I’m liveblogging from BlogOrlando today over at Where Do You Stand? Come on over and follow along if you’re interested in learning more about blogging, blogger relations, social media, crisis communications, blogging for business and participation marketing.

Tag: BlogOrlando

I’m hitting the skies again, today. This week, I’m off to Orlando for BlogOrlando, a blogging and social media (un)conference hosted by Hyku and Josh Hallett. I’ll be liveblogging tomorrow over at Where Do You Stand? the collaborative blog of Standing Partnership.

I’m traveling more than usual this quarter. Last week I was in St. Louis and in two weeks I’ll be flying off to Miami for another conference. Two more work trips to St. Louis, a weekend in Vegas and then a family trip to the midwest will close out the remainder of my travel for the year.

In most of the families I know, it’s the dad that travels for business, and the mom that holds down the fort at home. My travel makes it possible for me to have my dream job and work at home when I’m in Charlottesville. Sometimes the air travel, delays and long, long days wear on me, but it’s all really worth it. What really makes it possible though, is that my husband and my kids are behind me. The only one that’s crabby when I’m leaving again is Clover.

The kids keep it together while I’m gone. The boy is responsible and enjoys that he gets the car all day when I’m away. The girl makes an extra effort to be good (uh, usually) and is helpful. She gives me a hug and says goodbye, and never makes me feel bad about leaving, again. (I do fine with that, myself.)

I have to really applaud my husband — he’s always encouraging when another trip is on the horizon. He says, “Just go,” and means it. He handles everything while I’m gone, from kids’ schedules to meals; school issues, sick dog fun (on one trip, Clover ate a bag of chocolate candy and barfed for days) and general household stuff. Often, upon my return, the house has been cleaned. If my flight arrives just before dinner, I come home to delicous food on the table and a smiling family.

This must be what it was like to be a dad in the 1960s.

So thank you, family. I’m off again for a few days but, as always, I look forward to getting back to be with you again.

Tonight, we’re attending a fundraiser, CANCER STINKS; Buy Drinks! Our friend Allison and her friend Nikki are hosting the event at X Lounge in Charlottesville. All bar tips from 6pm-10pm go to cancer research. Join us for a drink and the fight against cancer.

As regular readers know, my husband’s brother was a cancer victim, and my good friend M. continues her battle against metastatic breast cancer. We’re personally invested in the anti-cancer rally and encourage your support.

Can’t make it to Charlottesville this evening? Donate anyway — even if it’s just $5 — and support Nikki and Allison for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk in October.

Jen on the Edge tagged me for the eight random things meme. I’m really sharing with her, but since you’re here, you’re welcome to eavesdrop on this conversation. Following Jen’s lead, I’m going to offer tidbits about the grownups in the house. You hear enough about those crazy kids around here.

1. I have standard, common allergies including hayfever and the like. As a child, I was allergic to milk and to this day, suffer if I have any of the “crumbly” cheeses. Mark has strange allergies, such as a severe one to neoprene — you know, the stuff of which wetsuits are made. Recently, he bought some water shoes and after a day of wear, realized they contained neoprene (red, bubbling skin is a good sign). After his feet healed, he washed the shoes thoroughly, and tried again and what do you know!? Another rash. So, the other night I was eating a slice of avacado/tomato pizza from Christian’s and said, “I think this might be feta on here.” As I took another bite, Mark was warning me that I would surely be sick. To point out my stubbornness he said, “I think I’ll wear those shoes again.” We refuse to believe in our allergies.  

2. When we got engaged he gave me a hood ornament from a Chrysler minivan. He was working at the plant that summer (adding the hood ornaments on the line) and one found its way to me in lieu of a ring. The ring came later, but he already had my heart.

3. In a boat, on a river, in the mountains = our favorite place to be.

4. We’re both nearsighted, with one eye significantly worse that the other. For me it’s my right eye; for him, the left. Together we have nearly perfect sight.

5. We’re both avid readers. We rarely read the same book.

6. Mark can hear just about any song on the radio or elsewhere and tell you what band/artist it is. I always have no idea. I can, however, tell you what I and others in attendance wore to most events in my life, going back to the early 1970s.

7. Mark gives me the most charming, unexpected and thoughtful gifts. I give him terrible gifts and somehow he manages to forgive me.

8. We’re ridiculously, crazily proud of one another. And that’s really nice, because there’s no one I want to feel that way about me more.

Tagging some moms: Self-Made Mom, Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck, Quiet Morgan You’ll Wake the Dinosaurs, Plain Jane Mom and My Heart’s In Dixie.

This is the big year for the girl. She’s 11 going on 20, you see. By my estimates, this year, before she turns 12, she’s likely to pass me up in height, no small feat, since I am, (or was at one time) outlandishly tall. Since I met my husband (6′4″) and since my son has reached (we hope) his full height at 6′7″, I’m soon to be the shrimp of the family. The girl is gaining on me rapidly. She’s about 5′6″ at this writing (5′6.5″ by tomorrow). We both wear a size 10 shoe. A couple of months ago I wrote about a clothing-related incident that almost landed me in the ER.

She realized, with this week’s cooler weather, that she’s down to two pairs of jeans — both a little tight, both a lot too short. So tonight we ran to Target and skipped right past the girls’ section. There’s no need to even TRY there anymore. In juniors’ I pulled out a size three for her to try. No dice. Then a five. Too tight. I went back and fetched a seven and hestitating for a moment, grabbed a nine just in case.

Thankfully the sevens did the trick — I can’t have her catching up to me too fast! I bought two and asked her to slow down the growth spurt until I get back in town this weekend.

So parents, how do you do it? How do you keep ahead of these kids growing faster than you can shop? I don’t want to buy her too much now because I know in a few months we’ll be doing it all again. I also don’t want to buy her a size too big and make her feel (and look) ridiculous. I’ve already given her some hand me downs — shirts and skirts I no longer wear that actually fit her — it’s pretty weird.

Wow! Thanks to all of you who got in touch after my second post restating my book giveaway. It makes me so happy to be passing along a good book to another avid reader.

Social Kim said, “I found [the book] excerpts on the website to be excruciating yet I was ready for more. As a social worker, it is easy to forget the story behind the broken souls and battered lives sometimes. I’d like to read more.” And so she will — Kim, your book will be on its way shortly.  

The giveaway had the added benefit of drawing a few new readers to this site, including Dana, Lacey, HomeMom and Diane. Welcome to all of you! I hope you’ll stick around for awhile, as I’m bound to be shipping off another book to one of you soon.

I tried to give away a book. I even extended the deadline a bit. But no one is interested, I guess. Maybe it was the book itself? Too heavy? Next time, I’ll try something lighter.

If you’re having second thoughts, leave me a comment and I’ll get in touch.

It was a perfect day to go apple picking.

It was a crisp sixty degrees as we headed up to Carter Mountain Orchard. Before we left we checked the Web site, and you should too. It’s impressive, with an apple use chart, recipes and other helpful info. We agreed that we won’t shop anywhere that doesn’t have a decent Web site.

The Red Delicious were almost, but not completely out of reach.

The Goldens were low enough for kids to grab, too.

 The view from the top of the mountain was wonderful — on one side you can see all of Charlottesville with the mountains in the distance. On the other, the beautiful valley.

We admired, but resisted the $14 pies.

But sunk our teeth and our dollars into some apple cider doughnuts, along with our haul of apples. These doughnuts are at least as popular as the apples themselves.

It was a lovely day on the mountain.

Several of you have asked to see my home office, so here is a peek into the place where I spend most of my waking hours. Here is the desk with the laptop and on the far right, on top of the credenza, the printer/fax/copier/scanner/toaster/coffee maker.

Here is the window through which I can see the UPS, FedEx and U.S. Mail trucks on the street before or after they drop boxes full of online purchases important business-related packages at my door.

There are several special items in this shot. One is the artwork on the wall, given to me by my friend Amanda as a going away gift. The “fan” of paper in the stand are my Standing Ovations — lovely notes of cheer and accomplishment from my colleagues at Standing Partnership. Next to that is a photo of my BIGGEST accomplishment, the time I broke the Guinness Book World’s Record for Largest Bouquet of Flowers. That’s 27,801 stems you’re looking at in that photo. Oh, and me, at age 27.

Here’s a view of my desk accessories. They’re boring, I know. But I like my Van Gogh mousepad, and the desk calendar of the mountains in Switzerland, a gift from a client with operations there.

This is the guest desk in my office. Some people have a guest chair but I’m full service and have the whole desk and chair. It’s ready for Susan when she wants to come visit and work a bit. The door? It leads nowhere.

Here’s the bookcase with lots of good reads, like The New Rules of Marketing and PR, The Experience Economy and A Whole New Mind. Also, some photos and such. These are just my business and writing books; the rest of our books are kept elsewhere.

Finally, this is the view out the sliding glass door that is to my right when I sit at my desk. I swivel in my chair and this is what I can see. Obviously it looks different with the seasons, but it is an extra perk in the home office.

Hope you’ve enjoyed your tour of the best home office, ever. You wish you were me. Admit it.

At Standing Partnership, we’ve been busy working with clients, partners and in volunteer efforts on blog strategies and projects. So busy, in fact, that it’s taken just a bit to focus internally and enter the blogosphere as a team.

That’s why today I’m delighted to announce to the STLWorkingMom audience that the Standing PR blog, Where Do You Stand? has launched this week, providing the Standing team a way to share our thought leadership in public relations, strategic communications and issues management.

I’ll be doing less occupationally-related posts here (the momosphere breathes sigh of relief) and Uncle Bob and Aunt Jacque (my two readers) won’t have to read any more of that PR stuff.

Now, those of you who have found this blog because of my occupation, please join us over at Where Do You Stand?

And the rest of you? I’ll keep on blogging right here, too.