Room 2450

I think my head has finally deflated enough to write a post about my weekend. It might not make much sense, but I'm doing the best I can. You see I went to Chicago to attend BlogHer09. It was my first conference ever. It was a slight bit overwhelming as I expected, but it was also amazing. I had a fantastic time. I met a bunch of bloggers, bloggers that I read every single day, bloggers that I relate to in more ways than I can count. I even met bloggers that I had never even heard of. I managed to collect a stack of business cards, and eventually I'll sit down and sort through them all and add them to my reader and to twitter, but for now, the faces of those people behind those cards will be etched in my memory instead. And here is where I tell you that Chicago is an amazing city. I vowed to myself before I left to come home that I will return someday to vacation; only because there is so much to see and so much to do. But for the time being I'm satisfied. Oh the memories, Chicago. They will be with me forever. I was blessed with wonderful roommates. I seriously could not have asked for a better group of ladies to share a room with. Five women you guys in one room! And not a single fight broke out over the bathroom. Or the hair dryer even. As things progressed and the plans were being made, and changed, and talked over some more I had my doubts about rooming with four ladies that I had never even met before, but it was wonderful. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat - I've made new friendships that will last a lifetime. I'm sure by now you've heard the stories, the good and the bad, about things that happened while BlogHer09 took Chicago by storm, but I'm not going to get into any details about them here because they didn't happen to me. Well okay, I did see a couple of women upset and downright angry over a situation in which party promoters ran out of swag bags, but that's neither here nor there. I was shocked yes, but it didn't spoil my time. With all that said I'd like to include a few things worth mentioning. I met Amalah. And Sundry. And Sweetney. Back to Me, Pocklock and Pseudostoops. Cagey. Mommy Always Wins, Friday Playdate, Notes from the Trenches, Boobs, Injuries & Dr. Pepper, Rick from TinyPrints, The Blurb Blog, Mommy Bits, Caitlin from Mabels Labels Inc. and Wine Please! to just name a few. And not to mention for the first time ever I met my wonderful roommates MrsCPA, Mrs. Ca, and Jenny. And it gets even better! Amy and I reunited in Chicago! The last time we physically saw each other was in like 1994. Maybe 1995. Thanks to the Internet we found each other again after losing touch for several years, and seeing her and hanging out with her in Chicago was just excellent. It was like old times again. And also? I MISS HER. Some other things that I will always remember? Getting tattooed with MrsCPA, dinner with Lost a Sock, the photo booth at BowlHer09 with Mrs. Ca and spending time with Amy while taking in the sights at the Navy Pier. The CheeseburgHER party, and I can't forget Jenny. Oh Jenny, I will forever think of you when I see glitter. *snort*. I'm sure there is so much more I'm leaving out (I'm positive actually) but the bottom line is this: I had a wonderful time. I met some wonderful people. It was an experience that I will never forget, an experience I hope to have again another time. Thank you to everyone, most especially my roommates. Ya'll made it that much more fabulous. So ladies, see you in New York City?

GO! Hurry, hurry!

Remember this post? Well I was selected as a finalist! If you ever feel so incline, please head on over to Greeblemonkey now and vote. Before it's too late. Voting ends tonight! SO GO!

Try, try again

Quite a while ago I entered a photo contest at Greeblemonkey. My photo wasn't selected that time around but I'm hoping maybe this time it will. Or maybe it won't. Either way, I'm putting myself out there and giving it a shot. I mean really, what do I have to lose?

Here is my submission: The winner will receive a $250 camera equipment rental from Pro Photo Rental, which would be really cool to use. I could you know, try out new lenses and stuff.

Once the submission time frame has closed, 10 finalists will be selected and then that's when you come into play. Well at least I hope so anyway, because I'd love to have your vote if I make it that far.

Keep your fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted.

Photo Hunter: Rocks

To learn more about Photo Hunters, and or sign up - go HERE If you are curious about other Photo Hunters - go HERE If you would like to see the 2009 Theme List - go HERE

Priorities

It's not uncommon for me to snooze my alarm multiple times in the morning before I actually get up to start my day. It's also not uncommon to find a certain little three year old snuggled up to me when I wake up. Yes, I'm talking about Isaac. He's STILL sneaking his way into my bed on a nightly basis. The other morning as I was going through my routine of getting out of bed, snoozing my alarm, and getting back into bed more times than I probably should have, Isaac was laying quietly next to me wide awake. I managed to doze off a few times but the very last time I tried to, I got the eerie feeling that someone was watching me. I opened my eyes and sure enough Isaac's staring me down. "Mom." he said in a stern voice. "Is it done yet?" When I asked him what he was talking about he said "You know, sleeping? Is it done yet?" I chuckled to myself and took that as my queue to just get up already and so I did. He cheered loudly and then I heard him say "Good. Can you get me some chocolate milk now?" He's got his priorities straight, doesn't he?

Sporadic at best

So yes, I went and disappeared again. I've been making a habit out of that lately and honestly? It drives me crazy. But for some reason, whenever I sit down in front of the computer to get caught up on email, or write a few entries around the blogosphere, other things distract me (Facebook and Twitter I'm looking at you!) and then I'm left with nothing. NOTHING I said. Things have been crazy pretty much ever since we returned from our trip to California (that I have yet to even tell you about). We arrived home from our trip and immediately the next day I was back to work as if I never left in the first place. We came home with one extra person though (my nephew) and enjoyed his company for a few weeks until he jumped on a plane and flew to another part of the United States to continue his summer vacation. We enjoyed a little downtime and then welcomed another round of visitors (my brother and his family of 5) a mere week after my nephew left. We did some sight-seeing, ate good food, slept in on some mornings and woke up early on others, and just hung out and had a good time. It's always nice to see family isn't it? After my brother’s family left we again had about a week of downtime and then next round of visitors showed up. Wendy and her family came to Colorado for their family vacation and they stayed with us! We had a fantastic time with them and if I do say so myself, I think they enjoyed every single minute of it! As you can see a lot has been consuming our time. The summer is just flying by but we are having a really good time. But now things are quiet.

Keven Jr. is dealing with his broken wrist just fine. He hasn’t complained of it itching, being bothersome or anything. The novelty of having a cast has sort of worn off, but otherwise he’s still doing everything he did before; to include riding his bike. He’s becoming more and more independent as he gets older (no more kisses allowed when I drop him off at ‘school’ these days) and he’s been waiting patiently for his first loose tooth to fall out. Note to Self: he requested a boy ‘tooth fairy’. He absolutely loves the game Risk and can do math in his head better than I can. I’d say he’s ready for first grade in the fall (holy wow a little part of me just died typing that – 1st grade?) and really, where’d my baby go? Oh and I must add that he’s only smacked his brother upside the head with his cast once, which is a lot less than what I was expecting. Those boys sure can fight – A LOT.

Isaac is just being Isaac, and is doing a good job of it. He’s in that stage right now where everything he says and does is cute and funny (well MOST everything) and he’s just a fun, fun, fun kid. He’s lovable and sweet and says the darnedest things sometimes (none of which I can think of right this moment of course). Second Note to Self: BLOG MORE. When my nephew was out visiting us he labeled Isaac with a nickname ‘Spills’ and I have to say, it fits perfectly. That boy falls down more than I trip up the stairs and has the band-aids to prove it! He’s tall and is often mistaken as being older than he really is, and at times I even have to remind myself too that he’s only three. He was accepted into our school district speech therapy program and will be starting in the fall when school is back in session. We’ve noticed great improvement in his speech over the last few months, but I think he’ll benefit from the program just the same.

So there you have it. Have no fear though I have lots more to share with you and all but that’s it’s for now. I’ll try not to stay away for too long this time. Pinky swear.