Writing was my passion, once.  That flame has long been put out.  Perhaps it happened when I stopped working online.  Maybe I just don’t feel motivated.  I don’t know.  I do know that when I think about quitting I get very sad, because this blog was my place for so long.

I suppose I just need to go with the feeling and see what happens.  I shall rethink this later.

Tonight I went out to dinner with my bestest (as Dawson would say) friend ever.  Miss ‘Manda and I had fajitas (okay, she had fish tacos, I had fajitas) at El Mezcal, our favorite little Mexican restaurant.  Amanda is expecting her first child in July and we discussed baby names and baby registries and breastfeeding and every other baby related topic one can think of.

My friend has not had much experience with children and she had lots of questions about cribs and changing tables and if childbirth really is as painful as they say.  I’m no expert but I did try to fill her in on the good as well as the not so good.  I gave her as much honest information as I could without scaring the pants off her.  Then a light bulb went off!  Since I know so many awesome parent bloggers I decided to ask you for your help.

Share your parenting advice with Amanda in the comments.  What is one thing you think she really needs to know?

It just seems to go in spurts, these moments of calm followed by chaos and busyness and holy spotted cow, I’m tired.

We’ve attended two weddings this month, and one graduation party, and then we did some other things.  I can’t really remember what.

I’ve been having more headaches a lot lately, and I’m starting to worry.  Headaches while pregnant can mean blood pressure trouble.  I’ve been monitoring it at home and it’s only slightly elevated, but when I get 3 or 4 headaches in one day (or one BIG headache that goes away and reappears like painful magic), I get nervous.

Also, it’s freakin’ hot.  I complained how the first part of June was cold and rainy and sucky.  Now I want to rip out my tongue.  The humidity has arrived, bringing with it swollen ankles, sticky heat and general discomfort.  Add that crap to pregnancy and Dear Heavenly God, please, PLEASE send me air conditioning.  I just may die without it.

So, in lieu of a real post, I give you pictures of the fabulous times we’ve been having.

First we have my friend Kim’s Wedding:

Next we have my brother Frankie’s graduation party:

And finally, photos from K & T’s Wedding:

Doug and I had a wonderful time at each wedding, and my little brother’s graduation party was lots of fun, too.  We’ve got so many things coming up this summer… I don’t know if I can keep up!

What have you been up to?

My BFF Amanda turned 30 on February 16th, the same day I got the fabulous news I was pregnant.  Before I could say the words, Miss Manda knew.  She looked at my stomach and with a huge smile on her face, she shouted, “Yay!”

Amanda was my first visitor in the hospital when I gave birth to Dawson.  At that time in 2004 she was living in Texas and managed to drive home for a visit during the same week I was admitted to the hospital for induction.

Amanda and I have known each other since the eighth grade.  Her mom, also named Dana, became fast friends with my parents and they were part of the same social circles.

Amanda and I have never had a fight.  Not once.  We both hung out with different groups of friends when we were in high school, but we always managed to pick up our friendship wherever it left off.  After graduation, Amanda moved to Texas to go to school (her mother’s family is from Texarkana, Arkansas, and her father’s family is from Wisconsin) and I stayed in Stevens Point to attend college.

Whenever Amanda came home to visit we made time to hang out and catch up.  On my 21st birthday, I went to Longview, Texas to visit her.

Miss Manda (a nickname given to her because she’s from the south and still has her southern drawl) is the kindest person I could ever want as a friend.  She’s always got a smile on her face and she loves to have fun.  Whenever we get together it’s inevitable that I end up sounding like Scarlett O’Hara.  Her “accent” is contagious.

We celebrated Amanda’s big 3-0 by having dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Mezcal, with a few other friends.  I only stayed for dinner (too tired from the day’s excitement) but told Miss Manda to have a drink or two for me.  Of course she obliged (and promptly ordered a shot of Tequila).

Happy Birthday, girl!  Here’s to being 30!  I’m right behind you, dahlink!

Dinner was delicious.  We both had the ribeye steak and potato puffs, and I had chicken dumpling soup while he had the tossed salad.  Then we had cheesecake for dessert, too.  I had several cocktails — before, during and after dinner.  One too many cocktails.

(Speaking of the desserts, the waitress told us if we didn’t like cheesecake we could order an ice cream drink instead.  So then I said, “Oh!  Do you have the cricket one?”  And she replied without missing a beat, “No, but we do have the Grasshopper.”  That was totally what I meant.  Cricket, grasshopper — same family, right?)

I started out drinking a glass of Coca-Cola.  Then I decided since I drink maybe once a year I was going to enjoy myself and have a screwdriver.  After two of those, I switched to Malibu and OJ because the vodka was tasting funny.  That could possibly be because I was getting sloshed.

Doug had two Budweisers and then promptly stopped drinking so that he could drive us home, but the friends who hosted the dinner invited us to their house for a glass of wine, or coffee and to hang out.  Because we like these friends, Doug and I agreed.

When we got there, I decided to have soda so that I could sober up.  I thought that I could avoid a hangover that way.  It didn’t work.

While at the after party, Doug got to try a wheat beer that our friend E. offered him.  It was a German beer (I only know this because it had Weisse in the name) and let’s just say it was probably made of river water and rotten cheese because the toxic gas emissions these men were giving off could have killed a village.

We were just getting ready to leave (because my brother was babysitting and we didn’t want him to drive home too late) when S. got me involved in a game of Catch Phrase.  Oh my gosh is that way too much fun.  Imagine six drunk people trying to play a hilarious game, similar to the game Taboo.  Much laughter and cursing were shared.  I had the best time so I promptly purchased the game from Amazon.com today.

Right after I drank three huge glasses of water and swallowed an Excedrin.

Oh the headache.

Now were going to have lunch at the Tempura House.  Nothing cures a hangover like salty Chinese food!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lisa from Midwestern Mommy gave me this same award! And she is so darn sweet she gives me a toothache! Thanks, Sugar!

And then! Rura and Miss gave me another Nice Matters award! I want to hug you. Are y’all really sure I’m nice? Sometimes I yell at the dog for no reason, you know. Hehehe.

Elizabeth from Table 4 Five also gave me a Nice Matters award! Thank you, my dear friend. You always make me feel so warm and fuzzy. But I feel like a schmuck because a million years ago, Elizabeth also awarded me as a Rockin’ Girl Blogger and I got so freakin’ busy that I never wrote my post about it. Thank you, darling girl.

And because I love these women so very much, I want to reciprocate and award you with this:

The “My Friends Rock!” Award

I’m angry because Hotmail, G-mail AND Blogger are not working.  Each time I click on these friggin’ URL’s I get the “page cannot be found” message which means I can’t check my e-mail or comment on any Blogger blogs.  It’s no fun.

Doug is working the 2-10 p.m. shift at work, so it’s just me and Murphy hangin’ out.  My little dog is sitting under my feet as I write. 

I really didn’t have anything brilliant to write this morning, or this afternoon.  It’s a terribly cloudy, drizzly day and I’m going to order up an On Demand movie in a few, but I just wanted to give some shout outs to the bloggers I’ve come to love since meeting them at BlogHer last weekend.

And I promise this will be my last BlogHer post.  I think.

But what I wanted to say is that I adore some amazing women.  Liz, Elizabeth, Shannon and Shannon, Lisa, Amber, Deb, Sarah and Devra:  I spent most of my BlogHer time with you and/or getting to know you all better and I’m so grateful that I had this opportunity.  You truly made my days wondeful.

Erin, Karen, Crystal, Christina, Erika and so many others:  I barely got to spend any time with you (hell, I didn’t even get to meet Crystal) but I want you to know how much I adore you all.

And to the bloggers I met and/or exchanged business cards with, or just extended a happy hello; I think you all are fabulous.  I can’t imagine trying to link to everyone, and I’m suffering some hefty anxiety just knowing I’m leaving someone out (please forgive me!), but I want to say it was a pleasure to see you all!  AND, a blogroll listing all the bloggers I swapped business cards with at BlogHer is in the works!  Stay tuned!

There are no words to describe my experience.  I mean there are, but really, I can’t get them out of my brain and into print.  It’s just too overwhelming.  But please know that I am truly honored (or honoured as Karen would type) to have met each and every one of you.

I can’t freakin’ wait to see you all again next year!

I couldn’t resist leaving the W hotel without showing you all the lobby bathroom.  Funky pink, eh?