the fun and the funny, BlogHer style

I’m going to stick my head in the sand for a bit and ignore some of the strange/bad/crazy a$$ stuff that went down at BlogHer. Especially since everyone else is talking about it - I certainly don’t need to. No, instead, let’s talk about me. Me, and the fact that people(!) you can’t take me anywhere! I truly am the epitome of disaster walking.

Before I even got there I dumped most of my in-flight ginger ale on the poor dude sitting next to me on the plane. Ice and all. I got plenty on myself too. After I said sorry a million times all I could think to say was “at least it’s nice and cool - it doesn’t seem so hot in here now.” Yes, I did say that, and he looked at me like I’d lost my mind. Well, it was hot in there! Oy.

It’s good I had two more hours left to dry off before deplaning. If I hadn’t I would have been walking around O’Hare looking like I’d had an accident. If you know what I mean.

The rest of the day weekend I spent stalking seeing bloggers friends I knew and squealing like a, well, like a girl. Squealing doesn’t quite cover it though. I don’t think Stimey has yet recovered my hug attack. I did get a bit of a reputation for my hugs though, didn’t I Pocklock? ;) Heh.

Friday just got better. Especially lunch, when I got a piece of dear-god-the-driest-chicken-I’ve-ever-eaten-in-my-life stuck halfway down my throat. Do you know what you shouldn’t do when you have a piece of chicken stuck in your throat? Drink water. Don’t drink the water! Because you will spew it all over the table, your lunch, and quite possibly probably most assuredly down the front of your cute new green shirt.

Since I could actually breath, just not swallow, I waved off all the waiters lining up to give me the Heimlich and ran off to the bathroom to stick my finger down my throat to get the freaking piece of chicken out! (Thank for watching my stuff while I was gone Kelby!) Can you imagine if I’d had the Heimlich 3 weeks after abdominal surgery? Just imagine! I’d be known as the girl who choked on a piece of chicken and then bled to death at BlogHer! I’d be famous infamous. And dead.

Moving on to parties. I went to every party I possibly could. And then spent my time explaining/apologizing for not being able to dance/bowl/eat/drink because of the gallbladder thing. I can’t believe I talked about the stupid gallbladder so much. Yikes. Am boring.

Anyway. The parties. They rocked. I wore princess crowns, and bright pink boas, and ate from chocolate fountains (that I was afraid I would fall into - for real afraid - because you know - past history and all) and didn’t eat a cheeseburger, because of the stupid gallbladder, but I was there. I was there for everything I could stay awake for.

I’m really really glad my friends took pictures since I only snapped like 4 the whole time I was there. This was one of them:

This is Leighann - the best roommate ever - she didn’t mind my junk everywhere or my going to bed late or my tagging along with her to lots of stuff! Or when I spilled yet another drink at BowlHer. Luckily not on her. Love you babe!

I can’t possibly link to everyone I met, and hugged, and loved, loved, loved. I had more fun than I ever imagined I would/could/should have. And I really did go to sessions. Pinky swear.

July 27, 2009 | 21 Comments 
Filed Under blogging, friends, humor Tagged ,

blogher: really in real life

I once said that BlogHer is what happens in the hallways, and these last few days have only confirmed that. There is nothing like randomly running into someone you only recognize from their avatar or their url and having that instant “OMG I know you!!” ~squee!!~ moment with. And then repeat that moment a hundred times over with a hundred different people. And then do it again the next day with another hundred people.

Imagine sitting there chatting to someone for 20 minutes while you’re taking a break and finally saying, “so what’s you’re twitter name? What?! I totally follow you!” It’s actually quite bizarre, in a good way!

For me, BlogHer is also sitting in a hot, crowded, session surrounded by women typing away on their laptops and iphones, intently listening to freaking fantastic panelists and tearing up because you suddenly realize I have found my people. These are my people.

I know what you’re waiting to hear me say, you want me to talk about cliques and snobbery. Not gonna happen. Because it didn’t happen.

Here’s the truth. I have not met one person who snubbed me. I have not witnessed cliques. And not because I haven’t been in the thick of it. I’ve been all over, met a million people, and had my own fan girl moments and honestly, it’s been amazing. I’ve hugged everyone I can get my hands on, and I’ve been hugged right back.

I’m not going to sit here and name drop so-called “big bloggers” that I had dinner with or who I hung out with at this party or that. You know why; because they don’t see themselves that way and the big blogger rock star crap embarrasses them. They are just women (and a few men) trying to have a good time and not hide in a corner because they’re afraid no one will talk to them, just like the rest of us.

Um, hello, most bloggers blog because they have some form of social anxiety. Lucky for me I don’t really. I’m pretty dang good at introducing myself with no expectations. And you know what always shocks me? When someone knows who I am in return.

Let me also say one thing that BlogHer ISN’T about. Swag. I know. You’ve all heard about swag and wondering what we got. Well yeah, some people got some cool stuff if they happened to be at the right place at the right time. The majority of us got a lot of tote bags, water bottles, some toys for our kids, and strange amounts of laundry detergent handed to us. And you know what? Who cares?! It’s just not about the swag! I would much rather collect friendships thank you very much. I have missed a number of opportunities to get “stuff” in order to hang out and have actual CONVERSATIONS. To each their own, but that’s my take on it and probably the last I will say about the swag.

Anyway, I can’t tell you enough how incredible this experience is. Busy and crazy and fun and crowded and overwhelming at times. What I’ve learned, and what I’ve done, and who I’ve met have imprinted themselves on me. I know now that the way I blog is just fine, because it’s my way. I do it for fun, for an outlet, for me and me alone, and I’m much more secure about that than I ever was before this.

As soon as I get home I need to start saving for BlogHer 2010 - in New York City. I’ve found my people, and it’s fantastic. (And yes I have some funny stories for you, soon!)

July 25, 2009 | 15 Comments 
Filed Under blogging Tagged , ,

keep scrolling

Seeing as I’m going to a blogging conference I probably ought to post something on this here blog eh?

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Nope.

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Got nothing.

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Um. So what are you doin’ this week?

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I’m packing….sort of.

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Flying alone. Yep. I am. Not worried though. Nope.

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Oh, and did you know stupid United Airlines charges $15 extra to check just ONE bag? The outrage!

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Yeah, I really got nothin’.

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Oh, wait! News! I actually changed my twitter avatar to a REAL picture! I know! It’s so people at BlogHer can, you know, recognize me. If they can recognize me off a itty bitty thumbnail that is.

Anyway. I’m working, and packing, and generally getting ready for my first alone vacation in, well, um, ever. Ever. Alone. Can’t wait. Can’t wait. Can’t wait. I wish I was leaving NOW instead of Thursday.

Let me leave you with this. In my pre-BlogHer preparations today, I charged up my camera battery and cleaned off the memory card. And found…the reason I need a vacation:

There’s a whole SERIES of them. And of the cat, and of his toys, of the back of my head, and of half-black bananas and…you get the picture. (~Snort~ I crack myself up.)

God I love this kid.

But I am soooo tired.

July 21, 2009 | 4 Comments 
Filed Under blogging Tagged , ,

If you aren’t going to BlogHer, well, I’m sorry for this

It seems like everyone is writing a pre-BlogHer post this week. I’m of two minds about writing one of my own. As much as I am giddy with excitement, I know my non-bloggy friends really don’t understand the concept of going to a conference for blogging. Of all things. Blogging? Wha??

Beyond that, I remember what it felt like last year, (heck, and the year before too) when I stayed home while every blogger I read and wanted to meet was headed for San Francisco. Can you say burning flames of jealousy? I don’t want to make anyone reading here feel that way. Just know my friends, that I wish ALL of you were able to go to Chicago so I could meet each and every one of you.

In any case, most of the BlogHer posts I’ve read have basically been about angst. As in; don’t have any and you will be fine. Good advice, I can live with that. For some reason I’m not at all nervous about flying to Chicago on my own and meeting some 1,000 or so other bloggers. (Mostly) Women bloggers. Geeky (mostly) women bloggers. There’s no reason to have angst about meeting other geeks/dorks/nerds, right? Right. I mean I know I’m one anyway.

Anyway, here is my list of what I will be doing at BlogHer:

And now here’s the list of what I will not be doing at BlogHer:

There. That’s it. I did it. That’s my first real pre-BlogHer post. I hope it was good enough. (Oops, that was my angst showing.) Kidding!!

Seriously, though, you all know I’m KIDDING. I really don’t have angst. I’m just a little snarky.

July 15, 2009 | 9 Comments 
Filed Under blogging, humor Tagged , ,

this should have just been a bullet post

I have spent all my time this week doing just a couple of things - healing, sleeping, and trying to catch up on work. Healing is going well, the other two? Meh.

I’m a stomach sleeper. Always have been. I hate, hate, hate sleeping on my back. Needless to say I can’t sleep on mah belly right now. Or even my side. So I don’t sleep much at all really. Kinda stinks since sleep is what I need the most right now.

Work is tough because I just feel so overwhelmed by how much I need to get done, and yet my brain, she cannot focus. Big bad cycle that is.

Thank god for good friends who have taken my boy for playdates a few days this week. Especially Kristen who had him from 8am to 5pm yesterday. I really needed that. Like desperately.

Speaking of desperation. Damon leaves for another business trip tomorrow. Early Saturday am to late Thursday pm. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to manage.

I can’t even drive yet but I’m hoping to feel up to it in the next couple of days. I’m off all the pain killers so I’m allowed, yet my stomach muscles just don’t feel right and I don’t know what my reaction time would be if I had to slam on the brakes or something.

I still have nothing (no really) to wear to BlogHer and shopping this weekend is out of the question. Next weekend my home girl Nicole is going to drive me around and carry my bags so I can at least get something cute to wear. That hopefully fits. (Good lord, Tim Gunn is going to be at BlogHer Saturday so I need one good outfit!)

My body is so strange right now. I’ve lost an additional 7 lbs due to my all-liquid-all-the-time diet in the hospital. (Not including the 15 lbs of IV fluid gain/loss too.) However, my stomach feels very swollen and I can’t yet button the size I was in before I went into the hospital. That really stinks. I’m hoping the swelling goes down before I need to try on clothes.

The good news is that extra 7 lbs - if it stays off - brings me to a grand total of 34 pounds lost. (Okay so yesterday I subtracted in my head and it was 39. I’m going with 34 but it might really be 39 - I’m losing track of where I started.)

Thirty freaking four pounds. I’ve never been this committed, not ever. Now I just have to get past this little gallbladder hurdle and get back on track. Well, in about five more weeks that is. I do worry that as I feel better my appetite will come back I will put some pounds back on while I can’t exercise. Worry, worry.

Sorry this post was so random! I just looked back and it’s just a jumble, but I’m going to leave it that way, because that’s just where my head is at this moment. I shoulda just done bullets.

xoxo

July 10, 2009 | 13 Comments 
Filed Under blogging Tagged , , , ,

finally, the Boston BlogHer BBQ post!

In all the craziness lately I completely forgot to tell you all the Most! Important! Thing! that happened last week!

Josh lost his first tooth! At the Boston BlogHer BBQ! In the donated Friendly’s ice cream! ;) (Dang, we had good sponsors - Peapod, Springpad, Home Free Treats, and Hebrew National in addition to Friendly’s.)

It wasn’t the ice cream’s fault though.  It was the fruit salad I made. He went to chew a piece of pineapple - hit his top teeth on the bottom teeth and ~crunch~ the very loose tooth was hanging and bleeding. Poor kid! I’m sure it hurt like crazy.

He wouldn’t let me touch it so I figured I’d deal with it at home later. So I gave him ice cream to soothe it. Next thing I know he’s standing there grinning at me with a little itty bitty tooth in hand. Whoo hooo!!!

So better late than never, I just want to give a shout out to my BBQ peeps, Susan Getgood, Fairly Odd Mother, Chicky Chicky Baby, Susan Forshner, Boston Mamas, Momisodes, Daddy Scratches, More than Mommy, Miguelina, Mommy Bytes, Karen, the Meal Makeover Moms, Mommy Niri, Liz, Alex Casey Baby, Good Girl Gone Blog, and oh geez I know I’m forgetting some!

It was such a fun afternoon that I heard rumors that plans already may be in the works for another meet up in the fall. I hope so! And for those that are going to Chicago - it’ll be great to know a few faces in that a vast sea of bloggers!

June 22, 2009 | 6 Comments 
Filed Under blogging, the boy Tagged , , ,

lotsa bullets

The only way I can do this crazy jumble of a post is to resort to my faithful bullets:

June 4, 2009 | 6 Comments 
Filed Under blogging, life, weight loss Tagged , ,

HBB: week 7

The challenges at Hot by BlogHer this week were all about paying attention and changing up your routine. I didn’t need to change my routine since I haven’t exactly been following it. ~whoops~ What I needed was to get down to business and actually work out. (Which I did most days.)

So instead, this week I chose the diet challenge because I did need to get back to paying attention to it. Really really badly.

After having company two weekends in a row, going out to eat more often, forgetting to write down my foods, not counting calories, etc, yeah I really needed to pay attention! Just that little extra focus helped me end the month on a good note.

I felt like I had a very up and down month and I was afraid I wouldn’t see any progress, but in the end I lost 5 pounds for April. One pound a week this month. I really can’t complain about that even though my goal is 2 pounds a week. It could be better, but it sure could be a whole lot worse!

So here’s the rundown:

January - 3

February - 9

March - 8

April - 5

total - 25 pounds lost

I want to lose 40 total by BlogHer. That gives me about 12 weeks to lose 15 pounds. That’s more than doable!

How are you all doing with your goals?

May 1, 2009 | 9 Comments 
Filed Under life Tagged ,

….and I’m PC, but we’re both going to win

She’s the Mac. Not only is Leighann awesome, and she’s a fellow Blog Nosh editor, and I’m jealous of her Mac, she’s also my roomie at BlogHer! Since I’m on a run of good luck with my plane tickets, we thought we should both trying to win a free stay at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers during the conference from Z Recommends! Since we’re already planning to be roommates, we’ve decided if one of us wins the other gets to stay in the room too. :) And a sweet swanky Executive Club Level room it is!

Now, it’s not like me to do a post about a contest, but this is one I contest I really want to win. Especially since it’s worth about $800! I bet you want to try to win it too. But I’m not going to tell you how because I want it!!! Okay, okay, I will tell you how, you just have to check out this post. the requirements are easy, a blog post like this one (but geez you probably don’t want yours to be like this one!) for your first entry and a tweet for your second. (But be sure to read all the directions.) Humpf, but you better not win. Cause it’s mine. Mine, I say! Or at least Leighann’s. Which is as good as mine.

Btw, not only is Z Recommends giving away a stay in the hotel, but if you missed your chance to buy a conference pass before they sold out, they have a contest for that too! But I’m not entering that one because I have my pass and I’m trying not to be greedy here. ;) I’m just sharing the love with you. Mwah!

March 29, 2009 | 3 Comments 
Filed Under blogging Tagged , ,

it pays to be dumb sometimes

I had a bit of good luck today, even if it was because of my own stupidity I’m pretty freaking happy about it!

So I’ve been feeling pretty guilty about spending the money to go to BlogHer. Especially the part that costs the most - the plane tickets. Last time I checked it was going to cost me $370 round trip. Ouch. Even though I have my conference ticket and the hotel room booked I just hadn’t been able to bring myself to get the flight taken care of. I don’t know what I was waiting for - but I’m really glad I did.

We do our best here to not use any credit cards. We definitely have debt, but little on our cards. We consolidated all our extraneous debt awhile ago into a home equity loan and resolved not to pay for anything with credit cards. That’s worked pretty well so far, but I knew I couldn’t pay for the plane ticket with cash and I think the idea of putting on credit was what was making me insane bothering me.

Anyway, I digress. So this morning I was upset with myself when I realized that I was late making a payment on the little bit I owe on the one card we use for emergencies. Somehow I missed that they changed the due date from around the 22nd to the 15th. Can I just say WTH? I hate it when they do that! I was unhappy with Bank of America mostly for the attitude they gave me on the phone. I won’t blame them for me not paying attention to my due date, however, I do blame them for being nasty about it.

That awful conversation spurred me to call Citibank, with whom we’ve had a card for 14 years but haven’t used in awhile. I wanted to find out what the interest on purchases was and so I could use that as my emergency card instead of BoA. In the course of the conversation with a very nice woman at Citicards, she not only lowered my rate below BoA’s, (here’s the important part!) she reminded me about my points and that I should use them before they expire.

Wha??

I don’t have points accruing on that card….

Oh. Yes, apparently I do.

Well. When hubby opened that card back in college it didn’t have points, but somewhere along the way they started giving them to us. AND WE DIDN’T FREAKING KNOW IT!!

Yeah, dumb.

But apparently to my advantage.

Because guess what I did with those points?!!

Yep. I was able to buy my tickets to Chicago directly through Citibank’s point redemption network! I had enough points to get non-stop flights at the times I wanted! Woohoo!! (And I even had a few points leftover!)

No more guilt! No more whining! Yay! Almost half my trip is paid for without going into more debt! I seriously could cry I am so happy about it. I could bawl just thinking about it.

I think the moral of the story is - check your credit cards for points programs. Except everyone already knew that but me. Duh.

March 18, 2009 | 13 Comments 
Filed Under blogging, life Tagged , , , ,

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