My parent’s dog Stealth is visiting us for the weekend.   He’s a handsome devil, isn’t he?

{and yes, Delilah IS holding two boob shaped bottles.  Don’t ask.}

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{above: Jenna & Jen deface an Ace of Cakes masterpiece while Ryan snaps this pic.}

So a couple of weeks ago now I packed up my baby, my yellow heels, and enough xanax to sedate a small elephant, and I did the previously unthinkable.  I went to BlogHer. {I know, I know…I’m obviously a huge dork, so let’s just go ahead and get that out of the way right now.}   And if you don’t follow blogging and blog-related-things as sport, then let me apologize for what is about to be a post that is sort of indirectly about blogging itself.   And tweeting about blogging.   And blogging about tweeting about blogging.   Oy.   So I’m sorry for that.   But it is also sure to be a post filled with anxiety and self-doubt, so if you’re into that sort of thing, you may want to stick around.

To be brutally honest, in the months leading up to BlogHer, I had really really started to dread it.   I bought my ticket back in February, and then life continued, and then all of a sudden I was supposed to be getting on a plane to New York with my not-quite-ten-month-old and no free peanuts.   And when I got there, I was going to do what exactly?   Talk about blogging?   I write so I don’t have to talk!   It was all so counter intuitive!

And so I had a full-blown panic attack.   A rather prolonged one.    Like, two months long.   I didn’t want to go.   I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out what I was thinking.   I’m not socially inept or anything, I’ve just never exactly been a participator. And I was starting to get the feeling that going to a Conference filled with 2400 women (all undoubtedly better than me at something) was going to require participating in a BIG way, or being left in the dust.   I could ramble on for pages about the insane fates my anxiety convinced me I’d be meeting at BlogHer, but I’m sure you can let your imagination paint that picture for you.   Hell…a quick google search of past events will paint that picture…I’d read account after account of wild grabs for swag, high school hierarchies rearing their ugly heads, bloggers generally behaving badly, and after about 10,000 posts like that, it got to me.   It got under my skin and had me shaking in my flip flops as I forced myself to board that plane to New York.

And walking into the Hilton the following afternoon wasn’t any easier.   What if no one talked to me?  What if no one could understand me when I said the name of my site?  (My Mom says I mumble.)  And WHY oh WHY didn’t I come up with an “elevator pitch” for The818?   And also WHAT THE HELL IS AN ELEVATOR PITCH!?!

The lobby of the hotel was massive and signs for the Conference were covering every visible surface.   All around me, women huddled in groups, badges proudly displaying their twitter handles, exchanging business cards (immediately prompting me to realize I had left mine in Brooklyn.  Morgan Conference Fail #1 of many.)   Women older than me.   Women thinner than me.  Women with fancy sponsors.  Women with fewer split ends than I have.  I feared them all.

But then I met Jenna.   I mean, “met” is such a relative term when you’re dealing with internet people.   I’ve known Jenna for about a year and a half, but we’d never actually met in real life… we’d never even so much as Skype-d.   But still, when she opened the door I knew her face immediately, and months worth of apprehension melted away because I was in the presence of friends.   That’s kind of the spectacular thing about the internet.   Jenna is my friend.   We’d never uttered a word to one another, but we were all caught up.    All caught up on taste in dresses, and mommy woes, and even other, private, non-blogged things that friends share, and there we were standing next to each other in the bathroom mirror, chattering a million miles a minute, lamenting our mutual state of growing-out-bangs-ness like we’d be doing this for years.   But at the same time, there were so many things about Jenna that I could never have known via the internet.   Like she just makes you want to be mischievous, and has freakishly tiny wrists.  Oh, and a hardcore Minnesota accent, which gives her special brand of sarcasm just an added little twist that I adore.

In fact, that was really the thing for me about BlogHer.   I mean, the sessions were great, the speakers inspiring, I went to fabulous events and felt wined and dined, and I learned and I learned and I learned and I learned, but the thing that I really took away from from trip to NY was how wonderful REAL LIFE is.

I mean, these people. THESE PEOPLE who I’ve read and I’ve laughed with, and I’ve struggled with, and I’ve envied ’til my face turned green, they are REAL PEOPLE out there in the world, and they are awesome in ways that you just can’t absorb via the fiberoptics.

Like, Mandy has an infectious laugh, and insanely great hair, and she wears her heart on her sleeve.

Beth Anne is really that easy to talk to, plus she’s tall, like super tall, has gorgeous teeth, and the most amazing southern drawl you’ve ever heard.

Lindsey’s ability to connect people doesn’t end on the internet, she’s like a 5’0″ bolt of social lightning, and it’s an amazing thing to behold.    As is her incredible rack.

Mara just…glows.

Kacia‘s optimism is communicable, and creativity just plain oozes out of her.

Being with Mae makes you feel like you’re in on the secret, no matter what it may be.  Jennifer blew my mind by handling sessions while appearing to effortlessly juggle her one month old (the same can not be said for me with miss D, who had to be bribed with bananas to stay quiet while we copped a squat together on the floor at the back of The Bloggess‘ session) and Jill is so classy you think she might have been ripped from the celluloid of a Katharine Hepburn movie.  Allison will charm your pants off (but then make you put them back on because she is wholesome like that.)  And oh my god, Jen.   There are no words for what a force of nature The Next Martha is in real life.

I also got to participate in a powerful video and photo op with ten women who, like myself, are survivors of postpartum depression.  (I know I haven’t talked about that much on here, but… there it is.)   {If you’re going through something similar, you need to go check it out HERE.}

I could go on and on and on and on and on about the people I met (like Katherine, who smells like shampoo, and just makes you feel like everything is going to be okay) and all the kool-aid I so obviously drank, but from the length of this post it looks like I already have. Oops. Still I can’t say it enough ~ I NEEDED THAT TRIP. For so many reasons…for community, and understanding, and identity, and empowerment, and most importantly REALLY GOOD WRITING (see?  so much Kool-Aid.)  I needed that trip, and I couldn’t be happier that I went in spite of how hot my ears burned whenever anybody in real life asked me what I was planning on doing in New York.

Also, perhaps one of the lovliest side effects of the entire adventure was this:

Dee got to know her Auntie Lindsey.   And I got to spend some quality time with her.   And for that I could not be more grateful.

Also this:

We got to visit late into the night with family who I miss dearly.

…And this:

It wasn’t nearly long enough to spend with Mommas A&K, but Katie got some snuggles, and then Magnus was too Swedish and mustache-less to smile for the camera. {Meanwhile, I was too drunk on mimosas and pancakes to take a decent picture.}

So that’s it.   BlogHer in a nutshell.

{A really long, rambly, sappy nutshell, but a nutshell nonetheless.}

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…And then it was 10 days later.   I know.   But this has been maybe the craziest week of work I’ve had in the history of work weeks.   And…y’know…food on the table.   But in the meantime, Nigel Lithgow (and internet) Delilah George has news for you, because she is pretty darn sure that she can, in fact, DANCE.

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And since Sara is like a one million times better photographer than I am, I am going to post her pictures instead of mine.  And since pictures are worth a thousand words, and I am sharing like 200 pictures, I think it would be excessive for me to keep typing at you. So consider this a guest post by the blogger formerly known as Bogs Darking.  (I’d call her a photo-blogger, but with her gift for the written word, she was so much more than that.)

{Big Bear Lake, California ~ 2010}

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My Mom is…a little bit internet challenged.   Like, she called me once and asked me how to “do” Amazon.com.   No, seriously.   I’m not trying to be funny.   That happened.

To be clear, I’m not mocking my Mom.   I mean, I am, but I also totally admire her in lots of ways.    She’s my creative soul sister, she inspires me to be the best me I can be, and she is an A+ Grandma, but MAN is she dense about technology.    {You can probably tell by the way I’m sugar coating this that my Mom reads my blog.   Which is kind of a big deal considering I’m pretty much shocked that she even knows what a blog is…love you mom…}

So with that in mind, the following is an email exchange between my mother (readers, meet Margie, affectionately known as The Marge, and WOW is she going to be pissed that I called her that on the internet) and I which took place this morning:

{names redacted both for obvious reasons and also because I love saying “redacted”}

On Aug 16, 2010, at 10:55 AM, Mamasoy[redacted]@[redacted].com wrote:

Dear Morgan and Scott,

Please make a note that the 2nd night of Rosh Hashonah will be held at [redacted] and [redacted] [redacted]‘s. It is: Thursday, September 9th.  I will follow up with the time.

xoxo

Mom

Okay, so usually the problem is much worse than this.   This is actually a pretty casual email for her, but you see what I’m talking about, right?    Suuuuuuper formal.   Plus, she already told me this on the phone this morning, and was emailing me because I couldn’t write the date down when she called.    [Because I was too busy to find a pen, okay?]    I try to be a good daughter and help my Mom improve herself at every turn (because that’s what Mothers and Daughters are for, right?) so I decided to try to enlighten her as to the error of her overly-formal emailing ways once and for all.

In a message dated 8/16/2010 11:31:09 A.M. morgan@the818.com writes:

Dear Mom,

Thanks for letting us know.   We will plan to attend, and are waiting with baited breath for the time.

Also: e-mail is a casual means of communication, and therefore you are not required to use such formal salutations when composing.   I realize that you were raised on politeness and letter-writing, but we are living in a digital world, and I know you can be a digital girl.   So give it a try.   When you respond to this, just reply as if we were having a regular conversation.   Like, for example, an appropriate response to this email would be:

Stop being such a smartass.   I raised you better than that.   xoxo   -Mom

See?   Was that so hard?

Love you!

-m-

Helpful, right?    I know.    I am an excellent daughter.    But I don’t think she got it:

On Aug 16, 2010, at 11:33 AM, mamasoy[redacted]@[redacted].com wrote:

Dear Morgan,

Love you too!!

You little snot.

Mom

*   *   *

…and speaking of Momversation[s]…nope, it’s not a coincidence that this post shares a name with one of my favorite web series.   I had a chance to catch up with Momversation Managing Producer Jennifer Brandt at BlogHer, and by “catch up” I mean “sweat-so-profusely-they-had-to-slather-me-with-pancake-to-control-the-epic-shine,” with a healthy side of “flail-around-wildly-while-attempting-to-articulate-myself-not-on-paper.”   I swear I’m not this awkward in person.   There’s a reason I’ve never vlogged.    And yeah…I’m waaaaay too self conscious to post it here {and then there’s Jennifer who is all beautiful and collected and sitting right there for you to compare me to} so if you want to see it, you’ll have to head on over to Momversation to check it out.

And now I will go die in a corner.

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We’ve been away, but now we’re back.  Five days.  NYC.  Me & Dee (and Lindsey, and kind of mostly Lindsey and Dee, but still.)  11 hours in the air.  102 stops on the F train.   It was crazy.   But it was awesome.  #BlogHer10  (Whoops.   I’m just so used to doing that.   Sorry if I polluted your twitter stream.   I meant to warn you, but y’know…life.)   I’ll do my best to confine the post-game to a single post.   But not this post.   zzzzzzzzz.

p.s. ~ kind of amazing how many brand logos are crammed into this seemingly stark photo, huh?   Sneaky sneaky.

p.p.s. ~ did you see that Dee’s Nursery made an appearance on Ohdeedoh while we were gone?

p.p.p.s. ~ Today’s the last day you can enter to win the Hoot Design Co Simply Baby Print.   Okay, now zzzzzzzzzz for real.

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f{Alpha Tower}

{Custom Watercolor Print}

{Columbia, MO Map Print}

{Holiday Card 6-Pack}

Oh!   And also Kristen interviewed me on her blog ~ she does a very cool feature where she follows her prints home with the families she created them for, and ours is up right now! Check it out HERE!

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Over the past few days I’ve gotten a bunch of emails asking about this custom print hanging in Dee’s room from Hoot Design Co.   (I don’t blame you – I love it too.)   So, Kristen, the lovely and talented designer behind Hoot has offered to give away one of her sweet Simply Baby Prints to one lucky reader of The818.    CLICK THROUGH to not only enter to win &  find out how you can get $25 off a custom baby print by the ultra talented Kristen.    Yay Friday!   Yay Free Stuff!   Yay Hoot!   (I had three cups of decaf this morning and I’m having a psychosomatic caffeine high!)

UPDATE!  STACY B., You’re the winner! Email me to claim your prize!

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You’ve come at a great time.   If you direct your eyes to the bottom right hand corner of the frame, you can see one of the natives making an offering to the beast that lives in her closet.    The beast requires {the organic version of} Cheese Nips, and the natives are always happy to oblige.

Let’s start from the beginning though, shall we?

Upon entering the habitat, if you look to your left you’ll find one of my favorite bits…a shadow box/collage of keepsakes from our wedding, made by the ever-creative and talented Auntie Maegan.    Immediately below it is Dee’s chalkboard from Wall Candy Arts which I snagged on Gilt Groupe.

I knew if we had a girl I would hang a Valley Girl poster in her nursery, so when we found out Dee was a she this print was the first bit of inspiration for the Jerome Russell color scheme.

{That’s the Malm dresser that Scott hacked into a changing table by building a changer top, staining it to match the Crib, and adding an accent bit at the bottom there.}  Pay no mind to the the tiny fingerprints on the mirror…the natives like to put their sticky hands all over it, and rub their spitty faces on it in between diaper changes.

{Clockwise from top left: The Wee Gallery Flash Cards which I had originally purchased to hang on her wall come in handy to distract my wiggly little monster during changes.    The “How To Be a Jewish Mother” book was a thift-store find courtesy of Scott’s best buddy Tom, the Momji Poppet Message Doll was a channukah gift from Auntie Marissa, and her JellyCat (which is actually a dog) watches over her diaper stash.   Thanks to Ellen, all of Dee’s hygiene products are uniformly scented – the lovely Mrs. Meyer’s Baby Blossom, which I’ll never switch from because it smells so sweet and will forever remind me of Dee’s babyhood.   That bunny is actually the hare Brush & Comb Set from Skip Hop, which has a mirror on the bottom and is adorable.  And Auntie Maegan gave Dee that beautiful hand made Cate and Levi sock rabbit for Easter…each one is unique and made to order from reclaimed wool, as are their incredible hand puppets.}

Our house was built in the 60′s, and as a result there are a lot of obsolete built-ins.   Like this one for a prehistoric TV, which we had no idea what to do with.    For a while the 3 Sprout Elephant Bin lived in there, until we spotted the Plan Toys Contemporary Doll House on clearance at The Mini Social and our jokes about turning the cubby into a diorama stopped being jokes {and started getting real…complete with an astroturf lawn.}   I’m still debating on painting the inside of the cubby blue with clouds, but I think that might be overkill.   When she gets big enough to play with the house, we’ll bring it down and put the Elephant Toy Bin back up there…it did fit perfectly.

And look!   I finally took a passable photo of the IGE Birds of a Feather mobile!   (And that beautiful clock is actually hand painted on a record by Kailey Hawthorn, which Emma bought for Dee after I gushed over it HERE.   Miss you Em!)

Okay, that’s it!   Thanks for stopping by!   Don’t let the door {with pink monkey door hangers from HERE} hit you on your butt on your way out!

{Looking for Part I of Dee’s Nursery Tour?   Click HERE!}

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So you’re looking at [estonian designer Pavel Sidorenko's] Smart Kid Conversion Kit, and you’re probably thinking “well, that’s pretty.”   And it is.    But it’s so much more than that.

Is your mind blown?   Hold on.

This might be my favorite variation.   I’ve been trying to get Scott to build almost this exact thing (sans chalkboard back, which is pretty brilliant and has just been added to my plea.)  Because there are literally NO pretty play pens out there. {At least none that I’ve seen.  If you know of one, please! share!}   But wait…one more…

Man I love this design.  Nursery furniture with the shelf life of a twinkie.  Pavel Sidorenko is a genius.   He set out to conserve both money and natural resources with his design, and if you live in Belgium and don’t have to pay the $700+ shipping charge, then I would say he succeeded hands down.   Plus it’s really pretty. And even if you live here in North America and you do have to shell out for shipping, $1100 for your Crib, Changer, Mattress, Dresser, Desk, Playpen, and Magazine Rack/Chalkboard thingy really isn’t that bad.

Also worth checking out (in addition to EVERYTHING ELSE EVER DESIGNED BY THIS DUDE) is his Rocking Horse/Toy Bin/Cradle combo.   Both designs are available through Adensen Furniture.

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