• blogher08,  Buddies,  Bug

    First Night Out is a Success!

    not so sure about saying goodbye

    Apparently I’m the only crazy one who is already posting blogher photos on flickr and waking up at 5am not able to sleep because I’m ready for some more fun already. I just can’t help it! I’m an internet addict! I’m just sneaking a leeeeeeeeetle post in really quick and then I’ll run back upstairs and cuddle with my Bug so she’ll never even know I was gone.

    Which, from what I hear from the awesome babysitters, was really no big deal. Mom gone? Who cares! They say she was good all night and only had one little meltdown—which of course happened while she was on the phone with me. But I’m not so sure. I babysit all the time and my standard answer when the parents get home is, “They were great!” even if they were holy terrors.

    Actually, I do believe them. She didn’t even cry when I left. It was really weird. I thought for sure she would and I would have a heart attack when I closed the door on a sobbing toddler. But I didn’t have to! She was off and running with her cousins somewhere and barely had time to look over her shoulder and smile when I blew her a kiss. Maybe all those talks we had about me leaving her with Grandma really worked. Or maybe her cousins are just really really fun. She takes after me after all and is very social.

    handheld shot that cuts off the end guys... nice!

    Hah! Can you get any more social? I’m taking photos of myself with famous bloggers! I’m also cutting the heads off of two people on the ends. In my defense, this photo was shot hand-held (I forgot my long handle tripod thingy…Doh!) but still. How rude! I was going to take more but the light was low and my borrowed camera (my mom’s) was crapping out with a weak battery. So my photos pretty much sucked. CC has good ones some though.

    red lanterns

    These photos were taken at the Kirtsy Alltop party at Guy Kawasaki’s house. What a nice guy to open up his backyard like this. It was so pretty with the sun setting on those red globe lanterns. I wish I had taken more time to take more photos. But of course I was too busy chatting to a zillion people (and the camera was crapping out).

    It is the strangest thing to meet so many people that you already “know” in your virtual world. Sometimes I feel like my virtual world is bigger than my real world and I’m going to get sucked into my laptop like a cartoon in Roger Rabbit. Many of the exchanges were great and conversation flowed like we’d known each other all of our lives but some others were painfully awkward and I felt like such a goober. I want to rewind my words, take notes and then play them back in a different order.

    I’m already hearing the rumors that the parties are clique-ish and I just want to jump up and down and say, “No they aren’t!” We’re just all shy and stupid and these things take time. CC told me that I unknowingly turned my back on someone just as they were about to say hi to me and I’m feeling HORRIBLE!!! I had no idea! Good thing CC’s got my back. She’s such a trusty sidekick. Hopefully, we’ll find that person today at the conference and I can assure them that I am actually not a thoughtless snob. I’m just distracted!

    the hoochie mamas are ready to party

    So anyway, that was our night. It was super fun. Maybe later I’ll go into more details… like this super cool typewriter and how we went to Chipotle afterwards. But I can see the sun peeking through the blinds so I better rush off and give Baby Bug some cuddling time before I’m off to my second day!

  • Bad Mom,  Bug,  Family Matters,  travel

    Road Trip Warrior

    grapevine

    We made it! I can’t even believe it myself. It wasn’t the easiest road trip I have ever taken. Not because of the long hours stuck in cramped quarters but purely because of the close proximity of my ear to my toddler’s full volume constant squealing. It was BAD. I think I lost my mind. You all can leave your heart in San Francisco but I’ll be singing about leaving my mind in the San Fernando Valley.

    wheeeee!

    I guess two-and-a-half is the official age that children stop sleeping the whole way during long drives. (And NO we did not give them caffeine in their starbucks drinks you see there.) Either that or Baby Bug was so wound up because she got to sit right next to her favorite cousin that she decided with her super-strength willpower that she didn’t need to sleep. But she really really really did need a nap. By the time 3 o’clock came around, we were at the point where she was crying because the sky was blue.

    Part of me has been wondering if bringing her on this trip was the wisest thing to do. She loves her cousins and she loves her Grandma so I know she will have a good time while I am off in San Francisco having my own good time BUT could she be any more difficult right now? Who is this devil spawn that I have created? Is it normal for the child to be the one in charge? I seriously have doubted my sanity in the last 24 hours.

    to Blogher or Bust

    My mom assures me that Baby Bug is nothing like this when I am not around. Apparently all the rebellion is for my benefit only and when I am gone she is back to her old angel self. I will just have believe them and rest on the fact that I know my mom and my friend Susan (who we are staying with during the conference) are very capable loving guardians for my little Tasmanian devil.

    I know this apprehension to leave Baby Bug in the care of another is mostly my own personal fear. I know I am the one who is struggling and not Baby Bug. She’ll wave goodbye and maybe cry for me for about two minutes at nap time and bed time but other than that she probably won’t miss me a bit. I’ll be the one checking my watch and calling every hour on the hour.

    backseat co-pilot

    But I’ll also be the one with a little spring in her step because, Wheeeee! I have eight hours to spend on my own for the first time in TWO AND A HALF YEARS!!!!