Everyday Goddess

I think in blog posts.

Still. But writing them is another matter.

In the past year, I've aimed to post at least once a week, and met that goal, but. October.

I have blog posts in my head, but other things have taken precedence over writing them. Things that are more important to me.

I've been on a journey - Well, aren't we all, always - but one specific path of mine, to increase my focus on my specifically directing related things. And with this has come a shift to more internal work. Project Focused. I think about my projects, a feature "Sunny Days Weight Loss" and a web series "Zero Sight." I live with them in my head more than any blog topics I think of, so in terms of blogging, nothing comes out and I'm not making the time.

I will still blog, no doubt, when I have something to share that organically dovetails into what I'm working on. Or something that rises above for whatever reason. It's not going to be weekly.

Sometimes I think that us long-term personal bloggers took a journey together. One of self-exploration and therapy and sharing and Internet beginnings. We wrote our souls through a place that will never come again. And now we are different people, and we live in a different world.

I remain fascinated by whatever is to come.

 

When I was little, I thought that the Scrubbing Bubbles were real.

I made my mother buy Scrubbing Bubbles, because I wanted to see them scrub the tub like in the commercials. I was confused and disappointed when they didn't appear.

And I learned a life lesson about advertising. And animation.

So this was particularly gratifying:

In-Box: 67, Schedule: Maxed

August is my least favorite month. Generally, because it's hot and long and not September, my favorite month of the year.

When I was younger, I used to think of August as the breakup month, because it always just seemed really difficult to get through with any given relationship intact. There's just something about August that's stagnant and fat.

I've been prioritizing and working and trying not to fill every moment with work and having to spend time on important things over other important things. And mostly living in that world where I just do what I can do and let that be enough...

But my inbox is full, and perhaps you may have noticed that this space does not contain a post about BlogHer? Which I would like to write, but which takes some dedicated time I haven't had.

And I have something every night this week.

Again.

But the BlogHer: It was fun.

I did manage to edit my pics and upload them to Flickr.

Better blogging to come, and if I owe you an email, I pray for your patience!

This would totally be a post about BlogHer '11, but...

I WON AN iPAD from the fabulous ladies at Help a Mother Out and Momversation!

Shown posing here with my absolute favorite piece of swag from BlogHer '11, a USB drive from I Can Haz Cheezburger.

How did I come by such a fine piece of swag, you ask? Pure kismet, my friend. Delicious, delicious kismet.

See, I already knew about the goodness that is the Hershey's S'mores suite at BlogHer. So when we hit the first break after the opening morning welcome, I already had a priority, and I went straight there.

The Hershey's S'mores suite ROCKED IT this year, too. I was glad to sink into a comfy armchair, and the Hershey's staff was quick to light the bunsen burner right next to me.

And then, three delightful ladies sat down on the couch, and I noted that they were wearing matching lolcat shirts.

And then I preceded to turn total fan girl when they said they were from I Can Haz Cheezburger. LOLCATS, PEOPLE! THESE PEOPLE BROUGHT US LOLCATS!!!

And I scored the best USB drive EVER, that which comes in the shape of a cheezburger. And enjoyed not one, but TWO delicious Hershey's S'mores, one of my favorite treats.

And then after BlogHer, I found out I won an iPad. From the fabulous ladies at Help a Mother Out and Momversation. Which I have sent every available moment since it arrived loaded apps onto, and which is perfect for reading screenplays, and which makes me want to cry because it is so hardcore awesome.

I must note that I still went to yoga on Wednesday, the day it arrived. Because I am hardcore like that, people. And I really needed to go to yoga for body and mind, post BlogHer '11 Awesomeness Overload.

What's kinda funny that after my LOLCats/S'mores moment of bliss I ran to the Samsung sponsored session, "Being the CTO of Your Life." (If you're not an Apple lover, there's a great review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 by A.V. Flox here at OMG. OMG. OMFG.) Towards the end of that session the panelists were talking about what apps they use, and I jotted them down thinking, "Someday..."

Someday came sooner than I ever could have imagined.

And I promise another post about BlogHer '11 is coming. Just as soon as I've got my iPad fully optimized and I can pull myself away from it for longer than it took to write this post.

Thank you SO SO much, Help a Mother Out and Momversation!!!

BlogHer Bound, 2011

Last year for BlogHer, I was heading to New York for a pretty big trip. I used the last of my funds and credit to make a small vacation out of it - I added one day on the front and one on the back. But then I ended up volunteering for BlogHer Business - I really wanted to go to some of the sessions because I was super excited about my new job at the time, and they related. And also working the conference meant I could eat for free that day and deduct one more night of the hotel room. I also attended sessions at BlogHer that related to my new job.

And then that job went away, so that particular aspect of my BlogHer 2010 was not so great, although it was interesting to expand my horizons and attend sessions I wouldn't have attended otherwise.

It really was an awesome BlogHer, and New York was amazing. I landed back in Los Angeles completely broke, but totally high off BlogHer and New York joy.

This year, BlogHer is in San Diego, and I am going by the skin of my teeth. For the first year, I am volunteering at the main conference so my registration is free. I really enjoy mic wrangling, so I'm looking forward to that.

Saved by these free stickers from Build-A-Sign!

I have new roommates this year, and it's roommateS plural, so that's new. I will sorely miss some blogging friends this year, and I am SO looking forward to seeing others.

And I'll finally see San Diego in the daytime as a grown-up. Since I moved to L.A., I've been there once for an event, but I drove there and back that night. Yes, the fact that I can drive to San Diego was integral to my attendance this year. I really am fortunate that it's local to me.

Coming into July, I was feeling a little unsure of what I was looking for from BlogHer this year. My blogging has slowed, and I've gotten back to my little blog roots, if I ever even left them really. Last year I was totally pumped up on my new job... that went away. That was such a blow at the time, that I think it's tinged my experience. Looking forward to cleansing my palate of that!

Thankfully, the BlogHer 2011 agenda came out, and my voyage to fun and excitement has begun - even if I'm still probably going to feel I'm getting there by the skin of my poorly packed pants. I love the longer sessions, and of course there's still time slots where it's going to kill me to decide what to go to. I am crazy in love with the tracks this year, in particular the "experience" track which seems super fun - although I have the most checks under Impact: Change the World and Impact: Change Yourself on my sessions-at-a-glance page.

Also, I was on the judging committee for Voices Of the Year - CONGRATS to all the 2011 BlogHer Voices of the Year honorees!!! Reading almost 100 blog posts for a deadline was completely intense, and I was so happy to be able to do it. I can't wait for this year's community keynote, which continues to be my favorite part of BlogHer since it began.

So, I am indeed really excited about BlogHer, even though I feel rather thrown together and for the first time, a little unsure about the direction I'd like to take my blog now. Which is perhaps right where one should be on the eve of BlogHer 2011. It's going to be SO MUCH FUN!!!

What rhymes with Suebob?

Unfortunately, my brain is too fried today to make much rhyme, but a million thanks to my friend Laurie for letting me know that today is the 50th birthday of one of my favorite blogger friends, Suebob! My pic with her famous red stapler happened - I believe - at BlogHer in 2007 in Chicago, and I felt that I had been chosen for greatness, my friends. For Suebob's B-day I've pulled this beautiful pic from last year's BlogHer in New York of Suebob on the subway with Suzanne. That's not flare from my brilliant pointing of a flash right into a window; that's the shine coming from these awesome ladies:

Suzanne was taking us to an awesome Indian restaurant for some serious yums. Also, so jealous of Suebob's hero necklaces.

OK, so I'm not ashamed to admit that Suebob and I are the type of Blogger friends who live pretty near each other and yet see each other primarily at an annual conference in another state or at random blogging events. Hey, we're busy, high-powered bloggers, yo! That said, is it time for BlogHer yet? Is it time for BlogHer yet?

Happy Birthday, Suebob!

Oh, and since I'm a broke-ass who's not donating money to anyone or anything these days, may I suggest you take a look at these fine places to send some support which just happen to be Suebob favs: Planned Parenthood and Writegirl. Suebob blogged about Writegirl (and other cool stuff) for her birthday.

New Stickers for BlogHer '11! Courtesy of BuildASign, Woohoo!

BuildASign Custom Signs & Stickers

Contrary to my declaration at the time, 2009 was *not* the last year I brought my purple "Living the Dream" stickers to BlogHer. No, I still had plenty to bring to BlogHer 2010. In fact, I'm pretty sure I still have some tucked somewhere. There is no end!

Will immediately note that the reason I have so many is that I had to order a large quantity to get purple. This was not the case at BuildASign, a place you might not think of to order stickers, right? In fact, when Megan from BuildASign reached out to me to see if I wanted to try a product from their site, I actually wrote back and said, "Don't you just do big things? Like bumper stickers?"

I've been wanting a new little sticker for a while now. I've also been wanting to put off my next business card order from Moo. I LOVE my Moo business cards, but I'm still in unemployment recovery and I'm trying to space out my business expenses this year. With BlogHer 11 coming up I was in a quandry. I'm already volunteering this year for free registration (hooray!) and sharing a room with not one, but two friends. But I can't go to BlogHer without something that has my blog and my Twitter on it.

BuildASign to the rescue!

Do you see the beautiful green goodness up there? Love it.

But the coolest thing about getting stickers from BuildASign is that they provided the dragonfly clip art AND did a mock up that I could jump online and edit - That's right, they have an online app where you can see your product and change the colors, fonts, images and text. I changed mine to green and waited to see if that was going to be a problem. No problem!

I did wish for a simple undo button on the app. You can change and change and change but there's no zip to undo function that I could find. Just have to keep changing. I'll also note that because of the way the stickers are printed, the edges of images aren't hard, and there was slight variation in the background color from sticker to sticker.

The stickers are matte rather than gloss, and they are vinyl, which you definitely want in a sticker. I put one on my laptop, and it's sticking great. Also, the paper on the back is conducive to jotting a note, so I'll be able to write my name and phone number down if I want. And the backing isn't the exact same size as the sticker, so it's easy to peel and stick them, which totally rocks.

All in all, I am superhappy with my stickers! They are totally cute, and they're definitely what I'm using at BlogHer instead of business cards. Thanks, Megan and BuildASign!

The stickers discussed above were given to me for free from BuildASign.

Hollywood, and Food Trucks, and Tweeting, Oh, My!

And not so much eating. As a South Beach Diet pescatarian, most food truck food, while often tempting, isn't up my alley. But it is *in* my alley, so to speak. Which is to say that I work near Cole Place, Sunset Boulevard, and the CNN building. Food Truck Alley.

I'm also a professional tweeter. Oh, yes, the day finally came. I'm currently the tweeter behind @thepostgroup.

One of the things I've been working on is tracking the food trucks and retweeting them when they're going to be on Cole. So that one part of our Twitter feed is providing a bit of a service to our neighborhood. If you work in the area, I'd love for you to follow us!

Also, of course, if you're in the post production industry. I also tweet and retweet items of entertainment industry interest.

Meanwhile, here's what *my* lunch looked like today:

How I resisted The Greasy Weiner, I'll never know! (Seriously, they have a veggie dog, and it looked superyum!)

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

September 2010 is turning out to be quite a month.  I got let go from a temp job and started a new one. I picked up two days of set work. I sold some gold to pay bills. I found out I'm getting unemployment for the week in between my temp gigs so I don't have to sell more, though I'm planning to anyway to get a little caught up financially going into October.

I went to a couple free movie screenings and a play. I've got some friends staying with me. I've done some dating. I've done some working out. I'm in a tournament over at Yucata.de. I'm having a meeting on that stalled out web series I worked on in 2009.

And I'm up on BlogHer today! They syndicated one of my posts, the one about the wolves, and called it: What They Say When Something Goes Wrong.

And tonight: Blogger Prom 2010. Which turned out to be a perfect lesson in rolling with the punches and sudden schedule changes. Sometimes in L.A., you really can do it all.

A Little Thing Called the BlogHer Community Keynote

Did you know you can watch the BlogHer 2010 Community Keynote online? It's so totally awesome; truly my favorite part of BlogHer every year. This year I was honored to be part of an amazing group of bloggers, so check it out. I read fifth, which was awesome. We couldn't hear backstage, so we passed each other our posts to read. It was a wonderful backstage moment, but it's so much more awesome to see them all!

And then this year there's The BlogHer/Kirtsy Gulf Auction. Every dollar will be donated to one of my fav organizations, The Nature Conservancy, to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico. A piece of artwork was created for every blog post that was honored as a BlogHer Voice of the Year (click that link and read goodness for hours).

The artwork has been rolling out onto eBay in batches. I'm part of the geeky/nerdy category, and the artwork for my post, Phone Karma, is "Believe" by Tracey Clark. You can bid on it and lots of other great art on ebay.

Bidding on "Believe" and other pieces in the Geeky/Nerdy category closes one week from today on Sept. 20th, so go check them out!