ShopBop, BlogHer and…Ann’s Rants?!?

Why all the fuss about what to wear to BlogHer?

I change into outfit after outfit after outfit after outfit in front of my full-length mirror.

I hear 1,475 BlogHer’s OMG CUUUUUUUUUTEs in my head. I hear where did you GET THAT in my head. I hear for the love of God, can you please remove your Devo hat, I can’t see Wendi!! I’m cocking my Devo lid to one jaunty side in my imagination, when…

It happens.

Deep within my brain stem, beneath the prefrontal-mommy-cortex, below the serotonin-starved cerebellum I hear SHOPBOP!

I ignore it, and tell the jukebox of terrible songs in my head that I’m not in the mood to Ooombop a mow mow with the Oak Ridge Boys right now. But then, just as I’m untangling myself from my M.C. Hammer pants…SHOPBOP! My marketing microchip could not be denied.

Before I can think rationally I’m on the phone blathering to the harried Bop store manager, who despite a flurry of sidewalk sale preparations remains kind and patient with me. I prattle on about BlogHer, and 1500 bloggin’ mamas (I mean 1475, sorry Neil) and “win-wins” until I realize I’ve essentially called a waitress smack in the middle of lunch rush.

She says “they don’t typically do things like this,” but then…

She refers me to Kelly in PR. Kelly in PR! WOOT. DOUBLE WOOT. WOOT!

By this time I’m back in my play clothes (lederhosen, cape, bollo tie) heading for the camp bus to pick up Five. I have no pen, no paper…but more than a little moxie due to my week-long pre BlogHer adrenaline bender.

Kelly knows this BlogHer of which I speak. She and her ShopBop reps will be at the SocialLuxe party, but they aren’t working with any actual bloggers at the conference. I try to remain focused during this five-minute window before an exhausted Five stumbles off the bus. Kelly not only listens to, but seems enthused about my idea– that I could represent ShopBop at BlogHer, not in trade-show fashion, but in just the bloggin’ mama-that-I-am fashion.

Kelly and I discover we share a love of thrifting. I thrift most of the clothes I buy for my family from second-hand stores, because I love the thrill of the hunt and the savings, and keeping clothes out of landfills. But once in a while it’s wonderful to wear something really special.

Kelly invited me to choose two items from Shopbop’s in house lines Bop Basics or Bop Bijoux, that I will wear to BlogHer. I love the beautiful, simple lines of the pieces I chose from Bop Basics, and look forward to accessorizing them with some of my thrift finds.

Thank you once again to Kelly and Shopbop for making me feel special by listening to my ideas, and for giving me some beautiful pieces for BlogHer.

Both items will look awesome with my Devo hat.