I had a great time at BlogHer last week.  I almost forgot to mention the best part: my own hotel room.  I felt so swanky.  It was awesome to get ready for my day all alone, sipping coffee, and watching the Today Show.  Usually I have to put my clothes on while Kate hangs off me like a useless extra appendage and smahes my favorite Cover Girl eyeshadow to bits.

Anyway, I won’t get to hang out alone again for a while.  But I can read my new favorite blogs I discovered at BlogHer.  Here are some of my favorite new people:

+I attended Catherine McCord’s Vlogging Bootcamp two-part panel, and she was my favorite speaker.  Her site, Weelicious, provides fast, fresh, and easy meal ideas.  Her site is geared for parents with babies and toddlers, but so many of her recipes are perfect for anyone looking for nutricious recipes using minimal ingredients.  If you’re in a recipe rut and looking for something different, check out Catherine’s site and watch her high quality videos where she shows you how to make her delicious recipes.  Speaking of high quality video, Catherine’s talk inspired me to make more videos and showed me how to use minimal resources to make useful, high quality video.  More on this later.

+I also attended a panel on turning blog posts into publishable essays.  Jennifer Armstrong was one of the speakers, and she offered great pointers on how to expand and layer onto blog posts to turn them into publishable essays.  Jennifer writes at The Sexy Feminist, and I love this site because Jennifer (and her co-writer Heather Wood Rudulph) write about feminism in a smart, non-bashing way.

+Elizabeth Jayne Liu read her blog post To the Person Who Stole My Taco Bell Gordita Savings Fund as part of BlogHer’s annual Voices of the Year ceremony.  Elizabeth is a riot.  Add her blog to your Reader and thank me later.

+I met Anna when she sat down next to me for a complimentary manicure at the Bailey’s Irish Cream Booth at the Expo.  We got to talking, and I knew I liked her right away.  I also have to give Anna major kudos because she has a seven month old at home.  When Kate was seven months, I still wouldn’t even go to the grocery without her.  I ran into Anna again a few times during the conference, and I wish I had more time to chat with her.

+When the Starbucks in the hotel decided to close – at 2 p.m. after I had just got in line for a latte – this girl in front of me said, “don’t worry, there’s one across the street.”  Since she was wearing a BlogHer badge, I asked her about her blog.  And she asked me about my blog.  And I liked her right away.  Amy Kraft is the voice behind Media Macaroni where she reviews all things kid’s media.  If you have a small person in your life, search through Amy’s site before picking up your next holiday or birthday gift.

So those are a few of my new favorites.  What did you read that inspired you this week?