Blog(h)er Smackdown – Take 2

 

What’s that old saying? People who live in glass houses really shouldn’t look in the mirror?!? … well, something like that …

No matter how realistically you think you view yourself, there are certain aspects of our individual nature or personality that we all like to ignore or hide away from the general public.

Trouble is, sometimes life forces you to look in the mirror and find an ugly truth. *sigh*

Sometimes the knowledge comes courtesy of a friend. Sometimes it comes courtesy of a life event.

And sometimes, just sometimes, it comes compliments of a 6-foot tall red furry monster that is supposed to be teaching babies and toddlers, not 30-something year olds, about the world.

Continue reading Blog(h)er Smackdown – Take 2

Blog(h)er Smackdown, Take 1

Before the post-BlogHer10 glow fades and I feel duty-bound to return to my usual offerings of political and human rights pop culture babble (which, incidentally, is very likely to keep me off the invite lists for the really cool soirees for years to come) I want to share some lessons I learned during my New York adventure.

For those not in the know (in other words, me 5 months ago) the BlogHer annual conference is a gathering of (predominantly) female bloggers from around the United States and Canada. There are mommy bloggers, fashion bloggers, coupon clipping bloggers, funny bloggers, special needs bloggers and pretty much every possible kind of “blogger” you can think of.  The conference is a place to learn and schmooze and wear your feet down to bloody stumps.

And this is what I learned ….

1Reaffirmation!

Hands down, the BEST part of the BlogHer experience is discovering the people you meet online are as sweet, caring, beautiful and smart in real life as they are on the Internet. It’s a real relief if, like me, you find yourself often wondering if these beings you tweet, chat or otherwise “connect” with online are actually real, live people and not just some Terminator-esque machine playing a sick joke.

Continue reading Blog(h)er Smackdown, Take 1

Raising a glass for a good cause

Ok, truth time.

The run-up to the BlogHer conference later this week in New York City, and all the pre-conference #dayjob meetings I have after coming off a 6 a.m. flight into JFK airport have got my brain a bit scattered.

Full disclosure? I’m so frazzled I freaked myself out earlier today when talking to #TBFF @AspiringMama when I got it in my head that I am leaving tomorrow.  It is actually @AspiringMama who is leaving tomorrow. With all the packing, the organizing, the regular day job tasks, house cleaning, vet visits, prescription filling and dead camera batteries, can you blame me?

What I find particularly amusing about my current state of mind is that while I am attending a major blogging conference where I have been named a Voices of the Year finalist no less, I am not really blogging this week! How’s that for irony? Or slacking? Or …. Well, you get the picture.

But I always post on Mondays so I didn’t want to leave you all with nothing to show for visiting my little blog. (… and, honestly, with 4 minutes left in the day on the U.S. East Coast I won’t make it … but Central and Pacific time zones can still read this on Monday so that counts. Right. Right?!? Yes, right.)

Continue reading Raising a glass for a good cause

Voices of the Year represent an amazing community

The unthinkable has happened!

I am a 2010 BlogHer Voice of the Year finalist!!!

I can’t even type that without letting out an ear-splitting “squeeeeee!” and sending our cats – yet again – scurrying for the safety of the nearest closet. Actually, our cats have taken up semi-permanent residence (alternately) on the ceiling, in the closet and under the bed from the incessant screaming since I found out that somehow I made the finalist list.

If this keeps up, I predict a visit to the vet’s office to get some anxiety pills for our beloved felines.

(And I’ll be asking the vet to send the bill to BlogHer.)

Continue reading Voices of the Year represent an amazing community