Immediate Impressions (written Saturday night, posted Tuesday night):

On the train, heading North to Milwaukee, post-BlogHer. I missed my original train, and this one is late, so I’m a little tired and frustrated. I wish I would have zipped out of the conference faster, wish I’d dragged all my crap along, wish I’d realized it was unrealistic to make the 5:08 and stayed for Elizabeth Edwards.

But really, no regrets about the conference. None. I met such interesting people, and connected with people I already knew and liked. I have SO MANY ideas now, for both blogs, and maybe for a 3rd blog.

I have to make some acknowledgments.

First, my Ladyblogs Posse –

  • Lizzy: She was as much fun and as nice and supportive as I thought when we met in NYC. I’m so glad we got to hang out more.
  • Lizarita: Adorable, funny as hell, nice too.
  • Isabel: Charming, made the best present (shrinky dink necklace with tiny rainbow of baby spoons, the LesbianFamily.org logo), ridiculously nice about my having dragged her to a session that wasn’t quite as interesting as I thought promised it would be, and not so very interesting. So pretty!
  • Stacy: Quieter than Isabel, but with a similar energy and blonde adorableness.
  • Carissa: More personality than you usually find in 3 people! She made the funniest craft gift, glasses to make it look like your eyes are already blacked out.
  • Molly: The person I left with the least clear sense of — I think she’d be fabulous in a less frenetic setting.
  • Bree: So sad that we didn’t get to connect more in real life. Bree is one of my favorite email/comment exchangers, mostly on the random minutia of life and impending motherhood.

Second, my fellow panelists –

  • Joy: Sharp, witty, brave, bold and awesome. I wish we lived in the same city and could hang out and have coffee.
  • Valencia: Calm, confident, serene and determined. I am contemplating ways that we might be able to continue to connect and help one another keep expanding out service to our communities.
  • Dory: Intelligent, sophisticated, warm, and on top of that, a friend of Anne’s and someone familiar with the very first site I launched! I’m afraid we might have been too domineering during the panel, though.

That’s the end of what I wrote Saturday night.

I don’t have the brainpower to even get into the amazing women I met and spoke with, or saw on panels, or to tell the stories of the weekend. I’m in activity-filled vacation mode here in Milwaukee. Today Noah even got to go be introduced by Grandpa on the floor of the State Assembly.

The bad news: My phone appears to be dead dead dead. I’m going to do everything in my power to revive it Monday.

The good news:

  • BlogHer is fabulous. I brought stickers and moocards with the LesbianFamily.org logo on them, and people are loving them!
  • There are 800 registered participants — it’s the largest conference on blogging in the US, and the overwhelming majority of us are women.
  • Coffee is free.
  • The people are awesome and amazing and giving me lots of ideas. Look for results in the weeks to come, both here and on LesbianFamily.org!
  • I’ve already learned something useful about images in my blog.
  • Isabel made me a shrinky-dink necklace with the LesbianFamily.org logo!

I’ll post more as the opportunity becomes available. Pictures will probably have to wait until next week. Which is too bad because everyone is beautiful, and some people are even eye candy for me. (A rarity outside of home.)

I’ve been having some trouble with my cell phone, a Treo 650.

Maybe I should get that taken care of today, before I leave town with it. Dumb idea. DUMB.

Now it’s been reset to factory defaults, only it turns out that somehow the synch we did beforehand actually failed to work.

In other words, EVERY SINGLE PHONE NUMBER IS GONE.

That thumping sound? Me banging my forehead against the keyboard.

PS – Those of you who know me in real life? I don’t have that 202 number any more. Neither does Jill.

FYI — I’ll be heading out to BlogHer at the crack of dawn tomorrow, and then on vacation in Milwaukee for all of next week. I’ll check in periodically, because we junkies just can’t stay away, but I expect the updates to be fewer and further between for the next 10 days.

In the meantime, here’s a cute picture of Noah, King of Tape.

Liza & King Noah of the Tape

I wrote a long post about my upcoming BlogHer Panel over on LesbianFamily.org.  Now I’m too tired to post anything more.

We bought a new car this weekend. By we I mean Jill. And by new I mean vintage. 1979, to be specific. A 1979 Trans Am, with t-tops. (Kind of inverse sunroof panels.)

Our New Car

It currently lives, conveniently enough, in Milwaukee. Where we are going after BlogHer. Yes, it was purchased on eBay.

I haven’t blogged about Jill’s interest in classic cars before, mostly because I couldn’t figure out what to say, or how to say it that didn’t sound like Jill was crazy. Or at least like I thought she was crazy.

I don’t think Jill is crazy.

I don’t understand the sudden interest in classic cars — the first time I heard about it was earlier this summer. And I have to be honest, I wish she would have taken a car class and hung out at car shows for six months or a year before buying one herself. I’m stressed about the money. Especially while we’re trying to sort out this whole “have another baby” thing. She has a plan, and it makes sense and should work, but I’m still tense about it.

The thing is, Jill got really passionate and driven about this, and it happened quickly. It’s the first thing I’ve seen her that driven about since we left DC.

I miss seeing her determined, the way she was about theater and developing her skill as an actor. I hope this feeds that same fire and excitement.

I wish I shared it more. At least with theater, there were shows I enjoyed seeing with her, and we could have lively discussions about plays and acting.

With cars, I’m more of an “it’s blue” girl. I don’t know anything, and I’m having a hard time generating much excitement. I’m happy for Jill, but this is so not my thing. The best I can really muster is driving around with her in it.

(Hopefully our new Cosco Scenara will fit in the back seat.)

You probably already suspected that I was one of those people who went out and bought the new Harry Potter book at midnight Friday night/Saturday morning. Indeed I am.

My favorite local independent bookseller is a children’s bookstore with an ice cream parlor attached, and they had a big party. I stayed home and did as many of my Saturday chores as possible until about 11:30 pm, and then went. It was packed, a zoo, even crazier than the party I went to for Book 6.

I was home with the book by 12:15 am, and I read until about 2:45 am. I woke up again with Noah at 4:45 (!!!), and then spent the morning reading mostly in little snatches — although Jill did give me another long chunk of reading time around 8 am.

Anyway, I finished the book around 12:45 pm, during Noah’s nap. And I really liked it, although it wasn’t what I expected. I’m going to re-read over the course of the week.

We took Noah to the mall later that afternoon, and in a moment of being sick of his shoe drama, I spent $25 on a pair of vivid orange crocs. Jill looked at me like I was out of my mind, but conceded that they’re kind of cute on him. (When you tell Noah it’s time to put on his shoes, prepare for a meltdown. 90% of the time. These he tried to put on himself at the store. Himself!)

After church and a late nap, we went to storytime at the same bookstore where I bought the Harry Potter book. Noah’s friend Colbert and his mommy & daddy were there, and all 6 of us enjoyed stories, ice cream, and bouncing on couches. Oh wait, that was just Noah and Colbert.

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