Blogger Meet-up: pre-IFB in NYC, at the MOBar

Animal Magnetism: Jasmine of Vintage Vandalizm feels the call of the wild. As in wild, amazing style.

Last Tuesday, the evening before the IFB Conference in New York City, Jennine Jacob of IFB and The Coveted, and my own personal blogger rock-star, Vahni of Grit & Glamour hosted a small blogger meet-up cocktail party at the posh MOBar lounge inside the Mandarin Hotel in Manhattan. Over 50 bloggers attended, many coming in from all over, including one of my all-time favorites, Anika of By Anika. She flew in all the way from Oslo, Norway and this was her first visit stateside. Let me just say as an understatement, it was amazing to meet her! In fact, it was blast meeting so many of my blogger friends that night.

Me, with the foxy Fajr of Stylish Thought

Street Style: Lee Oliveira with the handsome Jaime at the MObar

Norwegian Would: The Amazing Anika of By Anika is in the house!

Texan Firebrand: Elyssa of Dress With Courage

Stop Making Sense: Nubia of Nubia's Nonsense simply sizzles!

One thing I have to say about personal style bloggers: we are a warm and wonderful bunch. You'd expect since we write about fashion, that we'd be a catty crew, but it is in fact the opposite. You could not meet a friendlier crowd. I got to meet some familliar faces and make the acquaintances of some not so familliar ones.

One of the warmest people I met was the lovely and talented Wendy Brandes, New Yorker, jewelry designer and stylista of the first rank. She is so bright & tiny & fashionable, that it boggles my mind she has room to be warm & witty and friendly too. But she is, in spades; I was absolutely smitten with her, and it made my week when she did a post on the event and mentioned me! Whaaa? Yeah! You can peek at it HERE. So let me just say for the record that as cute as she is in her pictures, Wendy B is even more gorgeous in real life. And let me warn you that I will be name-dropping her like a jackhammer for the next couple of months. WENDY B WENDY B WENDY B!!!!

Cute as Marbles: the talented WENDY B WENDY B WENDY B!

Another person who is STUNNING in person is Jennine Jacob the powerhouse behind the Coveted Media Inc, and IFB, which is thee essential network to belong to if you are worth your fashion blogger salt. She came up to each and every one of us and introduced herself. I was struck by how sweet she is. I was so nervous in meeting her, I am pretty sure I just blurted something out at her, and then kept overly quiet. Which is a rare thing for me, trust me folks. And I didn't even make a move to take her picture, I'm going to regret that because I'd love to prove to posterity that I got to rub elbows with this classy lady. How can a mover and a shaker be so damn nice? Well she is, and it was a thrill to meet her face to face!

Vahni of Grit & Glamour hugging the adorable Alexis of North On Harper

So in my blogger life there are the blogger rock-stars: they are the ONES that I read fanatically, follow them on ALL their social media venues, with whom I feel very connected to. I met so many of them that night! What a dream come true to meet the gorgeous street style photographer from Australia, Lee Oliveira, and his equally handsome partner, Jaime. Lee + Jaime felt immediately to me like old friends, that is IF your old friends were AS HANDSOME AS MOVIE STARS, and lived across the world from you. I was instantly at ease with those two and can't believe I haven't known them forever.

Advanced Style: Street Style Sweetheart Ari Seth Cohen is sooo getting a drunk text by me in the future.

Another street style photographer I was THRILLED to meet, is the man behind the lens of one of my all time favorite street style sites, Advanced Style. Ari Seth Cohen is freshly 30, and he  loves to capture the style of "the sterling set," namely the style mavens of the plus 50 crowd. Mr. Cohen has chronicled many of MY personal style icons, including Iris Apfel, Judith Boyd (Style Crone), and my dear amiga, Sacramento of Mis Papelicos. So when I met Ari, the first thing I blurted out was that I was a HUGE fan and that in 4 years I wanted him to take a picture of me. The biggest compliment of the evening was the fact that HE KNEW WHO I WAS, AND HE READS THIS BLOG. "Oh yes, I know who you are," replied Ari, "I love your blog. I send all my ladies there." Which he does, I know to be true because my stats show I get quite a number of visits from the readers of  Advanced Style. By the end of the evening I had that gentleman's number and was threatening to drunk text him. So put that in your speed dial, peeps.

Some of the bloggers looked EXACTLY like they do on their blogs. The warmth of Anika? EXACTLY how she is in real life. She was instantly recognizable. An added bonus was hearing her voice: it is like a chai version of sweet tea. Warm & spicy, with the most delicious British lilt in her English. She is someone I had imagined I could be friends with in real life, and upon meeting her, am certain it is so.

Possibly the most unflattering pic of my arm but I don't care! It's the only pic I have of me and V!

Another incredible meet in real life, was the first time glimpse of MY glamazon blogger rock star, Vahni G of Grit & Glamour. This woman nearly always produces the urge in me to blurt out I LOVE YOU! after I reading her blog posts. So here it is official: VAHNI G, I FUCKING LOVE YOU! This woman smells exactly like you'd imagine: fun and sexy and smart. She is GORGEOUS, terribly glamorous and YET so down to earth, all in the same breath. I loved seeing her in the flesh with her signature flood of shiny black hair, sexy little number and sky-scraper stilettos. I squealed at her that night more than once, and kept blinding her with my iPhone's camera flash. I was admittedly a bit star-struck, and quite possibly drunk. So a public apology for all my squealing, but AMIGA, love makes one do all sorts of crazy things, the least of which is snapping photos of said object of affection with one's camera phone. AND AYES LOVES YOUSE!

A quick post by V of the event can be peeked at HERE.

Stylish Grit: V of Grit and Glamour and Fajr of Stylish Thought

Poster Child for Adorable: Sammy of Sammy Davis Vintage

Everything Just So: Blogger and Pal Jill Burgess poses with our glamazon, Vahni

Fearless Fashion: +30 Blogger,  Elyssa of Dress with Courage

Beautiful Soul: Casee Marie is the heart and soul behind the blog, The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower.

Blogger Babes: Grechen of Grechen Blogs and Marissa of A Well Appointed Catwalk

Oh there were sooooo many more! I got to meet some "old" friends who I hadn't met yet: the bee-yoo-tee-full Fajr of Stylish Thought, Elyssa of Dress With Courage (read her post on the meet-up and IFB con HERE,) the charming Alexis of North On Harper, the magnetic Marissa of The Well Appointed Catwalk, and Casee Marie, The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower. 

AND I got to make some new friends too: charming, lights-up-a-room folks like Austin-based Grechen of a million blogs, namely Grechen Blogs, who is also heading up, along with Elyssa, a +30 Blogger group (you can follow them on twitter HERE.) Oh, I can't forget to mention the purrfectly gorgeous Jasmin of Vintage Vandalism, the sparkling Sammy D of Sammy Davis Vintage OR the lovely Ivie of Casual Corporate, aka My So-Called Corporate Life.

My "date" for the evening was Brooklyn resident and fashion writer, Jill Burgess who blogs for Everything Just So. I was staying in Brooklyn for my New York visit and it turned out that Jill lived a block away! I'm so glad I got to take the subway with her (she played the gracious tour guide) and we enjoyed our chats to and from the events. Jill: I am so glad we got to hang together! You can read Jill's post on the IFB events by clicking HERE.

I'd say this blogger's meet-up was a smash success! I had a GREAT time. In fact, Jill and I closed down the place! We were so full of bubbly (I love a good champagne!) and high spirits, that we didn't get back to Brooklyn until almost 2 am. Which in my book, means a VERY good time.  And just a few hours of shut-eye, before we were to meet again the next morning to ride into Manhattan's Milk Studios for the IFB conference!