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Currently, I am in New Orleans at a blogging conference called Mom 2.0 Summit, conducting an experiment I have entitled— "Taking Myself Seriously". It was either that or "Not Having The Baby To Blame For Stains On My Shirt". I went with the first one because it's shorter.

If you are visiting because you met me at Mom 2.0— Hi! That's my 16 month-old pictured up top. Her name is Mazzy and she kills me with cuteness every goddamn day. You know what? You should probably go ahead and check out my favorite posts. Actually, scratch that. Check out THIS POST. That's last Friday's post and it got more traffic than anything I've ever written. (Thank you to everyone who shared it on facebook!)

What else has been happening in the "Taking Myself Seriously" experiment?

Last week I went to a New York blogging event called Getting Gorgeous with my friend Lindsey. Lindsey is a real life friend who writes a blog called "Misadventures in Dating". In other words, when we go out together, I tell her a riveting story about diaper poop and she says, "Huh? I can't hear you over the sound of me texting various suitors." Also, Lindsey's blog is a secret. (Hahahaha, doesn't she know the internet can't keep a secret?!)

There were lots of fabulous things happening at Getting Gorgeous, but here are my main takeaways:

1) Oprah and I might differ on dogs but we both like Tasty Brand SuperFruit Gummies.

2) I am more excited by free Hanes gym socks than I am about various vacation resort packages.

3) Corporate America has won.

To be clear, I don't have a huge problem with #3; I work in advertising. And I have no problem talking about brands (did I mention how much I love Tasty Brand Gummies?) But allow me to relay this story…

So Lindsey and I are hanging out at the event and we see a backdrop wall that has been set-up for people to take pictures against. You know the kind— the white wall with all the logos on it. So, immediately Lindsey and I are like— "Oh! We have to take a picture in front of that wall!" Why did we both have this immediate reaction? Well, because then it would look like we were at a big fancy event. Now, I ask you— when did it become a thing that people want to brag that they are at corporate sponsored events??? Somehow a white posterboard wall with Degree deodorant logos plastered all over it suggests to everyone that I am a very important person invited to fancy parties where people want to take my picture. When really, it's just me and my friend snapping a photo of ourselves with our own camera phone between handfuls of Tasty Brand Gummies. (Which are delicious, by the way.)

Well done, Corporate America. Well done.

Photo(4)Lindsey told me I was free to post her picture here because she is confident the guys she dates don't read Mommy Shorts. To which I said— but wouldn't that make for an excellent "misadventure"?

That's our picture at left. Lindsey's the tall one on the right with the fabulous shirt, posing in one-leg-in-front-of-the-other paparazzi fashion. Take a lesson, kids!

The event was actually quite lovely. I hope this post doesn't prevent me from being invited back.

What else is happening in my very serious experiment?

Oh! I was in the Washington Times participating in a round table discussion with Rants from Mommyland about the relevancy of mommy blogging!

For the record, I said mommy blogging is relevant. Otherwise, would the Washington Times like to explain to me how I got my hands on a free pair of Hanes Super Soft gym socks???

I think not.