Posts Tagged: BlogHer09
Meet Mishelle
Photo of Al by Betty in Vaginally Challenged ROYO at BlogHer09
Seventeen years. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve been graduated from high school. It’s been over twenty years since I was in the thick of those early high school years. Those early years where you worry about who you are friends with, or you worry about who likes you, or how you look, or if you are even good enough.
I tried not to let those worries over-take me, and more often than not they did not. Instead of choosing who to befriend I decided that I would be friends with everyone. I’d put my best foot forward and I’d talk to [you] even if you liked green and I hated green; being totally devoted to blue. If you liked me despite my love of blue, great, that was your choice! I’m also certain I worried how I looked but I’ve always had this weird thing where I think that I’m the skinniest girl in the whole wide world. Like, seriously, at my heaviest weight I still thought I was a supermodel. Confidence, or what have you, I guess?
Enter adulthood. Enter marriage. Enter motherhood. Enter Oh-My-God-I’m-Thirty-Five-and-I-Have-Saggy-Boobs-and-I-am-Fifty-Pounds-Over-Weight-No-Scratch-That-It’s-More-Like-Sixty-But-Who-Cares-Because-I-Still-Am-a-Super-Model-Only-Holy-Moly-Why-Zits-Now!?!
I still feel like I’m that girl from high school that is wanting to be friends with everyone; even those who like green while I still hate green and am devoted to blue as ever before.
I still put my best foot forward, even if I might trip over some Thomas Trains or my own big feet or whatever other obstacle is in front of me.
I still feel like the skinniest girl in the world, and if you don’t see me that way well you must need some glasses (but don’t get the LASIK because it will inevitable fail and you’ll end up in glasses again, only to have them broken by a little boy who thinks he’s Harry Potter, although he says “Scary Potter”, and you don’t know whether to laugh or cry when you see him with your twisted frame upon his head, but I digress.)
* * * * *
We are like dominoes. Black and White. All falling for each other.
At least I feel like a domino with my dots visible to [you] all and my falling all over [this] life, making mistakes in how I fall, how fast or slow, but always able to be set back up on edge. Only to fall over and over again.
Yes, I do believe we are like dominoes. White and Black. I enjoy falling for you.
It’s ironic that a friend of mine sent me this song, last night, as I was trying to figure out how to introduce you to me. If you know me, you know me, and I’m glad to know me, too.
Heads are turning
Each one is yearning
As the one they’re looking at turns away
Hearts are burning
Everything is churning
As the one they’re looking at is getting away
Oh we are like dominoes and we are falling
We’re dominoes and we’re falling head over our toes
And she’s falling for him
And he’s falling for me
And I am falling for somebody else
Who’s falling for you
Oh we are falling like dominoes
Oh we’re falling way too fast
Minds are dreaming each time
Believing that you’ll appear on my doorstep
Maybe today? Maybe today?
Hands are praying
Don’t you hear what I’m saying
Oh I tell you if you borrow me that kind of love
No I won’t run away
I say we’re dominoes and we’re falling head over our toes
Oh we’re falling way too fast
And if I had, oh, one wish it would be to be back
Up on my toes and I would fall as you fall
And turn around
And we would fall down nose to nose
Not like dominoes that are falling
And are falling all in one row now
I say we’re dominoes
And we’re falling head over our toes
And she’s falling for him
And he’s falling for me
And i am falling for somebody else
Who’s falling for you
Oh we are falling like dominoes
Oh we are falling like dominoes
Oh and how I wish
Oh how I wish we were
Oh falling
Oh nose to nose
Meet So Many More
1) Alli Worthington of Mrs. Fussypants: The moments spent on the floor, in front of room 2346, will forever be with me as the most fun, most fulfilling, most brilliant times at BlogHer. Right there was my friend Alli; it was amazing!
2) Theron of People Pond: Clark Kent. For serious. You are definitely cool people.
3) George of Crocs Inc: When I figured out it was YOU at Dick’s Last Resort, I about died. It was really nice to meet you and every time I saw you, in passing, it was like seeing an old friend.
4) Ashley of Boss Sanders: You are so sweet and your baby is Adorable with a capital A!
5) Tara of If Mom Says Ok and Heather of Singing with My Heart: The hours we spent together on Sunday, walking around Chi-town, were an absolute blast. Eating Chipotle for lunch was my fave. Love me some Barbacoa Bol, yo! Love me some friendship, too!
6) Jill of Diaper Diaries: Oh how I love crazy ladies in Caddies! You glow, darling.
7) Britt of Miss Britt and Adam of Avitable: Y’all win for cutest BFF couple. Hands down.
8) Karen MEG of a Day in the Life: Seeing you every time was like seeing an old friend. Comforting and lovely. Your smile is electric and I do hereby decree that next time we break bread!
9) Sandy of Momisodes: My God, you are gorgeous. And sweet. And lovely. And everything wonderful. I’m so happy for you and your family.
10) Kelly of Don Mills Diva: I took your picture twice, yet didn’t get to hug you. INSANE, right? I think next time I’m in Buffalo I should travel up to Don Mills.
11) Tanis of Redneck Mommy: You radiate, woman. I could see you a mile away with that glow. Thanks for the Canadian drugs, btw. (Settle down, people, they were ibuprofen)
12) Shash of Diary of a Crazed Mommy and Sam of Temporarily Me Dot Com: Shash, it was so great to see you again. Can’t wait to see you at TAMC. Sam, it was a pleasure to finally meet you..and hug you..and find out just how beautiful you are!
13) Karl of Secondhand Tryptophan and Drew of Eden Fantasys: Karl, you da man. Next time, though, you have to make that chronic call. Drew, you know how I feel about you, bro! Thanks for the Caprese Salad. Lunch that day was a million levels of awesome.
14) Kelly of Kellyology: You have been through so much recently that I was glad to see you there. Cre8Buzz Peeps 4-ever!
15) Jenny of The Bloggess: I made YOU laugh at #blowher. My life is now complete!
16) Catherine of Her Bad Mother: Some of my favorite pictures, that I took, of you, are from the ROYO that you moderated. You are just beautiful. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
17) Colleen of Mommy Always Wins: You’re like an old, familiar face. And I love you bunches even if you are from the state that was nasty to Michael. (giggles)
18) Nicole of Soapbox Mom: It was so great to meet you, after all this time. Another Cre8buzzer in the BlogHer House!!!
19) Bridget of The Ivey League, Cindy from City Streams, and Kellie from Mom Ran Out Screaming: Bridget, loved seeing you again since our initial Yanni-bonding experience. He’s still a jerk for not meeting us. You, though? You are a doll. Cindy, that post you wrote with that picture of me is my favorite of them all! Kellie, it was so nice to talk to you, even if for a few minutes.
20) Renee Ross of Cutie Bootie Cakes: Yummie Tummie Sisters Unite! Believe that! You are something special, Renee, and I’m glad to know you.
21) Amy Tucker of Tastes Like Crazy: I love that we spent a little while, alone, together, on that bench in front of the hotel. It was nice to have a one-on-one! Thanks again for all your work with the LB stuff.
22) Arianne and Barbara of One 2 One Network: I have to say that you two are just the coolest and I love having a relationship with you. We bone well, eh, Barbara?
23) Matt of Child’s Play x2 and Miss Grace of Miss Grace’s Disgrace: Matt, I enjoyed you so much on the Vaginally Challenged panel that I have started reading your blog. That’s what this was about, right? Meeting and finding new people to get to know! Miss Grace, I feel like you are an old soul. Your eyes are deep and your hugs are tight. You are good people to have in the heart; glad you are in mine.
24) Sugar Jones or SugarJones.tv: The first thing I ever said to you was, “OMG, Sugar Jones? Where’s the hat?” and you held up your name tag. Best. Picture. Then we fell in oodles of love, right?
25) Megan Jordan of Velveteen Mind: YOU are the one person I didn’t spend hardly enough time with. I wanted to do some pictures of you, but didn’t realize how hard it would really be. I guess I’ll have to drive down to you and take pictures of the Bambina. The Bambina! SQUEEEEEEE!
26) Weaslemomma of World of Weasles: I’ll never get the image of you tackling Busy Dad! That was priceless. You are priceless!
27) Miss of Just Miss & Nicole of Red Lotus Mama (and Karen MEG again): Miss, what a smile you have. It captivates. It moves. It makes you feel love. I’m so glad that we met; I only wish we had more time together. Nicole: I feel like I know you two so well from blog reading, but the same holds true…we didn’t get to spend enough time together.
You’re both stellar in my eyes!
28) Lucrecer of Art Slam and Amy of Amy in Ohio: LU! You don’t know if you are going to find people you want to find at an event like BlogHer. I worried about if I would meet you and then I saw you, right away, in the lobby. That is kizmet! Amy, our conversation, at the Nikon party, deepest conversation I had the entire time. And, while I was tipsy I still remember it. Mad love to you, friend!
29) Stephanie of Adventures in Babywearing: You will forever, in my mind, be the most gorgeous mother of them all. Hands down, no contest, no ifs, ands, or buts… The most gorgeous mother of them all!
30) Kelly of Ordinary Art and Kate of Sweet | Salty: Wow. Just wow. Meeting both of you after all the months of working together, and the emails, and the exchanges, and the respect, and the love. Wow. Just wow.
31) Celeste of Average Jane: It was a pleasure to sit next to you at the West Egg my first morning in Chicago. You were among some of the first “new people” that I met at BlogHer. That was awesome because I think I saw you–in passing–a handful of times after that. And it was nice to say, “Oh hi, Celeste!”
32) Melisa (with one S and no bacon) of Suburban Scrawl: Sometimes you just meet someone that you just click with and know that you can throw down a bacon joke, or a million, and they’ll still love you. That’s you. Here’s to non-offensive bacon jokes for the rest of our friendship! And thanks again for the Remembering Ruby book. It’s a wonderful, wonderful book, dear.
33) Carole Hicks of OH! Social: Hottest. Lady. At. BowlHer. For. Realz.
34) Michael of Father Muskrat: I will be honest that I didn’t know you before BlogHer. I’m glad you BlogHim’d it and came. Meeting you was most excellent and I’m loving your blog.
35) Amy of Running with the Outdoor Dogs: Seeing your smile just fills me up, yo!
36) Sheila of Charm School Reject and Karen Sugarpants of Craftastrophe: Loved having lunch with you both. Sheila, you are a doll. Karen, I can’t believe I didn’t know it was YOU! You just rock, girl.
37) Danielle of Knotty Yarn: I soooooooooooooo loved your Keynote speech. I knew you would be a great new blogger to watch. And then I got to have a conversation with you! Talk about fulfillment? I look forward to all your funny stories and awesomeness. Won’t be taking my eyes off you, for sure.
38) BHJ of The Notorious BHJ & Neil Kramer of Citizen of the Month: I kissed Black Hockey Jesus. ‘Nuff said. No, really, every time I saw you or heard you it was awesome. You scared us with TWIYV going away; thank God The Notorious BHJ came back. Neil, I wish we could’ve talked more than a few minutes on the way to the elevators. Just know that I’ll keep my specs on (even though they are new ones now), in my Twitter avatar, just for you!
39) Amy Lupold Bair of The Resourseful Mommy: I’m so glad I spotted you when I did. I missed so many people. Glad you weren’t one of them.
40) Loralee of Loralee Looney Tunes: Holy Aura of Goodness and Light, Batman. You shine, woman! I’m so glad I had a few chances to “hang” with you.
41) Georgia of I am Bossy: Larger than life and. I. hugged. you!!! I am definitely signing up for the next roadtrip. I have a trundle bed with your name on it, too!!!
42) Shawn of Backpacking Dad: I’m sorry if I stared at you, Shawn. But you are gorgeous.
43) Haley-O of Cheaty Monkey: You are the sweetest girl ever. And the greatest keeper of Crocs. I look forward to talking with you more, in the near future, about nutrition and such.
44) Ree of The Pioneer Woman and Me: I still find it hard to believe that I met The. Niftiest. Pioneer. Woman. In. The. World.
45) Cassie of Cassie Boorn: Any friend of Alli Worthington is definitely a friend of mine!
46, 47, 48, 
) You, you, you, and : I shook your hand, introduced myself, or smiled at you in the elevator. I waved at you from across the room or sloshed back drinks with you at various parties. I hugged you, I kissed you or squealed like a schoolgirl when I was in your midst. I talked with you in front of the elevators and told you how much fun I was having. I giggled from the bathroom stall about not having any toilet paper to wipe with, and you gave me some from underneath saying we all need T.P. for our bungholes. I showed you pictures of my little boy on my cellphone and you showed me pictures of your brood, too. You were there and I was with you and we had a blast. I laughed with you, from the sidelines, when mobs formed for swag bags. I bummed too many cigarettes from you. I helped you fix the back of your dress. You picked feathers off my sweater. You held my camera for a second while I got a drink. You. Me. Us. We ARE BlogHer09. We are more than just BlogHer09. We are meant to make a difference. You. Me. Us. We are.
Tomorrow I will introduce you to just one more person I met at BlogHer this year!
Meet Anissa
You know you are going to be good friends when your new relationship is founded on vampires. Why? Well, because vamps are where it’s at, yo!
I met Anissa in Room 704. The original Room 704 at Blissdom09. There she sat, on the edge of the bed, all busty and beautiful. I had just thrown back some drink that VDog-the-Cracker gave me, I was tired, a little punchy, and I don’t know how it happened but someone said something about Twilight.
Anissa was talking about Edward and next thing I knew I was standing behind her.
I whispered, “Say it.”
Nothing.
“Say it,” I demanded.
“Vampire.” she said in her best Kristen Stewart impersonation with a face that even resembled Kristen Stewart’s Oh-My-God-Someone-Farted-in-Here-Face.
We busted out laughing.
And that was it. Anissa and I were bonded forever.
I’m thrilled that our relationship has gone above and beyond vampires. Though, if she’d be willing to pretend she was Bella, I’d be willing to don some fangs and bite her on the neck, all rough and shit.
In all seriousness… I am honored that Anissa asked me to be part of her new, awesome project.
It’s a site called Aiming Low. Here’s what it’s about:
It’s not about the failure to attain perfection….it’s about understanding that perfection is not only over-rated, it’s a big fat whopping lie-burger with cheese…and fries…and onions.
We are a group of women/moms/bloggers/friends/writers that believe that there’s no shame in serving mac and cheese for dinner three nights in a row, Febreeze was created to make a questionably clean shirt smell ready-to-walk-out-the-door-fresh and that slack isn’t a way of life…it’s an art.
Meet Aiming Low
(not all, but in good Aiming Low form I can’t possibly find everyone’s picture to put up here)
Janet.Anissa.Laurin.Maria.Brittany.Tena.Amy.Heather.
(not pictured: Angie, Meghan, Rachel, Hilly, Allison, Katie, Ali, Jen & me)
Anissa and AL Girls: I look forward to aiming low with you,
but really we’ll be aiming high. Because we are destined for greatness.
Believe that!
Meet Danielle
“You are fabulous,” she said as she locked her eyes on to mine.
{I sighed}
“You know you are fabulous, right?” she rhetorically asked.
{I nodded}
“Take a few minutes, go upstairs to your room, think about things, and when you come back you will feel so much better. O.K.? I believe in you!” she easily said with the gusto that a thousand years of friendship could bring. Only we had just met that very moment.
That was at Blissdom’09. I was there to do a job. I was hired under the pretense that I could do the job. Of course I could, but self doubt started to creep in. Out of nowhere this beautiful, extraordinary woman came to me. In that moment Danielle was my angel. She reminded me that I knew was I was doing. She reminded me that I needed to just breathe. She reminded me that I was there for a purpose and that I was the perfect one for it. She didn’t “know” me, yet she totally knew me! That’s an angel, right?
Yes, she’s an angel. And how lucky am I that she is mine!
Photo by: Angie
Meet Pauline
Tije me vidoja, ama taja ne me vide
They saw me, but she didn’t
Draga Prijatelka Pavlina,
Ama mnogu mi je milo sto se najdovme na ovaj internet. Znam deka ti si Polska, i jas sum Makedonka, ama mislam deka porastnavme vo istoto vreme so istite zelbi za nasijot zivot. Samo jas tuka sum rodena. A ti tamo. Za tebe starijot kraj je nesto drugo. Nema gajle, jas mislam deka nije se znaj me.
Znajs kolku si ubava? Jas znam.
Znajs kolku sakam da te slusam koga zboruvas? Vekje mozam tsel den.
Znajs deka si mnogu dobra majka? Tvojte decina se tolku mili vo site sliki; se znaj deka majkata gi cuva dobro.
Stalno da znajs deka mi si prijatelka. Za stalno!
Te sakaa,
Misel
My Dear Friend Pauline,
It means so much to we that we found each other on the internet. I know that you are Polish and I am Macedonian, but I think that we grew up in the same times with the same wishes for how our lives would be. The only difference is that I was born here and you were born there; for you “the old country” is something different. That really doesn’t matter, though, as I believe that we get each other.
Do you know how beautiful you are? I know.
Do you know that I love the way you talk? I mean, I could listen to you all day long.
Do you know that you are a great mother? Your children are so sweet in every photo; it shows how their mother keeps them so well.
I want you to know that you will always be my friend. Forever.
With Love,
Mishelle
