up at 5:30, and we were out the door by 6. We went to Grammy and Coach’s house so I could play there until Daddy finished summer school (more on that on *my* weekend recap tomorrow). Mommy left *there* by 6:45 to make her way into the city.

Mommy was *just* thinking she was making excellent time over the George Washington Bridge, when traffic STOPPED completely – there was an accident on the Henry Hudson parkway with a car and a motorcycle, luckily they found a great motorcycle accident attorney here to help them with this. Mommy got onto surface streets for about 50 blocks and hopped back onto the highway for the last little bit. By the time she parked and made it into the Hilton, it was 8:45. She’d been awake almost 4 hours and her day hadn’t even begun!

Mommy and I had been dreaming all last week about finally meeting some of our favorite bleeps and tweeps… and then she walked in and was totally overwhelmed by the reality of over 2,000 mostly women bloggers all in one place. She was NEVER going to recognize anyone by their avatars and what were the chances of randomly meeting anyone in this enormous throng of people? (Plus? Mommy’s not a big fan of crowds.) Which may explain why she nearly tackled Beth Anne when she saw her in the Expo Hall.

No, seriously. BA was innocently walking past, when Mommy glanced up and shrieked, “BLAIR!” while running towards her and surely forcing her to mentally tally the possibility of running away in her cute shoes.

Luckily for Mommy, Beth Anne was wearing heels and was probably startled by the crazed fan heading her way, so she stayed put… and was totally as nice in real life! She posed for a pic with Mommy AND let Mommy follow her around for a while. (Yeah, Mommy’s cool like that.)

Mommy was also excited to meet another favorite blogulebrity, Allison O.

Mommy ran into Allison later on Friday evening and had had a chance to calm down somewhat, so she didn’t randomly scream her name from halfway across the room. She DID totally gush something about completely loving her, though, AND guess what? When Mommy introduced herself, Allison *knew who I was.* Isn’t she O so adorable?!

Mommy also got to chat with one my favorite tweeps on Friday night, but she didn’t even recognize Amanda until 20 minutes into the conversation. That’s because she was looking at Amanda’s face, and her avatar looks like this: Mommy forgot to take a picture with her, so you’ll just have to take our word that her face is as lovely as her cleavage – and she’s sweet and friendly, too!

Mommy also met real world celebrities!

the Jimmy Dean Sun

the Rockettes (alternatively titled “Which if these things just doesn’t belong here?” ::hums along to the Sesame Street tune::) Also, no one told Mommy she was supposed to pose with her hand on her hip.

Mrs. Potato Head

and *Elmo* (who Mommy did NOT tell me would be there. See if I ever let her out without me again!) ELMO! ::dies::

In between all of that meeting and greeting, picking up cool swag (new Stride Rite socks! Mr. Potato Head!), and shmoozing at the fab Baby Bites party, Mommy did manage to fit in a few educational sessions before heading home and falling into bed at 1:30AM. I totally stayed up to say good night to her AND refused to let Daddy put me to bed – had to get in some Mommy-time.

Saturday

Mommy got a whopping 5 hours of sleep before getting up and heading out at 6. Guess who got up in time to see her off?

Mommy had breakfast with some lovely new friends and then walked around with Elise and Laura and Laura for a while. Then, she sat in on a taping of “the Twitter Gourmet Show” – look for her in the audience of the Rachael Ray show when the segment airs! (I’ll let you know if I find out when that will be.)

Guess who else Mommy ran into? Jennifer and Mandy, two of our very favorite tweeps!

By the end of a very full day Mommy was exhausted, so she bailed on the party she had planned on heading to in favor of getting to bed somewhat early. She’ll need to build up endurance (and find a sponsor) if we’re going to head to San Diego next year!