misspriss.org

All right people. Here’s the deal. The word “nobel” is pronounced no-BELL. Got it? NO-buhl is spelled like this: noble.

Nobel = no-BELL

Noble = NO-buhl

Now, if you would pass that along to all of the San Diego bus drivers that would be greeeeaaaaat.

Yes, I am going to BlogHer this year. I’m also hoping to do some live blogging while I’m there. Taking my trusty little powerbook and hoping to find some interesting sessions to write about. Well, I know they are all interesting to someone. There’s a lot to choose from! My challenge is finding something that engages me, that fuels my imagination and rekindles my love of blogging.  I’ve been trying to post more frequently, and will continue to do so. I’m trying to find my voice, that place that works for me, in this space. What do I want to be my focus? Should there be a focus? What do I want to write about? What stories can I tell that aren’t the same old boring things? How do I keep from being boring?

There’s so much more to BlogHer though. It’s the women. I met some great ladies last year. I’m looking forward to seeing them again, feeling like part of a bigger group. But I’m also ready to meet some new women. Make some new friends. Maybe befriend some first-timers, and pass on the kindnesses that I experienced last year.

And there may be a lot of belly rubbing involved. I’m not sure at this point. But there will probably be a bunch of squeeing and “good to see you’s” and LOTS of hugs. And pictures. Oh, lordy, the pictures! Stay tuned for hijinx and photographic evidence.

Having a really crappy last two days. My allergies are murder. I’ll be going along fine, and then suddenly get a terrible sinus headache and uncontrollable sneezing. This can go on for hours. It’s absolutely miserable.

And then I had a breakdown this morning because I’m feeling so poorly right now. Have I mentioned that pregnancy hormones are a SKEEVY HOOR? Because they are. Totally.

I need some pampering or some me-time, or something. Maybe the movies this weekend will take my mind off of stuff (i.e., too much to do, too little time).

A month or two back, I participated in a fundraiser over at Chris’ blog for Heather, who has cancer. Heather’s story, and especially her faith, really touched me. If you aren’t reading Heather’s site (or Chris’ for that matter), check it out.

So I was entered in a contest and I won something! This rarely happens to me. I might win once every 5 years or so. Maybe. But this time, I was lucky. Not only did I win, I got a couple of fabulous gifts courtesy of Cool Mom Picks. Even more perfect, they are gifts for moms. And I hadn’t announced my pregnancy yet, so it was kinda neat that the prize was so fitting for me.

I won a mommy pampering kit from Zen Momma. There was a sugar scrub, some bug spray, and some breast exam oil, to name a few of the goodies. And I also got a cool diaper bag from Oyikes. And it’s purple, which is totally up my alley:

I’m pretty sure I’ll get a lot of use out of that. And it was one of the first baby items I received. I still haven’t bought anything – feeling a little superstitious still about buying things, even though there’s no real reason for it. I’d rather wait until the last month or so.

A big thanks to Chris for starting the thread on the donations for Heather, and to Cool Mom Picks for the prize donation. If you’re looking for cool & interesting gifts for a mom in your life, go and check them out.

We had a couple of new additions to our household over the weekend. I think they are rapidly becoming the boss of us.

Simply adorable. And fun. And into everything. I wonder how much chaos there will be when I get home from work today? Oh boy.

The kittens will be old enough to be perfectly fine when the baby comes. In the meantime, two will keep each other company when we can’t be home. Of course, two can also cause twice the havoc that one can. But I’m quite glad to have kitties in my life again. I had to leave mine when I moved to San Diego. And I’ve missed having cats ever since.

So, welcome to the family, babies! We’ll get you proper names… eventually.

I use Twitter occasionally. I’m certainly not on there all the time, but I have fun checking it out once in a while. There are people I know, people I’ve met, and others I wouldn’t know if I bumped into them on the street. Yet it’s fascinating in some ways, seeing what people will post about what’s going on at that moment.

This morning, though, is another story. I logged on to see this from one of my contacts, from Saturday night:  “looking up lethal overdose of the drugs in my house. i just feel…done.” And then, when I go to check the rest of her posts, I find that her husband posted – she’s in the hospital. I haven’t logged in since early Friday. What would I have done if I had seen that Saturday night? Would I have taken it seriously? This isn’t the first time she’s tried this. I wish I knew what to say at this point. I’m just so sad for her & her family.

Godspeed, girl. You’re in my prayers.

There are many things I would like to be doing today. Office work is not one of them.

Happy Friday.

Dear Geico,

Your commercials aren’t funny anymore. They used to be amusing, but the gecko and the cavemen have run their course. They have reached the point of annoying. Please find a new gimmick. Maybe you need a new ad agency. Call me.

Love, Me

PS) The only caveman commercial that’s remotely NOT annoying is the one in the airport. You know why? Because no one speaks. And it doesn’t go on just 5 seconds too long with some inane and unrelated piece at the end (like the therapist commercial – his mother is calling? speakerphone? WTF?!).

My allergies are back in force this week. I had about a two week respite, which was nice. And now, I’m miserable again. This sucks. Sudafed just gives me dry mouth and makes me feel crappy. I’m not supposed to take anything else. What’s a girl to do?

I worked on my freelance site before I went to bed, trying to figure out how to format the home page, what links to have, and what services to list.

Apparently I was thinking quite hard on this, even as my eyes drooped from tiredness. I put my computer away and got ready to sleep, still thinking a bit about the site. And then I dreamed about it all night long.

The words services, portfolio, writing, business writer, terms, fees, and samples danced in my head. They weren’t nearly as entertaining as visions of sugarplums, let me tell you that.

Clearly, I need to finish this up so I can move on to getting some additional work. At least if I’m thinking of a piece of writing, I might compose it in my sleep. Unless I can convince the dancing sugarplums to stick around. Of course, with my luck, I’d wake up with a toothache.

(cross posted from my writing site)