OC Blogger Ball 2010

So I had a mom’s night out last Friday night, but it was not just any night out…it was a BLOGGING night out at the OC Blogger Ball!  It is an annual event (my first time attending – last year I was in loonyville with a newborn) organized by Marcy of The Glamorous Life and Suzanne of Alive in Wonderland at OC Family. Together they have formed BlogCrush {an organization of Orange County Bloggers} and put on this event to bring bloggers together to celebrate all things post-worthy, but most importantly each other!

I have to admit, I  really, really looked forward to the ball. After telling my 4 year old daughter I was going to go to a Blogger Ball, you should have seen the look and expression of dismay at my lack of appropriate “ball attire” when I was getting dressed! The poor thing was probably picturing mommy as Cinderella only to find me pulling out the same black tank I have worn before.

However, Tera Rae Stephens (photo – right) from Ty Alexander Salon in Newport Beach did happen to make me feel like Cinderella with a complimentary blowout in honor of the ball! Tera is my hair stylist (the best in all of OC!) and the one that did my Keratin Smoothing Treatment. I have actually never had a blowout for an event before and it was, quite simply, pure LUXURY.

So Shanna from My Favorite Everything and I were going to be carpooling, so we met at the salon and had the best time chatting while Tera was working her magic.  Shanna got the most gorgeous color and fabulous new cut.   That’s Shanna below to the left – gorgeous!

Then walks in Sarah from Whoorl & Hair Thursday and it was a “full circle” moment as we had never met before.

It was Sarah who saw my tweet last spring asking for referrals for OC hair stylists that did the Keratin Treatment, and she is the one that enthusiastically told me Tera is the BEST! Coming from a women with a fabulous blog dedicated to all things “hair chic” that said a lot!  I am so happy our Twitter worlds met that day because she is just a doll.  So enjoyed meeting her, I can’t even tell you!

After we were all styled, off we went to the ball!  The event was held at the lovely Embassy Suites Anaheim – South, an all-suite family-friendly resort located one mile from Disneyland in the Anaheim resort area.  The resort welcomed the bloggers with open arms, delicious bites and a bar featuring Twittertinis. Do you love it??

It was SO MUCH FUN to actually MEET people in person!  I feel like I already somewhat know people from their blogs and Twitter, so to actually put a face with a blog and avatar was really exciting.

Here are some of my cute bloggy peeps…

From left:  Tera Rae Stephens, Me, Shanna from My Favorite Everything, Kara-Noel from Eli’s Lids and Sarah from Whoorl & Hair Thursday.

And here are two more lovelies! Lindsey from The Modchik (left) & Kathleen from Sugar and Spice.  I had never met them before and was so excited I think I was a little giddy!

Once everyone was settled, Marcy welcomed everyone and announced some seriously amazing items that were going to be raffled off including an iPad from Atwater Collection!

Here is The Glam Life herself, Marcy the Alive in Wonderland Suzanne…

Photo courtesy of the talented Modchik!

They had amazing sponsors for the event, many of which offered raffle items… They were…

Snapfish, Broughton Hospitality, Fresh & Easy, Smith & Vandiver, Disneyland Marketing, Eli’s Lids, Pampered Chef, Lisa Merins Life Illustrated, Smartly, Discovery Science Center and Asics.

I am not going to lie, I wanted to win that Atwater Collection sponsored iPad SOOOOOO badly!

Fingers crossed, I might have even said a prayer (bad, I know) but seriously I could almost TASTE what it would be like to hear my number called and run to the stage to get my beloved prize.   I was 4 numbers away.  Darn it!

But that’s okay because the winner was the super nice & talented Tracey Clark.  Her raffle ticket was a meaningful lucky number plus it was her birthday the next day so I had no choice but to be happy for her!  Congratulations Tracey!

You lucky girl you!  Here she is admiring her new prize….again, SO lucky!

And you KNOW it’s a blogger ball when they had a screen showing the live feed of all the tweets with the Twitter event hashtag on it!

Love it!

I would like to extend a very special thanks to Marcy, Suzanne, Embassy Suites Anaheim-South and all the sponsors for making it a night to remember!  It was so inspiring to be in the same room with people sharing the same passion…writing, blogging and celebrating life in Orange County!   I am honored to be in your presence and it was an  an absolutely twitterific event!