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the power of social media

I know I have whined about it enough on here that I lost my camera last weekend at BlogHer. I know, poor me and enough already. I have used up all of my excuses on why being pregnant with child numero two has eaten up my entire brain and left with me with the crappy remains. My husband is sick of hearing me whine about the fifteen or so pictures that are lost and how I am lucky it wasn’t my DSLR that I lost because it would have resulted in some divorce papers. So instead of vocally whining I whined with the click on my keyboard to my newest obsession, Twitter. I have been a hater since I first learned what that damn little blue bird icon meant, I didn’t see the point and have laughed at the silliness of the Twitter jargon. I mean what’s the point of the # and @? I honestly wouldn’t know the true meaning of the hashtags and handlebars until I attended BlogHer. I have to first admit that I did create a Twitter account when everyone was first doing it, but was confused and didn’t see the point when I could easily use Facebook to update everyone on my super fun and fab life. So, I left it and never revisited it. It wasn’t until a few days prior to the conference that everyone on my mommy blog page was making lists to update their Twitter accounts so we could find one another, find clues, parties, etc. That I really thought I should really give this thing a go, so I re-signed up and slowly began understanding all of the jargon. During sessions I was communicating with #SurferWife so she could find me in the convention center to give me my eyedews for participating in the FlashMob and following the tweets of fellow bloggers on where to score free Legoland tickets. By the end of day three I was finally getting the hang of it and luckily it worked out in my favor. Like I stated in my previous post, the conference sent me through a whirlwind, not only have I lost my brain from this growing being sucking the life out of me but the conference really did mess my mind up. I didn’t have a brain so when I took my Nikon Coolpix camera out of my handbag in the Hershey’s suite to take a picture with my friend, Alanna, I thought that I placed it right back in that black abyss. That evening I went to dinner at the Melting Pot and didn’t feel my camera in the bag but assumed it was one of the six swag bags I had filled that lined the backseat of my Murano. It wasn’t until I got home from the conference at midnight Sunday morning that I realized it was gone. I racked my brain and started tweeting the ladies I spent the last few days with. I fell asleep so angry at myself for losing something, I have always been proud of my memory but being defeated really got to me. My husband was mad at me for coming home and being irate, which I cannot blame him for. I slept on it and woke up the next morning realizing where I had left the camera and that’s when the power of social media kicked into full force. I tweeted, and people re-tweeted. Even people I did not know and honestly it’s funny to say that even the rep from Johnson’s & Johnson’s who when Alanna and I were making our expo rounds I couldn’t wait for him to stop talking just so we could get our stamp and head the heck out re-tweeted my camera S.O.S. I created a blog post on BlogHer’s site begging for help, I Facebooked it enough where I am sure close friends deleted me because I was so annoying. I kept using Twitter trying to get the attention of BlogHer writers to see that I was mentioning them and needed help, but in the back of my mind I was questioning, why would they want to help?

It wasn’t until Monday morning when I got a RT (re-tweet) from Denise at BlogHer stating she was looking up her Hershey’s contact info and she would get back to me. I also saw responses from ladies around the country on my BlogHer post asking if I had any luck and how they too were hoping to seek refuge on the person who took my BlogHer story from me. I would check my e-mails in the middle of the night hoping to find a subject line reading, “found Nikon camera”. A few more days would go by and I was going through my e-mails and noticed I did have one from Hershey’s. I scoured through the e-mail as I usually do bypassing key and meaningful words and phrases like, “one of my associates turned in a silver camera to the Marriott front desk”. It soaked in a few minutes later and I immediately looked up the hotel information and called the lost and found. Of course, they were gone for the day so I left a message and waited until the next morning for a call. I gave the department fifteen minutes to arrive for their shift, check messages, etc and then started calling again. It went straight to voicemail again so I hung up and called the hubs. He said he would have his people work on it and he would get back to me. I waited all of ten minutes and called him back. He told me people are actually working and to be patient. I told him that I have been impatient for all of my twenty-nine years and that I was now bypassing his UPS’ness and I called again. The woman answered the phone and I began to tell her my story, she said she did have a camera and I started babbling telling her that if she did have my camera how she would be my best friend forever and when she asked what the last picture was I told her and she replied, “it’s yours!” I started screaming like I had just won Justin Bieber concert tickets. Luck was on my side, or shall I say, social media was on my side. If it weren’t for Twitter, Facebook or the power of e-mail I would have been out a camera that I cannot financially replace. The women I doubted or really the doubt I placed on having any honest people left in this world was proved incorrectly.

I know this was a long, drawn out way of announcing that I have my camera back but isn’t it funny how social media now drives our lives? Has Twitter, Facebook or even that archaic Myspace helped you in any way? Most of us these days are afraid of the phone and forget what it’s like speaking to someone or asking for help verbally. I would really love to hear from you to see how social networking has helped you, because I don’t know about you, but all that doubt I once carried about hashtags, handlebars and status updates have really proved to me the power of the social media.

My Dwink Box Giveaway {Winner}

The winner of the My Dwink Box Giveaway was comment #13: Bridgett! You should see an e-mail in your inbox…

Thank you to all that entered.

{a cleft journey} Ultrasound

This morning the fam and I headed down to the hospital to have our monthly look at little B’s face. We decided to take Payton with us since it was with the doctor and it was so funny to watch her reaction to what happens during an ultrasound. Needless to say we got plenty of “oohhhhs”, “eewwws” for the belly jelly, a “wow” when she saw him and plenty of repetitive “baby” statements. She is hilarious and I think she is going to be such a great helper when her little brother arrives in twelve weeks. This ultrasound was so much better and honestly way more assuring. I was a stress case but seeing his sweet face today made me fall in love with him. Many of you might think I should have already been in love with him but I didn’t have a connection yet, I know I am pregnant and feeling him kick me all.day.long should be enough but it wasn’t. Well, until today. Seeing his face, with actual chub on it and not all translucent made it more real. We can see his features a lot better and it’s so funny to see how much he looks like P. The tech and doctor’s were right at my amnio though, he definitely has his mama’s chin! The cleft doesn’t look that bad, still at about a 2 mm tear so it isn’t that big. We are meeting with the actual cleft doctor on the 22nd so we will know more of what we shall expect at his delivery which is fast approaching and then another 4D ultrasound in a month to check on him again. I guess it’s kind of nice getting all of these 4D’s to see my little lamb. On another note, his kidneys look like they have evened out so we can stop worrying about that! yippee!

He weighs 2 pounds 4 ounces
He is measuring spot on to 26 weeks 6 days
Nasal structure looks 100% so it should be even and no “drooping”.
Amniotic fluid level was a little lower than the average so I need to get chugging on some water.
Consumed the ever so lovely Glucose drink today and took it like a champ!

ko͝ok mama, ko͝ok?

These cookies are my arch-frenemy these days. You may be asking, first, how is a cute animal cookie a frenemy and two, they’re just a cookie. Well, let me tell you a story. . .

One day while walking through Stater Brothers in Lake Arrowhead Papa grabbed a bag of cutesy animal cookies for his consumption, of course. There was a whiny toddler sitting in the basket and a mama who was about to blow a gasket so the mama opened up the bag of sweet smelling circus animals. She gave the teary eyed toddler a cookie and she replied, “what’s this?” The mama replied, “a cookie” and then described the now decapitated animal as a bear, the toddler said, “roar!”. The toddler would keep noming on cookies and would keep asking “what’s this”. The mama, the Papa and toddler made it out of the store with a half eaten bag of cookies. When they arrived at the Grandparents house the toddler would run to the snack nook, point and say “ko͝ok, mama?” This on-going repetitive addictiveness lasted until the bag was all gone.
The mama and toddler headed home from the mountains and stopped at Target for some unneeded stuff. The toddler saw a huge canister of animal ko͝oks and kept saying “dis, dis”. The mama caved once again.
The next morning the mama couldn’t find the toddler, but heard a whispering “ko͝ok, mama, ko͝ok?”coming from the pantry. The toddler managed to pry open the pantry doors just enough to squeeze her wee self through. The mama came over and said, “what are you doing?” The toddler replied again, cocked her head to the side and gave the mama a sweet, yet not so innocent look and said, “ko͝ok, mama, ko͝ok, bowl?”
The 52 ounce tub still sits with a remaining quarter of multi-colored animals which are slowly diminishing each day as the toddler asks for more ko͝oks. The mama has kindly asked the daddy to eat as many as he can until he feels sick just so she doesn’t have to go looking for the toddler in the pantry before breakfast has even been served. The frenemey, the sweet little bears and giraffes who are spotted so generously with multi-colored non-pereils and the sweet little toddler who knows just how to work her mama.

The End.

you spin me right round baby

Being a part of BlogHer was like a tornado spinning around my brain. There was so much to take in, so many great women to talk to, the panels were insanely informative and I had enough swag thrown at me that my house is now trashed with great products. Never did I imagine a conference where I would participate in a flash mob known as operation glory, those women are amazing and it’s even more amazing that I got out there and attempted (key word, attempted) to shake to Gaga’s “on the edge of glory”. I met so many great women, yet I spent 90% of my time hanging with women I have known for roughly five years. We all shared these moments together and honestly it has brought us closer. A week ago the blogging community seemed so small to me, there were nights where I thought to myself why should I even hit publish, but seeing all 3,000+ women in one condensed area and having readers come up to me gives me the reason to hit publish. We are all in it for one reason and it is to share our stories through written word. I could go on and on about what I learned and give you a daily play-by-play, but I just ask that you trust me and know that it was one experience I will never forget. An experience that has opened my eyes to letting me know that I am special, I have a purpose and there is nothing wrong with being “just” a mommy blogger.

Thursday night @ the People’s Party

t-mobile booth silliness.

I think I like myself with a mustache, no?

The amazing women of Operation Glory.

I learned that I would be a crappy Febreeze sales woman. See for yourself.

@ the Hershey booth, the day before I lost my camera

I loved the Pfizer booth, the arrangements were gorgeous and not to mention the amount of Chapstick and Advil I received.

Looking at Bob Harper before I got in line to meet him. I did have a picture with him, but of course someone else now has it now instead.

Gulianna Rancic was at the Trop 50 booth, she is so gorgeous in person and just as skinny.

The swag scattered, which sadly it isn’t even all of it. I have duplicates on my kitchen counter, a full bag of papers, cards, etc. Swag post to come later…

In the retail me not money booth where I won a total of $44 cash over two days.

Taking a limo from the Melting Pot to the Hard Rock for the Style Suite party where I got a feather extension, met some more amazing women and took home enough baby powder to go through three more children.

and ending the conference at the CheeseburgHER party at the Marriott. Who says a night of McD’s cheeseburgers, paper bag hats and silly pictures wouldn’t top off the whole three-day extravaganza?

Other highlights from the weekend include (because I cannot visually share with you):

1. meeting Mario Lopez at the most awkward party ever. Softcup and UV Vodka should have never sponsored a party where mostly men were. I keep asking myself how I ended up at a BlogHer party where there were five bloggers, about sixty douche bags and a dozen cougars.

2. Laughing at the pedi cab drivers and seeing two ex-employees on the streets of the Gaslamp.

3. Going to Queerosphere, where we waited to watch a drag queen show but left when the desserts made me gag.

4. Going to an undisclosed cocktail party where we weren’t acknowledged, even though there were only seven people. I guess pregnant women at a poolside cocktail party is a no-no. So we decided to play tourists instead.

5. Taking a picture with Elmo and Cookie Monster.

6. Getting eyelashes at the Skinny Cow booth, how they coincide I have no idea.

7. Passing one of my fav bloggers in the hotel lobby, amazing.

8. Learning from Natalie that jumping from a moving cab is okay when wearing cute pink Tory Burch flats, and applying lipstick to lips and eyes will enhance any woman’s “tired” look.

9. Started a twitter account, feel so old. Now, I am addicted and understand why people have one (so follow me @melly_atkinson)

Thank you to everyone who made my weekend a success. I came, I saw, I went and successfully lost a camera.