I have been trying to make it to the Chicago Toy & Game Fair for the last 3 years yet something has always gotten in the way. This year, nothing is stopping me! I am loading up the van with the family (minus Zack who will be hunting) and we are heading south to Chicago at hitting up the Chicago Toy & Game Fair the weekend of November 17-18 at Navy Pier!
I am excited to introduce the kids to all kinds of new toys, check out the giant-sized games such as Bananagrams, Perplexus, Doggie Doo (which is a HUGE hit in our house), and more. There will also be an opportunity to me the Moshi Monsters which I know Alexander will be thrilled about! Oh and I can’t forget about the free contests and game tournaments, speed stacking demos, and sooo much more!!
You can get your tickets to the Chicago Toy and Game Fair for adults $10 and Children ages 3-13 $5 children under 3 are FREE! Click here for ticket info and a $2 off coupon.
Here are some great pictures from the 2011 Chicago Toy and Game Fair!
This past weekend, Zack, Ellie and I made our way to Chicago so I could attend the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Moms kickoff event along with the 2012 Brands & Bloggers Summit.
Let me start by saying I was absolutely, 100% terrified to drive not just to Chicago with 2 kids by myself but to downtown Chicago at that. You see, I hate to drive in big cities that play host to lots and lots of traffic. I prefer to be able to hope in my car and make it from one side of town to the other in less than 15 minutes, not 2 hours. However, this trip seemed to go off better than I had planned. Thanks to the beautiful 2012 GMC Yukon with a sweet navigation system, I was always prepared for what was ahead. I knew when we would hit construction, when there was a delay and just how much longer we would be until we arrived. It was also really nice that little Miss Ellie slept for all but the first 20 minutes of the ride.
When we arrived in Chicago, Zack couldn’t believe the amount of people everywhere. (The only time he had ever seen the city was from the highway on a trip to Indiana). We sat on the off ramp for over 45 minutes, spent the next 45 making our way too & finding the parking garage and then unloaded and lugged everything over to the hotel.
We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel on the 29th floor. Once we were settled in, I made my way to the Prudential Building for the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Moms Kickoff! Unfortunately, I was late to the party because of traffic but I arrived just in time to receive my shiny and new Samsung Galaxy S3 from Verizon. As you may know, a few weeks ago I upgraded my current cell phone to a Samsung Galaxy S3 (on a different network) so I already had some experience with the phone. Now that I have 2 Samsung Galaxy S3 phones on two different networks I have been comparing both the phone and the service, so be sure to watch for posts from me all about my comparisons and thoughts! After spending the last 4 days with both of these phones in my hands I have already conducted a lot of research, so be on the lookout!
After the Verizon meeting, I met Zack and Ellie back at the hotel and we made our plans for dinner and placed an order for a World Famous Chicago Stuffed Pizza from Giordano’s. This was also Zack’s first Chicago pizza experience! Of course, he loved every.last.bite. We were even lucky enough to bring some leftovers home with us for the rest of the family to try.
After we stuffed our bellies with pizza, we sat around for a bit while Zack showed me the awesome trick he learned while I was away at my meeting. Let’s just say the trick involves a window sill, a big fluffy bed and a somersault in the air.
Before we settled in for the night, we made a quick trip out to the neighboring Walgreens for a few supplies before crawling into our big comfy beds for the night.
Even Miss Ellie approved of the bed!
Watch for more about our exciting weekend in Chicago and the Brands & Bloggers Summit tomorrow! Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Moms program and have been provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product. Verizon also covered my hotel, expenses and conference pass as part of the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Moms program. Also, thank you again to GM for providing us with transportation to Chicago.
This coming weekend, I will be in Chicago as part of the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Moms program! Not only am I going to Chicago to attend an awesome Verizon event, but they are also sending me to the 2012 SocialRevUp Brands & Bloggers Summit!
I am so happy and excited to be given the opportunity to be part of this program and cannot wait to get my hands on some new technology and share it with all of you. I know as a mom of 4, I rely on my techy gadgets to keep track of which kid needs to be where on what days, all of our family appointments, bills and more. Really, if I did have my gadgets, our life would be even more chaotic than it already is!
I am also thrilled that I will be attending the Brands & Bloggers Summit once again. I attended this conference last year and it was my the first blog conference that I went to and it was awesome! I learned so much, met some great people and made wonderful contacts.
I am looking forward to seeing some old friends, meeting more new people and introducing Ellie to everyone as well. On this trip, both Zack and Ellie will be joining me. I would have loved to bring the entire family along but my little Alexander has his first t-ball tournament over the weekend and I didn’t want him to miss out. Needless to say, we will be leaving Chicago bright and early Sunday morning to get home in time for his final game and watch him get his participation award.
Since it will be Zack, Ellie and I, we couldn’t take the family minivan to Chicago and leave the Alex and Alexander without a car. Once I came to this realization, I turned to the good folks at GM and am happy to announce that we will be riding in style in a GMC Yukon XLT!
I can’t wait to share all the excitement when we return from our weekend in Chicago!
If you will be attending the #BBSummit12 please let me know, I would love to meet you!
As you may have heard, this past weekend I attended the Midwest Moms Media Brands & Bloggers Summit in Chicago thanks to my wonderful sponsor, Clever Girls Collective.
First of all, after everything that I heard from other attendees I am glad that this was my first conference. The conference was very well organized, covered some great topics, had an amazing group of panelists, allowed time for networking and offered some awesome sponsors.
To start things off, Lisa and I were prepared to fight for a place to sit near an electrical outlet. We arrived early and even had a surge protector with us just to be safe. We got to the conference early enough to scope things out, only to discover the MJ had been more than prepared for a room full of bloggers utilizing the internet and requiring electricity to do so. MJ had power run to each table to ensure that everyone would be able to plug in if needed. Not only that, we never encountered any issues with the internet either. (Unlike other conferences I’ve heard of.)
And before I forget, I finally had the chance to meet Crystal Duncan from IZEA!
Me, @Blm03, @CrystalDuncan and @Table4Five
The day kicked off with a welcome from MJ and then on to the Brands & Bloggers Panel. I loved hearing everyone’s take on how to connect with a brand and the tips they offered us.
For me, the session I really appreciated the most was the FTC Guidelines Overview with the wonderful and very pregnant ((thank you for being there!!)) Sarah Evans. It was shortly after I began blogging that the FTC started changing the way things needed to be disclosed. Sarah helped clarify quite a few things that had been confusing to me. You can read Sarah’s presentation on her site HERE. You will not regret reading it!
After a nice break to network (which I did mostly from my chair since I was so swollen), we were treated to a spectacular performance by the one and only Miss Lori who blew our socks off singing Firework. Lori offered an amazing presentation on Taking the Stage and how to be BOLD and BIG with brands. You can find her performance on her YouTube channel HERE. Again, another presentation that doesn’t disappoint….only inspires!
After the conference was done we had a little bite to eat and then hopped on the shuttle to the John Hancock Observatory for the Mixer Party. Again, I wish I wouldn’t have been so swollen and tired so I could have had a little more fun. (*Thank goodness this is my last pregnancy!) The views from the 94th floor — 1,000 feet up was stunning!
All in all, I had a great time…other than that whole having huge swollen feet and not being able to walk a lot!
Thank you to the Clever Girls Collective for sponsoring me and giving me the opportunity to attend my first blog conference! Also a huge thank you to MJ Tam and the amazing sponsors and speakers of the Brands & Bloggers Summit. Thank you for filling my head with soooo much info!
I am super excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to attend since it will be my first blog conference. I am also really excited to finally meet some of the amazing bloggers that I have been chatting, reading and tweeting with for the past two years. I am looking forward to meeting a lot of new people and doing some serious networking. (Here’s hoping my pregnant body will survive the day!)
I can’t wait to learn all kinds of new things, meet new people and take a way A LOT from this experience!!! All of the sessions interest me and I feel they will teach me a lot. I am really excited to get some help in how to properly pitch a brand and learn to build new relationships.
Right now I on a conference high a cannot wait to take it all in!
If you’re heading to Chicago this weekend for the Brands & Bloggers Summit please leave me a comment and let me know. If you want to learn more about the Clever Girls Collective and all of the amazing opportunities they have to offer, feel free to ask me here or in person at the conference.
