July 30, 2008

BlogHer ‘08: Feelin’ Funky Friday

Friday at BlogHer was a day of non-stop activity. I woke up at 6:00 a.m. when the alarm in our room went off in my ear. Elizabeth had to work in the BlogHer Book Store, so she had to be up at that time. After turning off that screaming, wake-up machine, I tried to go back to bed. I had a migraine like you wouldn’t believe and I was thirsty. So very thirsty.

After popping an Excedrin, and downing an entire bottle of warm water (yuck, but it helped) I decided to try to blog about the night before. But, really, I was kidding myself. The in-room WiFi sucked and I was too distracted by all the upcoming events of the day.

I went down to the Mezzanine level for breakfast and after eating I got to try out the Wii Fit. Let me just say how desperately I want a Wii and Wii Fit. I’ve been coveting one for months and we just can’t shell out that money right now. Maybe by Christmas. (You hear that Nintendo? I’m in desperate need of a Wii. Can ya hook me up? What? Shameless begging you say? Yes. Yes I know.)

I met Krisco in the grand ballroom and we sat together to hear what Lisa, Elisa and Jory had to say during the opening keynote. The we did some speed dating and I collected and gave away oodles of business cards.

The speed dating session at BlogHer ‘07 really intimidated me, and halfway through it I found myself hiding in the ladies room. I really don’t know the reason, other than it was my first time at a blogging conference and I was so overwhelmed.

This year was much better because we had a different way of meeting new bloggers. We all sat at the table, talked for a few moments, exchanged business cards and when the time was up, two bloggers moved to a new table. It was like Survivor: BlogHer in San Francisco, as Lisa described it, and I liked this method much better than standing in two circles like we did in Chicago last year.

And this is where I finally got to meet this amazing, hilarious, wonderful blogger. She fucking rocks my world. I was so excited, I squeeed her. It’s only because I missed her in Chicago last year (I saw her in a panel, made a mental note to talk to her, but then missed her — so this year I was elated to talk to her and pose for a photo with her.)

After speed dating, it was time to head to my first session. I chose the MommyBlogging track and geared up for “Is MommyBlogging Still a Radical Act?” This session was very informative and the many viewpoints that other mom bloggers presented were interesting and relevant. Lindsay Ferrier did an excellent job of moderating the panel. The focus seemed to steer toward the monetizing vs. non-monetizing issue that so many of us get worked up about. Metropolitan Mama did a wonderful job live-blogging the session so I encourage you to read her post to learn more.

After that panel, my brain got a little fuzzy. I went to lunch and had a delicious Thai Beef salad. I can’t even remember who I sat with. I think it was Ashley. Yes, yes it was Ashley. I swear the days are blurring together, which is why it is VERY important to blog it all right away, yenno?

After lunch I attended the second MommyBlogging panel, “Public Parenting & Privacy”. I really enjoyed hearing what Shannon Lowe, Chris Jordan, Crystal McKee, Shino Tanaka & Shireen Mitchell had to say about the privacy and security issues we face when we blog so publicly online. It’s My Life live-blogged this session wonderfully, as well.

I learned a lot about the online dangers we face every day, and I became particularly concerned about using Dawson’s name publicly. Chris and Shannon use pseudonyms for their children’s names to keep their kids “Google Proof” and I worry about the fact that I didn’t do this.

Anyone can Google my son’s first and last name and read all about him, at least from the point of view of his mother. This issue is so duh! for me, because when I first started blogging, I did use nicknames for Doug and Dawson. Then one day I slipped up and used their real names and felt I had to continue doing so from that point on. I’m still not sure how to go about this now.

After this session, I stayed for the next panel: Mirrors: Ours, the Media’s, Our Cultures’ and Our Kids’ (live blogged at Body Impolitic). I enjoyed this panel because it talked about body image and some of the issues our children face about their own looks and self-image.

I asked a question and I was so nervous about speaking with a microphone at hand, so I was totally flustered when I revealed the morals I was raised with. For the record, I said “I was raised in a very strict Catholic family. I couldn’t wear anything that looked too sexy or too revealing. You can’t have sex before marriage. I held to that.”

What I was trying to say but totally screwed up in all my nervousness: “I was raised in a very strict Catholic family. I couldn’t wear anything that looked too sexy or too revealing. You can’t have sex before marriage. I held to that standard, until I was 20 years old.” (I just want this blog to be authentic and felt the need to correct the misinformation.) I don’t know why I was so darn nervous. Maybe because someone said our panel was being video recorded? (Still makes me nervous! Still!)

After that panel, I went to the Community Keynote and cried my eyes out. Not once, not twice, not even three times. No, I had to be the girl to cry four times in less than half an hour. I sat with Lorraine from Wifey’s House and I told her that wasn’t the first time I cried that day. I swear it was all the estrogen roaming the halls of the Westin St. Francis. And, that fact that each of the bloggers linked above wrote moving posts that were even more stunning when read aloud. Just hearing their voices and the emotions behind them really touched me.

After that we all went down to the cocktail party at Ruby Skye. Where I danced, just a little. Here’s a few Ruby Skye photos:

Ruby Skye is definitely one of the coolest clubs I’ve been to in awhile. But after this fabu party, we headed off to Maggie Mason’s house for her Haus Party. And I danced more (it was like funky dancin’ Friday or something). And that’s where I met Dooce. You already saw that photo. So I’ll share a few others.

Let’s just say that I was so tired at the end of the night I thought I’d never wake up the next day. But I did. At 6 a.m. to go to Yoga. I already told you about that, and yes — I know. I think I’m crazy, too. Stayed tuned for the BlogHer Saturday/Final Recap.

July 26, 2008

BlogHer ‘08: Thursday Edition

I know I’m very late in posting my BlogHer Conference recap, but after I returned home from the beautiful city of San Francisco, it took several days to decompress and return to normal life. Whatever normal is, I have no idea.

The Wednesday before my departure, I frantically ran around town as well as around my house, completing last minute errands and checking my luggage 80 million times to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. Total waste of time, because I realized I packed too much when the mountain of swag I collected wouldn’t fit in my suitcase. I ended up having to ship most of that stuff home on Sunday, because there’s no way that Northwest Airlines would let me check that bag without charging me $50.

I couldn’t sleep at all that night, the anxiety and anticipation were killing me. However, I had nothing to worry about, because this year’s trip to BlogHerCon was fantastic. 100% better than Chicago, and I love that Windy City.

Thursday morning I woke up at the ass crack of dawn, showered and got dressed, while Doug got Dawson ready. My boys were driving me to the airport and thankfully, I was smart enough to put all my bags in the car the night before. At 5:30 a.m. we were on the road for the 35 minute drive to Central Wisconsin Airport.

It was kind of difficult for me to leave Dawson. I must have kissed him 100 times and I started to cry as I walked into the airport and saw my little boy waving from the backseat as they drove away. Doug didn’t want to bring him inside the airport because Dawson wasn’t so happy with me leaving and it might have made matters worse.

After the usual checking-in procedures and getting through the grueling security measures, I was on my way to San Francisco . My plane departed at 7 a.m. and I was dreading the 4 1/2 flight. I was so excited to be going to California for the very first time.

I arrived in the City by the Bay at around 11:30 a.m. Pacific time, and I managed to find a shuttle to the Westin St. Francis Hotel where the conference was being held. Once I got to the hotel, I tried to check-in but didn’t realize the intricacies of hotel check-in procedures.

Turns out, I need a credit card with a huge limit in order to stay at the fancy Starwood hotel. For security reasons, we keep our credit limits low ($500 max) to avoid huge losses in the event our cards are stolen, so I wasn’t able to get my room keys. I tried to use my debit card to pay for the room in full, but apparently the Westin doesn’t accept payment in full until check-out (which is very, very strange) and instead they asked me for a cash deposit for the room cost plus $200 for incidentals.

Unfortunately, I don’t carry $800 in cash because my greatest fear is being mugged. So, I had to sit in the lobby for nearly two hours until my amazing roommate got to the hotel. She was able to use her American Express card to get us checked in.

While I was waiting for Anne and our other roommate Elizabeth, I found PunditMom wandering around the lobby and we had a quick bite at Caruso’s, a little cafe in the hotel lobby. While we were chatting, Jenn from Mommy Needs Coffee stopped over. A few moments after that, Christina from A Mommy Story popped over and we all hung out for awhile.

After that, Jenn welcomed me to her hotel room to wait for my roommates, and I met Busy Mom for the first time. She and Jenn were roomies and they graciously allowed me the use of their ladies room to straighten my hair and change out of my travel clothes.

A little while later, I met Krisco from Crib Ceiling and told her how much I missed Mary Tsao. She and Mary were roomies at BlogHerCon last year, and I told her I go to Flickr every day to get my Daily Dose of Mary via her fabulous photos. I was happy to learn that Kris does the same thing!

Finally, Anne called my cell phone to let me know she arrived at the hotel and just a little while after that we had keys to our room. Or so we thought. We got up to room 952 and started to put our luggage on the beds. The I looked in the closet and saw someone else’s clothes hanging in the closet. Anne discovered a man’s business cards on the desk. We had been checked in to an occupied room.

I made a frantic call to the front desk and told them about our problem and I was assured that we’d be checked into a fresh, clean, unoccupied room immediately. I ran downstairs to get the new keys and then Anne and I rode the elevator to the eleventh floor and where we found our new, much larger and totally awesome room.

We each claimed two corners of the room to toss our suitcases, and then I patiently awaited for Elizabeth’s arrival a little while later. Once she got in, I gave her a room key and then we all just sort of chilled for a few moments.

Elizabeth then introduced me to her friend Lori who came down to our room awhile later. Lori is awesome. She has this sweet, southern accent that I somehow managed to pick up. Okay, really, I’ve always had this knack for picking up accents, but the suthin’ speak is something I’m accustomed to, being that one of my closest friends is from Texarkana and whenever we hang out I start saying things like, “Fixin’ to” and “All y’all.”

After our introductions and a few photos, Elizabeth, Lori and I headed to the lobby to meet Jennster (also known as Dirty Mouth Whore, if you ask Lori — don’t worry, it’s a term of endearment, I promise) before going to the Kirtsy/Alltop party at Guy Kawasaki’s house. Anne stayed behind to freshen up and grab a bite to eat before the many other cocktail parties going on Thursday night.

Let me just say that Guy Kawasaki lives 31 miles south of San Francisco, and somehow we thought he lived 31 minutes south of the city. After a two hour shuttle ride to Atherton — two hours because our driver was a moron who twice passed the street we needed to turn onto — we arrived to a beautiful California home with rose bushes and hydrangeas lining the flower beds.

Guy’s backyard was meticulously manicured. Green grass, beautiful Japanese lanterns and swimming pool in shape of the number eight were just part of the scenery. The food was delicious. We had paella, grilled vegetables and barbecue in a cup, as well as delectable hors d’oeuvres and wines.

I was in awe of everything, and when I was introduced to Guy Kawasaki, I was rather shy. In all honesty, I didn’t know who he was, other than the founder of Alltop (and no, I’m not on Alltop, but I was asked that a hundred times that night).

We stayed at the party for about an hour and then promptly got back on the shuttle to head back to the city for the three other cocktail parties we had to attend. We stopped by the Mom Central party, the Experience Project Party and then finally, the People’s Party. (Note to future party hosts: Please, don’t have all the parties on Thursday night! It’s too much stress and takes way too much planning to be able to attend everything all in one night.)

I can’t exactly remember all of the goings on of Thursday night, but I’m sure the pictures will explain it all:

Shannon, Shannon, Crunchy Carpets, Liz, Amber & Me

Christina, Me, Deven, Lori & Jennster

Christina, Me, Julio & Lori

Lemon Drop…deliciously tart.

Yumm-O

Guy Kawasaki & Me

Me & Jennster and boob grabbage.

Jenn & Me

Caruso’s, in the hotel lobby.

More photos here.

Stay Tuned for Part II of my trip to BlogHer.

December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve Greetings

This morning I have to work four hours and then I’m off for seven and a half days. I can’t tell you how excited I am to not have to worry about work for awhile. I’ve been looking forward to this “vacation” (hard to call it that when there’s a shit load of white, fluffy snow on the ground), for a very long time.

Dawson is going to Renee’s house today and I’m so grateful she agreed to care for him for that short period of time. Otherwise I might have had to beg my mom or my mother-in-law for help. I would feel terrible doing that, because they are each getting their ducks in a row for the Christmas celebrations.

This evening we plan to attend the 4 p.m. mass because our church is very large. Over 2,000 families attend St. Bronislava’s Catholic Church and the masses on Christmas Day are so packed that not a pew is available. The ushers set up chairs in the lobby and gathering space before each mass and even those seats fill up!

Doug has to work from 8 a.m to 4 p.m, but he’s going to try to sneak out of work early. If that can’t be done we’ll probably hit the 10 p.m. church service. That’s the best one because of the beautiful Christmas carols the choir sings. We’ll see how the day goes.

We’re heading to my in-laws this evening to celebrate Christmas with them. Dawson is VERY, VERY!! excited about all the presents Santa Claus is bringing him.

Tomorrow we spend the holiday with my insane family. Good times, laughter and cheer will be had by all (especially because my family is full of nuts).

Here are some funny photos from last night. While I spent several hours cleaning Dawson’s messy room, he decided to dress himself in his “favowitt cwose”.

More photos here.

October 31, 2007

Halloween Fun

The town we live in doesn’t hold Trick or Treating on Halloween, unless the holiday falls on a Sunday. This year the annual event of going door to door to score some candy was held on October 28th.

On that morning Dawson and I attended a Halloween breakfast with my parents at the Moose Lodge. They were having a Spooktacular Event for the children and grandchildren of their members.

Dawson dressed up as a UPS delivery man. His costume was so darn adorable. So many people commented on how cute he was, and I was so proud of my little man.

We had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage and hashbrowns. Dawson ate half his plate and I was very impressed. Typically he picks at his food because he’s holding out for the dessert.

Each child received a bag of candy and a small pumpkin to take home. Within minutes, Dawson had his bagged torn open and was scouring the miniature Kit-Kat bars and Dum-Dum suckers inside. There were a few pixie sticks (those pure sugar things) inside and my dad found it hilarious to pour the stuff right into Dawson’s mouth. I thought it was quite funny, too.

With the addition of the pumpkin Dawson chose at the party, we now have 9 pumpkins at home. Doug his anxiously waiting for me to cut them open so he can harvest the seeds. He likes to season them with Lawry’s salt and bakes them for several minutes. I’m told they are better than sunflower seeds. I’m not too keen on trying them. It just seems weird.

My mother is urging me to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. You know, with actual pumpkin stuff. I don’t have a clue how to do that. I saw a recipe in one of my many church cookbooks, but it sure seems like an awful lot of work for just one pie. I know I sound lazy, but I don’t even like pumpkin pie so I suppose that’s why I’m not eager to do this. Perhaps I’ll try it. It might take my mind off other things.

After the breakfast, we went back to my parents house to hang out until trick-or-treat time. Dawson and I fell asleep on my parents’ couch. I was extremely tired that day and I felt a little sick. Mom gave me three tylenol and the headache dissipated, but my stomach was gurgling. Perhaps I just ate something that didn’t agree with me.

At 2:30 we drove over to our friend Dish’s house. While her oldest son, Travis, went trick-or-treating with his friend, we took the younger kids around her neighborhood. Her daughter is a year older than Dawson and her youngest son is one year younger. In fact, all three kids were born in September with their birthdays just days apart.

Trick or Treating is from 3 to 6 p.m. around these parts. My brother Frank, my sister Rachel, her friend Shannon and Shannon’s son, Zander met up with us half way through our walk around the block. They were on hand to help guide the little kids. It’s tough to maneuver two toddlers and a preschooler all at once!

Dawson got way too much candy. His orange jack-o-lantern bucket was filled to the top with chocolatey goodness. (I confess: I may have snagged a few pieces when he wasn’t looking. ) We finished trick or treating after an hour and a half. The little ones were getting tired and cold.

I think they had a great time. Especially when we returned to the house. They had more fun running around, burning off the sugar, and playing with each other.

My friend asked me if I was going to take Dawson to another town to do some trick-or-treating today. I said no. How much candy does one child need?

More photos here.