Suck It Up, Buttercup

You know that phenomenon where you put off calling a friend or writing an email because it’s going to require carving out a chunk of time that you won’t have until you’re, I don’t know, 90 (which is probably still wrong because my 90-year-old aunt is still pretty frickin’ busy)? Or like how you’d really like to clean the inside of your car, but it’s such a disaster that you know it won’t be some quicky wipedown. There will no doubt be floor mats getting hosed off in the driveway while you search for stray french fries between the seats with chopsticks.

So you put it off. And put it off. And the conversation with the friend keeps looking longer and the email keeps needing more description and the car keeps getting dirtier.

Well, this is where I’ve been with my blog. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve failed to write anything on this place since June. June, people. In blogging terms, I might as well be dead.

Every time I wanted to tell you guys something, I’d think, “Well, damn, I’d write that, but I should really tell them A, B, and C to get there…”

So this, my friends, is the “Suck It Up, Buttercup” edition. I’m just going to catch you all up on everything (whether you like it or not) so I can move on with my damn life. Because if I have to blow off one more post idea, I’ll go completely bonkers.

Summer Trips

Before you think I’m a complete asshole for telling you about all the amazing places we went over summer vacation, let me preface my list with this: I suffer from a serious case of “I don’t do enough with the children over summer vacation”-itis. Some of this comes from being a person with a chronic illness. When you’re tired all the time, you feel like you’re never doing enough. And I know — if you spend any time looking at Facebook, it’ll soon become clear that no one feels like they’re doing enough. Because face it — everyone is better than you…

Also keep in mind that I’m surrounded by a brother who takes his kids to places like Paris for spring break, a father who just got back from Norway and will be leaving to cruise around Africa soon, and some good friends who are traveling around the world with their elementary-school-aged children. So you can see why I might have some “issues” when the biggest thing we do is drive 6 hours to Oregon.

Anyway, we actually took some amazing trips — some planned, some last minute — and they all worked out surprisingly (knock on wood) well. I hope to write about them in greater depth so other people can benefit from our serendipitous finds.

Epic Birthday Partay

Hard to believe, I know, but we threw another crazy, over-the-top birthday party, this time for Elfie’s 10th. I’ll definitely be writing up the details of this one — it was fairytale-themed and involved so much work that I started questioning my sanity. Again.

Curtain Call

The kids did a whirlwind week of practice for Rapunzel with the Missoula Children’s Theater during Artown (Reno’s month-long art-fest). MCT sends groups of two instructors to cities all over the world. They recruit around 60 local kids, rehearse with them all week, and then put on a musical. It’s an amazing program.

This is seriously one of the best and worst parts of summer for me. Best because the Elfie loves it (Newt did it for the first time this year, too), and she was so excited to finally get a part with a script. And worst because the stress surrounding whether or not they’ll actually get into the play is just ridiculous. If you can imagine, we plan some of our summer around this week, so for them to get axed? Yeah…

BlogHer ’14

This is sort of the section I’ve been dreading. First, let me just apologize in advance for a) doing such a lousy job of following up with so many of you lovely people, and b) almost definitely failing to remember someone in the following paragraphs. I’ll buy you a drink some day. Or mention you in my will.

So anyway, I finally went to BlogHer after all these years. Was is all sunshine and roses? Not so much. Did I still have a good time? Yes. I came home, however, with what can only be described as a sense of confusion, disillusionment, and ennui (fortunately I really know what “ennui” is now). I’m still sort of getting over it. I think having to work on the Blogging Betties Podcast has helped keep me focused. But here, on my personal blog? I’m coming to the conclusion that it needs a serious makeover and/or my writing career needs to take a major turn. It’s all causing me to analyze the whole mess too often and too hard.

But back to BlogHer. Highlights? I got to have a slumber party with my Blogging Betties partner, Poppy Marler, on the first night in her hotel room. She was super psyched to have me keep her up, talking her ear off until 2 a.m.

She also introduced me to entire posse, who let me hang out with them so I wouldn’t have to wander the mean streets of San Jose all by myself.

I also got to meet my idol and mentor, JC Little of The Animated Woman, who toonswagged me (and honestly, it was worth going for that alone).

I talked for too short a time (because it’s never a long enough time) with Neil Kramer of Citizen of the Month.  I totally stole this photo off his site because (even though you can’t tell) I’m sitting on a bed with JC Little, Elaine Alguire, and Poppy, and we were talking to Neil. I want it for all eternity because it’s one of my favorite memories.

I finally got to meet my dear friend, Alexandra Rosas of Good Day Regular People. We shared nervous energy backstage before she did her 10×10 speech and I did my VOTY. Which, if you haven’t heard, was a bit of a disaster (all of my slides were totally out of order!!!). And update — the video of the speech turned out to be a disaster as well. They released it without cutting in any of my drawings. So basically just imagine me talking jibberish and attempting to scroll through mixed up pictures that apparently don’t even exist. So yeah, it just keeps getting better.

I also had some sort of “moment” with Jill Smo of Yeah, Good Times at the McDonald’s party. Yes, there’s actually a McDonald’s party where they serve food from…McDonald’s (Poppy: “What the hell did you expect?” Me: “Real food?”). Anyway, Jill and I saw each other across a (un)crowded, er, area in front of the food truck. She gave me the kind of hug that makes you feel like you’re the most important person on the planet AND you were just found after being lost at sea AND you rescued her child and picked up her favorite ice cream on the drive over.

Anyway, I very quickly got sucked in with her peeps. Let’s just say that we shared a common opinion about the messaging coming from the very attractive women’s band, whose song kept hammering away at us that we were “enough.”

So quick shout out to Adrienne Jones of No Points for Style, Lexi Magnusson of Lexistential, Jennifer Bush of Anybody Want a Peanut, and Kristin McCarthy Macchi of Running to be Still. Thanks for letting me hang with you in McDonald’s Land, ladies.

Other cool people? Aliza Worthington of The Worthington Post (a serious soul sister). We sat on the floor during one of the lunch breaks — on purpose, much to the dismay of the staff — and were joined by Alpha Mom, Isabel Kallman, who you’d expect to be one of those people you’d kind of hate, but I dug her after 10 seconds (you can tell a lot about a person who’ll sit on the floor in a dress).

Other highlights:

• Got to chat with Sarah James of Whoorl — sadly, because we’re both chronically ill (which yes, kinda sucks, but hey…).
• Met Christine Harkin of Naptime Writing and Candy Mickels Mejia of Slightly Overcaffeinated who both just seemed to always be where I was (thank the gods, since they were both so chill).
• Hung out with Deva Dalporto of My Life Suckers. She’s a Blogging Betties Podcast veteran, and it was really funny to meet her in person. She’s so over-the-top in her videos and so reserved in person!
• FINALLY got to hook up with (not in that way) Roxanne Piskel of Unintentionally Brilliant. She’s from Reno, and we’ve been trying to go to lunch for months. But we met at BlogHer. Sad.
• Hung out with Norine Dworkin-McDaniel and Jessica Ziegler of Science of Parenthood. And they ended up on the Blogging Betties Podcast!
• Gabbed with Lance Burson of Lefty Pop. He came on Blogging Betties and now I’ve written for Lefty Pop! Twice!
• Ran into fellow Renoite Krystal Tingle of The Love Jump on the first day so I had company on the ride home (and someone else to bore with all this stuff besides my family).

And I had amazing moments with some of my fellow VOTY women, like Kristin Shaw of Two Cannoli, Ashley Garrett of Baddest Mother Ever, August McLaughlin of Girl Boner, Parri Sontag of Her Royal Thighness, Janelle Hanchett of Renegade Mothering, Jenna Hatfield of Stop, Drop, and Blog, and Meredith Bland of Pile of Babies (incidentally ALL of the VOTY’s are worth watching). I feel extremely grateful to have been included in their company.

I did end up having an evil fibromyalgia crash on Saturday and seriously thinking I was done for, but I rallied after a nap. Good thing or I would’ve missed McDonald’s hors d’oeuvres wrapped in paper and this covert communist messaging.

By the way, just to set everyone’s mind at ease who doesn’t ever get to go to BlogHer and feels all bad about it: yes, it has its positives. Yes, I’m glad I met all of these awesome folks in person. They were the bomb. Getting to talk to Poppy across a table instead of on Skype was cool. But have I placed her on a higher shelf than Vanita because of it? No. Have the people I met in San Jose jostled all of my other friends out of their positions? Absolutely not. In fact, I actually messaged Kelly DeBie of DeBie Hive (who I’ve still never met) while in my hotel room to bitch about something during the conference, if that tells you anything…

Pain in the Ass — But that’s Okay

My husband, Tenzin, has finally opened his pain management practice. The remodel of the office (specifically a section which we now refer to as “the golden bathroom”) took about four times longer than expected. They’re still walking over boxes and we haven’t hung pictures, but no one seems to care. The patients are coming in (which sort of gives you an indication of how much he’s needed…).

And I did their website (with help from Vanita, of course)! It’s simple but gets the job done.

Phew!

So there you have it! If you read this far, you’re all caught up (and sort of a glutton for punishment). As you can see, I wasn’t totally slacking these last few months. I’ve still been writing for the Blogging Betties and Lefty Pop. But I’ll try to keep up here, I swear. It makes me crazy when I don’t.

Hope you’re all well. Come catch up with me on Facebook or Twitter (hard to believe but I’m actually getting better at Twitter…). Take care everybody!