This past weekend I went to Miami for my first mommy-blogging* conference since I’ve become a mommy-blogger*.

[*Insert crazy amount of arguing and/or debate about whether or not that is a good and/or real term or even a good and/or real thing at all.]

I’ve never been to Miami but decided I should base all of my assumptions about the town on two of my favorite fucked up TV shows: Dexter and Nip/Tuck. While I didn’t see any evidence to support the serial killer stereotype, I did see some nice ladies with some even nicer work. We were staying at the Ritz-Carlton after all.

Before I even left for the conference, my dream came true in that my big-time blog crush, the woman I want to be when I grow up and one of my favorite women in the world, agreed to be my roommate. Yep, I slept in the same room as BOSSY. This is what Bossy looks like (circa 2008)…

(And I may have tried to make some money at the White party by taking advantage of this fact. No judgement. Things were expensive at the Ritz-Carlton.)

Of course, both Bossy and I forgot to take our cameras with us to any of the Mom 2.0 events. We also both never took our laptops out…in case you’re wondering how we roll at blogging conferences.

To better help you visualize what our weekend was like, I thought I would enlist the help of two women that look amazingly like us…

I know. It’s uncanny.

Here we are at the White party, after an afternoon of $15 guacamole by the pool…

One morning, Bossy and I ran together. It was wet, hot and not nearly as appealing as those two descriptors make it sound. With a few exceptions, it looked just like this…

The closing party  of the conference was held at the Versace mansion in South Beach. That dude knew how to party. With a communal shower featuring seven showerheads and an adjoining opium-smoking room, I’m certain that Versace had no problem getting laid. You’re not going to believe what Bossy and I wore to that schmancy party…

Okay, enough wowing you with how hot we were all weekend. What were some other highlights of Mom 2.0?

(Be warned. Lots of humble-bragging and linking to follow.)

• Having Susan tell me she loved my dress. She’s a fashion blogger – they can’t lie!

• Having Doug tell me that I smile with my whole face. In his best made-for-radio voice.

• Having Gabrielle confirm what I suspected about reality television: it’s not real! Like at all.

• Hearing a TED speaker who made me proud of my college alma mater. No more shame spiral about the good ol’ U of H.

• Teaching a NYT best-selling author about Flo Rida. Because I’m sophisticated & well-read like that.

• Crushing the hands of many blog heroes.

• Experiencing the most comical and choreographed shot of tequila EVER. (No links included to protect the guilty. You know who you are and Guadalajara will never be the same.)

• Realizing that Bossy is better in real life. Duh. And cursing her for my sore abs.

• Having a crazy blog flashback to the first time I was at a blog conference hanging out with Meagan Francis…five years ago.

Was the conference worth it? Most definitely. I laughed, I lounged, I learned and I came home recharged. With nary a sunburn to show for it.

Thanks to everyone at Mom 2.0. For a bunch of mommybloggers (and CEOs and cancer survivors and pioneers), y’all rock.

{Also, if anyone can get that Will Smith song out of my head, I owe you one.}

It will be a year next month that Eli has been sleeping on his floor bed and I would not change a thing. He’s an excellent sleeper. While the bed may not be responsible for his sleeping  a solid ten hours per night, we really haven’t had any problems with it yet. (Rolling out of the bed wasn’t a problem…for long.)

Eli knows exactly what his bed is for. Of course, when he doesn’t want to sleep, he’s able to crawl out and start playing with his toys – which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing.

Since I never had a good online resource to help with our floor bed hunt, I’m excited to share with y’all a site that I wish had been around when we were researching these things. It’s called Bedstart and it’s an excellent way to see what other parents have done to make safe rooms that allow for babies to sleep on the floor. I love checking out the different set-ups and envying the amazing designs.

Bedstart is currently running a launch contest so if you have a baby-friendly room with a floor bed, be sure to submit it to the site for a chance to win finger puppet board books. If nothing else, submit your room and know that you’re helping other parents!

{If you’re just looking for inspiration, answers to your questions or cute pictures of babies, you can find those in the pictures of the rooms, the Q & A page and the forums.}

{{And yes, that is Eli’s room up there in the screenshot.}}

Okay, I get it. In the majority of American families, this might be the case. It’s a normal stereotype and I should just lighten up…it’s only a onesie, after all. (Although that’s never stopped me from making fun of other onesies.)

However, in my home, my son should want to be tough like Mom.

Because we all know who does the real heavy lifting around here.

Ahem.

[photo credit: Nicole Christensen]

The nice weather and the proximity of bike paths make biking one of our favorite outings. I can ride my bike to the grocery, the library, a small trailhead and downtown Boulder. With the bike trailer comes great freedom and many adventures. Eli loves sitting in the back and I’m able to get a bit of exercise in…disguised as running errands.

After a few rides on the bike, however, I realized that my set-up was lacking. I decided to pimp my ride (as the kiddos say) in order to make biking with the babe a little easier. Fortunately there are some solid bike accessories on the market designed to help me accomplish just this. Read on for what I consider to be the bike accessories most necessary for smooth riding. Or at least, the smoothest riding you can do with a huge bike trailer attached to your back end.

• Kickstand. This one is clutch. See, with the trailer, it becomes a lot harder to find something to balance your bike up against if you need to do something like adjust your kid in the trailer or give him a bottle. I spent $10 and 10 minutes at my neighborhood bike shop and had myself a sweet solution. With every kick of the kickstand, I’m convinced this is the best money I’ve ever spent on my bike.

• Bell. I no longer care if I’m that annoying biker with a bell. I now care to let people know that they’re in my way or that they’re taking up too much space on the bike path…in a more polite manner than I used to. Gone are the days of growling at gapers. I’m happy to now just ring my bell and let it do the speaking for me. (Also, I saved money on the bell by taking this one off my kid’s bike…because he’s not using it yet. Shhhh….)

• Safety flag. I’ll take anything that makes me & the bike trailer more visible to cars. Plus, it apparently tastes good.

• An extra lock. It only took me a few glances at the homeless hanging out in Boulder to know that when you don’t lock up your bike trailer, there is someone only too happy to take it off your hands for you. Turns out the bike trailers make good places to store your things…if you don’t have a house. I feel bad about those suffering without a place to live but after having a few bikes stolen in my day, I know to lock my stuff up. Even if it’s a bike trailer.

• Rear view mirror. Very quickly into my very first ride of the season I realized that I needed to be able to check out how Eli was doing behind me without turning my body. (I’m not so good at just turning my neck apparently.) As you may know, when you turn your body on a bike, well…your bike follows. At least for me it does. Not an ideal situation for riding on a bike path that is shared by others. I figured I would get one of those geeky mirrors that I always see old people using on their cruisers. Instead, I found a slick solution made by CycleAware. I now can peek back to see how things are going behind me without causing any accidents.

Obviously, I’m only focusing on bike-specific gear here. Some accessories (like helmets, lights and a bike pump) are a given, while others (like cute shoes and pedal pushers) are the makings of an entirely different post.

If you’re a biking mom, let me know what I forgot on this list. And happy riding!

Oh how I love soaking in hot springs. It’s probably a side effect of reading too much Tom Robbins in my formative years (Jitterbug Perfume, anyone?) but I feel so refreshed and relaxed after a little soak. Don’t EVEN get me started on how well I sleep after a dip. It’s delicious.

[When I was pregnant, we celebrated New Year's at a hot springs and I remember telling Adam that I was in my "happy place". I also remember telling him to remind me of that fact when I was in labor.]

You can imagine my excitement when some friends invited us to share a cabin with them at Antero Hot Springs, located up the road from the Collegiate peaks in the San Isabel National Forest. Each cabin has it’s own private hot springs pool just steps from the door.

Yes please.

We brought Eli with us to the cabin, hoping we could sell him on the ways of the soak. I mean, if you’re going to be a part of our family, you’d better know how to chillax.

After some initial anxiety, we’re proud to report that Eli mastered the art of the hot springs. He enjoyed floating around and got into a super-deep state of mellow that I’ve never seen him achieve before.

Totally awesome.

Even the annoying people at the next cabin with their shitty music and neon playboy sign couldn’t ruin our good time. The weekend was amazing and if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend checking Antero out.

And before my mom anyone freaks out, the hot springs weren’t that hot and there was a cold valve that cooled the water down. Totally fine for babies.

Build the block tower only to tear it down. Rip the junk mail into tiny shreds. Put the clothes in the laundry basket only to take them all out. And let’s not get started on the books in the bookcase. To put it mildly, there is quite a bit of ransacking and utter mayhem that goes on in our house.

(Maybe that’s not boys, but just babies?)

Pat Benatar may believe that love is a battlefield. I contend that for my son, naptime is the real battlefield. It’s not just that he fights off sleep…he literally fights before falling asleep.

To clarify, I offer the following photographic evidence of his room before and after a nap…

Luckily, he survived.

Let’s hope these forces can be used for good one day.

Three years ago, we ran off to the mountains and eloped.

Two years ago, we left for our honeymoon in Belize.

Today, in proper SMITH magazine fashion, I dedicate one word to each of those years and share the six-word version of our love story.

He thought my name was Kara.

We’ve been laughing ever since. Happy anniversary po-po. I sure do love you.

A few weeks ago, I visited a local elementary school to talk with 5th-grade girls about technology. It was awesome. The presentation was part of a STEMgirls program that encourages young women to think about careers in science, math, engineering and technology. Since I’m pretty much the spokesperson for coming to technology later in life, I thought I’d be able to talk to the girls about things I wish I had heard when I was younger.

We talked about how technology is not just for nerds anymore, how most jobs of the future (although they may not be called such) will have something to do with technology and about how blogging can help in whatever career you choose.

One girl in the class lives on a goat farm with her family. When I asked her what she thought she could blog about, she immediately started telling me about the newly-born baby goats. Blog gold, I told her. Then she began to kick up it a notch, talking about how she could also use her blog to sell the goat milk soap she makes. That’s when I realized that I had a little miniature Pioneer Woman in my midst. It took everything I had not to pull her aside and explain the importance of picking a good domain name.

It was fun being back in an elementary school. The sounds, the smells, the little chairs. Although I taught middle school, I truly believe that fourth and fifth graders are the best. It was also nice to see that I still had some of my classroom management skills. Okay, so there were only five of them…but they’re tougher than they look.

One of the highlights of the session was when a particularly talkative girl asked if I wanted to hear her favorite quote. Her response?

Chocolate, men, coffee — some things are better rich.

With that kind of wisdom at such an early age, I’m pretty sure that we’re in good hands with these ladies at the helm.

This video is a *little* late but I’m totally blaming the move across town we just completed. And yes, I do feel like I can use that as an excuse for at least another week or two.

You’ll notice a majority of the pictures in this video are from Mexico. If you’re hating the winter like I am right now, then you’re in for a treat.

Also, for those who don’t like videos about adorable babies (WHA?), then just watch and try to find my two gifts to you: look for Eli’s popped collar (very prevalent fashion trend among the younger resort crowd it turns out) and the ass shots on the beach of the older Euro couple.

You’re welcome.

Perfect Ten from Tara Anderson Calihman on Vimeo.

{music credit: Snorkel, Leo Kottke}

And happy Ballantine’s day! My husband is buying us two live lobsters for dinner tonight…what are you doing?

What the past six days have looked like…

Mexico was pretty amazing. More pictures (and video!) coming soon.

I’m still unpacking. While packing.

(Unrelated but also puzzling…how is it already February?)