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Finally December
November has been the longest month ever. I probably feel this way because I’ve lived beyond my means (like an idiot) and I’ve been waiting for my quarterly paycheck to come so I can pay those nasty credit card bills back down. A watched pot never boils and all that. It’s been painfully long. Every day checking my bank account, every day sad. I know, at least I have a paycheck to look forward to when so many people don’t. I have a lot to be thankful for. But I was talking to Bug and she said November has been dreadfully long for her too. A few other friends have mentioned that they seem to be going through old crap that they thought they were over so maybe it’s not just me. And that got me thinking…
When you find yourself going through something that you thought you were over (for me it’s money problems. I never seemed to learn those rich dad poor dad lessons…) instead of feeling extra crappy about being such a failure AGAIN, we should feel a little bit relieved because we have a safety net! We’ve been here before and we survived. Last time I was here I didn’t think I was going to survive. I thought my debt was going to snowball until I was homeless.
But I’ve done this before and I did survive. I survived and thrived in fact. Here we are in familiar territory and we have the benefit of knowing we made it through in the past. Maybe this is just a circular argument or I’m not explaining it very well. But it should give me some comfort knowing that I’ve done this before. It’s just the waiting that’s so hard. Even with all the wisdom in the world it still is so hard to be patient and wait for hard times to pass.
In the meantime, some beautiful fall weather has been passing and I’m worried I haven’t truly enjoyed it because I’ve been so stressed. We did have a really nice Thanksgiving (I cooked a turkey AGAIN and didn’t fail!) and we got our holiday photos taken by Yvonne. Do you know Yvonne Valtierra aka the OG blogger, Joy Unexpected? She’s a magical photographer.
I met Yvonne ages ago. I think it was 2008 when we were both mommy bloggers doing the cheeseburger party or something (links seem to be lost to time but there are some here if you really want to dig deep.) She visited us once at the beach and took a photo of Bug’s foot in her polka-dotted slip-on generic Payless Vans and my foot next to it in my flip flop with a paint smudge on the side. It was such a simple photo but in that very small snapshot of life you could see so much about us. I have it framed and it sits on my bedside table to this day bringing me memories of when Bug was two and how she used to hang beside me like my shadow. Now I’m the one hanging beside her like a shadow but that bond is the same. We have always been so close and Yvonne captures that. That’s what I really love about Yvonne is her ability to see all the subtleties.
I’ve hired lots of my friends as photographers over the years and I love them all. Each of them captures something sweet and different from the other. I think as a photographer I just have such a love of other people who can see the world through a camera lens and tell stories with how they frame a shot. Little looks, glances, the way the light sits… I’m just a sucker for a good photographer. If you are looking for a photographer in Southern California I can recommend many but I especially want to recommend Yvonne.
This one looks like a perfume ad. Who knew age spots could be sexy?!!
I’m only sharing a few shots here and I have dozens more but I don’t want to oversaturate this blog. I’m sure they will show up somewhere someday because they are my favorite. Thank you Yvonne, if you are reading this! You did such an amazing job! I hope you keep on doing exactly what you are doing. You’ve hit the sweet spot.
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BlogHer San Diego
* I’m sitting here on my comfy hotel bed, dressed but all wrapped up in a mess of white sheets, thinking I really have no excuse for not typing out a Blogher post. I’ve got time to spare as I wait for my roommate to finish up her tap-tap-tapping Skyping or whatever it is she is doing so busily (working, I’m sure) and hours to go until we have to check out and attend some kind of family Ford picnic event across the street.
San Diego really is a nice spot to be. The weather has been beautiful, of course. It wouldn’t dare not to be. We’ve stayed inside most of the time but when we do go out it’s always just right.
I’ve been here lots of times before but I’ve never had the luxury of being right smack in the middle of downtown and not having to to worry about where to park and how much it is going to cost. My car is safely tucked away in the hotel garage, costing a solid twenty-six bucks a day (cha-ching), and there’s nothing I can do about it so I’m just writing it off as a business expense and enjoying my freedom in a big city.
Last night we escaped the conference schedule and had a delicious business-related dinner with some friends (and possibly future clients) at an Indian restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter. We were running late so we paid a pedi-cab to get us there and that was an adventure in itself.
I’ve been missing Bug like crazy but it has really been fun to be caught up in the buzz and fray of a zillion networking women. Though between you and me, my ears will be happy when it’s over. I think I have a semi-permanent ringing from all the constant talking going on in large echoing cement buildings with no windows.
Anyway, I’ve been having quite a nice time meeting new people and gabbing with old friends. I didn’t get a ton out of the sessions but that probably is my own fault. I think I’ve just been blogging too long and perhaps I’ve outgrown this convention. I’m more here to meet people and offer them my services as a designer than I am to learn about blogging.
How about some pictures?! I took a few. Not many but a few.
Me and OMSH.
Here are the kids the first day. Getting a chance to swim in the very nice pool made up for the fact that they didn’t get to stay overnight like we had originally planned.
A morning yoga session out our window that I did not attend and a 5K that I did attend. Woo! It was kind of fun to run around the foggy marina for a while.
There was a really nice reception on the hotel terrace where we got to eat fancy food and watch the sun go down.
There was a lot of fancy food.
And even a flash mob dance in the lunch hall. I’ve had that song in my head all weekend.
New friends! The girl on the right is Tori from Shiksa in the Kitchen. She is so sweet and her site is blowing up. She’s going to be famous someday if she isn’t already. You have to check her out.
And of course crazy OMSH. I always have fun when I’m with her.
Food, swag, massages, more food, talking, networking, pitching my design services to new people, dancing, more food, more swag. It’s all been very exciting and fun.
* this was written on Sunday I just didn’t get a chance to post it until today.
