Archive for the ‘parties’ tag
What I Learned This Year, 5th Ed.
1. Keep steadfast in your hunt for the perfect purse. It will be worth it in the end.
2. If you don’t read the paper, cancel your subscription.
3. Irish car bombs are fun! But only once.
4. Meeting people in real life from flickr is fun and not creepy! (Happy anniversary, G!)
5. You have to let bread rise twice, or it won’t be as pretty. If you can’t wait, though, it’ll still taste good having risen only once. Also, if you need it to keep for several days, undercook it a little bit. When you’re ready for a slice, cut off your slightly doughy portion and finish it in the toaster over. Fresh bread for days! Make sure you keep it wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, though, or it will mold.
6. Tow truck drivers really do say “ten four!”
7. Seriously, don’t buy hard to register cars, like, say, vintage Volkswagons you can’t drive. Really. Really. Just don’t.
8. I build pretty snazzy shelves!
9. It’s fun to get up the day after Thanksgiving if you have fun guys to hang out with. And totally worth it if you want to score a Wii.
10. Speaking of Wii’s, you really do need to respect that they are “physical activity”.
11. I don’t need an expensive bed.
12. I don’t need two Thanksgiving dinners.
13. Photography is not too hard to learn. You should get a book, though, to help.
14. To clean vomited calamari out of your car: 1. Make your husband do it. 2. Be smug in the fact that you have something with which to mock certain friends with for a good long while.
15. There are a lot of REALLY amazing people in Puerto Rico who will help you should you find a dirty hurt dog and want to adopt them.
16. Dogs > diamonds.
17. 50mm lenses are AWESOME!
18. The iPhone is NOT over-hyped. It is awesome.
19. The only marriage anyone should ever have an opinion on is their own.
20. Rainbow Christmas > White Christmas.
21. Bringing your own shopping bags to the grocery store isn’t too hard once you get into the habit, and so much nicer than lugging gross, bad-for-the-earth plastic bags that cut into your hands.
22. When you are too sick to decorate your Christmas tree, it is wonderful to have friends come over and do it for you.
23. When you are part of a family, you can make up silly phrases, words, and songs and then use them on a regular basis. (In our family, some of them are, “Happy Dog Face”, “Happy Dog Foot”, “Uncertain Foot”, “Kind Words”, “Furminating”, “Snearaly”, “Sweetie Ears” and “Puppy Pile”. Also, the “Mountain Laurel Song” and the Song for Chubby Dogs.)
24. Rob and I have nearly the same political views. I honestly didn’t check before I married him, but I’m glad that worked out.
25. Bring your camera everywhere.
26. You can’t split a White Castle Crave Case three ways without risking a horrible stomach ache.
27. I learned a lot about the real estate and geography of western Brooklyn. In fact, I’m pretty much an expert on western Brooklyn neighborhoods.
28. Keep your eye on Tino. He’ll escape.
29. Ask tons of “stupid” questions if you’re confused about your health insurance. It will save you hundreds of dollars.
30. Dogs get colds! Who knew?!
31. Peeps are fun!
32. The dogs like goldfish, and so do I.
33. My husband makes breakfast in bed for me on my birthday. SCORE!
34. Good photography comes from the heart and soul and eyes. It does not come from the camera.
35. If you’re feeling blue, throw a dinner party with true friends who don’t care that you threw it together last minute. It will be good for your soul.
36. Margarine is the devil.
37. It’s ok to make $350,000 impulse purchases for sentimental reasons. Wait, hang on, this one I’m not sure about yet.
38. Ehhhhhh, you can cut your own hair. Well, I can.
39. If you have no dishwasher, you need to just buckle down and handwash on a regular basis, otherwise you will be stuck with Mount Dishmore.
40. Podcamp people are cool.
41. Living in Brooklyn suits me.
Amber at PodCamp?
“Podcamp” is the dorkiest sounding name for an event that I can think of, and when I first heard it, as in, “I’m going to Podcamp, honey!”, I rolled my eyes at Rob, gave him my wifely, “Have a good time, dear.”, and wrote it off as One Of Those Internet Things He Does.
He went to a few, including some overnight, and I figured he was learning, making connections and having a good time doing something that I would never be involved with.
Then he went to Podcamp held in Phillidephia right after we moved to Brooklyn. PCPhilly was a two-night event, and while he was gone everything fell apart at home. The details are unimportant, but it was the collective experience of all of the hard parts of adulthood needing ATTENTION! and SIGNATURES! and the lawyer-landlord-mortgage-insurance swirl of events that you’re allowed to ignore when you’re a kid piling on all at once. I couldn’t deal by myself and he came home early because I had reached my breaking point and he’s the best fucking husband ever.
To make it up to him, I offered to go to “his dorky event” for its second day, so he wouldn’t have to drive the hour or so back to Philly by himself. I figured I would find SOMEthing to do while he went to events all day, but when I saw the names of some of the sessions, I realized that some of them, one in particular, sounded REALLY interesting. I ended up talking to people and making connections, getting business cards, and learning some really valuable information about PR and marketing.
Podcamp in Montreal was held this weekend which I had been planning on going to for months; I wanted to see the city. My plan was to explore the city solo while Rob was doing his thing. It took me less than an hour to realize I’m not a huge fan Montreal (sorry if you’re native), but I really wanted to be at Podcamp. Thus begins a new evolution in my perception of social media participants, what they do, and how they have fun and network.
I still feel not quite as “into it” as most of the people there (and probably never will be), but I was able to share what I had to offer… you know, one of MY specialties: I hosted a party. We stayed in a place that came equipped with a kitchen and I got to work making twice-baked potatoes (the only ingredients I could find within walking distance of my hotel were potatoes and cheese… it was guerrilla party throwing!) I cleaned the hotel room, completely rearranged the furniture for maximum “party flow”, put the ash tray on the balcony, set out glasses and made ice.
The party was a HUGE success in that everyone had a LOT of fun, some more than others, and that’s just about all I’m going to say about that (because I value my life).
Anyway, all that to say I am extremely excited to have met so many amazing people this weekend, and I appreciate the change in perspective. I’m never one to shy away from saying, “Hey, I was wrong!” and these friendly people totally flew against my perspective.
I never thought I’d say this but… I’m looking forward to the next podcamp [Rob breaks out dancing].
