This time, the cheesy prom pose was my idea

Last week I was in NYC for one of the conferences my company produces, and our emcee, for the third time in four years, was Steve Thomas. He is one of the smartest, most interesting, interested people I’ve ever met, and I love working with him. The first time I met him I was a little nervous -- after all, I had been watching him host This Old House on PBS for years, and then Renovation Nation on PlanetGreen… and how often do you meet someone you’ve seen on TV?

As you can see, he knows how to ham it up when the occasion calls for it. I wish I had taken a seriously-posed photo as well so you could better see how handsome he is, but I feel a series of celebrity cheesy prom pose photos will be my legacy.

Happy Mother’s Day

 
Mom and me, the day of her brother’s wedding, 1968-ish.

From my mother I got:

my face
my love for and ability to cook and entertain
my love of reading (although I remember my dad teaching me to read)
my sense of style
my need to make a house a home
my work ethic (she shares that 50/50 with dad)
my ability to be frugal when needed and make the best of a bad situation
my compassion
my ability to be a good sport, especially at card and board games
my preference for British costume drama (and afternoon tea and other British things)
…and my love of nerdy sci-fi.

Mom and me, sailing in Long Island Sound, 1987-ish.

I did not get:

Her way with houseplants. I kill them all.
Her unwavering faith. I question, question, question…
Her patience. Need to work on that.

Thank you Mumsie, I love you. Happy Mother’s Day!

She rocks with paper and scissors

I love stop-motion animation. I love it even more when it is about this sweet book by my friend Julie. This -- or her first Ninja book -- would be a great treat in a young reader's Easter basket (that is your hint to go on Amazon right now and buy one. Or two).

Julie made the stop-motion video herself. She is super-talented. She also paints and makes jewelry, has a kick-ass sense of humor and excellent taste in movies. Check out her Etsy store for more.

I got to hang with the cool kids

Yes, I am a week late in posting this. To recap: last Friday, after trekking around NYC for two days for work-related meetings/site visits (10 event sites in 2 days -– it can be done, if you have the right footwear, and plan a path that bypasses the NY Fashion Week venues), I met up with some fabulous bloggers:

(l. to r.) Naomi of Design Manifest; moi; Leigh of Marvelous Kiddo with cutie-pie W; get-together instigator Raina of If The Lampshade Fits; and Alicia of Alicia B. Designs. Also in our party but traveling incognito was Alexis of The Studioist. This photo and numerous others patiently taken by the dapper and gracious Nick of Cupboards).

Now I’m the last person who will intentionally meet up with complete strangers for the night, but herein lies the difference: I felt like I already knew these ladies. I’ve been reading Raina and Alicia’s blogs for 3 and 2 years, respectively, and when the meet-up lineup was announced, I happily perused the archives of the other blogs so I could get a sense of the assembled company.

It was a great meet-up! I asked my contact at the Hudson Hotel to assist with making us a reservation in their Library Bar and we enjoyed prime seating in front of the fireplace on a cushy leather sofa and less-cushy ghost chairs.The music was a little too loud but we all managed to chat for a few hours about blogging, design, crazy commenters, our respective hometowns, Alicia’s recent move and engagement, Naomi’s new apartment in Philly, what makes a good dinner party menu, etc. etc. like a bunch of old pals.

 
Raina and I at the end of the night – a little giddy, a little exhausted (according to my camera this was taken at 2:38 am!), and apparently both fans of large necklaces. Another photo by Nick.

I have on past occasions waxed poetic about the value of all you readers, lurkers, commenters, followers and the online community we have built for ourselves, but there is something satisfying about actually meeting people you’ve “known” online and having it really click. When I tried to explain the nature of this meet-up to some friends and co-workers, their non-bloggy brains could not process it. “Wait, you’re meeting people you haven’t met yet? But you know them? But you haven’t met them?” I finally had to describe it as akin to meeting a bunch of pen pals.

Thanks again ladies (and Nick) for a great night and I hope we can do it again!

Uggs 0, Michael Kors 1

So, the UGGs were a bust. They arrived yesterday and they were as un-UGGly as the photo but not very comfortable. I returned them to the store, where these Michael Kors babies called my name:

Much better fit, and more my style. The best part? Between the sale price and a coupon, I got them for one-third the price of the UGGs. Sometimes it pays to go to the store vs shopping online…

So my toes will be toasty and well-dressed while I trek around NYC tomorrow and Friday. Whoo hoo!