After being in the big city of New York, home in Suburbia seems a little, well, boring.  It is indeed true what they say that New York is the city that never sleeps.  And apparently BeachMama had a hard time sleeping in the big city.  I am not sure if it was being away from my family or just the noises everywhere (car horns go all night long) but I did not get my best sleep while in New York and I was never so thankful for my own quiet bedroom as I was last night.

I have been trying to decide what to write almost all day.  I have done laundry, wrote a few lines, made lunch, wrote a few lines and downloaded pictures then wrote a few lines.  Then it all didn’t make sense so I started all over again.

I went to BlogHer and I loved it.  My partner in crime and roomie, A Crafty Mom made it to NYC only to come down with a tummy bug that saw her spend a day and a half sleeping it off in bed. I would have rather that hadn’t happened so I could say that the trip was perfect from beginning to end, but it did and we have to acknowledge it.  We did agree that it was probably the best place to be for her to get sick as she could spend the day and a half in bed getting better instead of trying to take care of her children while sick.

While A Crafty Mom was getting better, my other roomie, Barbara, was helping me get around NYC and keeping me encouraged to do stuff by myself.  I had registered for the BlogHer 5k Tutus for Tanner along with A Crafty Mom and thought about bailing out.  Why would I run around NYC by myself in a tutu? Why?  Because I can and Tanner can’t. That is why. With everything that went wrong for Tanner to make it NYC, surely I could put on my running shoes and run around the streets of Manhattan with my tutu flying in the breeze.  Shannon was live Tweeting the run, so she caught me bright and early in my tutu.

I made it.  Imagine that. I am almost 40 years old and I managed to run a 5km square through Manhattan with strangers staring, laughing and me singing, taking pictures and crying.  Yes, crying.  Running is emotional and when you do it for someone else that makes it worse.  Add to that I was tired and the song “Forever Young” by Alphaville started playing as I was pushing the last few blocks. It was all I could do to not break down and sob.

With the run behind me it was officially time to start attending BlogHer.  I made it to the opening speeches and the first round of sessions and was having a great time.  I did expect a little more from the opening, a chance to meet others or something, but we were a large group so there were other ways to get out and meet others that I had to make use of.  The sessions I attended were great.

After listening to others talk about their experiences, good and bad, I have come to the conclusion that BlogHer gives you what you want to take out of it.  I went there with very little expectations.  I have a teeny tiny blog, it isn’t even small to me, just teeny tiny and all I wanted was to either confirm what I was doing was right or should I be moving in a different direction.  And that is what I got.  I got to hear others share in their experiences of writing, photography, small blogs, fitness blogs, environment and activism.  And all of it was great.  Even if all I took away was that I was doing the right thing,  I am happy.

I did not go to Blogher expecting to walk away with sponsors or book deals or even to be recognized. I went for the community and the sharing and that is exactly what I got. Were there sponsors onsite? Sure, did I talk to any, nope.  Did I try, nope. I went to a few parties and built more of my community and it was fantastic.

Was I recognized?  You bet. I met two fabulous ladies whom I have known for a few years now, Emily and Cooper from the Motherhood.  We tweeted with each other and Emily was certain we would meet, I on the other hand wondered.  Then I stepped into a very full elevator and who was right in front of me?  Emily.  And we were going to the same floor.  After years of emailing and talking through blogs and comments I got to give them hugs and share for a few minutes.  And that for me, was fabulous.

I also got to meet Kathy Buckworth, whom I did a book review for and that was really lovely as we were dancing it up on the dance floor and I saw her and knew I just had to say hi as we had tweeted that we should meet up at some point there.  I ran into Erica and Sharon from the Yummy Mummy Club, whom I had met at Winterlude. And Candace from Best Tools whom I volunteered with at the Food Bank. It was a little like a reunion of sorts, but a good reunion, not an old High School reunion.

I also got to meet another special lady, but I must include a photo and really it is a post of its own so I will save that for tomorrow.

So yes, I loved BlogHer10.  I loved the women that made it wonderful for me Shannon, Lara, Brie, Barbara, Shannon, Andrea, Julie, Sherrie and Cheri-Lynn.  And a huge shout out to Chevrolet and Adria for making out drive there and back quite lovely in our fabulous Chevrolet Equinox for our #ChevyBlogHer Roadtrip.

And yes, I would love to attend BlogHer11 in San Diego next year.

There are two things I love about Summer.  Ok, more than two.  So, there are two things that make it feel like Summer even when Summer is officially a month away. Setting up the pool and a heat wave.

The key is to keep both the heat and the pool functioning for the next three months and I am a happy camper.  If the heat wave breaks and we get rain for two months like last year, I may head South.  I can’t do two wet summers in a row.  So for now we are enjoying everything there is to enjoy about hot stiffling heat, swimming in the pool, sitting outside, cooking outside, playing outside.  Basically not being in the house.  We love it, our grass not so much, but it will come back…

Someone you can count on anytime anywhere.

Someone you can laugh with and someone you can cry with.

Someone who knows when you just need a cuddle or a hug.  And someone who knows when to leave you alone.

Someone who will make your favorite dinner on your birthday.

Someone who will back you up when times get rough.

Someone who is not afraid to tell you as it is.

I have been a Mom now for fifteen years. And I can’t thank my Mom enough for giving me the guidance I needed to be a Mom to a child that I didn’t give birth to.  A may not be my birth child, but it didn’t make it any less different for me, I still love him with all my heart.  The hardest thing about being a Mom in this way was that I had to send him back home to his birth mother after only a few days together.  And fifteen years later, it doesn’t get any easier.

Being a Mom to my own two children is the most amazing thing in the world.  And I don’t have to send them anywhere at the end of the day, except their own beds.  Perhaps this is why I have such a hard time with the idea of leaving the kids and going away, I never want to leave my kids.

I started writing this post for LouLou’s Mother’s Day Giveaway, but I simple ran out of time to finish.  But, I had to finish.  I had to show you why it is all so worth it. Every tear, all the sweat, all the cuddles, all the laundry.  Everything, is just so worth it to get to spend time with these two.

I love being a Mom.

I am so excited about the Entrepreneurial Moms Launch coming up next week I just had to share.  So far in Ottawa we have not had anything like this where we can come together to learn and share about being a Mom and an Entrepreneur. This is our chance.

Entrepreneurial Moms started in Calgary and is now growing at an alarming rate. Here is a little blurb from their site that says it better than I ever could.

Entrepreneurial Moms of Ottawa recognizes that an Entrepreneurial Mom is a multi-faceted, dynamic woman whose priorities are many and whose time is precious.We acknowledge that an entrepreneurial mom’s business success is intricately dependent upon a few fundamental aspects of her life being functional, healthy, and, ideally, thriving.We discovered on our journey of connecting and supporting Entrepreneurial Moms that the fantastic women we honour so much actually place as much value on other facets of their lives as they do on their entrepreneurial success.What makes Entrepreneurial Moms unique, it seems, is a statistically significant sentiment that while business is important it isn’t everything, and it alone does not complete us.

For the Launch next Wednesday, January 20th (7pm Lagos Bar and Grill, Dows Lake Pavillion) we will get the opportunity to hear Erin Blaskie speak about Social Media and how to use it to our advantage.  I can’t wait to hear her speak as she is truly an inspiration to anyone who is considering running their own business.

In addition I missed Janet McCausland and Caroline Mehdi (Co-Directors of the Ottawa Chapter) when they were interviewed on CBC Radio on Monday with regards to the launch.  I was however, able to get the sound bite, so if you missed it and would like the opportunity to hear it click here .

I look forward to meeting more Mom Entrepreneurs from Ottawa next week.

*I am not affiliated with Entrepreneurial Moms, I just love the concept and am very excited to be involved with such a wonderful group of women.

 And all this H1N1 stuff just fits in with that soliloquy.  Do you or don’t you get the shot.  There are pros and cons to both and for the most part we were waiting.  We have discussed with our Doctor and were going to wait.

Hubby is in Vancouver this week and when we were chatting on the phone last night he asked how J was doing with his fear of H1N1.  I told him it was pretty much the same, he cries when the news comes on, he cried on Monday when I was feeling like I was hit by a truck, basically the boy is living in fear of dying from the flu.  So when Dani sent an email out last night and told some of us that her whole family got the shot yesterday and that it was quite a painless process at Walter Baker Hubby asked me to go.

We are usually on the same page when it comes to parenting and shots and when we aren’t Hubby usually lets me decide.  But, this time he asked. You know when your Husband does one of those rare things and asks you to do something that you are not sure about, it almost solidifies it in your mind.  As much as I am still not 100% on board with this vaccine I now feel like the decision was taken out of my hands.  Hubby works with Emergency and Pandemic preparedness in Ottawa, he worked at the Hospital when SARS happened and all through this he never thought we needed to do anything different or get any shots.  We don’t even get the annual flu shot now that he is no longer at the Hospital.  So when he asked me to take the kids and get our shots today, I was not going to argue.  In his mind, this H1N1  thing is bigger than what we know.  I am not sure if I agree yet, but if he thinks so then who am I to say?

We picked up our bracelets at 9am this morning and were told to come back at 4:15pm.  Will see how the afternoon plays out, but it sure seems like who ever is running things at Walter Baker, knows exactly what they are doing and should possibly be running all of the clinics in the city.

*William Shakespeare.  Hamlet, Act Three Scene One.

Today if fun for me for a few reasons. First, and most importantly, J rode his bike to school. This is a huge accomplishment. J has never been very fond of bicycles much to Hubby and I’s dismay. He has two trikes, and three two wheelers that were handed down from his Brother, A, just waiting to be riden. So far Apple has ridden his trike more than he has/had.

Up until yesterday, his training wheels still made his bike wobble all the way down the street. I asked my girlfriend if I could try her son’s old trainers, perhaps they are stronger than the ones we had. I put them on yesterday morning and J hopped on his bike after school. As he was riding down the street without any help from me he was cheering himself on yelling, “Yippee, Yahoo!”. Then, he declared he could ride to his buddy’s house no problem. I was a happy Mom.

When J asked to ride his bike to school this morning, I was skeptical. I had visions of tears, and me walking the bike and frustrations. But, he promised to make it all the way to school. And when we were almost there I said, “J, I thought for sure you would be crying by now.” His response was, “me too.”

*edited to add: I tried to upload a video, but it messes up my whole page.  If anyone can share tips with me on uploading videos, I would much appreciate it. 

My second reason for a fun Friday is that I have my second wedding shoot tomorrow so I am gearing up and very, very excited. Last time I was a little nervous, the bride had never had photos of her turn out but, knowing how much she loved them and loved having me there, has given me that extra bit of encouragement that I needed for tomorrow. I have had this wedding booked since last August so I am been going over it in my mind again and again. I just hope it turns out as well as I have wanted it to.

While getting my gear ready, I have been wishing that I had purchased a ShootSac by Jessica Claire. I have been coveting the ShootSac for a while now, but just can’t seem to be able to justify the price tag, yet. For now I use my trusty rolling suitcase. In the suitcase are two camera bags (You must have a backup when shooting a wedding), my reflector kit, my flash kit, extra batteries, extra memory cards, chargers, just in case, shooting notes and contact numbers. I may bring along another shoulder bag and pretend it’s a real ShootSac, fill it with my lenses and flash and what not that I need to carry around and leave the bigger bag in the truck. I will decide sometime tomorrow morning, I am sure.

And my last reason Friday is fun for me this week is that for my Fit-in 15 we put on the Wii and bowled a few frames. Again, we lasted longer than 15 minutes, but we had fun and got some exercise, not something I usually do on a Friday afternoon.

Taken from Random.org the winner is comment #5, Chantal!

Chantal Says:
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:53 am edit

Pretty much the only exercise I do is running. I wonder if those bands might help me incorporate some strength. Thanks Anna!

Congratulations Chantal, you have won this set, I will be contacting you shortly on how to claim your prize.

Random Sequence Generator

Here is your sequence:

5
6
3
1
4
2
7

Timestamp: 2009-04-24 14:11:54 UTC

First of all, I would like to put out a Thank you to all that responded to my previous post requesting Mom’s to be and Babies, I had a wonderful response and am set for building my portfolio.  Thank you so much.

Second.  And this is very, very important to read.  I am in no way a Doctor or Physical Trainer.  I am going to share with you my thoughts and ideas about how to get into shape again.  I strongly advise consulting a medical professional prior to starting any workout routine as well as a professional trainer.  I am in no way responsible for any injury you may sustain from trying any of my suggestions.  Ok, now that the legalities are out of the way, I shall start.

Workout Wednesday.

I have been working on working out for sometime now and I will admit, I am not motivated to keep going.  Ack! there I admitted it.  I go good for a couple of weeks then I get tired, go off it and get back on again.  This is no way to workout.  After chatting with Kami (go and check out her abs in her last post, can you say hot Mama?  If that doesn’t inspire you, then, well I don’t know) last week about how to stay motivated, she offered for me to report back to her every week on my progress.  Great idea!  Then I had this other idea, why don’t I do a segment once a week where I tell you what I did this past week and give you some of the tips I have learned over the years.

Welcome to my gym.  Ok, now you are all thinking I am crazy.  I have a gym in my house and I don’t workout every single day of my life?!  Yes.  It is crazy.  Hubby has always been a weights kind of guy and I have always been an aerobics kind of gal.  When we were doing our basement reno we made sure we could incorporate both of our workouts in one space.  The only thing missing is a tv, and that is in the other room where the treadmill is.

Two summers ago, I couldn’t stand my flabby abs anymore and although I could run like the wind, my belly was driving me crazy.  That and I was dealing with miscarriage after miscarriage and I needed something to make me feel better. So I hired a personal trainer to come to my house and develop a plan for me to do here at home.  She was wonderful.  A little pricey, which is why I don’t keep her on staff (just kidding, I don’t have any staff) but, I had her check in on my progress every six months.  I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to get a program going whether it’s at home or at a gym.

My trainer developed three programs for me. One long one that takes about forty minutes, a shorter twenty minute higher intensity workout and a circuit where you just go go go until you drop for thirty minutes.  Her programs are great.  Almost every move she picked for me I can get from a magazine, but it is the combination that made the biggest difference.  The papers hanging on the wall in the above photo are the programs she developed.

My programs do not use any machines at all.  I use free weights, resistance bands, my big pink ball, the bench (but a chair or stair would do) and my own body weight.  Once I get going and maintain my routine, we will add a few medicine balls and a bosu ball (which is half a big ball on a board).

 I do use the treadmill, and alternate one day of aerobic exercise and one day of weights, with the seventh day to rest.

 We also have a bike, that I used to use a lot, but haven’t lately, mostly because I have to move it out into the room and then back but, that is sheer laziness talking so I guess I should try to incorporate it more into my routines.

And last of all, measurements.  Everything in working out is measured.  Start off my measuring your arms, legs, waist, bust, hips.  Write it down with the date and tuck it away.  After working out for a couple of weeks we will measure again to see our improvements.  While working out measurements come in when you are counting reps, steps and choosing weights.

And this my friends is an introduction to Workout Wednesday.  Since I have not workout out at all this past week, except for my twice daily walks to school for J, due to a disaster of a cold that  just won’t leave my head I am simply giving you and intro to the room.  Next, week I will report back the workouts I did and how incredibly sore I am .  And maybe if you are really lucky a before picture.

A friend of my Sister’s entered a short film in Project Direct on You Tube. They pulled this film together in a very short time (a month I think) and did a great job. It was filmed in and around Charlotte, North Carolina and no, my Sister is not in the Movie, shucks. The winner gets to have their film shown at Sundance Film Festival.They were chosen as one of the ten finalists. So in the spirit of the season, if you feel so inclined, would you mind dropping by You Tube and casting a vote their way?Thank you.

Not to be biased, but I think it is fantastic.

I thought I would put up a placeholder post, as I am so swamped with meeting some Holiday deadlines that I don’t have time to prepare a proper post.  It isn’t that I haven’t been thinking of blogging, it is just that I need to finish a couple of projects for this weekend and of course what happens when you get a deadline, you have the busiest week in years.

Lots going on, that I hope to post about after the delivery guy picks up the parcel, a little list to give you an idea

• Handmade Christmas Update
• Slipcovering a chair, my love hate relationship with slipcovers
• Baking for Hubby’s work, yes baking
• Neil Young, still ‘Rockin’ to the Free World’ at 63.
• Our visit with Santa

Just to name a few.   I will be dropping by to see you all very, very soon.