In 2007, as many of you know, the blog world was a very different place.

Back then, blogging was still a suspicious act. I’d had a blog at that point for two years, but when I used the word “blog” to talk about my writing, I was met with knitted brows and wrinkled noses. So I simply called Suburban Turmoil “my website for writing….” and watched those frowns turn upside down!

I went to my first BlogHer that year, despite my husband’s reservations. He worried that all those women who seemed like nice mothers and wives online would turn out, in real life, to be Satan worshipers, trying to recruit. Or dirty men with old food in their beards and t-shirts with slogans about dragons. 

But the truth was that they really were every bit as awesome in real life as they were on their blogs. For the first time, I met Kimberly and Susie Sunshine and Sarah and Susan and Liz and Chris and Tanis  and Catherine and Julie and Yvonne and Lena and many, many more women whose blogs I had been reading online, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like, as Catherine would say, “I had found my tribe.” Meeting these women was easy– because of their blogs, I knew them so well already. I knew about their children, their marriages, their joys and their hardships.

In 2007, BlogHer was less about private parties and sponsorships and advice on things like “SEO” and “monetization” and more about forming friendships and improving our writing. We bonded over mean speakers and stinky cheese, we talked and laughed and cried into the wee hours of the morning.

And at the end of that weekend, we had our own little get together.

We invited all the women we had met to come to Yvonne and Lena’s room at the end of the last night for one last shindig before we all left the next day. A few of us went to a convenience store around the corner to pick up supplies- wine, vodka, orange juice, chips and bean dip. And in a last-minute brainstorm, we stopped at a nearby McDonalds, where we ordered two dozen cheeseburgers and a bag full of french fries.

As women began to arrive at the room, the alcohol we’d bought was definitely appreciated. But I have to say, the cheeseburgers were the real hit.

Within minutes, three or four dozen women had sardined themselves into the room. Cheeseburger wrappers were flying, wine was sloshing, Jen Lancaster was pontificating, and the noise level was rising. Before we knew it, two burly men were knocking at our door, demanding that we disperse.

You are witnessing Lena’s “Oh, sh#t!” moment.

At that point, Yvonne and I did what any good party hosts would do.

We hid in the shower.

Meanwhile, Lena bravely faced the men at the door.

“We’re just writers, sir,” she pleaded. They looked past her into the room, at the women eating cheeseburgers, some wearing bags on their heads.

 

And they laughed.

And then they made everyone leave.

As it turned out, though, that was the best thing that could have happened. The CheeseburgHer Party became legendary. Photos circulated on the Internet. People who weren’t there claimed they were. People wrote snarky blog posts about not being invited. NOT BEING INVITED TO OUR HOTEL ROOM. Wha….?

There was only one thing to do.

We had another CheeseburgHer Party the next year. And this time, Isabel Kallman signed on, and made AlphaMom the sponsor. And this time, we had it in a hotel suite and bought lots and lots of wine and burgers. AND THIS TIME, EVERYONE WAS INVITED.

And this time, everyone showed up.

This is actually not the party. This is the hallway outside the party. Because the suite wasn’t big enough to hold all those happy cheeseburger eaters. Do you know what happens when you have a party that spills out into the hotel hallway?

Security shows up.

And while we begged and pleaded and tried to bribe them with cheeseburgers and cupcakes, they shut our CheeseburgHer Party down.

Which, again, made it way more badass on the Internet. The CheeseburgHer Party went sort of… viral.

McDonalds got wind of our humble CheeseburgHer soiree and offered to sponsor it. That’s how we ended up having it in the Presidential Suite at BlogHer ’09, with this view of Chicago from the windows.

ZOMG.

Once again, many burgers were eaten, and many bag hats were worn.

And once again, security came- although this time, we made it AT LEAST an hour before they broke the party up.

You might think this party had reached its zenith at that point. Oh no. Just wait ’til you see what happened at CheeseburgHer Party ’10.

This time around, BlogHer made it the official BlogHer closing party. It was in an actual ballroom. There were huge buffet tables with cheeseburgers and Snack Wraps.

There was a DJ and a dance floor surrounded by beds– you know, to keep the original flavor.

There was even a Cheeseburger Bed that we had made and driven to New York from North Carolina!

I’ll be honest. Hosting that party, I felt a little bit like one of the stars of My Super Sweet 16. But here’s the thing.

Even at this huge, blinged-out party last year, almost all of the same women were there who’d been at the first party four years earlier. And they were doing the same things. Dancing. Talking. Sipping on drinks. Eating cheeseburgers.

Having fun.

So much has changed in the blog world since 2007- but the women at the core are still the same people I knew back then, when we were squeezed into a tiny hotel room, shrieking and laughing and bonding over fast food and wine. That’s how it was then, and that’s how it is now.

Only now, there are 3,000 of us- and security knows we’re coming.

So with all that said, I’d like to formally invite you to attend CheeseBurgHer ’11. It is going to ROCK, y’all. And this year?

THERE WILL BE FRENCH FRIES.

But it won’t be complete unless you’re there.

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