A “Girls Night Out” with other Chicago area Bloggers and $10 iTunes GIVEAWAY

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED.

On Thursday October 23rd I attended an event in Chicago called “Girls Night Out” with Sparkplugging & Epson, in association with One2One Network. There were a bunch of area mom bloggers and women in marketing in attendance and it was a lot of fun!

There were appetizers and finger food, wonderful mixed drinks that I missed out on because I was driving, great conversation, awesome atmosphere and throughout the night photos were being taken and printed out right at the event on an Epson Artisan 800 All-in-One printer. They even gave a couple printers away. I didn’t win a printer but I did get a fun swag bag! I am very new to these types of things and I am so inspired that companies like Epson realize the power and influence women, moms, and bloggers, have!

The event was held in an apartment on Lake Shore Drive. The GOLD COAST baby! It was a beautiful place with a million dollar view. I of course, failed to take a picture of the view, but I did get a nice shot of the bathroom, or at least one particular aspect of the bathroom that I just was fascinated with. Check it out:

Yes, apparently rich people have wine racks in the bathroom. I was afraid to touch the bottles for fear of breaking them but they looked full and sealed. Boy, the fun I could have had in that powder room!

I know I didn’t get a chance to meet everyone there but I did meet a bunch of wonderful ladies and even had my picture taken with some of them. Here is a list of the women that I met:

• Wendy Piersall (aka eMom) from Sparkplugging: Wendy was so nice and down-to-earth and it was just amazing to chat with her. Hopefully some of her web and business savvy rubbed off just from standing next to her!
• Barbara Jones from One2One Network: Barbara was extremely nice and sweet and took the time to talk to everyone and make sure we all got some pictures printed off the Epson Artisan printer. She is the Founder of One2One and it was amazing to spend some time with her!
• Amber from One2One Network: Amber was very nice, and although I didn’t get a chance to chat with her a whole lot, she seemed like a great lady!
• Arianne Segerman from To Think Is To Create: Arianne is my new favorite person. I don’t want her to think I am stalking her or anything, but if I was going to stalk someone, it would be her. I seemed to be having a double chin issue in the photos they were taking and I DON”T HAVE A DOUBLE CHIN (Trisha does, but I don’t *wink* – just kidding) and Arianne tried to teach me how to take a picture and avoid the dreaded double chin look. Then I had a problem keeping my eyes open…oh well! Arianne was very nice and fun and she has a new title as Director of Community Development at One2One Network.
• Beth from I Should Be Folding Laundry: Beth was just awesome! She was the photographer for the evening and I now have serious camera envy.
• Donya from Crooked Eyebrow: Donya was very nice and funny and I enjoyed chatting with her!
• Kim from Hormone-colored Days: Kim was very nice and extremely interesting and knowledgeable and she even put up with my parking confusion!
• Karen from A Deaf Mom Shares Her World: Karen was so sweet and I was amazed at how well she kept up with the conversation. It turns out she didn’t have a translator and was lip reading!
• Jessica from Sassafrass: Jessica, I think, is, well, kind of a nutball. But in a good way! She was a lot of fun and very friendly!
• Lisa from My Thoughts Ideas and Ramblings: Lisa accompanied me on the ride to the city because she needed a ride and she was only a little bit out of my way. It was great to have a friendly face going in to a room full of strangers and she was very nice and I really enjoyed the conversations we shared.
• Sima from Parlay Communications: Sima was very nice and I enjoyed our conversation. I wish her much success with her new business venture!
• Barbara from CoryWest Marketing: Barbara was wonderful to talk to and very nice. She seemed very knowledgeable and I really enjoyed meeting her.
• Jayne from Critical Mass: Jayne was very nice and very fun. She is 22 on the inside and a little bit tall. Just a little bit. I really had a great time talking to Jayne!

Some of the women listed above, and some of the others who I either didn’t meet or didn’t get their cards are bloggers at the Chicago Moms Blog.

If I forgot to list you and I did meet you, it is because I either lost your card or didn’t get it, or just didn’t get a chance to meet you. Feel free to yell at me in the comments below if you were there but not mentioned.

Also, I want to thank Steph from Adventures in Babywearing for helping me get on the invite list for the event!

Before I let you see some of the photos from the event, I need you all to promise that you will not mock my incredibly large head or my super shiny forehead. PROMISE! I may envy Beth’s camera but it obviously did not like me! I blame it all on the lighting. I am obsessed with this photo. Have you ever looked at a picture of yourself and thought “who IS that?” Yeah.

From left to right: Barbara Jones, Wendy Piersall, Arianne Segerman and some bright shiny person who may or may not be me.

For more great pictures from the event, check out the Flickr Photostream: Epson Event Oct 08

One of the items I received in the swag bag (along with a board game, a FULL SIZE bottle of Downy, some spark plug earrings made by Wendy – so cute, a water bottle, and some other things) was a $10 iTunes gift card. Because I love you all so much, I am giving away the gift card to one of you fine people who do not mock my photos.

How to enter:
To enter to win the $10 iTunes gift card (courtesy of ciao! via my swag bag), simply visit one of the blogs of these great new moms I met and leave a comment on any of their posts telling them I sent you (Kim @ What’s That Smell? / Accidental Mommies); please leave a thoughtful legitimate comment and end it with the fact that I sent you. Then come back here and leave a comment with the LINK TO THE POST YOU LEFT THE COMMENT ON. (Only legitimate, thoughtful comments on the other blog will be considered as a valid entry)

Here is the list of blogs:

• Arianne from To Think Is To Create
• Beth from I Should Be Folding Laundry
• Steph from Adventures in Babywearing
• Donya from Crooked Eyebrow
• Kim from Hormone-colored Days
• Karen from A Deaf Mom Shares Her World
• Jessica from Sassafrass
• Lisa from My Thoughts Ideas and Ramblings
• Chicago Moms Blog

That’s it! And trust me, you will like their blogs!

You can enter as many times as you want, but each entry must contain a SEPARATE comment on a different post on one of the listed blogs. Please leave a separate comment for each extra entry and remember to include the link to the post you left the comment on.

Giveaway ends on Monday Nov. 12th at noon Central time and is open to the USA.

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