If you have a second, I’d love it if you’d give me your vote. All you have to do is click over to About.com, click on my blog name (Crunchy Domestic Goddess, in case you forgot) ;) and it registers a vote for me. Easy, peasy! It only takes 2 seconds. :) I’m really behind right now and would love your help to catch up a bit.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

Don’t be shy. Say hi. You know you want to. ;)

As always, thanks for reading Crunchy Domestic Goddess.

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For those of you who’ve been around for a while, those of you who are brand new to my blog or those of you who fall somewhere in between, I’d like to know what would YOU like to see happen with this blog? What types of posts do you enjoy the most – parenting, green living, personal posts about my life, childbirth, mental health, pics of my adorable kids (LOL had to throw that in there), current events, food, gardening, photography (oh yeah, I used to take pictures, didn’t I?), other topics that I haven’t yet addressed on my blog, etc.? What do you enjoy the least (please don’t say pics of my kids)? :P What do you like or want to read about on Crunchy Domestic Goddess?

Also, at times I’ve mulled over the idea of taking on a couple other writers for my blog, simply because there’s no way I alone can possibly write about all of the things that are happening in all of these topics. I’ve hesitated to do this because I think I may lose readers or my street cred or something like that. It also may be because I’m a bit of a control freak and that would mean I have to relinquish some of my control. What are your thoughts about having a few other writers than myself for this blog? Would you read their posts? Would you want to be a contributor? Would you think I’m “selling out?” Would you delete me from your feed reader? ;)

Talk to me my amazing, smart, gorgeous, talented readers. Tell me what you’d like to see happen with this blog. I won’t say I’ll leave it all up to you (‘cuz I’m a control freak, remember?), but I’d love to get some feedback and constructive criticism. Thank you! I truly appreciate it. :)

I plan to get another post up tomorrow reflecting on the past year and stating some of my goals for 2010, but if I don’t (‘cuz ya just never know), then thank you for sticking with me through the thick and thin and HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you! :)

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Once my husband and kids dropped me off at the Denver airport Thursday afternoon for my trip to BlogHer ’09 in Chicago, I didn’t really have any anxiety the whole weekend. I did take 1/2 Xanax Thursday night, but only because, after lying in bed for hours, I could not fall asleep and I was hoping it would make me tired enough to finally crash. It did.

I don’t usually dress the way I did at BlogHer. I rarely accessorize, but I wore a necklace every day I was there – sometimes two different necklaces in one day. I bought nearly everything I wore there new (or second-hand) before the trip. I definitely used BlogHer as an excuse to get myself some new duds.

Thanks to Twitter, I found another BlogHer attendee to share a cab with to the Sheraton and, during the drive, discovered we had quite a bit in common.

Annie from PhDinParenting and me

My roommate Annie was much taller than I expected her to be. She was also very nice, considerate and quiet as a mouse when she woke up in the morning before me.

Allie from No Time for Flash Cards, Casey from The Beautiful Letdown and Jenni from Zrecommends

Three of the women I hung out with the most (other than my roomie) were Jenni, Allie and Melissa, although there were so many others that I met up with for a couple seconds, to a few minutes, to several hours. In other words, way too many names/blogs to list. Just know I enjoyed meeting every single one of you. I have no complaints!

I often felt torn on who I should spend my time with. There were so many fabulous women and so many places to go and only so many hours in the day/night that it was hard to pick where to go and who to hang with.

When “they” tell you you don’t have to go to every session and you should take time to just chill and relax during the conference, believe it. The weekend, while amazing, was incredibly exhausting and I wish I would have purposefully scheduled in a nap or two.

I confess I didn’t recognize some people who introduced themselves to me. However, upon going home and seeing their Twitter avatar or going to their blog, it then clicked who they were. A-ha! I think everyone should have their Twitter avatar on their name badge. It would make identification so much easier. :)

I approached a few women thinking I knew them, but it turned out I did not. It was fine though. I’d rather say, “Hi, do I know you?” than regret never asking.

I didn’t take nearly enough pictures, but I’m happy with the ones I did take.

Katja from Skimbaco Lifestyle and me at Bowlher

I teared up after running into Katja on the elevator and then having a chat about our past struggles with anxiety in the hallway (after she teared up). Chatting with her was one of the highlights of my trip.

I dripped “juice” from my chicken sandwich down my shirt and into my cleavage while enjoying room service on my bed Friday night. Even though my bra had dried “juice” on it, I wore it on Saturday too.

I woke up with a killer headache and threw up once twice Saturday morning and didn’t emerge from my room until noon. I don’t see how I could have been hungover (since I only drank two and a half glasses of wine the night before), but I think the combination of getting very little sleep for several days, not eating the kinds of food I’m used to, and having so much going on just all caught up with me. Thankfully, once I got a little food to stay in my belly, I was fine the rest of the time.

Sommer from Green and Clean Mom and me

I was surprised by how much fun I had with Sommer and Jennifer Friday night. They were both a riot! I laughed so hard my face hurt.

I was kind of disappointed by some of the breakout sessions I attended. I walked out of one of them (I felt the content was seriously lacking) and felt another one I went to was rather lacking too.

Inspiring green bloggers - Maryanne from MCMilker, Beth from Fake Plastic Fish, Lisa from Condo Blues, and Lynn from Organic Mania

I surprised myself by raising my hand to talk into the microphone during the Green Blogging session. Public speaking didn’t kill me! (Though it did make my heart race for a few minutes.) I hope to write more about the green blogging session (which was easily my favorite) at a later time.

I packed way more clothes than I wore, but forgot to pack my toothbrush and razor. Thankfully, the front desk had both.

I didn’t have to pump the entire weekend, but I did manually express milk a couple times. Never got engorged – thank goodness.

I didn’t make it to either of the BlogHer sponsored cocktail parties.

I watched too much HGTV on the plane ride home and have all kinds of projects in mind for myself (and ones we will need to spend good $ on) on how to stage our home for selling next year. Just what I need – more projects!

I was surprised by how excited and crazed some women seemed to get about swag (free stuff). The consumption and waste I witnessed at times throughout the weekend saddened and frustrated me.

Although I rarely drink soda (pop), I had a Pepsi at lunch on Saturday to help me recovery from my headache and upset stomach. It was one of the only things that sounded good.

I was pleasantly surprised that a few women deliberately checked in on me to see how I was doing (with my anxiety and all). I thought that was super sweet of them.

I was also surprised that The Blog Frog wanted to do a short video interview with me.

I didn’t really truly miss my kids until I was on the plane ride home. Then I missed them terribly and couldn’t get home fast enough. (For the record, Jody and the kids did great without me.)

A small piece of me hoped my 2.5 year old son Julian might forget how to nurse while I was gone. He remembered and I was honestly relieved.

Jenni from Zrecommends, me, Ivy, Steph from Adventures in Babywearing, and Tara from Feels Like Home

I was surprised by how many amazing, talented, funny, inspiring, sweet, eco-conscious, adorable blogging women (including several local bloggers from Colorado) I kept running into and yet I still left the conference with a long list (in my head) of more I never got to meet. (Next year, right?)

Annie - PhDinParenting, Jenni - Zrecommends, and me on the red carpet at Bowlher

Someone told me that as soon as BlogHer ended this year, I would already be looking forward to doing it all over again next year. She was right. BlogHer ’10 is in New York City (be sure to register early so you get in before it’s sold out) and I’m already planning on being there.

For those of you looking for more pictures, check out my BlogHer09 flickr stream.

Lastly, thank you sooooo much to my sponsor Stonyfield Farm and their organic Oikos Greek Yogurt for helping me with my trip expenses. I really appreciate it! (And everyone I gave an Oikos Greek Yogurt coupon to was thrilled.) :)

Edited to add: Oops! One last thing! I got so many compliments on my photo cuff bracelet at BlogHer and I wanted to tell anyone who’s interested in getting one where you can buy them – Check out Smoy.net. Wonder if I can get them to sponsor me next year. Ya think? :)

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Lucky for me, I found Uprinting – a company that makes eco-friendly business cards. The cards I got are made from 30% post consumer recycled stock, are uncoated and printed with vegetable-based inks instead of traditional petroleum inks. And the cards look good – really good. :) Hooray for eco-friendly online printing!

Here’s a little peek at the front of mine (this pic doesn’t do it justice):

The back is a pic of me and my kiddos. Corny? Probably, but I don’t care. ;P

Win It!

Now’s your chance to win some eco-friendly business cards of your own! Uprinting is offering a set of 500 eco-friendly business cards to TWO lucky Crunchy Domestic Goddess readers. All you have to do to be entered to win is subscribe to my blog (if you aren’t already) and leave me a comment with one earth-friendly tip. In order to insure that the winners have time to get her cards before BlogHer, the winners will be chosen using Random.org on Wednesday, July 15, at noon. Be sure to leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. Of course, you don’t have to be attending BlogHer to enter to win, I just figured I’d make an early deadline in case someone wants to get their cards in time for BlogHer. :) Oh, one more thing, Uprinting has asked that the winners pay for shipping on their cards. Good luck!

I was thrilled to see some familiar faces like Tall Tara and Crazy Blogging Canuck (Amber) (both whom I met at the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash back in August of last year), and was glad to put a real live face to a name for peeps like Eat Play Love (Denise), The Casual Perfectionist (JoAnn), Gwen Bell (the organizer of the event), Weebles Wobblog (Lori), and This Mama Cooks (Anne-Marie). I also had the opportunity to meet some new names and faces like Human Being Blog (Lynn), Tales of my Thirties (Rachel), and Bread Crumz (Holly). There were many more women there who I didn’t get the pleasure of meeting, but you can meet them all via the YouTube video below thanks to the wonderful Holly.

Despite usually having a camera in hand, I forgot mine at home this time so I don’t have any pics of my own, but a few of me (pics #13 & 15 – I’m in the green shirt) have surfaced around the ‘net (thank you, Use Real Butter (Jen) for proof that I really did go!). ;)

I might have some apprehension about going to these types of events, but I’m always happy I went once it’s over. Thank you again to the amazing Gwen for organizing.

It’s true that I often feel like this:

But thanks to the pre-BlogHer meet-up, maybe I’ll be courageous enough to move out of the corner every now and then. ;) I look forward to seeing all of you lovely ladies again at BlogHer (one month from today – squeee!) and meeting many more too. :)

Here’s the video (thanks, Holly):