I sit at Gate C5 in the American Terminal at Laguardia airport heading down to a busy but eventful weekend in Arkansas.  When I get back, Internet Week will start in New York.  Life is kind of crazy – in some good and some bad ways.  I’ve been thinking about taking a vacation.  I’m not sure where.  Someplace relaxing.  Someplace adventurous.  Sarah is going to India.  I have friends going to Costa Rica.  I want to return to Paris.  By the end of the summer, I will plan a trip for me to take – a time when I can sit in an airport waiting area with a fun trip on the horizon.

I arrived in Vegas a lot earlier than I planned and was able to attend Pistacio’s opening Keynote.  From there, I checked into the hotel and unwound from my travels.  I went to Pool ‘Con with Jeremy Tanner, Andrew Hyde, and Jeremiah Owyang for a bit before heading back to the convention to check out Scott Monty’s keynote during lunch. (Editor’s Note: Thanks to the Fiesta Movement from providing impromptu travel arrangements).

The convention center was a buzz of activity.  People were coming in from their travels, attending sessions, and just conversing in the lobby.  The lobby, for me, is always where the best things happen during these conferences and Blog World was no exception.  I was able to connect with so many people that I work with, get introduced to some of my professional idols, and just converse about various things surrounding blogging that I grew as a professional every second I was out there.  It was also nice running into the friends that I so rarely get to see.

The next few days were a complete buzz of activity.  I met so many new people and connected with so many friends – it’s hard to keep track.  I do want to give a shout out to the people on my two panels: Jenn Fowler, Lucretia Pruitt, Lindsay Lebresco for the Panel on How to Work with Big Brands and Not Be Treated like a Mommy.  For my panel on Blogging as the Springboard to community – we have Jeremy Tanner, Jennifer Van Grove, Keith Burtis, and Bryan Elliott.

Considering it was Vegas, I actually kept things relatively low-key.  I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends away from the craziness of the parties.  While this was definitely better for me health wise, I did miss a chance to see a lot of people that I wanted to spend time with – and cause some mischief with weddings and false rumors (Editor’s Note: Did Barry ever show up?).  Tech Karaoke relieved some of that – as I was able to get on stage in front of most of the conference and sing “Rump Shaker” with Wayne Sutton (along with a background dancing appearance by the Queen).

You can take a look at the live updates that I’ve did during the weekend using the tag “BWE09″ on this site and via Twitter. Also, here’s a Flickr Slideshow of the search “BWE09″ to capture the weekend.  I don’t know what people posted on there but that’s part of it – I can’t capture everything from the weekend in just a few words.  This probably will summarize everything a lot better than I could:

Check out these posts:

Gwen Bell’s 10 Things that made her smile

The Best Part of BlogHer ’09

What do I miss about the City? I’m not sure – there’s a tangible energy that New York has. For some – it’s suffocating. For others – like myself – it’s intoxicating. I miss the culture and the diversity – especially out here in Colorado. I’m hoping my foray into Chicago will help quench some of these desires, but I doubt it will come close. It is the second city for a reason….

It was almost 7 years ago when I first settled in New York and my time there wasn’t long, but it altered me in so many ways. I’ve bounced around the idea of returning but never felt the timing was right. The timing is far from right now, but that desire has returned. I’ll have to follow these emotions for a bit to see how they manifest in other aspects of my life…

• Gwen Bell, Social Media Consultant, partner with Kirtsy.com
• Kate Gannon, New Media Development/Content & Multi-Media Manager, The Coloradoan
• George Smith, Jr., Social Media Specialist, Crocs, Inc.
  
• Ari Newman, Founder & President, FiltrBox, Inc.
• Dawn Putney, Owner, Toolbox Creative
• Yann Ropars, Partner, Extanz.com Social Media Marketing and PR 2.0

It should be a fun discussion and I look forward to the discussions that will take place.  Plus, on a personal note, I actually get to travel north of Longmont for the first time ever!  Yes, I know – I never leave the bubble.  That’s a longer post for another day….

Spending the rest of the night talking to Wayne Sutton and discussing the events of the past few days and the future of Social Media. Ultimately, I think that’s the beauty of events like this – being able to pick the brains of your peers and brainstorm.

So far, I have to say I’m relieved not to be traveling this time of year.  My friend Vanessa had to reschedule her flights because of a storm in Chicago, my friend Alana arrived in Detroit to lots of snow, and there was that whole thing about a plane crashing at DIA.

So, I’ll be spending the next few days in reading, writing, and catching up on those things I neglect during the busy work week.  It will be nice and relaxing – a real vacation – versus what everyone else seems to be going through.

I walked backed to Connie’s place where all my stuff was. I showered, packed my stuff, said goodbye to Connie and co, and went into the Manhattan. I get out at Rockerfeller Center when I realize something: I have no place to go. Here I am in the city, with all my luggage and some of Mira’s, and I don’t have a place to crash for a few hours. Greg, our hospitable host for the first night, won’t be returning from a wedding in Hartford until the mid-afternoon. Max and his girlfriend were leaving for a vacation. John and Ashley, whom I wanted to meet up with, weren’t going to have a place for me to stash my stuff. I was officially the stranded person in the middle of the city, luggage in hand. I felt like such a cliche and remembered back to my first attempt to live in the city. I had a car back then, and I stashed it in free side street parking and used that as home base. I thought about going to the movies – just wasting time until I heard back from someone. Instead, I parked my ass down near Times Square and used the free CBS Internet connection and surfed the web and wrote.

Writing in NYC is something that hurts. It’s my muse but there are so many emotional connections that it brings up. There’s a sour taste in the words I write, and those demons that I haven’t quite conquered completely. As I sat in the city, writing new chapters to the same old stories, I decided that maybe soon it would be the time to share everything with someone. Just one person – so that these demons can finally be conquered.

Finally, my blackberry buzzed and I got a text from Greg. He was home and I could come crash at any moment. The intense NY heat finally started to get to me, and by the time I got to Greg’s I crashed in front of the television watching football. A normal Sunday, no matter where your longitude is.

Mira arrives from her Brooklyn rendezvous and we start to get ready for Chris’s party. Mira bought this dress in SoHo and she looked great. I was excited because I haven’t really had a chance to catch up with Chris for a long time. We arrive at Chris’s house – a small penthouse apartment on W 72nd and Broadway. We enter, drenched in a thin layer of sweat from the humid New York night, and start to party.

Overall, everything was great. I got to see Chris and Pete. Mira enjoyed hanging out there and disappeared for a few hours with Chris’s brother Jay. The view from the penthouse was amazing – seeing the NY skyline from inside of it. I had an amazing discussion with Chris’s drummer which will probably come up in some form or another in this blog. Overall, it was a typical party with Chris – but a little tamer. As we ate Gray’s Papaya at 5am in the morning, I couldn’t help but miss living in the city.