{photo taken by Crooked Eyebrow}

I had never been to Wisconsin before.  I never thought that was a big deal until I told my friends “I had never been to Wisconsin before.”  Apparently Wisconsin is a big deal…I had no idea.

That’s where Cupcake 10 was held.  What’s Cupcake 10?  Cupcake 10 is the brain child of Heather of the EO (the one almost kissing mah belly up top there) and Stephanie.  They wanted a blog get together that wasn’t a blog conference, there was no talk of SEO and very little talk of advertising and HOW DO I SELL MY BLOG?  HOW DO I INCREASE READERSHIP?  It was more like “hey, tell me your story.”  or “I love your blog and I’m so happy to finally meet you.”  or “can I kiss your belly?” or “Who made the oreo truffles?”  (the answer to the oreo truffle question would be Kim.)

That sort of thing.

{this is Allison of O My Family with her son.  HIS EYES?  OHMYGOD.}

It was so laid back and beautiful and inexpensive.  We all brought food for a potluck, we woke up in the morning, in a beautiful cabin in the country, in our pajamas, we drank coffee, ate fruit and bagels and cookies (and okay, cupcakes) and we had no make-up on, no laptops to shield us from everyone around us.  It was just us.

And it was just so good.

{this is Brianne.  Brianne = amazing.  No lie.}

I have a feeling there will be more Cupcakes to come, not just in our area but in all parts of the country and that is a very, very good thing.

Oh and why is Cupcake 10 called Cupcake 10?

Because I named it, that’s why.

{Crooked Eyebrow & Eden.}

Check out all of the amazing people, my new friends, who attended:

Kim at I Want a Minivan
Katie at A List Maker’s Life
Crooked Eyebrow
Sara at Joel Lives
Allison at O My Family
Heather at The Extraordinary Ordinary
Erin at School Teacher by Day, Superhero by Night
Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing
Sarah Viola
Brianne at Little Green Pastures
Elizabeth at Boy Crazy
Haley at Love, Life, Family and then some
Hyacinth of The Scoop on Poop
Anti-Supermom
Maggie of Okay, Fine, Dammit
Lee at Moms without Blogs
Amanda at Life Long Playdate {private blog, yo.}
Stephanie at The Hanes Family Chronicles
Julie at Spot on your Pants
Esther at Faint Star Lite
Tara at Capitol Mommy
The Nap Warden
Becky of Tales of Princess Mikkimoto
Samara of Simplicity in the Suburbs
Ann of Ann’s Rants
Mama Bear of 4 the Love of Family
Kristina Joy of The Joy Walk

Oh and this girl?  Erin?  Is the best roomie ever.

I thought about going through my archives to find the tours I have done for the past three years but that requires so much clicking and well, more clicking.  I’m not that ambitious.  (Perhaps later.)

So, let’s get started, k?

Would you like some coffee or perhaps some hot chocolate?  I have truffles and peppermint bark in the fridge.  (yes, friends, the peppermint bark tutorial is coming tomorrow!)  Please, help yourself.

This is our tree.  I suppose it would make sense for me to act like I held the camera in such a way and that the tree only looks like it’s leaning except that would not be truthful.  The tree is leaning.  I don’t know why.  I do not care.

Our little fireplace with our four (and a half) stockings.

Everybody needs mistletoe.  (maybe even year round?)

The Nativity.

The outdoors.  (a snippet, at least.)  I would show you the whole house except I had just changed into my pajamas when I remembered to take photos so you know, it’s cold out and I have no bra on and also I don’t want to be the crazy, weird neighbor who takes photos of her house at night in her pajamas.

Just a stigma I’m trying to avoid.  So, I stayed on the porch.

This wreath reads “blessings.”

Can you smell it?  Man I love Christmas candles.

And finally.  WE ARE BELIEVING.

I hope you enjoyed this simple tour – I am wishing you and your family a very, very Happy Holiday!  And thank you to so many of you, for blessing me everyday with just your presence on this blog.  Wishing you only the best.

(Click to see more tours)

There is this super cool and well organized (I love organization) auction going on to support my friend, Anissa and also The Liz Logelin Foundation.  I’ve started bidding and it’s excited to me because the items available are awesome and also?  The proceeds go to help some awesome, awesome people.  To get more details…visit Steph’s blog.  And if you bid or win something, tell me so I can ooh and aaah with you.

(by the way, Erin, Crooked Eyebrow and I are in a very intense bidding war and it’s very fun, especially knowing the proceeds are going to something so important.)

I posted over here today, so if you read it, you know, feel free to leave a comment.  You guys have been so silent over there.  What’s up with that?

On Monday, The Nester is hosting this year’s Christmas Tour of Homes (formerly hosted by BooMama.)  This will be my THIRD year participating.  How is that even possible?  Check out the details and I hope you invite us into YOUR home!  (I love seeing the insides of people’s homes…just so you know.)

And finally, I’ll be pretty post heavy on this blog over the next days, so scroll down and reach through, could be as many as two posts per day!

A post about handmade holiday gift giving “Beth-style” will be up tonight and You Capture will be up tomorrow morning…

Last night, my dear friend Anissa had a stroke.  We met through blogging, she lives in Georgia and through my darkest days after losing James and Jake…Anissa was with me, leaving me comments and sending me emails.  I often marveled at the fact that Anissa always said just the thing I needed to hear on that day.

And here I sit…speechless.

This isn’t her first struggle in her life, she’s so strong.  In 2005, she suffered her first stroke, she recovered and then her daughter, Petyon, was diagnosed with cancer.

Anissa is strength.

And Anissa is hilarious.  Truly one of the funniest people, one of the best writers in the blogosphere, probably one of the best huggers I have ever encountered and certainly one of the brightest lights in life for so many of us.

Anissa needs your prayers.  Please close your eyes and send a prayer to God for Anissa and her health, for the team of doctors working on her as she lies in the ICU, I need you to pray for strength for her husband and her three beautiful children.

If you’d like to contribute to her family in the form of gift cards for food, gas, etc. a P.O. Box has been set up, please, if you can…contribute.

She’s a Mom…just.like.YOU.

860 Johnson Ferry Road 140-184
Atlanta, GA 30342

Romans 12:12  Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

And so I shall.

Now, before you watch these, please remember how much I despise myself in video.  DESPISE.  Actually, it’s also like a fear of mine, or something, I can’t describe but it’s not good.  Not good at all.  So, please be kind and maybe don’t even pay attention to me.  Maybe pay attention to the incredible design team and their unbelievable talent they possess and also don’t forget to pay very close attention to all of the awesomeness they put into my house.

These videos knock my socks off.

Thank you, Kmart, for choosing me for this opportunity.  I’m a lucky, lucky girl.  (if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll answer in a separate post.)

Speaking of Lovelyn, she has a new style of shirt for sale in many different colors.  It’s so soft and it’s pretty, too.  (I’m wearing one right now.  I swear!  I am!)

Don’t forget, if you buy one, take a photo of yourself in it and send it to me at foldinglaundry AT gmail DOT com.  That’s an order, man.  So far the response has been huge.  HUGE!  Let’s keep that support rolling in and feel free to continue to tell your readers/facebook friends/twitter followers all about her cause.

Also, I posted over here today…

That is all.  Carry on.

*Please forgive ALL OF THE CAPITAL LETTERS.

*My Mom is celebrating her 100th post with a giveaway.  *sniff*  Seems like only yesterday that she starting blogging.  She’s growing up so quickly.  Go there and celebrate with her.

*While in Minneapolis, Stephanie and I had the pleasure to sit down with Heather of the EO and have dinner.  It was HIGH-LAR-EE-US.  We laughed until we cried and I don’t say that often, so I mean it.    I met Heather at Blogher and fell in love with her.  Her only downfall is that she lives in Minneapolis and not next door to me.  But she makes up for it with her cute accent, I’m serious.  It’s cute.  Anyway, she wrote this post that I love.  You should read it and then you should read Heather forever and ever and ever.  AMEN.

*This week is going to be an exciting week here on I Should Be Folding Laundry.  So, check back…you won’t be disappointed.  And if you are, then you are evil and you must be destroyed.

*What movie is that last line from?  Anyone?

*Okay, so maybe it won’t be that exciting.  If you are not so eager to check back, that’s okay.

*It’s will be a little bit exciting.

*Okay.  Forget I said anything.  I would never come back if I were you.

I’ve been kicking around for over a year now, using their real names and at first Brian was all “I don’t think so.“  And I was all “okay.“  And then a few months later I brought it up again to him and he said “I don’t think it matters, just use their real names.“  And he said it sort of like I was dumb and I was like “but, er…what…wait…last time I asked you you said ‘I don’t think so’ and now you are don’t care?“  And he replied with something like “yeah, have you forgotten that I don’t care about these things?”

So, then it was all on me and I waited and waited and then I decided but couldn’t figure out when or how and then yesterday I started writing that post about my beautiful, amazing, smart, loving children and how could I not use their names?

It feels so right.

The artists formerly known as Ariel and Racecar.

Anna and Noah.

{I’m considering watermarking my photos that I put on my blog, but I can’t decide if it’s too annoying or not.  Thoughts?}

***

In other business, my friend Lovelyn wrote this post and I love it.  Maybe read it, k?

And I wrote a post over here about the kids going back to school THIS WEDNESDAY, maybe read it, k?

***

This is Natalie.  Natalie is yet another wonderful person who happens to blog and who lives in our area.  That baby she’s holding is actually Erin’s baby, Tommy.  You remember, Tommy, right?  He’s the baby that shot out of his Mom’s vagina while on her stairs?  Anyway, Natalie and Tommy met the other night when we all had dinner at Red Robin.

A few weeks ago, Natalie had a miscarriage.  I cried so hard when I read that news, my heart broke into a million little pieces.  She’s doing really well and has a great attitude and is just so full of love, but man, I think she could still use some encouragement and love if you have some to spare.  I mean, can anyone feel TOO much love?  No way.  (believe me, I KNOW THIS, thanks to you.)

***

We have a busy week ahead with school starting and school starting and then school starting.  So, I’ll be around here and there, but I really want to eat up these last few days with these kids of mine before they take this giant leap into going to school ALL DAY LONG, the first time for both of them, leaving their Mom at home to be not just a Mom but a Mom and Beth again.  It’s going to be weird.  But, when they are so excited about it, how can I not be excited with them?

Just because you go to a conference and you have a camera doesn’t mean you need to always put yourself in the shots because in the end your shots will be ruined because you either talk while someone is taking your photo or you blink or you look like you are going to eat someone.  (seriously, why so eager?)

Love,
Beth

Now that that is out of the way, I wanted to share with you some of my friends that I met at Blogher.  Blogging is a beautiful thing, you create these relationships on-line where you share your life honestly (hopefully), you read about others and their struggles with life, you relate, you share, you create a friendship.

And for me?  People helped me and loved me during the darkest days of my life.  I met so many who have affected me more than they could ever know.  My only wish is that I could have met more of you.  Anytime someone approached me and said “Beth!  I read your blog!”  I would be like “Really?  Because now I want to lick your face and hug you and talk about us forever and ever!  LET’S TAKE A PHOTO, WITH ME IN IT, OF COURSE!”

Fortunately, that hardly happened so there wasn’t much face licking.  But dangit, when it did happen, I loved it so much.

It happened here with Rita.  I licked her face.  We weren’t good photo mates because when I took a good photo, she was talking and vice versa, so I’ll just show both to you.  She’s wonderful and beautiful.

And then I met Zakary.  She was the first person I met.  I know what you are thinking and you’re right, she does look just like Kyra Sedgewick and when we were checking in right next to each other, I did not look at her and internally freakout that “KRYA SEDGEWICK WAS CHECKING IN RIGHT NEXT TO ME!!  WHERE IS KEVIN BACON?!”  Nope, not me.  *cough*

But instead, it was Zak and that made me so happy because I really LOVE her.

And then I met Amalah and then I passed out and I remember nothing past that moment.

Why?  Why Beth?  Why must you be in EVERY.SINGLE.PHOTO?  And apparently I was very thirsty.

Oh look, here’s a shot without me, what do you know?  This is Erin and Alice.  I ADORE Erin and Alice.  Erin, Sarah and Stephanie and I walked one mile to Anthropologie and a mile back.  It was a highlight of  the weekend.

And then I met the Justices from MamaLaw.  Justice Fergie and I have been blogging together since we were blogging babies and then she was pregnant when I was pregnant with James and Jake and she had a little boy and we are so connected I could cry thinking about it.  And when we met?  There were tears and it was so unbelievably beautiful and memorable, I will carry that moment with me in my pocket forever.

And Justice Jonesie is on the right and is the most beautiful jerk EVER.  (she’s not a jerk, she’s awesome, but she’s so beautiful that she’s a jerk.  Got it?)  They are putting a conference together this fall which I think is incredible and I’m so proud of them.

That’s all I have for now, but there are more…so many more!  (hopefully not so many of me and my VERY SHINY FACE.)  KBYE.

One more note:  I loved Blogher and I think you should go in 2010, despite the swag issues.

________________

Once again, I want to give HUGE, MASSIVE PROPS to Snapfish for sponsoring part of my trip to Blogher.  I have some really, really cool giveaways coming up from Snapfish.  Be on the lookout!

Swag was given in multiple venues, some at parties, some brought to your room, in the Expo room where the sponsors had booths set up and then again once you registered.

I saw greed.  So much greed that it made me sick to my stomach.  I understand that getting free stuff is awesome because it is, I mean, the first party I attended I walked out with a free pair of Crocs and a Kodak HD pocket video camera, in pink, no less.  Among many, many other goodies.

But I walked out happily and grateful with these items, I didn’t yell at party planners, scream, stomp my feet or push anyone to obtain these items.

The first party was the BlogLuxe party where they announced the winners of the Social Luxe awards.  It was an awesome party.  Free food, drinks, manicures, pedicures, great music, it was a fun, vibrant, hip party.

I worked with one of the organizers because she hired me to photograph the event for two hours, I saw first hand how hard each of the organizers worked to make the event the success that it was.  I know for a fact they worked for months planning this event with Swiffer.

But a small dark cloud hung over the atmosphere because some attendees, attendees who were attending this party for free, were stealing extra swag bags.  Women were in the lobby yelling at the young girls who were working the booth because there was no more swag available.  Honestly, it was horrifying, it was embarrassing.

Unfortunately, this behavior continued through much of the conference.

We are not entitled to free stuff, companies have faith in US as writers to accept their products and be smart with what is GIFTED TO US.

It is my opinion, that the only swag that should have been guaranteed is the swag that was offered by Blogher when you registered and I only I feel this way because registration cost an attendee $300.  Unfortunately, one of my friends arrived a few hours late because her son wasn’t feeling well and she walked away without her bag of swag from Blogher.  Probably because someone grabbed one too many or someone who didn’t register took one.

We bloggers are a representation of each other, many of us work hard to gain integrity and trust when working with corporations, we want to maintain professionalism when dealing with large companies such as Tide, Swiffer, PepsiCo, etc.

And when it comes to the smaller companies, I think it’s important that bloggers can make them feel certain that their smaller PR/marketing budget will be put to good use when working with the strong presence of women bloggers.

I understand that when we register for this conference we are under the assumption that swag will be given to us and that is why many of individuals opt to attend.  But maybe instead of running through the conference trying to GRAB AS MUCH AS WE CAN CARRY, we just accept was is available and just be grateful.

And I’m not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, I’m just wishing some people behaved differently.  It scares that if mothers are behaving this way, what are we teaching our children?

I’m frustrated that so much greed existed.  I’m sad for the party planners because some attendees walked into the parties and walked out thirty seconds later with their swag bags in hand.

It’s not about the swag and I’m frustrated that right now, the Blogher buzz is about the swag. (I realize that by me writing this post, I am just adding to this problem, I’m torn on publishing, I honestly am.)

I know that the majority of the attendees were kind, honest, patient people who really just wanted to meet their online community and take what they could from the sessions.

I met so many amazing people, both bloggers and individuals from PR firms and I swear to you, that TRUMPS any swag I may have received.