Earlier this month I attended the largest blogging conference aimed specifically at women, BlogHer 2011 in San Deigo, CA, along with nearly 4000 other bloggers. Some of you may remember that I attended the BlogHer conference for the first time last year when it was held in New York City and that I had an exciting, overwhelming, fun, and productive time there. Well, this year was quite the adventure itself, so grab a cup of coffee (or if you’re like me, a mocha), sit back, relax, and I’ll tell you all about it! (Okay, I won’t bore you with every detail – just some highlights!)

First, I owe a BIG THANK YOU to my clothing sponsor for the conference, Kiyonna! They let me choose a garment of my choice from their website to wear one of the days of the conference. I loved browsing their site and it took me quite awhile to make a decision because there were so many great choices. If there would have been enough time to get the garment and have it altered before the trip, I would have chosen one of the gorgeous dresses they have because they would have been perfect for the dressy evening events and parties. I’m just shy of 5′ tall so any dress would need to be hemmed to the right length so since we were pressed for time I chose the beautiful Abby Twist Front Top in magenta.

Enjoying San Deigo in my beautiful Kiyonna blouse!

(Shoutout of THANKS to my BlogHer roommate and friend, Amethyst Moon of Wicked Lovely Things and Life Music Laughter for taking this picture for me!)

The blouse is very pretty and comfortable and can be worn casually with jeans or dressed up with slacks and accessories. I wore it with black slacks and dressed it up with a dark burgundy cami and a necklace and was able to wear it for both daytime and evening events on the Pathfinder Day of the conference.

Just an fyi, the magenta color on the website looks much more like a purple shade but it is actually much more pink in color (see my pic above), so I was surprised at how much different the shade looked in real life versus my computer monitor. Fortunately I love both shades but keep that in mind if you decide to order one. As far as sizing goes, it seems to run “true to size” and was very comfortable. I did add a cami underneath but that was because it was a little too low-cut, in my opinion, for a professional conference and events where I would be meeting with brands and PR reps.

The blouse also made the perfect outfit to wear for an interview I did while at BlogHer with EmpowHER, a website for women’s health and wellness. They invited four attendees to give the reasons why we blog and I will share the video of that interview in Part Two of my adventures.

Thanks again, Kiyonna!

Wednesday night before the conference began I arrived in San Diego along with my friends and travel buddies, Amy Bellgardt (MomSpark.net and Mom Spark Media), Haley, & Carey Sue Vega (CareySueVega.com). After checking into the hotel, we headed outside for a get-together and wine-tasting party hosted by Kate (The Guavalicious Life). After the brutally hot 112 degree day I’d just left in Oklahoma, being outside in such a perfectly balmy climate while meeting and chatting with fabulous women was an excellent way to kick off the start of an extremely busy and fun few days! Thanks again for the invite, Kate!

Stayed tuned for Part Two of my adventures at BlogHer 2011 and find out which celebrities I met while there!