Posts Tagged: chris mann
Girls Night In & Out {With a Couple of Boys}
My Bliss: Part VIII
The night started off with a bunch of girlfriends enjoying some Mexican food. Rachel, Casey, Emily, Leslie, Victoria, Maile, Lotus, and I had a wonderful dinner together, full of good conversation and delicious food. These are those special moments of a conference, stolen away, intimate, and bonding.
Then it was time for us to hit the red carpet at the Girls Night In Party. Girls Night In at Blissdom is one of my favorite things. It has to do with Karaoke, which I could have fun doing all night long if you let me. This year the bonus was performances by Chris Mann and Crystal Bowersox, extra drink tickets, and the ever awesome Freschetta Photo Booth! Seriously, every party needs a photo booth. Chris was sweet enough to record a message for Olivia (one of his biggest little fans, but she’s not a bigger fan than her Ma, yo!)
Me in All My Karaoke Glory [Photos Courtesy of Jennifer and Shab]
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After the Girls Night In Party we headed over to Fuse, where we danced our happy asses off.
This part of the night was the most fun. The music, the dancing, the sweat, the beats, the love—it was utterly amazing!
Everyone danced together while on the periphery there were men from the other conference, that was going on, watching us. There were only a couple men on the dance floor, Jim being one of them. We were all having a blast, dancing all Johnny Castle and Baby, together. All of a sudden I felt someone’s body up against my backside. Oh! Dirty Blissdom Fuse Dancing. Fun! When I look around and spot everyone that would have been ALLOWED to Johnny Castle me. There’s Loter. There’s Momo. There’s Jim. There’s the Love Bomb Crew. There’s Jana. There’s Heather. There’s Rach. There’s EVERY. SINGLE. BLISSFRIEND. So, I turn around and it’s this creepy agriculture guy in a green button down. Once I see that it’s not one of my people, grabbing my ass, my eyes pop out of my head and I mouth “help me” to Jim. Just then the guy FULLY gooses me.
“Oh My God, you are SO naughty,” I yell at him, as I turn to Jim, point, and say, “DUDE, THIS IS MY HUSBAND!”
Jim rescues me with a hug and the green shirted creep buzzes off at the speed of light; I’m sure he thought Jim would go all Kung Fu on him, or something, because Jim could totally eff a dude up. Just sayin’.
At that point, I adopted Jim as my husband for the night. Then I found out that he was everyone else’s fauxsband. Whatever. He likes me best, I’m sure!
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Plopped on the stairs, we were beat. We were also coming to the realization that Blissdom was soon to end. This particular night ended with the pouring out of hearts. And while we were sad that it was soon going to end, and we’d soon be going home, we took comfort in knowing that our friendships were stronger because of these moments.
A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.
—Douglas Pagels
The Story of BlogHer {Part VI}
Before (BlissDom ’09) —- During (BlogHer’10)
On the left you see a puffy faced, tired, ill eyebrowed, uncomfortable version of myself. On the right you see a slimmed down, rejuvenated, naturally browed, confident me. The tan helps, too, but I digress. Back in February 2009 I almost considered omitting the picture that was taken of me and *Chris. I was so embarrassed of my weight, and yet I hid that feeling so well. I’ve always been able to hide that part of myself. Now I’m happy that I didn’t pretend that picture didn’t exist, because I have it to compare to the one taken this month at BlogHer. I see something different in my eyes and smile. I see my true self, the one that’s not hiding a damn thing.
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My First 5K
My Cheerleader: Leah of Bookieboo
Who knew that when I started my interval training with the C25K app, this summer, that it would culminate in actually completing my first 5K at BlogHer?! I was afraid (A LOT afraid) when I heard back from the organizer of the BlogHer 5K. Then I just shut up and bit the bullet. When I posted about it on Twitter my friend Leah offered to run it alongside me. I told her that I would be slow. She didn’t care. I told her that I would have to walk some of it. She said I just needed to keep up. I told her that I was scared. She said I had no reason to be because I had this one.
I did it. I really did it, and there’s definitely no stopping me now.
On Saturday another friend of mine, Carmen, stopped me and asked if I’d talk about how I got started with my running program. I think this video is good for all of us, out there, who are starting to get fit. It doesn’t matter what you are doing to get fit. All that matters is that you commit and DO IT.
*Chris totally cheered me on when I gushed about completing my first 5K!
Meet Chris Mann
Chris making his way to the Room 704 party at BlogHer.
Back before Blissdom09 I got an instant message from my friend, Allison Worthington. She was so excited that she had to share some news. That was when I first heard of Chris Mann. He was going to be at Blissdom, singing for the attendees. Within a New York minute I was at his MySpace page, listening to his tracks and looking at his pictures. I was INSTANTLY hooked and requested to be his friend. I even messaged him telling him that I was going to be the photographer at the conference and that I couldn’t wait to meet him. Ever the gentleman he accepted my friend request and messaged me back saying that he couldn’t wait to meet me. Thus began our relationship. Then we took it to Twitter, but the secret was out; I had to share him with countless other Chris-crazed, Mann-happy bloggers. No worries, though, because Chris knows I’m the O.G.
When I met him at Blissdom, I knew he was going to be big. Charisma oozed out of his pores. Just standing around him made me giddy as he’s just got this aura around him. Sure, he’s drop-dead gorgeous. Sure, he can carry a tune. Sure, he is funny, smart, and cool. More importantly, he’s authentic. He’s genuine. He’s solid. If you aren’t familiar with him. You will be. Mark my words, Chris Mann is here to stay and he’s going to soar to the top of the charts. The way you can tell a true musician is by their live performances. I’ve seen him sing live a few times now, and every. single. time. I am completely blown away by his voice and ability.
He sang at a few of the parties at Blogher, in Chicago. The first one that I saw him at was the Soxial Luxe Lounge. He was singing (ever so sweetly the way he does) and I was snapping pictures of him. He saw me and mid-song said, “Hi Mishelle.”
I swooned or blushed or both?
Chris you are the Mann!
