Last week I attended my 4th BlogHer conference since I started blogging. This month marks 5 years for my blog so I’m super excited about that milestone. I love attending the BlogHer conference and was happy that CVS/Pharmacy sponsored my trip so I could go once again. (Thanks CVS!!!). Trips are a huge perk to blogging and I think I’ve earned them after all the long hours I pour into my blog. I don’t think anyone realizes how much work goes into a blog. I write every single day (except Christmas Day!).
This year it was held in Chicago and the layout was different because the hotel (Sheratan) and convention center (McCormick Place) were not in the same place. However they did provide shuttles to get you from one place to another. One thing I had no idea about is the bus/shuttles have their own private path they can take so they don’t have to sit in traffic, which was a huge plus for getting from one place to the other. I didn’t stay at the hotel where most attendees stayed because by the time I decided to go, they were booked. Instead I stayed at the Hyatt which was attached to the convention center so my “commute” was pretty easy.
While there I attended a lunch with CVS/Pharmacy where I learned a bit more about their new Pharmacy Rewards program along with some very interesting facts about health care. We went around the room learning these facts and tweeted some things we learned or found interesting to our readers. Here I am tweeting some things. The photographer just happened to catch this of me and I thought I’d share.
Some of the facts we learned….
I found it very interesting that 3 in 10 adults revealed in a survey that they did not visit a doctor when they have a medical problem. I’m not in that category at all and my actually visit my doctor too many times! But that really surprised me.
I wasn’t surprised to learn that 80% of internet users looked online for health information because I knew that was pretty high. I use the internet for so much including searching for answers about health issues. I think it’s a great tool for that.
Their new Pharmacy Rewards will give you 1 credit for each prescription and once you get 10 credits you’ll earn $5 ExtraBucks Rewards. You can also earn credits by doing other tasks to earn your rewards quicker. All your family members can be added to your plan and there is a maximum of $50 ExtraBucks that can be earned per person, not family. So if there are 2 in your family you can earn up to $100 ExtraBucks. That’s a lot!
I enjoyed the lunch that CVS/Pharmacy had and the food was excellent. Check out this spread….
It was all ‘healthy’ food and I was excited to see it since I’ve been trying so hard to eat better. But what would you expect at a lunch that was about your Health?!
There were a lot more people at BlogHer this year but I honestly didn’t notice the difference. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t at the main hotel? I’m not sure but the Expo floor, which is where I spend most of my time was not as crowded as it was in years pass. It was also much smaller. There were fewer booths this year and no HUGE ones like in the past (like P&G if you’ve been before). However, I enjoyed it being less crowded because it made it easier to chat with company reps and I had plenty of time to see them all.
A few shout outs I want to give are…
- The Folgers Booth…. they had great coffee (of course!), yummy donuts and a charging station. Plus there were placed to sit and enjoy your coffee while your phone charged. I chatted with some bloggers I had never met before and also got to know some of the PR reps I’ve worked with in the past, but had not met in person until this time. Oh and I won a prize at the Folgers booth which included a new Keurig Brewer and some coffee!!! YEAH FOLGERS.
- The Samsung Booth was awesome! I have a Samsung Galaxy 3 phone and I needed to charge my phone. Before I realized that Folgers had a charging station, I went to Samsung figuring they would. When I asked and the girl told me NO, they didn’t have a charging station my first quick thought was “bad Samsung”… but that thought quickly went away when she told me instead they were swapping out batteries! WHAT? Were they seriously going to take my battery (that didn’t keep a charge for every long anymore) and give me a new one? YES, they were. All I can say is SAMSUNG, you ROCK! They also made me this really cute phone cover with an image and my name sketch on it. SUPER CUTE. I already loved Samsung but now I love them ore.
- The Keurig Brew Over Ice Booth had tons of K-Cups you could brew over ice to make a yummy cold beverage. I have had their Iced Coffees but had not tried a few of the Iced Teas or Lemonade. Now I know it’s super easy to mix up an entire batch of Lemonade with a mix, but the idea of making one cup for one person (me) on demand is what I like. Call me lazy, that’s fine but I love my one cup Keurig. So I opted to try the Lemonade pretty much whenever I got thirsty and I wasn’t drinking coffee from another booth. They had a few Keurig brewers and just made cold drinks over ice all day long. It was awesome and I stopped their frequently.
- Kiss Nails Booth was doing hair, applying their FUN nails and putting eyelashes on everyone! All you had to do was make an appointment. So I did and had them apply the eyelashes on me. LOVED THEM. But they make it look so easy to apply them. However I’m going to try my best to do it because they looked so good. I’ve always wanted longer lashes.
- Soda Stream had samples of all kinds of soda and a few of their soda makers. I love my SodaStream and I was super excited to try a few flavors I had not tried before. It was a very popular booth too!
- The Nature Made Booth supplied me with my vitamins each day I was there including some really yummy tasting Fish Oil gummies. OMG I could eat the entire bottle at once (of course I wouldn’t). I also sampled their VitaMelts and they are so good. It makes taking vitamins a lot more fun, even for the adults.
- The Gorton’s Seafood Booth had some yummy new items for us to try. They added a new item to their Artisan Line – Roasted Garlic & Italian Herb – and it was sooo good. The outside was thick and crunchy and had so much flavor you may not even realize there was fish inside! Loved them and I will serve these at my house. I know my kids would eat them, and perhaps even my husband. Perfect for a busy back to school night next month!
There were so many more companies and I really had a great time while walking the expo hall and I was excited to meet up with some old friends and make some new ones.
Disclosure: CVS/Pharmacy sponsored my trip to BlogHer but my opinions are 100% my own.
