While I love having family around me and I love watching my kids play, sometimes the chaos gets to me.  I wish I could have a moment like this one every day just to recharge.

I have a feeling that May is going to find these moments few and far between. I have a couple of bloggy things happening this month and I thought I’d take a moment to tell you about what’s happening.

For the Month of May – United Nurses of Alberta are sponsoring this blog – you’ll see their ad below.  Go check out what they’re all about.

May 5th – We will be attending Day out with Thomas.

May 12th -  Sam and I will be hosting a social media breakfast in Airdrie for the grand opening of a new set of show homes by Vesta in Williamstown.  I hope you’ll join us there later that afternoon and bring the kids for free family fun including a bbq, live country music and the opportunity to get autographs from some amazing Olympians.  Be sure to also enter their Facebook contest (and like the page) for $10,000 in prizes from the Brick.

After our day in Airdrie I’ll be checking into the Delta South Calgary to see all the fab renovations they’ve just done.

That’s just the first half of the month – who knows what the second half with bring??  Hopefully a sale on our house and a bottle of wine   What’s on your plate this May?  Let me know in comments!

The prompt today is:  Three words that Describe You.

Pretty simple eh? So here goes…

Creative

Introverted

Simple

As an introvert, I spend a lot of time inside my own head being creative.  I think about content for this blog, about solutions to issues in my life, about projects.  Even though I am creative, I still find I have fairly simple needs.   A decent cup of coffee and time to drink it, an organized space to live in, freedom to spend my time as I please – these are the things that make me happy.  I enjoy a great hot dog just as much as I enjoy a well prepared filet mignon.  I don’t need complicated or fancy things to make me happy….in fact, ‘fancy’ things usually stress me out.  I had a dream last night about having to shop for a fancy party dress and I woke up stressed out about it!  Give me jeans and a t-shirt instead please!

So what three words describe you?  Join in the Monday Mojo fun!

We finally opted to go.  Who wants to be that mom who doesn’t take their hurt kid to the doctor, right?

We get there and it’s a mad house.  It was as though buses were dropping off loads of patients every 20 minutes or something.  Being so busy like that meant I had lots of ‘people’ to watch which was entertaining and infuriating all at the same time.

When Kathleen posted the prompt for Eclectic Six’s Monday Mojo I knew I had to write my4 pet peeves about sitting in the ER waiting room.

#1 – If your kid barfs on the floor – tell someone so it can be cleaned up.  Don’t sit there with the puddle at your feet and step in it and track it all over the damn place.

#2 – Don’t eye up the other patients and then complain ‘this is crazy, there are kids here who only have the sniffles‘.  You don’t know why those kids are there and you cannot provide a diagnosis with the stink eye.  You just sound like an ass.

#3 – A wheelchair is not a toy, nor a recliner.  Unless you need one for mobility – get out of it.

#4 – Don’t ask how long the wait times are, roll your eyes and then ponder if you should stay or not. It’s the EMERGENCY ROOM.  If you can afford to walk out then you should not have walked in.

WOW, that felt good.  Last week had been a rough one. It’s nice to blow off some steam and start this week fresh.  You should do it too…write up your 4 pet peeves and link your post to the E6M Monday Mojo linky!

Oh, and her hand was NOT broken.  Thank heaven for small miracles eh?

It was then that I knew our weekend was going to be amazing…I mean, we were only three hours in and I was already riding an adrenaline rush.

After our bumpy ride up to Edmonton and settling into our hotel room, we grabbed a sweet cocktail and waited to hear Angela Saclamacis, Manager of Public Relations for Disney Parks Canada, take the stage. Angela spoke to us about the Disney brand and how they wish to extend that brand through the media outlets they work with.  She encouraged us to be true to ourselves and always ensure that what we write about is the perfect fit for our blogs and our own personal brands. And this seemed to be the theme for me throughout the conference.  Why am I doing this? What is my brand?

I have always felt that my brand comes from within.  It’s who I am and how I write and what I write.  But how are other people interpreting it?  Does what I present seep into how others perceive me?  I wasn’t so sure.  The largest thing I’ve taken away with me from BlogWest is to always have my brand on my mind when I do anything.  If I change the look of my blog;  is it in-line with my brand?  If I take a product review; is it in-line with my brand? If I re-tweet someone; is that message in line with my brand?  I know that a lot of the time I just do what feels right and hope it’s true to me and my brand and I don’t stop to really evaluate it.  Those days are over.

The monetization panel, and the conference in general, got a bit of flack for being predominantly geared towards mom bloggers.  There were some fashion bloggers and a few others who were not moms in attendance which I thought was awesome however, I feel some of those people missed out on some great info because they were unable to take what was presented and apply it to their own blogs.  I saw some negative tweets and we even got sucked into the ‘mommy blogger label debate’ which was unfortunate. We all know what I think of that.

The final speaker of the weekend was Tanis.  She spoke about how she got started in blogging after the death of her son.  There was not a dry eye in the room and I’m tearing up now even thinking of her standing at the podium.  I had my ugly cry on and though all that emotion she managed to deliver some practical advice on recognizing our worth, writing from truth and not compromising on who we are.  She goes by Redneck Mommy but what comes through in her message is courage and strength.  I’ll never forget hearing her speak.

Tanis the Redneck Mommy

So that was the educational part of BlogWest and for me, while I always love to learn, it was the social part that was invaluable.  I got to meet people I’ve been tweeting with for years.  I got to laugh with people who I felt I knew online and realize that I did, in fact know them in a real way.  It was really insane how connected I felt with people like Sheri and Nicole who I’ve known online for about 3 or 4 years now.  It was lovely to be surprised by the energy and fun loving personalities around me.

My roommate Sam and I hosted a wine and cheese in our suite and it was the highlight of my weekend.  Sitting with people in session and talking about blogging is interesting.  Chatting with them over lunch is fun but swigging some wine and laughing with people over a whole evening is how you really connect.  People came by and added their bottles of wine to the table and at some point a cheesecake made it’s way into our room as well.  There were folks who stopped in in their pjs and others who left their shoes behind.  I laughed a lot and by the end of the evening I fell into bed with a smile on my face.

the aftermath...it was kind of hard to look at in the morning.

Our ride home was much more mellow once we found our way out of Edmonton (in spite of the unruly GPS system) and we chit chatted about a mish mosh of topics. I was feeling as though I’d come through a heavy emotional event.  My mind was spinning with information, my body was tired and my heart was full.  In the end, despite all the technical bits and all the strategic chatter, blogging is about relationships.  It’s the other writers we interact with who help us to build our brands and they support them and propel them out to their own networks.  All the branding and all the know how isn’t anything without someone else to come and comment and share their experiences too.  The conference was everything I’d hoped it would be and I felt like I used my time there well.  Thank you to everyone who spent their time with me and shared their BlogWest experience with me.  I’m grateful to you all.

left to right: Leslie, Catherine and SamiJoe...the #FordExplorerExpress tweeters

1) I like to re-read books.  If it was good the first time it will be even better the 2nd or 3rd time.  Same thing for movies.  Making a book or movie a familiar thing brings it up to another level.

2) My house is a mess.  When I show pictures here on the blog I pre-clean, crop out the clutter and present things in the best light.  Trust me, the rooms are a mess and we have stuff everywhere…this house is too small for us.

3) I don’t like curry or sushi.  Yes, I’ve tried to like them….I’ve REALLY tried.  They’re gross.  End of story.

4) I can be alone in a dark room for a long time before I feel like I need to see people.  I don’t know exactly how long because nobody has ever left me alone for more than 20 seconds.

5) I have a LaZboy recliner and even though I think they are ugly (at least mine is) I sit in it every night and it’s MY chair.  I put up my feet and write from this chair.  I snuggle my kids in this chair.  I sometimes even sleep here.  (yeah, I’m sitting in the ugly thing right now).  During my last pregnancy, my hips were so out of alignment and there was so much pressure on my lower back that I couldn’t sit anywhere else and even lying in bed was painful. We bought this chair and the instant I put my feet up the pressure and pain went away.  Then in the days after my c-section I couldn’t get up onto our bed because it was so high and soft – I slept in this chair. I nursed my baby every two hours around the clock from this chair.  It’s hideous but I LOVE it.  Beauty isn’t everything people

There – there’s my five things and my first blog post of the week done!  Thanks Monday Mojo!

Oh I wish I’d known then what I know now.  I could have saved so much time and grown my network so much faster.  But I guess the journey and the education has been worth it all.  I know I still have a lot to learn.

Over at the Eclectic Six blog we’re asking:

Remember back to the first day you decided to start a blog. You thought up a name for yourself and loaded up a brand new blog. If you could give that version of yourself some advice for the blogging journey you were about to take what would it be? Is there any piece of info you wish you knew then that could have saved you time, effort, headaches? Share your advice and maybe you’ll spare some other newbie a headache or two!

So here it goes – Advice to the 2004 Blogging Me

~ Enough with cutesy names – pick a name and URL that can grow with you no matter what stage of life you’re in and stick with it. ( I can see keeping Home To Heather forever.)

~ Fork out the cash and get on self hosted wordpress asap – it’s WORTH IT.

~ Learn SEO.  You need to.

~ Take a photography class and invest in a good camera – This is something I still need to do!

~ Figure out what you want to write about in a concrete way.  Map out your categories and focus.

~ Keeping up a blog is not easy, but you’ll love it and you’ll be bonded to your blog like it’s a child….it’s a part of you.  Embrace it and enjoy the process.

~ Don’t get sucked into the review / giveaway thing.  You don’t HAVE to do what others are doing.

~ Don’t work for free. Put the effort you would have used back into your blog and accomplish something on your to do list.

~ Make blogging work for you – figure out what you want and work towards it.

~ Don’t forget about the writing.  Take time to weave a story.  Find the funny. Find the lesson.  Make your posts useful or entertaining or both.

This advice is meant for my 2004 self and might not apply to you.  Don’t be offended but if you disagree please comment and tell me why because it might help a newbie somewhere along the way!

It’s safe to say I don’t do this for the money.

Most bloggers are in the same boat as me.  We work, work, work and our only reward is a comment here and a tweet there showing us that someone out there is reading.

That’s what makes the Canadian Weblog Awards so special.

The awards are run by Ninjamatics and Schmutzie and they work very hard too.  It’s a juried process and entrants go through rounds of judging.

So when I got an email this morning that I’d won first place in the Parenting category (which had over 80 nominees) I about passed out!

First? Me? Really?

Blog West

I’ll be heading up to Blog West in March and can’t wait to meet so many people who I’ve been conversing with online for years.  I’m expecting awesomeness.  Sam and I will be riding up in a brand new EcoBoost Explorer. Thanks to Ford for providing transportation. If you need a lift from Calgary to the conference please let me know.

Canadian Weblog Awards

HometoHeather is shortlisted.  I’m so thrilled to even be able to say that I almost don’t care who wins.

Eclectic Six Media

I have a post up about the state of the ‘Mommy Blogger‘ label.  I’d love your comments and opinions there.

Most Importantly

Cheryl is organizing an auction to aid Bobbie after her horrible car crash.  The auction will be on HelpBobbie.com…the site isn’t live yet but you can bookmark it now and check back for the event soon.