At last, my BH10 post. Only took a week after the conference, but like fine wine, my brain needed time to ferment. Or maybe my brain needed wine. Whatev. Anyway, here it is.

The conference itself was amazing – and even though I was there to talk about grief, I packed a lot of living into the 7 days that I was there. Cecily recapped it best, and she has an awesome pic of the panel I was on with Peter, Annisa and Loralee. And I must add that I love how my hair got WINGS that day. Freaking humidity.

What can I say about BlogHer that hasn’t already been said ? I got to meet some of my favorite people in the world who have until now only lived in my computer, I got to hang out and reconnect with so many people I have met before and strengthened our bonds, and I think I can safely say that I’ve made some new lifelong friends. I also finally got to meet and hug the most beautiful little girl since me, and her Mom and Grandmother, who are equally and even more so made.of.awesome !

Yes, there was swag. Yes, there were sponsors and suites and stuff. But most importantly, there were people. People to hug and squeeze and sit on the curb with while eating street meat, to dance with, to put paper bags on our heads and dance ourselves silly with. They didn’t care how you dressed, who you wrote for or how big of a deal you thought you were on the internet, they were with you for you. And to me, that is what BlogHer is all about.

And this …..

There are not enough of them to describe my week in NYC.

Exhilarating.

Exhausting.

There’s two.

Those will have to do for now. More to come.

Right now I’m awash in laundry, puppy slobber and the restocking, re-mowing and re-me-ing that goes into being away from home for over a week.

Along with over 1000 photos.

Including many just as dorkalicious as this one ….

Be back soon, with more words than you may want to read. : )

I’m going to BlogHer 10 ! Actually I’m not only going, but I’m going to be on a panel with some amazing people talking about grief,tragedy and community on the internet. To say I’m intimidated by the fact that I’m surrounded by these folks is an understatement. They are great writers, amazing people and I will be lucky to even be noticed sitting amongst their awesomeness. I still haven’t figured out how it happened.

Me ? I’m just a blogging schlub. I never started this thing with the idea of even going to a conference, readers, sponsorships or anything else even remotely tied to what the world of blogging is apparently about. I started it because a friend at work had one and I thought it would be cool to digitally chronicle everything that was going on in my life. Gregory and I were sitting at the same kitchen counter that he later hit his head on when I started this thing. He even gave me the idea for the name. When he was traveling, he’d call and say “I’m live from the 205!!” whenever he would cross the Alabama state line or land at the airport, and I would laugh and say “YAY! You’re home!” and I knew he was on his way home to me.

When Gregory died this blog turned into my therapy – my online grief journal, my place to pound out the anger and sadness I felt as tears dripped on the keyboard and words flew through my mind. Even now I can’t go back and read what I wrote in the beginning, because I still don’t want to believe he’s gone. Nor do I want to believe my daddy is too. But they’re gone, and I’m still here. I sit down and I write about what I feel, about my dogs, about whatever.  One of the many things I have gotten from this blog besides a place to put my feelings is the amazing group of people I have come to know because of it . I’m still here in no small part to those people I have met as a result of this blog and through Twitter. They have been my friends, confidantes and many of them understand exactly what I’m going through. I can’t wait to meet so many of them at my first BlogHer conference. And I can’t wait to see many of the ones I’ve already met and thank them again for just being my friend.

On that note, like everyone else, I’m trying to decide what to wear, what to do, what events I have to go to, etc, etc.

I’m also reading lots of blogs and seeing great posts about what to expect as a new attendee, so I thought what the hell, I’ll do one !

I’m going to pack my sense of adventure and my sense of humor, and at BlogHer, I will ……

• Have fun !
• Reinforce my love for NYC and my beloved Yankees by attending two games .
• Roomie with some kick ass people . It’s gonna be like summer camp – except with booze. And Ambien.
• Meet more new amazing people than you can shake a stick at.
• Hug and squeee over many people that I know online but have been waiting to meet in person.
• Kiss and hug a beautiful little girl .
• Try not to worry about what I’m wearing.
• Try not to worry if someone likes me or not, I hope you do, but if you don’t, that’s your choice, and your loss!
• Be wary of Princess Jenn’s bearing alcohol and video cameras ; p
• Try not to look like a goober on my panel.
• Buy lots of things from NYC that I don’t need, but that I waaaannnnnttttt.
• Run through Central Park in a tu-tu.
• Have fun ! Over and over again!

At BlogHer, I will not …..

• Be catty or mean to anyone, and I hope they return the favor.
• Worry. Not gonna change anything anyway !
• Ever forget how thankful I am to be surrounded by such amazing people.

So look out New York ! Here I come. With 2500 of my closest friends.