I’m back from another blogging conference. Mom 2.0 was a great conference. Really great. But I just don’t know how to recap a conference without saying the same thing I’ve said after every conference I’ve attended. Conferences are such a wall of overwhelm for me, and even I’m tired of hearing myself repeat how much angst and anxiety they cause. But just to recap, here are some of the emerging themes from this weekend/every-conference-I-have-ever-been-to-ever:
- feeling anxious about leaving the kids
- feeling guilty that I didn’t spend better time with them before I left, instead of ignoring them while I frantically packed
- feeling elated to see old friends
- feeling anxious to meet new people
- feeling concerned that my introversion will seem stand-offish
- feeling inspired
- feeling community
- feeling awkward
- not talking to people I admire and don’t know because I don’t want to be stalkerish
- lamenting that I didn’t talk to people I admire and don’t know
- staying up too late because I’m on west coast time, and because I’m having great conversations with people I rarely see or new people I really like and then regretting it in the morning when the conference starts at 9am
- missing my kids like crazy, and being frustrated with myself for not being in the moment
- vowing to be a better mom
- vowing to stop going to blog conferences because of how stressed I get
- wondering if I can swing the EVO conference in June
- feeling gratitude for stumbling into this blogging thing
- feeling like I somehow missed half of the session
- thinking I should make more effort to work with brands
- thinking that I don’t really want to do that
- feeling cognitive dissonance about going to swanky dinners and cocktail parties when the next day I will be back at home swiffering up caked applesauce and running four loads of laundry
- feeling completely exhausted
Bla bla bla. We’ve hear this before, no? This is the part of the recap where I should hyperlink to all my blogging friends old and new. Only, I’m really tired, and I’ve yet to unpack, and I have a final to give tonight and an inbox that hates me. And also, I have anxiety that I will leave someone out. So, I’m not going to do that. But, I loved that conversation we had. You know who you are. Now for some pictures. 
This is the first walk I took in the city, and it’s pretty much the only stretch of the city I saw the whole weekend. I took a bunch of lame photos that pretty much look just like this. Karen was on the same walk, and she took this amazing set of photos of the very same walk. This is why she is a photographer and I am not. Check out her photos. And then check out these photos of another photographer who went this weekend. I did not see this part of the city. Or anything like it. I mostly saw a lot of drunk people on spring break stumbling around Canal Street. And a lot of food that looked like the creature that Jafta ate at the beach. 
This little roundtable event was one of my favorite discussions of the weekend. Doug Block has a documentary coming out on HBO called The Kids Grow Up – it’s about his journey documenting his daughter’s childhood and then having to let her go. I could weep just thinking about it. He asked us some hard questions about telling our kids’ stories in public spaces. Lots of food for thought. 
One of the cocktail parties. 
Chillin’ in the club lounge at the Ritz Carlton. You know, just my typical everyday stuff. 
This picture is a nip-slip waiting to happen. Much thanks to BodyLogicMD for our spa day. 
On our way to dinner. 
Quite possibly two of the funniest ladies of the internet. 
Some of my favorite people ever. Alright. Blogging conference recap complete. I think I will just copy and paste the above feelings for the next blogging conference. If I even go, because I may quit going to them altogether. (I’m so still going.)
