That's how I felt Tuesday night leaving the California Governor and First Lady's Conference on Women in Long Beach, California. I can only imagine that the other 13,000+ women who attended felt the same way.

It all started on Monday with a five-and-a-half hour plane ride cross-country sitting next to a very large man with the snore of a hibernating bear. (But at least he took a bath in a vat of Drakkar Noir before joining us for his nap.) The woman to his right reacted by throwing a temper tantrum, but I was way too giddy to let him snore on my parade.

When I arrived in Long Beach, I headed straight to my hotel to check in and immediately set up my laptop for wireless Internet access. There were well over 100 emails waiting for me due to the upcoming site refresh (which happened late last night, by the way... doesn't iVillage look beautiful??). After working my way through them, I left to hit a nearby restaurant for a quick dinner and then I went to bed. Hey, I was on New York time! Plus, I was bracing myself for an early wake-up call.

By 6am, I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed at the Long Beach Convention Center to meet the video crew. We set up the cameras in our special area backstage, and one of the media relations ladies stopped by with my schedule of one-on-one interviews. It looked like this:

10:00 -- Sharon Rocha
10:15 -- Martha Stewart
10:30 -- Maria Shriver
12:05 -- Anna Quindlen
12:15 -- Elle Macpherson
2:15 -- Suze Orman
(We were told that, by 3pm, the backstage area needed to be cleaned up and clear for the Dalai Lama. Because, you know, that's normal.)

I'm not the starstruck type, but I couldn't wait to find out what these ladies are like in "real life."

As a journalist, I've always admired Maria Shriver. In fact, I read her book 10 Things I Wish I Knew, which is part motivational and part autobiography, a few years ago -- and again on the plane on my way over to maintain my level of excitement through the long flight. I've made the mistake of not reading much of Anna Quindlen's work in the past. But I can assure you that, after reading a number of her columns on the plane, that's about to change. Plus, my supervisor and my fiancé's mom -- two women who I greatly respect -- are both huge fans, which should have told me something in itself. My fiancé was in awe of the fact that I was going to meet Elle Macpherson (something about a poster on his wall for the entirety of the '80s?), and it's always fun to impress him. And Suze Orman and I are both from Chicago, University of Illinois alumnae and, it turns out, White Sox fans!

Through the course of the day, I had the opportunity to ask them all questions ranging from the key to a successful marriage (for Maria, of course!) to advice for new mothers. I asked them about the challenges they've faced as females in the male-dominated business world, about the women that have made the greatest impact on their lives and about reinventing themselves. And yes, for all of you who are wondering, this time -- on top of the video crew -- I brought both a tape recorder AND a pen (many pens, in fact).

I'll let you know as soon as the videos are live on the site so you can watch them all. I'm confident that they'll remind you of just how smart and compassionate and powerful we women can be. And I bet you'll feel like you should be President, too.