Over the weekend I was honored to attend the Mom 2.0 Summit in Houston. Holly has a hook up with GMC and so they gave us a Chevy Camaro to drive. Whoohoo! If you’re interested, you can check out our drive to Houston in our Whrrl story. We had a crazy good time. Holly and I bonded over pancakes for lunch.

Holly, Me, Gwen Bell, Allison (Petite Elephant), Marie (Makes & Takes)

I knew the weekend was going to be out of control when the first person I met was Gwen Bell. Yep – I’m a huge fan. She’s completely fabulous and so warm and friendly. We could totally hang out in real life – except for the fact that I was way to excited to meet her and most likely scared her off. {{wink}}

Marie, Jyl (Mom It Forward), Me, and Amy (Mom Spark)

Thursday night was the Mad Men party and we all got dressed up in our 60’s attire. Too funny that we were all in black & white.

Jenny, Holly, Me, Amy, Jyl all dressed up for the Mad Men party.

Rebekah (Mom’s Out Loud), Holly, Jennie (Jenny on the Spot), and Me

Marie & Allison threw a fabulous party in their suite and gave us party favors.

There I got to meet Jenny the Bloggess and Design Mom. Holy Moly I was so excited. Can you believe that Gabby new who I was?!? I tried SO hard not to scare her {{like I did Gwen}} and tried to keep my cool. I’m not sure I pulled it off. HA!

Me, Elz, Lisa (Peppers & Pollywogs), and Jennifer (List Plan It)

** Update** I think I forgot to show you that I made my Tip Junkie blog button into a bracelet! I used shrinky dinks and when it was still warm, I bent it a little so that it would be a cuff. {{squeal in delight}}

Photo from Mom2Summit

This is an impromptu moment when Karen Walrond asked me to pose in her picture with Laurie Smithwick (cofounder of Kirtsy). It was an out of body experience.

Rachael (Todays Mama), Andrea (Savvy Sassy Moms), Holly, Me, and Juice Box Jungle Co-founder

Juice Box Jungle threw an intimate party Friday night. We totally bonded because we all had BOYS! I just love being around fellow mama’s of boys.

Fabulous Key Note Speakers: Stephanie Smirnov, Heather Armstrong (Dooce), Gabrielle Blair (Design Mom), and Maggie Mason (Mighty Girl)

Girl power! They were so much fun and informative. None of us wanted their session to be over.

Gang Signs: Mormon, Mormon, Mormon, Wolverine – Photo from The Bloggess

The last session I went to was to support my roomies: Allison, Rachael, and Jyl. They were talking on “Creating Experiences Offline and Online…” with Jenny the Bloggess. Their session was crazy fun! They worked off each others strengths and we all laughed and were entertained. It was the perfect way to end the conference.

Holly, Me, Amy, Jyl, Jennie, and Rachael

Saturday night as Holly and I were leaving, we tried to get a picture of all the roomies. However Rachael was awol. Thanks to these lovely ladies, the weekend was full of great connections, never forget moments, a lot of laughing, girl time, and bonding moments.

Life as a blogger has come full circle. Who knew it could get so good?

(Me, Amy, Stephanie right before our session started)

So last weekend I had the privilege of attending and speaking at BlissDom (a blogging conference). I was on a panel with 3 other women and given the topic Connecting with Your Community of Readers. I just may have put 20 hours into the Power Point presentation alone. You know me – it has to be fabulous!!

You can read all about our session over on Tip Junkie where I’ve started a 3 part post on it, which includes the handout. I’m very proud of our collaboration and how well it turned out.

(Me and Kimba from A Soft Place to Land)

I’m getting more comfortable speaking in front of a lot of people. SITScation only had 80 attendees, there was around 250 at BlissDom in my session. My nerves were under control – but since I was not only speaking but also moderating and lead panelist, the pressure was on. It was a little more difficult for me to show off my personality. When I’m in charge, I tend to get in that “administrator” role instead of “entertaining” role. However, I think we all did a great job and pulled it off.

It was so much fun meeting all the fabulous bloggers who I just adore and feel like I already know. I had dinner with Melissa, Emily, and the Nester and we cooked up something fun that I hope to announce in about a month or so. It was so easy to sit and chat shop with these ladies. I felt like we were kindred spirits.

• Melissa – The Inspired Room
• The Nester (who doesn’t share her real name) – Nesting Place
• Tsh – Simple Mom
• Emily – Chatting at the Sky

Here are several of the home decor bloggers. These ladies completely ROCK!

(Tiffany from SITSgirls and Sugar Jones)

Every night there were 1-3 parties to attend. Therefore, there was always something fun to do until the wee hours of the morning. Tiffany (from SITSgirls) and I were roomies. She is the most amazing person! After partying we laughed and talked shop in our room. We think a lot alike and have many of the same passions. Tiffany is completely brilliant with such a great business mind. I can talk with her for hours!

What I didn’t realize about blog conferences is that they are more about networking and making connections than learning at the sessions. Being surrounded by so many strong and inspiring women made me completely giddy!

• Janice – 5 Minutes for Mom
• Michelle – Scribbit
• Kim – DIY Dish
• Julie – Angry Julie Monday

We were serenaded by Harry Connick Jr. for a special performance at Fuse night club. He has the most amazing voice and was really cool. I felt bad for him that he had to endure the high pitched screaming and crazy fans. He was very nice and it didn’t seem to bother him.

After meeting Harry we danced the night away and had a blast letting our hair down as new friends.

• Jyl – Mom it Forward
• Rachelle – Today’s Mama
• Julie – Angry Julie Monday
• Marie – Make and Takes
• Allison – Petite Elephant

(Angie from I Heart Faces)

I flew to Nashville and back with Amy from I Heart Faces. I can’t believe we didn’t get a picture together. However, she is brilliant and so much fun. We collaborated, laughed, and make business plans during the trip. Amy and Angie are the real deal! They are beautiful inside and out. I swear I haven’t laughed so hard or had so much fun in quite a while. I’m way overdue for a crazy fun girls weekend. Sunday I went on their photo walk of Nashville and had SO much fun. Hanging out with them (and Julie and Tiffany) made the weekend perfect.

Thanks Ladies!! I had the best weekend. I still haven’t gone through all of my cards or uploaded all of my photos. It was such a pleasure meeting everyone and I feel like I’ve made life long friends because of this weekend. I just adore bloggers.

**Update** You can see more photos over on Amy’s blog and the BlissDom Flickr group.

I realize I’m being a bit over dramatic – but I’m so sick and tired of spammers! I manage 3 blogs and I can not tell you how annoying it is to have to constantly be logging into my accounts to delete some random comment with inappropriate links.

Dude.

I’m done. Therefore, I will now be moderating all my comments. Granted I don’t get many these days anyway. I’ve been a terrible blog commenter myself and have not been abiding by the golden rule of blogging: “Comment unto others as they have commented unto you.”

I hope you understand and it’s not too annoying to wait until I approve your comment. I know I love it when I see my comment automatically appear. {{so much fun}}

Sorry Ladies. Just know that I completely adore you even if I haven’t told you lately.

Hugs!

My word that I hope will represent 2010 is

Abundance

{{crossing fingers}} Here’s my video on why I chose that word as well as a plug for a giveaway on Tip Junkie. Three women will win a necklace with their word of the year on it by Tip Junkie Mom-preneurs.

Well, I don’t know how it happened but I’ve been invited to be a speaker at Blissdom ’10 in Nashville, Tennessee February 4-6 th. I’ll be speaking on ‘connecting with your community of readers’. Who knew?!?

It’s an amazing opportunity and I’m humbled to be apart of such a fabulous group of women. {{squeal in delight}}

Dude. I love these blog-things!

You Are Thanksgiving

You don’t need a lot to make you feel happy during the holidays. You already feel very blessed. It is easy for you to be thankful. You think the holidays are the perfect time to express your gratitude. You are definitely not a materialistic person. If anything, you feel like the holiday season has been infected with greed. An indulgent meal in a warm home surrounded by those close to you is more than enough. Anything extra is just whipped cream on your pumpkin pie.

You Are a Girl or Guy Next Door

You are as all American as apple pie, and you’re so normal that you belong in a TV sitcom. And really, that’s a pretty great thing. You’re a solid person, and you pride yourself on being quite down to earth. You value your friends and family, and you don’t need much in life to be content. You feel grateful for what you have. You are honest and you have a great work ethic. You believe in giving back as much as you can.

Dude. @LittleDebbie is following me on Twitter.

I heart Little Debbie and should own some stock as I’m emotionally invested in these baked goods. We’re a match made in icing heaven. {{smooches}}