Well, I’m here! I met a lot of cool women last night that I didn’t ask for one business card from. What is it about this place that makes me forget things like that? My feeble brain can’t remember all of this information - I’m only human! And lazy!

I’m hitting up the free wifi in the lobby and waiting to get some coffee. I feel like I’ve already learned loads as the Speaker Training session yesterday really taught me just as much about participating and attending a session as it did leading one. It’s very intimidating being surrounded by so many brilliant woman. I was trying to hold mature and intellectual conversations while waiting for the call/text from LilZ telling me who got booted off Big Brother. Like standing there drinking Miller Lite straight out of the bottle wasn’t classy enough…

I may try to liveblog a session or 2 today - unofficially, of course. There are “official” livebloggers but I don’t need that pressure - so I’m going to do it just for the hell of it to help me remember what all I’m learning. Also - I’m a big dork.

I hope to see/meet you today! I’m the girl wandering around aimlessly looking for a place to get diet coke. (Am I the only one who remembers how impossible that was last year?)

I’m sitting at the airport right now, transferring my Harry Potter CDs to my iPod. I’m waiting for my flight to Chicago where I’ll be attending and “speaking” at BlogHer. I’ll be rooming with Marilyn and wishing Brit was there to bring me a late-night diet coke like she did last year.

Amalah said it best over at clubmom - that everyone comes into these type of gatherings with the same anxiety but you might walk away with new best friends. Blogging has given me loads of intangible gifts - and this is one of the moments I actually get to touch those that have touched me.

Wait. That sounded really dirty. It’s a good thing Marilyn is in the air right now or she’d be really scared.

But you know what I mean. I love hugging a blogger because it’s like that one moment carries many more virtual hugs from the time you became friends online. It’s a great feeling. Especially when accompanied with alcohol, which I hope to enjoy since I’ll be childfree for three days.

I can’t wait to learn from the brilliant women speaking and be inspired by their wisdom.

I’ll update as often as I can - but these things keep me busy so I’ll probably depend on Twitter to do my talking for me.

See you in Chicago.

• Treasured: “Rosa” & “Pomar”
  I do the SAME THING. I also uy my kids toys I want them to cherish but they end up loving the plastic generic stuff. Of course, these dolls I would actually like to purchase for myself.
  (tags: dolls gifts toys)

Text Message Conversation this morning…

My Brother: Please tell me you’ve seen Little Miss Sunshine!
Me: I have. Very funny. Loved it.
My Brother (the dork): I know! She dances like you!

He shouldn’t push me. He’s now engaged to a very lovely girl I could totally tell all about his love of the “Regis and Kathy Lee” show when we were kids.

LilZ starts back to school in less than two weeks. Can you believe that crap? That summer is already over? How did that happen and where was my vacation? When did I relax and enjoy the break? When did he relax and enjoy the break? How is it that I now have a 7th-grader? Am I going to survive this year?

7th grade was my worst year in school. I had a teacher who I felt like hated me, I had a principal/science teacher who assigned us research papers that required trips to the University Library. Example: “Comparative Anatomy of Invertebrates: The Nervous System.” Yes, I had to write that paper in the 7th grade, if you can believe it. Talking about being baptized by fire into the world of research. I still have nightmares over that paper. Not to mention the one about Wild Boars or the Scopes Monkey Trials. It was like I was in hell and Satan really enjoyed complex bibliographies.

I also had a tough time with my physical self. My hair was getting curlier and curlier and I had no clue what to do with it. So I pulled it back all the time. My acne was developing (Kids in my after-school-care program actually called me Pizza Face. So Original.), I was wearing braces with the headgear, and I had those awesome black glasses that Judith Light wore in “Who’s The Boss.” I didn’t know anything about fashion, partly because I wore a uniform everyday and didn’t have to think about it. But I was getting old enough to WANT to understand fashion, so my lack of any style was depressing.

So - this is the year I’ve been fearing for LilZ. Luckily, he’s totally good-looking and confident so he shouldn’t have anywhere near the meltdown I did. He gets 7 teachers instead of just one so if one hates him it won’t matter. He is funny and smart and has loads of friends. He is even doing this awesome elective that was offered to him after he auditioned for it, and it will put him in the spotlight a little this year. He will probably look back on this year as his favorite - which just shows how different he and I were at the same age. And this gives me hope for his future.

If there is anything I am thankful for the most - is that even though LilZ and I are a lot alike in temperament and personality - he is very different from the 12-year-old version of me. He is simply cool and that is the exact opposite of what I was in 7th grade. Hopefully he is very grateful for this difference, it will hopefully allow him to complete Junior High will far less offensive nicknames than I did.