This evening I was able to mingle with 40+ fine ladies from the Silicon Valley and Chicago Moms Blogs. Oh what a time we had! Here is my evening in pictures because I need to go to bed and make the journey back into the city EARLY tomorrow morning (and ya’ll know we don’t do “early” anymore).

Hailey and I hopped into the Santa Fe, with what little room we had and were on our way into the beautiful city that I call home. She was a little confused about the lack of space in the car.

Sometimes I wonder where everyone is going at the same time. This is what we deal with on a regular basis, any time of day or night on the way into the city:

I can never take enough pictures of Chicago’s gorgeous skyline. Although, today was a little hazy and smoggy.

I dropped off the tot at her Auntie Em’s house in Lincoln Square and made my way back down Lake Shore Drive toward Ontario. Lake Shore Drive is by far the coolest stretch of road I’ve ever driven. The lake on one side, the city on the other. Directly in front of me is the John Hancock building. I hear they have fab food there that is awfully expensive.

I arrived at Viand and the staff there GRACIOUSLY helped me unload my vehicle full of goody bags (aka: “swag bags”). We had our own little private space in the back of the restaurant with our own cocktail reception buffet set up…THANK YOU YAHOO!

We lined up all of the swag bags in the buffet room…awaiting the hands of some anxious moms who were to arrive fairly shortly.

Look what was inside of our FABULOUS swag bags! We all received items from the following businesses:

CleanWell – hand sanitizers
Love-Me-Knots – girl’s hair bows
One True Media – a year subscription to their pro slideshow
Wateroos – flavored water
Healthy Handfuls – boxes of cookies
Yahoo Corp – mini colored pencils/stickers (and of course our dinner reception tonight!)
Six Apart – VOX tees
Planet Mom – Tees/hats
Cohn & Wolfe – Teen Spirit by Lady’s Speedstick and Jif Peanut Butter!
Wati – GORGEOUS little girl’s dresses
About Your Time – BusyBodyBook Organizers
LTDChix – Tees
Enjoy Life natural Brands – Snickerdoodle cookies (these cookies are INCREDIBLE!)
Zazzle – Tees with our blog names on them!
Innobaby – Snack containers
*Phyllis of BabySwags.com provided us with these great products from clients of hers:
- Baby Hands – “My Baby Can Talk” Signing DVD’s – First Signs & Sharing
- PediaSense – ReliaDose bottles – a bottle with a built in medicine dropper
As you can see, we were really taken care of! Thank you to all of you wonderful companies for making our pre-BlogHer get-together a memorable one! We were all ecstatic to receive these awesome products.

Jill and Beth, our management team, got up to say a few words to our group. They make me happy I’m a part of such a dynamic group of women! You go, ladies! Thanks for making the Chicago Moms Blog possible.

The buffet was incredible. We had pita pizzas with any topping of our choice, chicken kabobs and pot stickers. There were some pretty delectable appetizers being passed around, as well as a full bar (can’t beat that!) This picture of my plate does NOT do the real food any justice, believe me.

It was nice to see my fellow mom panel buddies (from the Google Mother’s Know Tech event I participated in back in April). Stephanie, MJ and Sara were in attendance tonight as well. Pictured below are the six “original” Chicago Mom’s Bloggers (including yours truly)!

It was great to connect with all of these other mom bloggers. We are truly a new generation of moms. We are the Tech Mom Generation! You heard it here first.

Tomorrow is Day One of the BlogHer Conference. I can’t wait! I hope I can sleep. More so, I hope I can wake up on time! I will be blogging to you straight from the conference tomorrow so check back periodically throughout the day to hear about all of the FUN happenings at BlogHer ’07 – Chicago style!