Jerseygirl Takes Manhattan, Part Deux*

*If you get that reference, you are old enough to read this blog. If you don't get it, pretend I'm French.

Sorry it's been a week. . .what can I say? I suck. And I started exercising, which requires me to not only find time to do that, but also to shower every day. What really sucks is that I've been doing it for like a month and I haven't gotten my pre-kid body back. I mean, my Goddess, I've also CUT DOWN ON MY CHOCOLATE INTAKE. How come I'm not a size 8 yet? Shouldn't 6 years of overindulgence be erased with 6 weeks of (somewhat spotty) discipline?

But back to my exciting trip to NYC.

So, I get in line to go into the event, desperately reading name tags hoping to find a person who might possibly know who I am. Okay, Jill Asher (the founder) and Linsey Krolick (a managing partner) seemed to recognize my name but, um, that's kind of their job. Plus, they were kind of busy. The space was very cool, but the theater where we had the symposium was rather small. Perfect for the group of brands and bloggers talking about um, brands and blogging, but I wouldn't want to see a movie there.

Anyway, inside the theater we all took turns introducing ourselves. I recycled my joke about "Jerseygirl" sounding cute when I lived in Kansas City, people chuckled politely and I don't think I stammered. So I feel pretty good about that. Especially since the last time I had a microphone and a room full of strangers I had also had ten shots of tequila and a karaoke machine.

Many smart people  jumped on their phones and laptops, tweeting about the discussion and following the other mom bloggers there. I took notes, because I graduated from college in 1993 and that's how we rolled back then. Plus, while I've been blogging for a while (Dirty Little Secret originally appeared on Blogger in 2007), I'm pretty new to the whole advertising/reviewing/perks thing. So the symposium was great.

Then there was the cocktail party. I thought we'd just be talking to the brand people, but instead they had little displays and they all gave us stuff AND talked to us. And when I say stuff, I mean I got 2 free tickets to Wicked. Which we saw when I was pregnant with Ironflower and I love, love, love. Also, I got an adorable Jerseygirl luggage tag from Mabel's Labels. Many of the brands had their p.r. firms there to butter up the mommy bloggers, but Julie, one of the founders of Mabel's Labels, was there herself. And she is kind and interesting and their products really are adorable. Just sayin'.

Also, Cinnabon will soon be coming out with cupcakes. And they are GOOOOOOD.

Bitdefender was the sponsor, they have really good identity protection/anti-virus software and are very supportive of mom bloggers.

Honestly, I was overwhelmed by all the great brands there - Panasonic, Lawry's, Lifetime, iGo (portable cell phone rechargers, people!), Mobi-stories (story books that your kids can manipulate) and Cirque du Soleil and probably some others that I've forgotten.

One important thing I did learn: If  you are interested in reviewing products and that kind of stuff, include all of your contact email and professional experience in your "About Me" section. The easier it is for the p.r. people and companies to reach you, the more likely it is that they will.

Also, I really should have taken more of the cupcakes. They offered me more and I turned them down because I was carrying bags of stuff already. I? Am dumb sometimes.