Most. Expensive. Bloggerfest. Ever.

Meter parking in Philadelphia: $4.50 in quarters
Top-shelf margarita at The Adobe Cafe: $9.50 plus tip
Mechanics' bill to fix the spark plug that fell out of the engine on the way there (and everything else they found wrong with the car): $1,100
Spending time with bloggy friends, both old and new: priceless!

Go say hi to DaddyScratches, UppercaseWoman, Fever, Momish, Nutmeg, Well-Red Hostess, and Domestic Goddess. And go give Bossy a virtual smooch for organizing the love-fest.

Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty

In all the hubbub around our PKD fundraising event the other week, I completely forgot to brag about this pretty award that Emily and Jennifer at Mothers of Brothers bestowed on me for being "honest and scrappy":











Isn't that nice of them? But I also feel a little bit like a fraud, as there are so many things in my life that I don't (and won't) blog about, honestly or otherwise. But I am pretty honest about the things that I do write about, so I'll try not to feel too guilty...

Ten Honest Things About Me:

1. I sleep with a small Gund polar bear and have done so for over 20 years. It travels with me. Once it got tangled in hotel linens and ended up in the bowels of hell the hotel laundry system and I thought it was lost forever. The hotel found it, though, and mailed it back to me a few days after we returned home. (Thank god.)
2. I can't stand being rained on to an almost phobic degree.
3. But I love being next to, on, or in water more than just about anything.
4. I am somewhat claustrophobic when it comes to enclosed spaces, and can't watch the scenes in all those 1980's Viet Nam movies where the camera goes into the tunnels. GAH.
5. I wrestle with my body image every single day of my life.
6. And I feel guilty about doing so out loud, because my rational brain knows I really don't look bad for 42.
7. I feel more comfortable in my skin in NYC than I do at home. (New discovery.)
8. I get a rather disgusting amount of ego satisfaction from the PKD fundraising that we do.
9. Also from entertaining large groups of people.
10. I have absolutely no ego regarding the car I drive, and therefore drive a 16-year-old fugly piece of crap. But it runs well!

Passing it along to some of the scrappiest, most honest women I know:

This Bittersweet Symphony

The Domestic Goddess

Flower and Spice

Keeping My Head Above Water

Go say hi and tell 'em I sent you.

Lame Event Report

Oh my word, peeps. What a week, what an event. I am wrung out like a paper towel in a TV commercial -- the one that falls apart after one usage, not the the hefty turbo one that can wipe up the gallon of spilled cranberry juice and keep on ticking. I am spent. I am blotto. I have fallen and I can't quite get up....

I couldn't write a blow-by-blow if I tried, but merciful heavens, it was such a relief going into this project feeling so well supported by friends. In addition to Rachel and Marj and Nancy and Kristin and Emily and my mother-in-law providing all of the refreshments (bless you ladies a million times over!), Leslie and Nancy spent hours helping us set everything up at the theatre between Thursday night and Friday afternoon. I literally could not have gotten this done without them. And having Ellen at the check-in table was a godsend.

With the exception of a few bobbles at the auction check out table, everything went very smoothly. People seemed to have fun at the auction, and the "splitting" of the evening into two events seemed to work -- some folks felt free to stay just for the auction; some folks arrived as the auction was closing to attend just the cabaret; and a bunch of die-hards stayed for both events. The cabaret was terrific, with great performances from Michael and Cindy and Claudia and Teddie and Joe and Donna and Liz.

The only real drawback was that combining the events make it a very late evening, finishing up around 11:30. But we made fabulous money -- over $5,300 between the two events, which was more than I'd dared to hope. (Last year the two events raised $5,100 between them.) Which brings our total raised, at one day prior to the walk, to $8,630.

Which is unbelievable. You are all unbelievable. Hugs and chocolate truffles for everyone.

I can haz nap now?

Hit Me, Baby

I love it when Bossy links to me. Yeah, baby.

Things Which Give Me Hope

• Spotting a flock of 40-odd geese flying north
• Blooms on the witch hazel shrub
• Ordering vegetable seeds

Also, drinking cosmos and laughing my face off with a bunch of smart and funny blogger women at Well Read Hostess's house yesterday. Go make some new friends: I Am Bossy, MemeGRL, A Child Is Born, The New Girl, Simply Nutmeg, and Dream Kitchen are daily stops on my internet crawling; now Spinning Yellow, Yellaphant and Mothers of Brothers will be as well.

I'll drink cosmos with them any time.

Lust

I told Garrick that lust is when you really want something a lot.

"Like blood lust? If someone wants to fight?"

"Yeah, baby. Like blood lust."

God help me.

**********

Things I'd be blogging about if I had time and energy to blog this week:

• the idea I'm going to filch from The New Girl
• the stunningly beautiful girl I saw in the mall this week and how sad she made me
• the trip Michael's taking this weekend
• the trip I'm taking next weekend
  
• the cake I'm making this week for the raffle back in April
• how much I love buttercream
  
• the PKD fundraising ideas kicking around in my head
• the now-ended visit from my brother who lives in Singapore
  
• how I'm starting to really miss doing live theatre and how conflicted I feel about that
• that next week is my last week of physical therapy and how nervous I am about that
• the pain in my breast (it's cysts, don't get excited)
• my garden
• my kids
  
• how tired I am

Lists, how I love them. Happy Friday!

Patsy Cline Has Nothing On Me

Have I mentioned how much crazy I'm amassing as a result of organizational nonsense in my company's new Mexico branch?.... So much crazy, in fact, that I almost missed this lovely gift from HG.



If you haven't already, go visit her -- in addition to being smart and funny and an excellent blogger HER OWN SELF, she's a Sondheim fan. A winning combination no matter how you slice it. Thanks, HG!

We Had A Time

I made some new pals this week! To kick off Bossy's Excellent Road Trip, a gaggle of us Philly-area blogging gals got together to do some drinking bowling. In between catching up with my childhood friend Well Read Hostess and getting a contact buzz from Domestic Goddess's irrepressible energy, my bowling pretty much bit, but I'm glad to report that at least I did not FALL ON MY ASS this time, as I did the last time I went bowling. I may have tied for last place, but I came home unbruised. Fun times!

(Oh how I wish I could bottle Domestic Goddess -- I'd be a millionaire several times over.)

It was fun to be out and about, fun to meet new bloggers and catch up with old friends, fun to drink a beer on a weeknight (I'm out of control, I tell you). I spent yesterday completely immersed in everyone's mostly-new-to-me blogs and heartily recommend you do the same. They are funny, touching, creative, heartfelt, fresh, goofy, and fun. And good writers, to boot. Doesn't get much better than that.

(Extra grrrrl power points if you can name the [old] TV show from which I cribbed the post title....)

Share the Luuuuuv

Hey folks,

Go over to i am bossy and share a little bloggy love with her. She linked to me today in her post, and as a result my visitors stats have more than doubled. She is hip and funny and if you read blogs at all, you should read her. Mhaw, bossy!