'Reach Out' to BlogHer Boston

As I crept into bed and used my LightWedge to set the alarm for 6am, I thought 'Do I really need to set an alarm? Surely H will be up before then...' but set the alarm I did, because for the first time in over a year, I had to be up and ready to go before 7am. I've never been a morning person, but I was so excited I woke up almost every hour just to make sure I didn't oversleep. At 5:30 I nursed C, then went into the bathroom to shower and get ready. I was done with my daily ablutions before the designated time, so I quietly closed the front door and did a celebratory dance down the hall.

It felt so good to not just be leaving the house for the day, but to be doing so for 'professional' reasons. What was the reason, you may ask?

Yesterday I attended the BlogHer Boston Conference as part of their national 'Reach Out' tour. It was my first BlogHer event and I have to say, I feel like I finally found "my people". While there were several times throughout the day that I looked around at the sea of laptops then back down to my own conspicuously empty lap that I felt like I'd arrived naked, it only made me realize how much I like being a part of this community as my fingers were virtually itching to type.

I got a ton of great information, some cool swag, and my first full-day sans C. J was home with the boys so I was completely relaxed in being away from them, and even felt a little gleeful while pumping in the bathroom.

I could not have a day without embarrassment, of course, so it was appropriate that after a day free from any major pitfalls, I would be talking about a time that I got 'stomach pains' on a drive from Eastern Oregon to Portland with only myself and a sleeping, one-year old H. It was apropos that I was at the rest area of 'Dead Man's Pass', and had no choice other than to stop and go to the bathroom with my child on my lap...yes, it was as awesome as it sounds.

Just as the phrase '...and I was thinking, If I get murdered while having diarrhea with my kid on my lap...' escaped my lips and received raucous laughter, my friend Alex and I (along with a new friend) turned to see that we were being taped by one of the videographers for the conference.

Luckily, I have one of the loudest voices known to man so will most assuredly be captured at my first professional conference in some time having one of the most unprofessional conversations. If you ask any of my co-workers, that's probably not so abnormal after all.