Posts Tagged ‘BlogHer’

August 11th, 2011

Cyber Bullying Isn’t Just For Teens

Cyber bullying… It is everywhere.

Facebook, blogs, twitter… anyplace you can imagine… it is there. But why?  People wouldn’t feel that this type of harassment is ok in day-to-day life, of course because most know it is illegal and they would most certainly face criminal charges.

But little do these bullies know… harassing someone online, and cyber bullying is also illegal and can be punished in various forms, and I didn’t even learn that until this past weekend after being in the blog world, and being harassed online for almost a decade.

It originally started when I was 17 by an ex boyfriend and his friends, and it seems like with the websites like Myspace, Facebook, and back then it was Livejournal… the harassment did nothing but grow. Between rude comments, false statements about me, rumors, and of course the typical fake profile imitating and mimicking me, it made the internet simply unpleasant. I took quite the vacation… in fact my apartment in North Carolina didn’t even have an internet connection for the first three months I was there…  Hard to believe right?

Once I moved back to Connecticut in the mid 2005ish time frame, I think it was actually fall that year I began to get back into the internet community, and nothing ever changed.

Since that time I have had to call the police, as well as FBI… no joke because most of the harassment I had experienced crossed state lines.  Just when I thought most stopped… it started up again with the same two people.  One local, one not… you have to wonder how anyone can think harassing behavior is acceptable. Ever.  Especially for mothers!

But this week I took the time to read the transcript from the cyber bullying session at BlogHer 11 in San Diego.  One of the sessions I was most interested in checking out. I am really glad that the transcripts were available this year as well. I was able to take a lot away from it…  a lot!

It is amazing the levels people will go to, but what is most amazing is that as time goes on and this is becoming more of a problem, police departments are finally starting t take the problem seriously and actually take criminal action against these people.  There are also lawyers out there who are starting to specialize in Defamation stemming from the internet.  HALLELUIAH!  Finally!   And you can bet your bottom dollar I have kept a file of all of my harassment encounters like the panel in the session suggests.

One of the amazing panel members Erin Vest, also known as The Queen of Spain said:

But you need to document everything, even if you don’t think it crosses the line. Document it. Keep it in a folder and when you get really uncomfortable, you take it to your local authorities. They may not be able to do anything about it, but they need to start a file, as Elisa said. You must start a file and you must have them at least document it.
And then when the day comes where they do cross a line in your state that is considered a threat, you already have this nice big documented folder at either your sheriff’s station or local police station and on your computer with all of your screen shots and everything else. They are ready to move on it. The detective has a little less work to do because in a way you have done it for him or her. So make sure you document absolutely everything.

If you could only see some of the files I have, it would make you wonder why people have nothing better to do!

The other panel member, Andrea Weckerle also included:

If you’re put in something called false light or appropriation of your identity, if somebody is assuming your identity, you can pursue a civil case.
There are pros and cons to taking that course of action. You have to find out how much it will cost you from a money perspective, from an emotional perspective. Things often get worse before they become better. But you do have legal recourse in a lot of cases. You just need to really, really become familiar with what your legal rights are.

Writers… KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!  Know what action you can take! And know that you do not have to tolerate people harassing you!

Audience member Patty Fitzgerald said:

One of the things that I find is that I really like how you said take it to the brick and mortar world. There seems to be a disconnect. We think of the real world and we think of online. It’s really just an extension and I do think that it’s important not to feed the troll but also to document all of that.

Another great point. This is not acceptable behavior in the real world, it shouldn’t be acceptable online… ever. One thing I have also noticed is with the new generation of middle schooler’s, and teens… they find if this behavior is acceptable online then it must be acceptable in school, home, or in their day-to-day lives.   It is not. And it is NOT!   We need to start to teach these children that they will be held accountable for their actions.

Long story short, even though I wasn’t able to physically go to BlogHer this year I was still able to take a ton away from it.  Thank you to the panel members for putting their time, and resources into this amazingly helpful session. I am also looking forward to reading through the other sessions that I haven’t had a chance to get to yet.  They are long, and I have three kids, and a job. LOL!

For those of you who went to the conference, any sessions you highly recommend?

They aren’t learning these behaviors from strangers either.  They are learning it from parents who have started the cycles.  Apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree right?

January 19th, 2011

BlogHer 2011 Sponsorship

It is that time of the year again… Starting to get ready for BlogHer 2011. This year is going to be very different than last year though. I traveled on my own, into New York City last year.

This year I will be traveling with an almost three month old little girl for everyone to goo and gaa over at the conference. But, I found an awesome buddy to travel with this year. Last year I was solo, but I met a really cool blogger from the local area when I was at BlogHer 2010.

Sponsorship has become the big topic of conversation around the house because of the cost of traveling to San Diego, especially with such a little baby. Hotel, air, food, etc.

Which brings the point of my post today… Sponsorship.  Last year for BlogHer I had 4 sponsors who covered the majority of my trip. Kandoo, Lamaze, Go Mama Go Designs, and RJS Designs. This year, since I will be having our little girl along for the conference, I am certainly looking for companies I already use, and/or believe in for sponsorship. Products we use in our home, and accessories we use with the kids, preferably something that I will be traveling with, and using while at the conference.

Who am I?

Besides a blogger, I am a twenty something mother of two boys, Camden 3, and Benjamin almost 2. While my husband and I thought we were done having children, a daughter and third child had different plans for us. I blog about all kinds of stuff from the comedy and reality of being a parent, to advocacy in pregnancy and child birth communities, natural parenting, cloth diapering, baby wearing, and virtually everything parenting brings… from a real perspective.  I also currently blog for Being Pregnant on the popular parenting website Babble.com

Who Follows Me?

Lots of people!  Mostly Moms though!

I have (currently and growing)
2420 Twitter Followers
291 Feed subscribers
119 Google Subscribers
494 Facebook followers

And growing daily. In the past calendar year, my website, subscribers and followers have more than tripled and it shows no signs of stopping. Traffic is just as great!

This year I prefer to work with one, or two larger sponsors to avoid the confusion and difficulty that multiple sponsors can become, although I am open to all options. I am easy going!

What can I offer my sponsors?

• Advertising space for 12 months
• Advertising space on my business cards (last year I handed out over 400)
• Apparel branding… I will wear something with the logo of your company for the conference, if you are a child gear company, I will use your product, or my daughter will wear your product for the conference. Whatever works best.
• Sponsored Tweets for the conference
• Blog Posts about your product, and the sponsorship opportunity
• Facebook updates with your company name during the conference
• Swag Handouts… Although they have to be within the conference guidelines

There are a lot of sponsored bloggers for the conference, and if you and your company cannot make it physically to the conference, it is a great way to get your product out there. Babies are also the life of the party around BlogHer… many mothers leave their little ones at home and must get their baby fix in somehow. I think that is how I ended up pregnant this year right after I got home from BlogHer… so many babies, and women finding out they are pregnant around me… Ya, you Gina!

To discuss an opportunity, or interest in sponsorship, you can contact me directly at Danielle.Elwood@gmail.com

I hope to see all you ladies (and some gentlemen) there this year!

August 29th, 2010

NCMEC & BlogHer

If you do not know what NCMEC stands for, it is the abbreviation for The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. When I was preparing to go to BlogHer, I got contacted by a representative from Tavern Direct, and this is where it may get confusing to some. What does a company that sells delicious specialty foods have to do with missing kids?  Well long story short, 50 cents from every item sold through Tavern Direct goes straight to NCMEC.

Great cause!  We were invited to a delicious dinner at F. Illi Ponte Ristorante. It was an amazing, and probably the best food I had the whole time while I was in the city. We sat down, and listened to a Gentleman from NCMEC talk about the cause, how he got involved and what they are looking to do with Bloggers. I hung on to his every word because it was something so important to listen about. With two little boys, who will sooner rather than later be leaving the house for school, and activities where I cannot watch them 100% of the time it is better to be safe than be sorry.

We learned a lot that evening, and I am planning on working with them more to learn more about their cause, internet safety, and other things that I could write about that will be important to parents who have children all ages.

August 20th, 2010

Updating my 101 in 1001

If you guys have been following over the past couple months, you know that a couple months ago I started the Day Zero project called 101 in 1001. It is 101 things I want to do in 1001 days, which turns out to be about three years.  They are short term goals, and a couple more larger things also.

If you want to check out my two previous posts on this you can see :

101 in 1001
Updating my 101 in 1001

It has becoming something pretty important to me because I am always saying I want to do this or that, but never truly accomplishing any of it. I also really believe in setting average day to day goals for ourselves. It helps us accomplish our dreams, or the things that we dont necessarily take the time to worry about.

So what have I accomplished since I last checked in about 2 months ago?

Take a Weekend Trip without the kids!
I did it!  Despite huge anxiety about leaving the children behind, babysitters, snacks, and my husband knowing what the kids wanted for their routines and comfort, I left on a Thursday and came home on a Sunday.  While it was not a vacation per say, it was a lot of fun, and I am totally planning on going away to the next BlogHer conference (which is where I was).
That was the first time I left the children for more than a night without seeing them. It was hard but so worth it when I came home and my toddler looked at me with his big brown eyes and screamed “MOMMY!!!! I missed you!”   I also got to meet some of my all time favorite Bloggers!  The Feminist Breeder, Baby Rabies, The Pioneer Woman, Baby Makin{g} Machine, Baby Dickey, Kristine from Cora’s Story… you get the drift!  To read more about my fantastic voyage click here!

Get 2000 Followers on Twitter
I guess this was a lot easier than I thought!
Hi!  To all my new followers!  And if you would like to follow me on twitter, look me up : @BirthBabiesBlog

Meet a Celebrity
As I posted above, I met The Pioneer Woman at BlogHer.  The Pioneer Woman may not be Jennifer Aniston or Jim Carey, but she is certainly more famous than most of us bloggers that were there. Being on shows like The View, The Today Show, and others, with a movie about her life in the works, and a published book… That is a celebrity in my book!

Attend BlogHer
Well, it is pretty obvious I completed this goal. LOL!  A little earlier than I thought I would be able to. I want to again thank all of my sponsors who helped me… Go Mama Go Designs, Lamaze, Kandoo and RJS Designs.

Suck it up & Go to the Dentist
Well if you have been reading, you know I finally did that. I sucked up my horrible Dentist anxiety and fear, and went to have my broken tooth fixed after it finally started to cause me pain a year after the fact. That turned into having 5 teeth (4 impacted wisdom teeth) and my problem tooth removed. Talk about dental HELL!
I can tell you one thing for sure, I will be going to the dentist regularly again, because there is no way in hell I am going to have an issue like that come up again. That was one of the worst experiences of my life, right up there with my first c-section!
But on a lighter note, I am thinking about getting braces again since the problem wisdom teeth that caused my teeth to shift again after 4 almost 5 years of braces as a teen are gone!

Develop a Habit of using Reusable Shopping Bags
I really started getting into this at the start of the summer, but it took off when I got back from BlogHer with about 300 new reusable tote bags from various companies ranging from Firefox to MomSpark.
A great habit to get used to!

Now I can cross off all of those.
I am looking forward to really completing more in the upcoming months. Although the months will be busy, this is still something I am working on being a priority…

Some of the ones I want to complete before my next update?
Sleep Under the Stars
Buy Something from Etsy
Go to Rocky Horror Picture Show showing at midnight  (Halloween Time)
Make a writing portfolio
Take a trip to Boston
Get both of my children to sleep in their own beds!
Paint and re-design our bedroom

Do you have a 101 in 1001?

August 12th, 2010

Close Call : Ben’s First Steps

I almost missed my youngest son’s first steps. For those who do not know the back story, Ben has been going through weekly physical therapy through a local program because his pediatrician recommended he be evaluated after his 12 month check up. Long story short, the results came back that he was developmentally delayed across the board, and therapy started.

He has made strides over the past two months since it all began, and today I have a mobile little boy that has a follow up meeting next week to re-evaluate the 6 months plan we made, and switch his therapy from once a week, to every other week. I never thought that we would have made such progress this quickly. Needless to say, I am over the moon.

As the vast majority of the planet already knows. I went to New York City last week/weekend for BlogHer 2010. I was gone Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and came home on Sunday afternoon. Upon returning our family reunited at my parents house for our typical Sunday dinner.

After reuniting, and coming to the conclusion that my toddler did grow over this short period of time, to the point that I almost didn’t recognize him, my youngest gave me the shock of a lifetime, and a huge scare at the same time. He let go of my mothers hand, and took 3/4ish steps across her kitchen floor right into my arms. My heart melted and we all cheered. It was a great moment to be able to share with our whole family, including one of our family friends “Uncle Al”.

Then I started thinking…

What if that had happened when I was away on business?  I would have felt horrible!  I cannot imagine the guilt and hurt I would have felt had I not been the one he walked to in the kitchen, or even had been able to see those steps after the months of therapy, and appointments we have gone through. All working towards this moment.

I know it is silly to think of the what if’s, but with my life rabidly heading towards being a full time work at home mother, and not part time anymore I feel like I am going to get wrapped up into the working Mom Guilt. Ideally I would have loved to wait another couple years until the boys were getting into school for things to take off, but I guess I really didn’t have a choice.

Just more Mommy guilt.

August 9th, 2010

BlogHer Wrap Up

First things first!  I want to thank all the amazing companies that helped me make my trip possible.  Lamaze, Kandoo, Go Mama Go Designs, and RJS Designs. Without all of you, I would not have been popular because I had swag, but I also would not have been able to afford to go.

I was able to give women Potty training wipes, coupons, and awesome Lamaze pregnancy skin care sets.  Total scores all around especially since I became the queen of swag before I left!  LOL  (I will get to that later in the post)

Friday I hooked up with Gina, Jill, Jenn, and a ton of bloggers I have talked to over the past year and really become friends with. Of course my luck I ended up continuing to run into this woman I had no interest in associating with. She blew me and my roommate off sticking us with $450 of charges for our hotel room. She made a commitment and backed out the day before the conference. Shitty if you ask me. Of course I ran into her at The People’s Party, the newbie breakfast, EVERYWHERE!  I finally hooked up with Gina at the breakfast and we hung out basically all day. The Expo hall sucked us in, and I totally missed the first session I wanted to go to on Friday.  We made rounds till lunch time then grabbed some lunch.

Then went back to the Expo hall, I think I entered for almost everything, but of course I knew I wouldn’t win. I never win anything. We also spent some time at the Ecco shoe’s suite and get pedicures, and of course I stopped by the Windows Suite.

We have had such bad luck in the past couple years that I was almost certain I would go home without all the swag everyone was telling me about before I left for BlogHer.  WRONG!  4 on Friday I headed up to my room to relax, and blog, which didn’t get done. About a half hour into my “relax” hour I got a phone call from a random number, it was the Playtex booth calling me to tell me I won a Flip Cam!  No way!   So I headed down to the Expo hall to pick it up and it was for real!  I won a flip cam!  Something I have wanted, but just couldn’t afford to dish out the $200 for!  Score!

I headed out to the Babble.com party as a plus one of Jenn, it was fun, different, and certainly something I didn’t expect, but we had some totally exciting news at the party…  Gina found out she was pregnant! For those of you who don’t know the back story of Gina & her husband… they have been trying to get pregnant since January.

I also went on a great tour of NYC with NYCityMama and won a huge basket of toys valued at $300 for the kids. Needless to say between all the toys that were given away, the basket, and swag… I got my Christmas shopping virtually finished.

Needless to say, it made for an exciting night. I hung out with my roommates, made some rounds in the hotel, and conference space, and went to bed. I knew I had a long day on Saturday.

I woke up Saturday morning to some crazy exciting news…
“Congrats to @birthbabiesblog on winning 2 Dell Inspiron 14R PCs. Stop by the #Win7BlogHer suite (4331) by 2pm EST to collect your prize!” – BenThePcGuy on twitter

Um… no shit? Really? No!  It couldn’t be!
So I strolled up to the 43rd floor to the Window’s suite, and of course, it was right. I had won not one but TWO Dell laptops!  I couldn’t believe it. I really still can’t believe it, and I am home, checked them out, and gave one to my rockin’ husband.  Our desktop died about 2 months ago, so it has made it hard for him to get online, and download music because that is what he does best.  So, now I was up to 2 laptops, a flip cam, the toy basket, and all the free stuff I got in the Expo hall which included toys for the kids.  I hit up two sessions, and decided to make one last lap around the Expo hall.

I stopped by the diapers.com booth… and won $100 gift card!  Woot!  So needless to say, it was super eventful.

I had a dinner that eventing provided by Tavern Direct, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. A great cause I plan on getting involved with once things calm down a little.

Saturday night was for SparkleCorn, CheeseburgHer, A Bloggy State of Mind… and every other party I could get into, or sneak into considering I made friends with the event staff, and the guys watching the door. Smart huh?  Oh and don’t forget the wine party I rocked in my room provided by The Wine Sisterhood!

Sunday morning I was on The Feminist Breeder & Friends radio show, then headed over to 11th ave, to pick up my Lincoln MKT press car for the week.  Score huh?  I can’t wait to share some more about that!  Stay Tuned!

So overall, BlogHer was amazing. I met SO many awesome women I look forward to following, linking, and getting to know better, including another Fire Fighter wife, a couple women from Connecticut, and some rather interesting women.

Huge success all around, and DH and I are already planning our trip to San Diego for next year’s BlogHer 2011!
Check out some of the pictures!

August 6th, 2010

BlogHer Day 1

My first day in New York City for BlogHer is over. I am settling down into my room with Marie, and Debbie and eating a store bought salad because we couldn’t find anything decent to eat. So where do I start?

Ahh, I will start on the train with my Dad… He took the train ride with me, helped me check my bags, and then we were tourists for the day.  We headed all over New York City checking out some of the tourist type stuff, different places, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, The M&M store, all that fun stuff…

Checking out NBC, all that fun kind of stuff… Then I was able to check into the hotel, get dressed and really head on out for the different parties that I was invited to… After getting dressed, I got in line for a cab at my hotel, and headed to the Martha Stewart Blogger party… I got awesome swag bags, the only disappointment to me was not spotting Martha there after they said she was going to be attending (briefly)  or maybe I just missed her.

Oh, and speaking of celebrity sightings… I saw Jeff Gordon today, ya know the Nascar driver that is probably as tall as I am. He walked out of the Time building as I was passing by and I totally stalked him for a while. LOL
Unfortunately I only got a picture of the back of his head…

Yup had to snap a picture of it… I wish I could have just run ahead of him and pulled a paparazzi kind of maneuver to snap a shot. Thinking about it now, I should have just called JEFF and told him his daughter is adorable and asked for a picture together. Shoulda Coulda Woulda… Right?

So I headed to the Martha Blogger Party… great food, and a TON of alcohol!  I limited myself to one glass of champagne. It was nice, and I met a couple of really cool women who I was able to share cabs with to and from. I look forward to meeting more great bloggers!

I headed over to The People’s Party, went back to my room, and then The Feminist Breeder, and Baby Rabies tweeted wondering where I was… I got dressed again and headed back downstairs. LOL!  I met Gina and I am SUPER beyond excited. Thought I was super fan before? I feel like she is someone I have known for ages!

All in all… it was a great night and I can’t wait for tomorrow!

August 4th, 2010

BlogHer 2010 Schedule

A couple other people that are heading to BlogHer this weekend took the time to post their New York City schedules, to help navigate meeting up with some of the other women, and blogger friends… so I thought since I have a list of people I want to hook up with in the city I would post my schedule also.

Thursday

11:13am – Metro North Train into New York City w/my awesome Dad!  (BTW tomorrow is his birthday, we are going to have some fun in the city before he heads home!)
1:00pm-3:30pm – Touristy stuff!  We are going to head to Central Park, the 9/11 site, and other various places around the city I can have fun with my camera.
4:00pm – BlogHer Registration
4:15ish – Meeting up with @BabyDickey @KristineBrite and others for Coffee in the Lobby of the Hilton
5:15pm – Hotel room to get changed
6:00pm – Martha Blogger Party
8:00pm – The People’s Party (I am going to be a little late)
11:00pm – Photo walk

SLEEP!

Friday
8:00am – Newbie Breakfast
9:00am – BlogHer Welcome
9:30am – Speed dating BlogHer Style
10:30am – Session – Making Your Passion Work for You!
11:45am – Private lunch with the Publishing Company
1:40pm – Pedicure
2:00pm – Swag Pickup
2:15pm – Free time for the EXPO Hall
5:00pm – Voices of the Year
6:00pm – VOTY Reception
7:00pm – Gala & Art Show
9:30pm – NYC Bus Tour with NYCMama

SLEEP!

Saturday
8:00am - Breakfast
9:00am – EXPO Hall
10:00am – Meeting with Stride Rite/Robeez
12:00pm – Lunch
1:30pm – Project Mom Casting Call Interview!!!!!  (Yes!  I got a call back for an interview! YAY!)
6:00pm – Dinner
7:30pm – Wine Sisterhood Wine party at my room!  Space is still available!  E-mail me if you are interested!  Danielle.Elwood@gmailcom!
The rest of the day I have more free time until

SparkleCorn & The Green Affair!

If you want to meet up, please let me know by filling this form out! That will keep me organized and I will be checking it frequently to see if anyone new is on there so that I can make a time to get together!

July 29th, 2010

My Anxiety is getting the Best of Me

I think I had a near freak out last night when trying to get all my ducks in a row for the Passion for Birth workshop I am hosting Tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday… then stewing in the fact I will be home Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before I am off to the big City for my meeting with the Publisher, BlogHer, and all the various activities I have signed myself up for affiliated with BlogHer. (I will be posting my schedule in the next few days)

I don’t think it is being busy as much as things I have wanted to do for years, like get formal childbirth educator training, and going to a major blogging event are staring me in the face, and one of my biggest fears is failure. Failure at something that is important to me, and I have wanted to do forever. Which becoming a childbirth educator is high up on that list. I knew my want would become reality when Robin Elise Weiss started mentoring me via the internet. I am so thankful to Jill from the Unnecesarean for introducing us earlier this year.  We spoke, and when I started throwing around ideas on my blog about becoming a childbirth educator she e-mailed me suggesting I look into Passion for Birth.

I mulled over all of my choices from CAPPA to Passion for Birth, and everything in between until I knew that Passion for Birth would be the best fit because I am really familiar with the Lamaze Birth Practices, and they are really what I identify most with. Robin suggested she come out to teach the class and I was SO excited!   As the days got closer, we chatted, and I got more and more excited about the class. Unfortunately a horrible family death has come up just two days before the Workshop, and Robin is unable to come and teach it. In her place, Teri, the head of Passion for Birth, and Guru per Robin is coming. I think I slightly started to freak because one of my biggest comfort levels through this process is out of the equation now. My mentor.

No biggie, pick up, move on and do my best. That is what we all need to do in life right?  I guess my past anxiety problems just get the best of me when it comes to stress. Not only that, but for someone who can go 3 weeks without leaving the house, or my property I should say, to have major surgery which I am still recovering from, and knowing I am going to really not be in my comfort zone for the next two weeks is hard.

I am sure there are a ton of people out there who can relate. I am sure there are some people who will point and laugh, but hey, its life.

So here is how it goes for the next two weeks…

Friday, Saturday, & Sunday -  Passion For Birth Workship
Monday – Home & Relax
Tuesday – Ben’s Therapy, Packing for BlogHer
Wednesday – Cleaning the house from top to bottom before I leave
Thursday – Dropping the kids of with Sitters, and off to NYC I go…
Friday – BlogHer
Saturday – BlogHer
Sunday – Brunch, then back to Connecticut.

After all of this is done, I can sit down, take a load off and take a vacation from my vacations?  LOL

July 21st, 2010

Busy Weekends on the Horizon!

I feel like the “professional” part of my life is really starting to catch up with me with some seriously busy weekends coming up. As if my Monday through Friday isn’t already up there now that I am officially working from home too.

I will start with my new job. Yes… JOB!  I am handling all the social media for Go Mama Go Designs. One of my sponsors for BlogHer, and a great company. I love the women there, and I am super excited to be helping them out by taking over their social media.  I am handling their Twitter account, Facebook fan page, networking with other companies, and of course blogging.

This Friday I am having my wisdom teeth out, along with one problem tooth being pulled. Putting me out of commission all weekend long. I am going to be going to my parents house Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday because with the kids, and me being so high maintenance when I am sick, injured, or in pain, I figured it would be easiest for my husband.  Who needs a 25 year old child to take care of too?

Then comes my Passion for Birth workshop with the beautiful wealth of knowledge Robin Elise Weiss. She is coming all the way across the country to teach my class, and I am so excited to finally meet her as we have been buddies online for quite some time. I am super excited to be taking another great step to becoming a Lamaze Teacher, because we certainly need more childbirth education teachers in our area, as well as Lamaze teachers.

Just as that ends, I have barely 4 days to tie up my lose ends, and head off to New York City for the BlogHer Conference. I will be rooming with Marie Cooper from Nourish Ourselves, who I already love just from chatting with her on the phone, and email!  We also have a third roommate, I have only e-mailed with thus far, but she seems like a cool chick from MFA Mom.  I am beyond excited.
I still need to do a million things :

My blog her to do list, although I did get some things crossed off is still FULL!

1. Go clothes shopping for something to wear to all these parties!  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights all have important adventures I certainly need to shine up like a new penny for. Plus it gives me the excuse to get dressed up when I rarely have the chance since motherhood. (Got a great deal at our awesome  Thrift store, and walked out with almost everything I need for $45!)
2. Collect all my favorite Bloggers telephone numbers so I can get in touch with them once I get to NYC. I heard since there are so many people at BlogHer it is sometimes near impossible to find some of the ladies you are looking for without cell phones. What the heck did we do before them? If you want to hook up in NYC for BlogHer, Click here!
3. Order my business cards. I currently have them in my cart of Vista, but I am going to hold out another 3-4 weeks until I know for sure if I do or do not have a second sponsor. I would HATE to waste money getting more printed to add another sponsor on the back. Cards ordered, and delivered!  Beyond excited how cute they are!
4. Steal my Moms rolling suitcases to pack. I by no means have luggage. We never go anywhere and if we do, we have smaller overnight type bags we use. Not only that but I am going to need to have my stuff on wheels because of the train aspect of my travel.
5. Find a place in NYC that is not only reasonably priced but local to the hotel I am going to be staying in for dinner on Thursday night. I have 4 possible places to eat dinner on Thursday night, in a mini dinner party, interested?  Click here!
6. Get invited to one of these special parties being hosted by private companies. I would give ANYTHING to be invited to the Nikon party!  (Still waiting NIKON!)
7. Find a babysitter for the children for Friday the 6th. All set since my mom decided to quit her job. But that is a whole story in itself. LOL
8. Manicure, pedicure, massage, and haircut.  Haircut and dye scheduled!
9. Think about other materials I can make with my blog information on them to give out while networking. Since I know I can’t be giving out swag at BlogHer, I need to think of cool things to use my blog logo on. Bumper Stickers? Post Cards? Pens?  What do you think? All my materials are printed, and IN!
10. Thank my husband again for all the help he has been giving me with planning my BlogHer trip. I could not have asked for a more supportive husband!  He is awesome and super excited for all of the things taking off!

Last but certainly not least at all!  I have a meeting scheduled the day I go into the city for BlogHer with a Publisher!  Yes, you heard me right, a publisher!  This all just happened in the past hour as I was writing this post, but I am OVER the moon! I guess hard work really does pay off right?

Needless to say, The next couple weeks are going to be slightly insane for me!  So excuse my lack of posting if it comes to that!

July 19th, 2010

BlogHer Thursday Night Dinner

As most of you know, I am putting together a dinner date for Thursday night. I want to start getting a head count, and where we will be going all set up so I can put in a reservation.  Please take a moment and fill out the poll below if you are interested in joining us!

I will also be making a facebook event for this, which the link is :   BlogHer Dinner Get Together

July 9th, 2010

Revealing my Other BlogHer Sponsors

As most of you already know, I am working with Lamaze as a sponsor for BlogHer 2010, and I announced that a couple weeks ago. After working with Lamaze, I knew that if I wanted to be able to fully afford the trip to New York City, considering the hotel room alone is over $300 a night, I was going to have to secure more sponsors, or a large sponsor who would help in a big way.

I am super excited to announce I secured 3 other sponsors, and all are awesome companies!  Which has made me able to go to BlogHer and know we as a family can afford the trip. My first sponsor I want to announce today is :

Go Mama Go Designs is the company I blogged about last week, that makes the awesome safer Wonder Bumpers for Cribs. After the sponsorship for BlogHer they also sent me their product which I fell in love with. I am looking forward to working long term with them over the next couple months through blog projects, and various social media projects.  The women from Go Mama Go that I have been working with have been super awesome, and really helpful!  I am glad that I came across their company, and can’t wait to work more with them.

My second sponsor is probably someone most of us know a little bit more than Go Mama Go because they are slightly bigger on a corporate level.

Since both of our children were born, they have been both in pampers, until recently. Although we are switching Benjamin into cloth diapers, The Kandoo products are what we use to make potty training fun in our house. From the hand wipes to the colorful soaps, it helps our toddler to have fun washing his hands, and make it less paintful to get clean.  I am really looking forward to working with Kandoo long term as I have discussed with the company.  It is a really exciting time to be getting involved.

It is really exciting to be working with such large companies and building long term professional relationships with these companies. Both of which are great, and provide products I support, and use in my own home.   I am sure you have also seen both of those logos go up in my advertising space on my site here also.  Explains a lot huh? Haha!

Now onto the local company!

RJS Designs is a local event planning company run by a couple people in Shelton. I originally came across them while working on The Shelton Butterfly Project with them, and being a good friend of one of the women involved.  Their involvement in the Butterfly Project really impressed me.  They wanted to help out on a local level, and I am super grateful for that!

So there you have it… Lamaze, Go Mama Go Designs, Kandoo, and RJS Designs!

July 5th, 2010

Which BlogHer Sessions?

I am having one hell of a time deciding which sessions I want to go to when I am at BlogHer. Everyone said don’t plan on going to more than 2-3 sessions for the whole weekend because of the amount of other events, parties, and networking there is going on.

On Day one I am certainly planning to go to the opening, and breakfast, Welcome… But then I have the option of going off to one of seven sessions.

There are three sessions during this time period that really strike me as something I want to go to, and listen in on. I just need to figure out which would really benefit me the best. Originally I wanted to go with Feeding the Conversation : How to Build a Community around your Cause.  After thinking about it more, I seem to already really have a community of bloggers, readers, and those who follow me regarding the causes I am passionate about, and I know that over the next year I want to span out from more than just birth and pregnancy, which I did in two posts this past week, Poop Doesn’t Discriminate, and But… What Will I say?

I have to be true to the mom in me, and move in the direction that is calling me. I love the birth community, and I love writing and helping to educate, and I really feel like I am reaching more people than here on the Giving Birth with Confidence blog.
I am taking on a ton more reviews of products that may appeal to Moms, and housewives like myself. One being a Lincoln MKT later on this summer.

Then I saw it!  The session I need to attend!  Passions : ROYO : Generation Y Passionistas : Leaving Your 9-to-5 to persue your passion.  Perfect!  DH and I have been going back and forth about me going back to work, mostly to save my sanity in the long run. But between the kids, daycare costs, teaching, and finishing up my Lamaze Certification this year, there just isn’t anytime for me to go back to the good ol’ 9-to5 again.  But then I scrolled down the page a little more… Jobs Lab : Self Marketing : Resume and Social Networking Profile Writing Clinic… Which would benefit me more?
AHH!  Such the debate!
I am still leaning towards the Passions session, but what do you think?

It was easy for me to skip the sessions right after lunch because none of them really…. PULLED at me. So I am going to enjoy my lunch and head over to the sponsors hall and do some good old networking.

The 2:45-4:00 session has a couple that stand out to me, but I am not sure if they stand out enough to attend… I would love to learn more about photography. They have an awesome session in their Geeks Lab aimed to improve your pictures. It is really open to everyone, whether you have a digital SLR like me (I love my Nikon!!!) or just a regular old point and shoot camera.
The other session that I am interested in is about authentic blogging. TMI or just being real?  Where is the line.  I personally try not to share too much, I know I have some people out there that aren’t following my blog for reasons of interest rather than stalker-ish motives. But at this point, I am leaning more towards the geek lab.  What do you think?

Day two’s morning session doesn’t strike me much, but in the afternoon, I am interested in the Pitch Me session in late afternoon. Once I hit that up, it is back to my room to get ready to parrrrtay!

Thursday night you can look for me at The People’s Party, and then Saturday night you can catch me at SparkleCorn!  I am not sure if I am going to be able to get into any of the other parties that I am on the waiting list for, but we certainly will see.

Overall, I am really excited, and anxious to get to NYC for BlogHer. I can’t wait!  Only about 5 more weeks.