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Blogher 2006 - Fun and Inspiring!
My fellow speaker Maura and I didn’t think that we would have gone to blogher had we not been asked to speak. That said - I’m glad I did.
 Among my concerns about attending blogher was that it would like being back in high school, wishing that I could sit with the cools kids and feeling like a bit of an outcast. This, of course, wasn’t the case. Every single person I met at blogher was kind, warm, and welcoming.
I met new people everywhere I went; during my session, in other sessions, during breaks, cocktail parties, around the hotel and even in the ladies’ room. Everywhere I turned there was a smiling face belonging to another blogger with whom I could meet and talk about what all had in common. Audience Building
The first session I attended about increasing your audience base (audience building) with my idol Elise Bauer was intensely informative A few things that stood out to me where:
- Linking to people and having your site linked to other people increases your Google ranking. Increased Google ranking = more hits.
- Leave comments.
- Add pictures to posts. People like pictures and it breaks up the text.
- Write well. Use spell check
- Write good headlines. Google loves headlines and the more keywords in a headline, the more likely it is to get hits
- Good HTML structure. the h1 tag is your friend, it means more to Google - points out a headline
- Make your site easy to read (give the reader lots of "white" space, add spaces between your paragraphs, and make your paragraphs short).
- Make your site easy to load. Flash and similar types of add-ons reduce page loading time.
Read Elise Bauer's series on Audience Building.
Get Deeply Geeky
I was inspired by the deeply geeky session. As a feminist and a woman, I can personally relate to the conversation on a glass ceiling and not being taken seriously because of my gender or looks. I experience frustration upon seemingly not being taken seriously when I speak or express my opinions or knowledge. This session inspired me to connect and gain power and inspiration from other woman bloggers and women in general.
The session was very open – guided mostly by audience members who picked up the microphone and expressed themselves freely. I was inspired by the intelligence of those who spoke.
The previous evening I was fortunate enough to be seated at table with Laura Scott, a panelist on this session. I was totally blown away and inspired by her brilliance, which partially motivated me to attend this session.
This was not a single occurrence, for every woman who I spoke with, introduced myself to and exchanged business cards with during the entire conference totally blew me away.
These women were:
- brilliant
- inspired
- driven
- ambitious
- friendly
- warm
- articulate
During this session two young entrepreneurs were asked to speak and those two girls blew me away more than anything else at this conference. Here were two smart, articulate and confident young women (12 years old – preteens) who had accomplished so much that I was blinded by the… “future is so bright, I gotta wear shades”
From Here to Autonomy
I have to admit to being a bit of a blog groupie. When I first arrived at the Hyatt I bumped into one of the bloggers who I was most excited to meet. I was surprised that I had the confidence to approach this [person who inspires me – someone I look up to] and introduce myself.
[I’m not a shy person – I’m pretty outgoing in fact, but I have shy tendencies, especially with meeting new people. However these tendencies were apparently abandoned during this conference.]
I attended the session on blogger entrepreneurs (making money from your blog) to listen to Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com [and another blogger] share their experiences with open our eyes to full-time paid blogging opportunities
This was another amazingly inspiring session – filling my head with ideas for how I can become my own business and be gain independence.
Keynote
Hands-down the more inspiring session, the Keynote included a panel of four (+1 moderator) intelligent, successful, and inspiring blogtrepreneurs.
The focus of the session (forum) panel was fearlessness which really touched a chord with me and I’m guessing many others in the room.
This session made me realize that I’m held back by fear in my life. One example of this is my fear of public speaking.
Fear of Public Speaking
Like many people, I’ve always had a fear of public speaking and speaking with people in general. This fear lead me to put off the required public speaking requirement for my Marketing BS until my last semester when it (conveniently) wasn’t offered. Looking back on it now, it would have been a good idea to bite the bullet way back then. Addressing that fear back then might have made me a more confident person, perhaps allowing me to accomplish more.
Nonetheless, I waited until I was in my thirties to face this fear.
When Elisa Camahort approached me to speak at blogher, this fear of public speaking really kicked in. While I was very afraid of speaking, I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I could not pass up. It was time to face my fear and conquer it.
The time between my first contact with Elisa and the conference (roughly four months or so) was a stressful time for me. In addition to the stress of the impending presentation at blogher, my web design business was growing beyond my expectations, my full-time job was busier than it’s ever been, and to top it off, my friendship with my closest friend was in a really bad place.
During these months, I both dreaded and looked forward to the conference. The closer it came, the more I just wanted it and the accompanying nagging anxiety over. My one-track blogher-focused mind couldn’t see anything beyond that. All I could see was the sweet relief of it being over.
It wasn’t all dread, though. I also had this excitement; this feeling that something big was going to happen. I sensed that this opportunity would open doors for me that would start great things.
I wasn’t dreading it because I didn’t want to do it – I wanted to do it more than anything which was powerful enough to bypass the fear.
It’s Over
I learned this valuable lesson about handling fear when I was a kid. I actually surprise myself that I was this aware as a kid, to overcome fear.
What happened was that every summer I’d get really scared to go back to school because I was always so afraid of a million things like being able to find my way around or make friends. But what I learned over time was that I always imagine it in my head a heck of a lot worse than things end up being. Like, I always imagined myself getting lost and being alone at lunch and so on. But it always turned out that in a couple of days, I was in a routine and happy and I realized that my fears were unfounded.
It was through experiences like these that I began to accept that my worries were usually unfounded and blown way out of proportion. I can’t tell you now much learning this has helped me with fear. I use it quite a bit, like when I start a new job or are thrust into a new and foreign experience. I just remember that in the past, thing were always worse in my head than in reality.
And it’s true – speaking in public was easier than I expected. I think that because of that previous lesson, I knew it would be OK. I also knew that I was pretty outgoing to begin with and I loved to be the center of attention. I really enjoyed the feel of the microphone in my hand and enjoyed speaking about something that I was passionate about and knew inside and out.
Sure I was nervous, but there was so no getting out of it so I jumped and I did it. The relief was amazing (or was it adrenaline?). After my session, rid of the residual fear, I felt lighter and there was that spring to my step and the joi de vivre that had been absent in my personality as of late.
I’m glad that we were the first session because it enabled me to go out there and enjoy the conference. And I did enjoy it! It was a great opportunity to meet other bloggers and network. It has really got me thinking about possibilities for my business and my web sites. It’s really inspired me to take more risks and get out there and do it.
Kaboodle wish lists make me very happy!
I discovered Kaboodle at Blogher. I must admit, when I skimmed the handout in the swag bag I wasn't impressed. But when I stopped by their booth, and took a closer look, I was hooked.
Booth-babe Julie described it as "bookmarks on steroids." She's right. It's a neat site where you can you can select information from anywhere on the web, and Kaboodle will summarize it on a page that you can keep to yourself or share with friends. It can be used to plan a vacation, create and share wish lists, research a new car or TV, showcase collections, plan a wedding, organize a home remodel, create a baby registry, and more.
When Julie demonstrated its use as a wish list I was blown away. I had been searching high and low for the perfect wish list tool, but nothing ever lived up to my standards. Kaboodle does this and more.
Not only does it add items to your wish list (or any other type of Kaboodle page) at the click of the shortcut bar on your browser, but it also grabs the picture, price and detailed item information automatically, also allowing your edits as well. The only thing you have to do is add tags. Easy-peasy.
You can also connect with friends' lists, browse everyone's public lists, leave comments, and copy items from other people's lists.
And here's the best part - you can add a list badge to your blog, which updates every time you add an item to your list. Neet, huh?
Sign up!
- Check out my wish list. (Cool huh?!)
- Click on the
 button to the right of my Wish List title. (Disclosure: I have to admit that my motives here are not entirely altruistic - The blogher attendee who signs up and gets the most "likes" will win a fancy prize)
- Then sign up for your own account.
- You might have to click on the button again (you'll know it worked it if says "you like this page"
- Start your own list
- And add me as a friend.
- Leave your username in the comments
PS - My birthday is next week! ;)
Thursday Thirteen - Things on my wishlist
Thirteen Things on my wishlist
- Hello Kitty Suitcase
- Diamond Hello Kitty Ring
- Pretty Red Pen
- Canon Powershot A620 7.1MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom
- T-Mobile Sidekick 3
- Moleskine Pocket Journal
- Moleskine Cover
- Sterling Tag Necklace (believe, hope, inspire)
- A ring
- Santoku Knife
- Lellow watch
- Hanae Mori Butterfly
- Hoops & Yoyo tote bag
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)
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Friday Fill-in
This week's fill-ins are lyrics, but don't fill in the correct lyrics, fill-in your own lyrics that apply to you. Bonus points for naming each song.
- It's a nice day for a ...
- Might as well face it, I'm addicted to ...
- If I had a ... I would ...
- "I need someone, somebody to help me ... (Thanks Janet)
- I was thinking about ... I was hoping ... (Thanks Janet)
- And all the roads we have to walk along are .... (Thanks Krista)
Mine below
- It's a nice day for a ... dinner cruise around Boston harbor. Wooo!
- Might as well face it, I'm addicted to ... um, Jimbo!
- If I had a ... puppy I would ... hug it and kiss it and call him Miles
- I need someone, somebody to help me ... learn how to knit.(
- I was thinking about ... Friday Fill-ins, I was hoping ... To get some help :)
- And all the roads we have to walk along are .... beds of flowers
Cruising on the Odyssey
The Great House Hunt of 2006 - Offer #2
 Who knew selling/buying a house would be such an ordeal? I know! Everyone knows this. I guess it's just par for the course eh.
To summarize where we're at, we decided to look for a house in June. We loved the very first house we looked at, put in an offer and it was quickly accepted. Yay! But then we realized the house was a lemon at the inspection and rescinded our offer. Back to square one we decided to do things differently. We put our condo on the market and decided to put off any more house hunting until we got some solid interest in the condo. While I was at BlogHer we received and accepted an offer on the condo. We close at the end of September. Now was the time to begin our hunt in earnest. So, we were up at the ass-crack of dawn (OK, 9:30, but it was still early) and headed out to see a couple of houses. Wouldn't you know if we fell in love with the first one we saw. We're suckers. So, we put in an offer and now we're waiting, waiting, waiting. It's a really cute house. Cross your fingers for us. We really want it!
Offer Accepted
It's like deja vu all over again.
After a whole bunch of hoopla that I'm really just too tired to get into right now, we came to an agreement and they finally accepted our offer.
We went over to walk through the house again and were able to actually meet the sellers. They are super-nice people and meeting with them and talking to them I feel so much better about all the worrying and stress. The place is gorgeous! They kept it in tip-top shape. And the yard - big, gorgeous, landscaped, trees. Just gorgeous.
Ahhhh. I'm very happy. More later.
The Great House Hunt of 2006: OK, now I can get excited!
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So, we went to see it last night as I mentioned last night and fell even more in love with the house and the current owners. They had an adorable little dog which I, of course, fell in love with.
There is another spare bedroom that's smaller than the second and isn't pictured. There's tons of storage and a huge basement. There's even a finished room that will most certainly turn into "man town". Man Town also has a very large clothing closet for storing out-of-season clothes. Next to that is a huge laundry area for plenty of room for folding and hanging and ironing. Is it sad that this excites me? There also a work bench and another huge room for storage.
Outside there's a large deck that's pictured but not pictured is a screened-in porch and most of the big, perfectly landscaped yard.
Lots of room for parking and the pool make this the perfect spot for some summertime entertaining!
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Two whole days offline
I'm packing up, cleaning up my desk, and getting ready to blow this pop stand. That's right! I'm on vacation! Two days in the lovely lakes region with a stop over to MB's place on the way home!
I'm really looking forward to being away from the computer for two days. I feel like it's been attached to my DNA for months. No more. This weekend I'm going to read, do crosswords, play in the lake, shop, and whatever it is one does on vacation on the lake.
Then I'm coming home and I'm turning the dreaded 31 this weekend. I have to tell you that last week one of those moods came over me where I was just overwhelmed with everything and wept to Jimbo. One complaint: "I don't want to turn 31."
I wasn't like this with 30. I actually kinda liked 30; it seemed really cosmopolitan. Maybe I don't like odd numbers, or thinking about turning 40 in nine years, thinking about how old I am and I'm still not married (For the record I don't want to be one of those women who needs a marriage to complete herself. And I'm not, I just really, really want it and whatever it stands for to me), or realizing that if I want kids, I don't have all that many good procreating years left, or those damn gray hairs and wrinkles that keep showing up.
Who the heck knows?! All I know is that this is the first year that I'm not really enjoying getting older. Eff it. It'll be over soon and it'll be time for Christmas shopping.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday Thirteen I look forward to at 31
- Buying a house
- Planting a garden
- Decorating
- Taking my web design business full-time (a girl can dream!)
- Losing 20lbs (I'm gonna do it!)
- Sitting, waiting, wishing...
- Lots of snugs with the chickens and Jimbo!
- My own pool
- Not having to go to UPS to pick up my packages
- Feeding the birds
- BBQ!!!
- Dragging Janey to meet Zoot
- At least one trip to Montreal. Hopefully more.
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Friday Fill-in
- --- is my favorite form of therapy
- I wish my blog was ---
- If you get my voice mail you'll hear ---
- My life would be so much easier if ---
- I smell ----
- Friday is the best day for ---
Mine below
- Peace and quiet is my favorite form of therapy
- I wish my blog was on Wordpress
- If you get my voice mail you'll hear me saying, "Hi, this is Megan. Leave a message!"
- My life would be so much easier if I'd just slow down a bit.
- I smell chocolate (my second favorite form of therapy
- Friday is the best day for hanging by the lake
Loooong Birthday Weekend
What a wonderful weekend! Looooong weekend!
A few relaxing days in Winnepesaukee
 Jimbo and I went up to Winnepesaukee Wednesday night where we met up with his mom and nana at the house they rented on the lake. We went out to dinner to celebrate his nana's birthday and then we toasted on some great wine and had lots of laughs.
 Thursday we did a bit of walking and shopping and spent most of the day by the lake. We made friends with many ducks [bobbing ducks] and had take-out turkey dinner from Harts. The rain kept us in that night, so we kept ourself busy with Sequence. I did not win one game; I feel like such a loser!
Friday we did more walking and then had breakfast with his mom and nana at Georges, then did more walking and shopping. I fell in love with this store and I immediately thought of Janet and how we could both spend an hour in that place.
BBQ a Chez MB
 Later we packed up and headed on to Maribeth (MB)'s place which is a five minute walk from where we were staying. She and Jack made us a tasty BBQ of steak, chicken, corn on the cob, lotsa pickle-goodness, and a ton of other stuff including blueberry cake a la mode for dessert. Jimbo and Jack enjoyed a festive political discussion while MB and and I curled up with the pups and a warm beverage. What a great time! We always have such a nice time with MB and Jack and the pups! I can't wait to visit again! Thanks MB! We headed back home that night and made it to bed even before 11pm!
Carnivale
I was up the next morning for a walk with Kristen followed by my work picnic. Now, my work picnic really isn't a picnic, it's really like a carnival. I work for a large medical software company with just about 3,000 employees, and every year they throw a humungous carnival over two days for all of us. There are tons of games and rides for kids and more food that you can behold - all free, of course. Lobster, ribs, hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken fingers and wings, vegetarian options, and a raw bar. Then there's the endless cotton candy, fried dough and make your own ice cream sundae. Oh, did I mention the free beer and wine?
Yeah! A great time was had. Jimbo and I met up with a bunch of coworkers and every time we bumped into someone else they asked about the inspection - did we have it yet, when was it, etc. Jimbo couldn't believe that my coworkers were so interested. They're great people! After we ate more food than was necessary and played one heck of a game of foosball (Jimbo thinks that needs to be the first addition to his man-town in the basement.)
A Spontaneous Trip to Mohegan Sun
 After the "picnic" Jimbo dropped me off at Janey's house and we headed (spontaneously as is our typical style) down to Mohegan Sun to meet up with Laura and Deb who were visiting the area. Those chicks are a hoot! Way down-to-earth and hilarious! Laura even appreciated my potty humor. Here's a recap of Mohegan in one sentence: Tuscany, xxtini, roulette, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, chocotini, krispy kreme with loads of laughing in between.
My Birthday
 I slept in Sunday morning and Jimbo was the very first person to wish me a happy birthday. He gave me my pressies (white gold heart earrings, a book, a new moleskine, a kitty cat calendar, and dark Godiva chocolate!) and then we went to Great Brook for a little hike and some ice cream.
Dinner in the North End
 For dinner Jimbo took me to Assaggio's in the North End where we dined on prochuitto e melone, chicken marsala, and veal saltimboca. Yum! While we were eating dinner we even caught some kind of italian/catholic parade of a marching band and a bunch of people holding Mary (?) who was dripping in dollar bills. Very cool.
 After dinner we stopped into Mike's Pastry and picked up a big piece of chocolate cake, a double chocolate cannoli, a piece of tiramisu, and a cookie for Jimbo then stopped in at Caffe Vittoria down the street for mochas. We must spend more time in the North End.
So thus ends my long-birthday-weekend. Never fear, however, because tomorrow birthday week begins! Aww, you didn't think I only celebrated my birthday over the weekend, did you? Nah!
And you know what? Turning 31 isn't so bad. It's the "thinking about turning 31" that is the pain in the butt. My birthday is fun! I'm queen for a day (weekend, week, month, year!) what's not to like about that!?
Thanks for all the Happy Birthday wishes! It truely was a happy birthday!
More pictures at flickr.
Home Inspection - Check.
So the inspection was done and there were no big surprises which means that we go ahead with buying the house! Of course it doesn't seem real, but by the end of next month Jimbo and I will be home owners! I can't wait!
Been busy around here. Work and web stuff. Not much else.
Friday Fill-in
Courtesy of Janet today because I'm up to my ears in a project for her and don't have time to pee, never mind work the Friday Fill-in. All together now. Thaaaaaaaaanks Janet!
- My friends...
- I was the ... child born to my parents, and because of this...
- When I was ... I... and I'll never forget it!
- Plans and schedules ....
- I'm happy when things ...
- This weekend, I'm going to ...
- My friends... put up with me. This makes them saints.
- I was the... 4th and final child born to my parents, and because of this... I am the spoiled rotten little baby!
- When I was... up in front of the crowd at blogher I...learned that I can overcome my fears and I'll never forget it!
- Plans and schedules .... are boring.... spontaneous is great!
- I'm happy when things ... are peaceful and quiet and happy and sunny.
- This weekend, I'm going to ... go to the North End with this person to pick up my sweater, a canoli, and martini bianco. Then I'm going to chain myself to my laptop. After that i'm going to see the sunshine movie in West Newton with the love of my life.
Weekend
Busy on a new, soon-to-be-launched web project. It's cool. You can't wait to see it.
The weekend recap:
Friday Janey and I went to the North End where we picked up my sweater that I left on my birthday and repeated my birthday - same restaurant, Mike's, and cafe.
Saturday I chained myself to my desk then went to mall.
Sunday Jimbo, Janet, Tara and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine. Go see it. It's GREAT.
Au Revior! Be sure to write!
In response to my post yesterday about being chained to my desk, Janet suggested a picture. Instead of a picture of that, I decided to post a farewell picture of my beloved lappytop.
She's sick (needs a replacement internal battery) and so I had to pack her up and send her to the doctor. It was very sad to leave her at FedEx this morning.
In other news, it's looking like we're moving into OUR NEW HOUSE around the 14th of September. Wooo! Time to start packing!
Thirteen Things I Love About Telecommuting
Thirteen Things I Love About Telecommuting
I recently celebrated my three year anniversary at my current place of work. In recognition of my loyalty and hard work, I was approved to telecommute one day a week. I love it!
- Sleeping in (that extra hour or laying in bed with the chickens is the best!)
- Wearing my jammies all day long.
- The bathroom is now 10 feet away from my desk.
- Curling up with the chickens, a bologna sammich and The Closer at lunchtime.
- The 10 second commute from my bed to my desk beats the hour-and-a-half daily commute
- 60 miles of gas saved every week
- An hour-and-a-half of extra time in my day
- I get to pick up the mail
- Tuesday is now my laundry day
- Peace and quiet
- Working with a chicken in my lap
- wireless laptop = working anywhere in the house (or outside - here I come patio!)
- non-existent dress code
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Friday Fill-in
- The most valuable thing in my life is...
- The happiest I've ever felt was when...
- My best memory is...
- I love chocolate...
- The last thing I ate was...
- This weekend...
Mine below:
- The most valuable thing in my life is... my health, my self-esteem
- The happiest I've ever felt was when... I made it
- My best memory is... my first date with Jimbo
- I love chocolate... every second, every hour, every minute of the day
- The last thing I ate was... chocolate yogurt (Before that - cocoa puffs. I wasn't kidding!)
- This weekend... I'm heading up to MB's place with Jane
The weekend in Meredith and I heart Blingo
'twas a very lovely weekend, that's for sure.
 Janey and I headed up to NH on Friday (dude, I feel like I've written this before, deja vu!) just in time for dinner at MB's place. MB looked amazing and happier than I've ever seen her. I don't think she stopped smiling the entire time we were there.
Janey made a wonderful bean salad and Jack cooked on the BBQ while I made dessert. Chocolate trifle with rasperries and caramel. Yeah, it was that good.
Saturday Janey and I hit the craft fair and attacked the shops in downtown Meredith. We took lots of pictures, too. Then we ambled back and had a lovely dinner followed by a movie and bed.
Jan made the best peachy breakfast thingy and then we were on the road. Thanks to traffic it took a very long time to get home, but that's ok... we stopped for lunch and took back road the rest of the way home. For the record, we passed 11 Dunkin Donuts, but we're sure we must have missed a few.
Bit o random:
 I won again on Blingo thanks to my good friend Emily. Actually we won twice, Last month we both won a $100 Visa gift card and last week we both won a $25 one. We both won because I referred Emily to Blingo and she's been using it for all of her searches (she added Blingo to her IE search box - I installed it on my Firefox search bar. I even finally convinced Jimbo to join. The ultimate skeptic, it took him seeing me win a $150, $100 and $25 Visa gift cards, plus two free movie tickets since I've been playing back in March. how do I do it? I use it for EVERY search. Actually, I do it every time I go to a web site, even if I know the url. In fact, the first time I won I typed "wikipedia" into the search box instead of typing wikipedia.com in the url bar. If you haven't joined Blingo yet, join now, and if you have already joined Blingo, USE it. They make it so easy for you!
It Lives!
I've been promising something big over the past few weeks and I'm happy to say that it's time to announce my new project!
We like to must shop. It's in our DNA, we're sure of it! You do too, and that's why we're all here. A Girl Must Shop is a Web site devoted to serving the interests of hip, trendy gals who can appreciate the treasures that a shopping excursion can unearth, but don't have the time to discover all the riches that exist!
Our mission is to make your shopping trips easier and more fun by scoping out cool, unusual new products now on the market, and letting you know how you can get your hands on them. We focus on items as diverse and interesting as the women who want to buy them - from clothing, beauty products, and furniture, to books and novelty items.
We scour the great, vast Internet, read all the latest magazines, discover some unique shops, then check out all the sales and bring the best selections to you. With A Girl Must Shop, you'll have the inside scoop on everything a girl could possibly want!
Please hop on over to A Girl Must Shop and check it out. There are a few posts already up and there is even a page where you can submit your favorite products to be featured. I hope to begin recruiting for site editors (people to talk about and post products) with the next month or so, so feel free to contact us if you'd be interested.
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