It's the Jump Off: Blogalicious Weekend 2010

Day Two:

I didn't mention that I was meeting two of my best friends from college at the conference did I? I found out about it from Towanda, (@towandal) who blogs at Queenocracy.com, and Toy (@teeohwhy) was joining us as well - she blogs at TeeOhWhy.com. I designed Toy's blog, and designed the logo for Towanda's blog.  We keep it in the family. When I woke up, I was excited. I was going to see my friends, and we would be staying at the Ritz Carlton on Miami Beach!!! I packed up my stuff and waited for the shuttle - changing hotels. Bye Pure Room! You will be missed...

I took a shuttle over to the conference, and wow.  Check in was flawless. I got a cute little swag bag with books, snacks, and other little stuff, got my badge and my program, and headed up the stairs to the breakfast sponsored by kellogg's. My friends had not arrived, and the first person I met was @drgoddess over at the juice bar.  We were trying juices and marvelling at how good "the green one" was. We went inside the conference room and sat down.  We chatted a little, then the first session got started.  

Shortly after it started, my friends came in, but there was no time for a happy reunion.  We went straight into meeting people and telling them what our blog was about.  I was thrilled with the great reception I got when I talked about the Socamom.com concept.  I only had my business cards from my day job, but I figured it was okay.  First person I talked to was @drgoddess.  Then I met Jamee Lawson (@SweetTeaNPearls) - new blogger, but I could tell she was going to be doing big things. I met Jewel (@thetinyjewelbox) of Jewel's Fab Life.  What a fun lady!  This was starting out to be a great conference.  I met a lot of Latina bloggers who loved the concept of Socamom.com. The totally got how discussing motherhood from the Caribbean American perspective is important, and let me know that they thought it was a great niche.  I also met Thien-Kim Lam (@thienkim) whose blog is www.imnotthenanny.com.  I actually laughed out loud when she told me what it was about, because it is so true!  I used to get that with my kids all the time.  I am black, and they are black, but they have much lighter colored skin than I do and look nothing like me. The "Are they yours?" question that people asked us both gave us an instant connection. I met the highly energetic DC area blogger Cynthia Samuels (@csamuels) from Care2.com

The speakers were amazing.  I felt like I got my money's worth before lunch.  It was that good. The more sessions I attended, the more swag I left with.  I would take it up to the room, and come back down to the session.  Really, it was THAT much stuff.

There was a really nice - open bar - cocktail hour by the beach where I met the ladies responsible for Blogalicious 2010.  It was amazing to find out that they are all Caribbean moms too - so my quick introduction of Socamom.com was well received and definitely understood.

By dinner I was ready to hang out with my friends, but who knew that I would be hanging out with more even college friends?  I was a dancer on the dance team in college, and my teammate, Jonnice Slaughter (@chatterboxpr) of Chatterbox Publicity was at the conference too! That night there was a meet and greet at a club within walking distance of the hotel, so we went there.  It was nice, but we showed up pretty late and missed the free drinks and whatnot. That was okay, because the party really was outside after we got put out of the club - yes, they put us all out on the curb then let the regular patrons in.  It was strange, and kinda funny.  Outside I met more bloggers including Jen Lawrence-Snipes (@jaeldesignsinc), Jessica Benton (@jess_benton who later won an iPad - jealous!), and Aleicia cuthbertson (@AliciasBusyMind & @mybusymind13).

The A&T clique set out later for wings and comedy.  We found them both around the corner from the hotel and walked until our feet got numb. We had blatant disregard for the early morning session that was planned, and stayed out until the wee hours of the morning.  I guess the Miami air will do that to you - you know - make you forget where you are..

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Inside the club... briefly.

Making time to take pics.  @teeohwhy is the queen of the self portrait.

Toy took this one. 18 years of friendship, and still looking fabulous!

The ladies of Blogalicious 2010 getting their dance on...

They really did make us get out. LOL

North Carolina bloggers (@mybusymind13, @jaeldesignsinc, @towandal)

Still outside - just moved the party, that's all!

@socamomdc and the very cool Latina blogger and Social Media mover and shaker Rosa Alonso from @mylatinovoice

@teeohwhy, @towandal, and @chatterboxpr - we found the wings!

@chatterboxpr and @socamom.com waiting for wings!

The reason it was so hard to get up on Saturday morning...

I couldn't let this opportunity to take a pic of the fella in this plaid ensemble pass. Gotta love Miami.

Author Profile: Eva Wilson  - Website

Eva is the administrator and blogger for SocaMom.com. Follow her on Twitter at @socamomdc.