CONFESSIONS OF A FAT GIRL

Another Blog Conference Success

It's always nice when I get to arrive to a blog conference in a non tow truck! ;)

But frankly, I should have known this weekend was going to be awesome when I scored free street parking in West Hollywood on Friday night. 

No, really, this never happens.

I even took a photo to mark the ocassion. 

 

Take that, WeHo parking!

After a brief dance of joy (you're welcome for that link), there was sangria, sliders and charcuterie in a bar predominantly filled with gay men. All the makings of a lovely evening.

 

Saturday night, I saw this little up and coming band at a club (they're going places!) and Sunday night I spent the night with Michael Buble (yeah I phrased it that way on purpose - I'll keep dreaming).

But the BEST part of my weekend was participating in the Lifestyle Blogger Conference in Downtown Los Angeles. I spoke on a panel offering advice to a diverse audience of 100 bloggers on how to best work with brands and reps. It's a topic I am rather passionate about -- especially since I come at it from two angles. 

I get terribly nervous whenever I have to speak in front of a group. I do. Despite my outgoing nature, I worry about how I'll look or what I might say by accident. I know that when I get up in front of a room, I tend to rant and when I'm sharing the stage, as I was on Saturday, I panic that I'll inadvertently hog the mic. I know how I am -- when a thought pops into my head, I need to get it out of my mouth immediately and often times it forces people to perceive me as bitchy or as a know-it-all. It's not that - just nerves. 

But in any case, it all seemed to go well. I cannot believe how kind everyone was before, during and afterward. I met some truly amazing ladies and already have drink dates scheduled with some of them (I did sort of mention on the panel that I can be bought with cash or vodka). My co-panelists, Jose Resendez of Fleishman Hillard and Lisa Rocha of Ilaments, could not have been nicer or more knowledgable. And what an absolute honor for our panel to be moderated by one of my blogging idols, Marie Denee of The Curvy Fashionista (hopefully she's not sick of hearing me tell everyone how amazing and fabulous she is). 

Thank you so much to my fellow panelists and fellow attendees. Hugs to each and every person that came up to meet me afterward - it means so much to me. And thank you to Ana of Latina Lifetstyle Bloggers and Carolyn of the beloved SoCal Lady Bloggers for their tenacity and patience; for inviting me to participate in this great event. A thousand million thank yous! 

 

We'll pretend I don't have 18 chins in this photo.

  

The big room.

Two of my favorite bloggers - Melissa Dell and Chris Lam . Frankly, I don't think I should ever have to speak at a conference without Chris.

The take-home items were kind of ridiculous. (Click here and scroll down for the list on sponsors.)

Hands down the most hilarious thing I've ever seen in a swag bag. I don't even know if I have the courage to unwrap it.

See you next year at #LALLBLOG14!

 

Click for additional photos courtesy of Allen Taylor Photography

My Hour Without Social Media

Don't laugh, people. An hour without social media is an ETERNITY.

And it wasn't just that. I shut my iPhone off completely. Lest I be tempted to look.

I've been struggling with my schedule lately. I've been suffering from a major case of "FOMO," which is the "Fear of Missing Out" (known as "FOMA," or, "Fear of Missing Action," in some circles). I've been booking up weeknights like crazy and am rarely home before 10. I'm waking up later in the mornings and taking advantage of the flexibility my new job has schedule-wise (they don't need me right at nine, by 10 is fine), but I'm exhausted a lot. And it's more than just lack-of-sleep-tired. I'm worn OUT. I'm restless. I'm achy.

I was spending a rare night home on the couch, trying to make myself relax. I don't know if forcing myself to relax is a contradiction of terms, but there you have it. My mind was wandering and I was thinking about some stuff pertaining to Social Media Club when my mind wandered right to our February panel in which someone suggested taking a night off from social media. And I suddenly wondered if I could do it.

Impulsively, I closed my laptop and shut off my iPhone. I turned on "The Voice" and sat back to try and enjoy a peaceful hour with nothing but the bromance between Adam Levine and Blake Shelton to amuse me. 

Seriously, they're adorable and hilarious. Plus, Shakira and Usher are WAY better than Cee Lo and Christina. 

But anyway....

It was incredibly hard for the first half hour. I'd hear something on TV and want to look it up or I'd have a thought and battle an impulse to flip my phone on to record it in Evernote. I considered that I could open my laptop just to play some Solitaire while I watched TV (I do that a lot). But I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. 

80 minutes later I was calm. I wasn't 100% zen but damned if I wasn't in a more peaceful spot than I was the hour before. It sounds exaggerated, I know, but at some point I realized I wasn't imagining my inbox filling up and my twitter feed pinging. I wasn't looking forward to logging back on as much as I was dreading it, knowing what a necessity it is.

Take an hour a couple nights a week, people. Take more. I predict a social media free EVENING in my future. Maybe a day? One small step for man.... 

And Twitter Wins the Day

This happened today. And I'm still smiling.

Tweeting on the Toilet Much?

So someone sent me this with the intention of my writing about using social media while exercising but I was all "eff that! The drunk and toilet use stats are waaaay more amusing!"

For more stats, check out: http://www.creditdonkey.com/social-toilet-drunk.html

I'd like to point out the URL includes "social-toilet-drunk." I think that sounds like a Jersey Shore episode summary, although not necessarily in that order. 

Enjoy.

Five Best Basic Tips For Bloggers

As a publicist, it never ceases to amaze me that even the most savvy, experienced, popular blogger can utterly fail at something that's fairly simple.

So I thought I'd assemble these useful tips - just five easy steps to get any blogger on their way. And have any hope of getting a publicist like me to work with you. Plus, it totally gave me an opportunity to try making an INFOGRAPHIC! OMG! I'm so excited. Also, I'm such a nerd. (But bonus points for you if you pin it to Pinterest. It would make my geeky life.)

 

I'm super passionate about this (in case you can't tell) and I'm really tempted to go on and on about it because lord knows I have more tips of my sleeve, but I'll spare you the rants of a crazy publicist. But feel free t pose questions below  in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.

What does it really boil down to? Common sense. Use it. Think about meeting a person in real life ("IRL" as the kiddies say). How do you want them to look? How to present themselves? Clean and fresh and hopefully, not overaccessorized. You want them to be friendly and amenable and when you ask for their number, you want them to give it to you, not keep it a secret. Social media, at its very core, is about connecting with people. That's all. When we lose sight of that, we end up with animated gifs, auto-play music (HUGE NO TO THAT NONSENSE) and a dozen blog badges and LARGE FONT ADS. 

Like I said, it would just make my geeky little life if you pinned this. And please feel free to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, the office fridge. Sky's the limit here, people. I'm an attention whore.