When I went to BlogHer last year I put together an introductory post and it seemed to work pretty well. This week I’m going to my big blog conference of the year, Blissdom, in Dallas and I’m really excited. So here’s my intro to all the ladies I’m about to meet…
A little about me before I get to know all of you…
(The post is embedded from Storify. If you’re having trouble seeing it, you can go here.)
Remember when you could do a movie date night with popcorn for around $20? Those days are long gone. These days a night at the movies can break the bank, especially if you’re opting for IMAX or 3D or heaven forbid, popcorn. And after all that, what have you got? Nothing too different from a night in your own living room with a $1 rental. (Plus the treats are a lot cheaper at home.)
But there’s one thing that’s always better: a night at the theater. When you see a play you’re seeing something unique, something that will never happen quite the same way again. There’s a kind of energy when the performers are right there, just a few feet in front of you, breathing the same air that you are. I’ve managed to get to the theater a few times this past year and I love how invigorated I feel when I go.
A scene from Half ‘n Half ‘n Half. Photo by Meghan Moore
So I must urge you local Boston folks to head over to Lowell for the Merrimack Repertory Theatre‘s production of Half ‘n Half ‘n Half. Which isn’t just great theater, but a world premiere of this new play. And while I love community theater where you get to watch your neighbors don makeup and wigs, these are the kind of actors you’d see in New York theaters or on television screens. (Some of them you probably have seen on TV.) (Junior year of college roommates: the lead male in the play was Nasedo on Roswell. FLASHBACK. Alas I was not quite brave enough to geek out in front of him. Also, can we talk about how miscast Kyle from Roswell is on Revenge??? So wrong.)
Ahem. Anyway. The great thing about theater is that the ticket prices (if you take the cheap seats like me) will run you about the same as an evening show at a Boston movie theater. When you realize you’re looking at two things with equal cost, I’m betting you’d rather have the evening at a play, am I right?
This was my first time at MRT and I was in love with their newly remodeled theater. It’s cozy but spacious. There is not a bad seat in the house. The chairs are brand new: plush and comfy. The sound was great. I was just in love with that little theater.
And the play! The play’s the thing, no? Comedy is a great way to get the reluctant theatergoer into coming with you if you happen to have a significant other who doesn’t see what the big deal is. It’s okay, they probably haven’t ever seen a comedic play. They don’t know what they’re missing. I suggest educating them. And this is a great way to do it.
Half ‘n Half ‘n Half is a comedy in the vein of Noises Off! (If you haven’t seen the movie version of that play, featuring Michael Caine, John Ritter, Carol Burnett and Christopher Reeve, I suggest you do so ASAP. It’s been released on DVD but you may have to hunt it down.) It’s a play-within-a-play style show. And I am a total sucker for that stuff. Love books about writers. Movies about show business. And plays about the theater.
It follows George and Loretta, two long-married actors who are doing a tour with their now-grown daughter, also an actor. This isn’t just any show business family. The thing about George and Loretta is they’ve been planning to get divorced for years and once this tour is done they’ll finally have the money to do it. But first they’ll have to make it through these last few shows. It doesn’t sound so bad, except for the fourth actor in their troupe who keeps getting in the middle of their family squabbles.
There are actually two plays, and you get to see not only a Russian drama and an early 20th century farce. (Neither of these other plays are real, of course.) These actors will have you pretty impressed as they manage both these very different works and their off-stage antics.
I attended with my friend Christy and we both laughed ourselves silly. I wish I could share some of the gags with you, but it would rob you of some hilarious surprises and I wouldn’t want to do that to you. Half ‘n Half ‘n Half also had a lot of heart, and left me smiling when it was done. This theater-lover was very pleased. I feel comfortable recommending it to pretty much anyone.
If you’d like to go, you can go to MRT.org to buy tickets. They’re playing through December 23rd, Wednesdays through Sundays, with weekend matinees as well. (For group sales of 6 or more you can save up to 25%, just call 978-654-7561.) I was definitely impressed with the MRT, you can check out the rest of their season here. You can also follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook.
Seriously. Spice up your next night out. You’ll remember it a lot more than you will a night at the movies with that terrible popcorn.
I attended Half ‘n Half ‘n Half as press for the purposes of posting a review. Thanks to MRT.
This is part of a week-long series as I recover from BlogHer 12. Do not worry. These are not recap posts, but they’re all somehow connected to my experience. Today I’m going to highlight some of the people I met.
The biggest complaint I have about BlogHer: I didn’t meet enough people.
The best thing about BlogHer: I met amazing people.
Blogging has been my main way of making friends for the past year or two. There are lovely people in the blogging world. And you get to meet people who are important to you who may have no idea that you worship the ground they walk on. Sometimes I worry a little bit that I get a bit smothering when I decide I am in love with another blogger. It’s very possible the people in this post will see their names and think, “Oh no. It’s that creepy girl who attached herself to me and wouldn’t leave me alone.”
I want to highlight just a few as I’m not sure you read them and I have been a total jerk about keeping my blogroll up to date.
First, attention must be paid to Laura from Laura’s Rules. As far as our blogs go we have some things in common but some pretty big differences. She focuses a lot on green living issues, a subject I don’t think I’ve ever covered. But we spent Friday evening together talking. And it was one of those instant connections that makes me happy to be alive.
What did Laura do for me? Well, you may remember that I am/was/whatever a lawyer. Maybe you noticed that I don’t have “mom” or any variation in my blog name or my twitter handle, but I do have “esquire” in there. I’m proud of my lawyer-ness. But I also have this underlying embarrassment about how far off the normal career track I went and I feel defensive and unworthy and all this stupid stuff that I shouldn’t feel. Laura kicked my butt and has me motivated to start writing about the law like I’ve been toying with. My Supreme Court Decision on Healthcare post was one of my most successful and I want to venture out to freelance a bit with similar types of articles. Until this week it was all talk. Thanks, Laura, for telling me what I needed to hear.
During my brief time at a BlogHer party, I met Lisa from The Spaghetti Westerner. There was not a strong Western contingent at BlogHer this year, since it was on the East Coast. So I might have been the first person who has actually been to her hometown in Nevada. We had a ridiculously lovely chat and had we not been having such a good time at the bass-pumping party, I might’ve kidnapped her and taken her somewhere quiet so we could be alone.
On the ride home I got to spend some serious quality time with my girl JD at Honest Mom. I’ve loved knowing JD and lately I’ve felt like I’m phoning in my writing a bit with all the craziness at home. JD writes the way I want to write more often and has the openness I built this blog around. I hope to guest post for her soon. We need more bloggers like her in the world.
I had my biggest fangirl moment when I was behind Monica in the breakfast line. I’ve been reading her for a long time. I have sent her oversharing emails where I confided deep emotional scars. I have considered moving to rural Pennsylvania so we can be neighbors. And she was totally warm and sweet and not at all scared by my confessed stalker-ish tendencies. So this means I can just show up on her doorstep one of these days, right?
Lately I’ve been getting more connected with the Autism community. When Graham was first diagnosed I immersed myself, then as life went on I pulled back a little more. It was too hard talking to people with older kids, which is kind of terrible but just where I was at the time. Now I’m back in and they are just the best people in the world and I want us to form our own small country where we make all the crazy rules. I got to see Try Defying Gravity a whole bunch of times and I’m so thrilled that she lives near me. I watched Varda do an amazing job reading at Voices of the Year.
I did a girly scream-filled hello with Stimey. The Autism crew is a kind and loving community of spitfires and crazy people. I adore them.
I got to see loads of my Boston friends. I had late-night gab fests with Annie. I stalked Cindy. I obviously didn’t sit close enough to Kim to let her luck rub off on me. BlogHer was a friendlier place with so many familiar faces. I hope to see all of you again very soon.
So the short lesson here: if you want to be friends with me, get a blog.
This is part of a week-long series as I recover from BlogHer 12. Do not worry. These are not recap posts, but they’re all somehow connected to my experience. As usual, I’m just talking about me.
I used to be a very high-strung person.
Which is a nice way of saying I had a stick up my butt a lot of the time.
While I wasn’t always aware of this, as I got older I started to notice it more and more. I’ve never been terribly spontaneous. I wasn’t really a go-with-the-flow type. I liked plans and deadlines and when people suddenly changed things up I got quiet and resentful.
But somewhere along the line things have changed.
Now people tell me I am relaxed or laid-back. And part of me finds this hysterical, as it is the exact opposite of how I was for so long. I haven’t really believed them most of the time. I assume they just haven’t been introduced to that part of me yet.
But my days in New York City at BlogHer may finally have proved to me that I have actually turned into a laid-back person.
I have been incredibly lucky to get to know a whole slew of amazing bloggers here in Boston. They are experienced and well-connected and professional and generally wonderful. They have been full of advice. They have been generous with invitations. And without them I probably would’ve been completely clueless. Their help gave me a lot of confidence.
I came in without a clear set of goals or priorities.
Did you get that?
I did not have goals. I did not decide what I wanted to get out of the conference. I did not have a list of people to meet.
I did have a calendar that looked like this:
I don’t think I’ve had a calendar that full since I started using Google Calendar.
This should have stressed me out. How would I decide which sessions to attend? How would I handle scheduling conflicts?
Instead I just… well… I just did whatever I felt like doing at that particular moment.
I spent a lot of the time walking around by myself. (This may have had a little bit to do with the fact that I went 24 hours without my phone receiving anyone’s text messages and kept wondering why all my friends had forsaken me.)
I skipped parties. On Thursday night I sat in my hotel room in my pajamas watching the end of gymnastics. Yes, instead of partying or drinking or chatting with random people I met in the elevator, I sat in my hotel room like a loser. And you know what? I liked it.
On Friday I randomly met Laura and we ditched the parties to go have a great sushi dinner and some great conversation.
On Saturday my sister and I went to a Broadway show. I am a theater lover and when it came down to it, I couldn’t let the chance to see One Man, Two Guvnors pass me by.
I showed up to my first BlogHer party an hour before BlogHer ended. I had a great time and got just enough partying and just enough tipsy giggling with my roommates before bed to get my fill.
Also: I didn’t go to a single session on Saturday. Not sweating it. They’ll be online so I can get all my SEO info and my Google Analytics help.
And I missed all the keynotes.
I unloaded most of my swag before I came home.
I did have a few fabulous lamb gyros from the halal truck outside. I made a few passes at the expo halls and talked to only a small number of choice brands. I think I may be one of the few who feels like they got some really strong connections out of it.
I talked to friends in the hallways, in the elevators, on the street, in the lobby. I tapped bloggers I’ve never met on the shoulder and introduced myself. I was the first at nearly every table I sat at to say hi and pass around my business cards.
I did kind of blow it on recruiting for Red Letter Reads, my upcoming book review site, but that’s my only regret. (Tell your friends!)
You guys. I think I’ve gone from a tightly wound spring to a bowl of jiggly jello.
And I’m okay with that.
I’ve had this idea for ages. I wanted to do it for Graham’s birthday last year but never got around to it.
But this year, especially with help from my mom and sister, we pulled it off.
Birthday cakes tend to be too heavy, too rich and too loaded with sugar for my taste. And since Graham’s birthday is smack dab in the middle of the hot summer, I’d rather have something cool, light and a little tart.
So we made Summer Fruit Cakes.
These are surprisingly easy to make and not at all expensive. If you have a crowd on the smaller side you can do it with one small seedless watermelon.
We started with a seedless watermelon, cut it in half, and set out to remove the rind. When I say “we” I mostly mean my Mom, who took on the task with her usual tenacity and expertise. She took care of the rind by taking her knife around the inside of the rind and then cutting out triangles.
With the little bit of rind on top, we cut a clean slice across.
From here, we cut the melon into several slices straight across. If you’d rather, you could easily cut it in half first to make this easier.
Mom pulled out a very long knife for this job. She did pretty well getting nice even slices.
Next we enlisted the help of these Williams-Sonoma biscuit cutters.
Also note the wax paper we laid out on the counter to keep this from getting too messy. Watermelon is a lot juicier than you realize.
Once you hit this point, the hardest part is all done. Smooth sailing from here on out. Just start cutting out cute little circles of watermelon.
If you look closely, you’ll see that we played a little bit towards the end and made some heart-shaped melons.
There’s only two more ingredients: Whipped cream and blueberries. To keep our lives easy, we just used the whipped cream that comes in a can.
For the bottom layer of your cake, use a slightly thicker slice of melon. Then cover it with a small layer of cream. We did our fair share of experimenting and while you can just lay the berries on top of the fizzy cream, I liked the look of it better when I used a spoon or spatula to smooth the cream out.
Add a layer of blueberries, pressing them lightly into the cream. Then just add another slice of melon (slightly thinner) on top.
For Graham I added 3 little blobs of cream on top with 3 little berries in them to celebrate his 3rd birthday.
The kids didn’t care much if theirs were pretty. They highly enjoyed demolishing them.
A fun treat for the kids. Graham was over the moon having his very favorite things all together in his “birthday cake.’
Fear not, you don’t have to be messy to eat these delicious cakes.
Yeah, there’s some juice. But this IS watermelon. Nothing a little plate can’t handle. These aren’t good finger foods, but they’re perfect for a light summer snack or dessert.
Honestly, I had this idea mostly to make something I knew the Bug would love. But I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I’m not even a big blueberry lover, but it was a great counterpoint to the mellow melon and the cream.
If you’re going to be cutting up a watermelon, this is just a little extra effort to make a super cool treat.
