Time to frag, again?

How can it be Friday again? It seems that it was just Friday two days ago. But the calendar says Friday and you know what that means...Fragments with Mrs. 4444s. So here goes nothing...

* Resolve. Willpower. Motivation. Good sense. Whatever you call it, I seem to have lost it when it comes to diet and exercise. I start out the day being really good. Then a few things slip in here and there and before I know it...ka-blooey! I really must start recording what I eat.

*Caralyn -- winner of the Chex Mix prize pack -- has not responded to me yet. So Caralyn, if you're reading this, e-mail me at 4thfrog70 (at) gmail (dot) com by Saturday at 6pm. If I don't hear from you, I'll have to draw another name.

* Annie is going to the midnight showing of the Harry Potter movie tonight. I want to watch Part 1 over again, then hop in the car and go to a showing of Part 2 at a more sensible time.

* There are 5 Amys here at the Bloggy Conference. FIVE. In my sorority pledge class, there were 7 (out of 37 girls). Six in my high school graduating class. Didn't mothers in the 1970s have any creativity? (Love you, Mom!)

* I think this might be the weekend I can kiss this iPhone 3G goodbye. 3G. Not 3GS. Not 4.0. When some college kids I was with recently saw that I'm still using a 3G they looked at me like I'd just sprouted pteradactyl wings.

* We have one month of summer left and I'm finding it very difficult to squeeze in a mini-vacation for the family. Between summer school, high school orientation, parent orientation and work, when's a girl supposed to get away for a little R&R. I mean besides this bed-to-myself-no-cooking-for-anyone blog conference I'm at.

Ok. Brain emptied -- or at least too tired to squeeze out any more fragments. If you're craving more fragments, hit up Mrs. 4444s website.

Oh the pressure!

Have you ever had a dinner party and invited the best cook you know? You were sweating it a little bit as she took her first bite of food, weren't you? Or you went to one of those paint your own pottery places with an art teacher and you spent the whole time hoping that your finished product didn't look like one of her kindergarten students painted it. That's kind of what it's like being at a blog conference and sitting down to write a blog post about the experience.

I'm at a conference in Cincinnati called Bloggy Conference. It's a small conference, about 60 bloggers, so it's been very easy to get to meet up with and know people. Some of them are frugal bloggers. Some are mommy bloggers (or "life bloggers" as I like to refer to myself). Some blog for business. Others blog to maintain sanity.

Last night was the welcome party. Today there were sessions on authentic voice, using social media to promote your blog, a Twitter roundtable (for someone who usually tweets a few times a day, I've been burning up the Twitosphere), and a session called "Bring Sexy Back to Blogging," which did not actually involve nudity or anything that would help you in the bedroom.

I've learned a lot, but I put as much value on the getting to know people. I'm rooming with a woman named Judy from Omaha. Any worries I had that she might be a serial killer went out the window when she told me her husband spent 10 years teaching religion to high school boys. Judy is uber outgoing, so it was a good thing they put us at the registration desk to check people in last night.

Then there's Jessica, who looks like a normal human being, but who is really a New Kids on the Block fanatic. She's been to more than a dozen NKOTB concerts since they resurfaced in 2008. Despite that, Jessica is the kind of person I'd hang out with if we lived close to each other.

See? This is where the pressure kicks in. I've met so many fun and wise and sincere bloggers (I've met a few that don't fall into that category, too), that I don't want to leave anyone out. But I also don't want to be the person who keeps talking and talking about how much fun she had at a party that no one else went to and no else really cares about.

So, I'll just leave you with a few nuggets I collected along the way today:

Authenticity has no competition. -- Corporate Mom Dropouts

Men approach social media as a business. Women approach social media as a community. -- Girlfriendology

Write like no one's reading. -- Pajamas and Coffee (who did actually talk about nudity and bedroom aids in her presentation)

(Yeah, that last one...good advice, but please still keep reading anyway. I'm sensitive like that.)

Late night fragments

Well, it's actually not that terribly late by my standards. Only 10:47pm. I'm just getting warmed up. Whether you're stopping by here late at night or early in the morning, welcome to Friday Fragments, hosted as always by Mrs. 4444s.

I bought a new pair of tennis shoes last week. I'm ashamed to say (but of course I'm going to say it) that I haven't been exercising because I lost one of my tennis shoes. And it's been gone for a LONG time. So last week, Mike and I rode up to Marshall's and bought a new pair for $30. The dog is happy about that. And I even went out walking on my lunch hour the other day. Good investment for sure.

We took Robbie to see Zookeeper, the movie, tonight. I got free passes from Gofobo. I smuggled in some fruit snacks and we were set for a cheap night at the theater. When we got there, we saw a poster advertising free popcorn. So while we waited in line, Mike and I each fired up our iPhones and went to popcorn.yahoo.com and got instant coupons for free popcorn. Woohoo! The popcorn was the small size -- about the same size as a brown paper lunch sack. Do you know how much they wanted for that stinkin' bag of popcorn if you actually had to pay for it? $6/bag! For about 25 cents worth of popcorn kernels. I'll keep walking softly and carrying a big purse, thankyouverymuch.

Charlie comes home tomorrow. He's been at my parents house since Monday, going to basketball camp at my high school. I miss that kid.

Is anyone else shaking their head, wondering how it's already July 7th already? The kids go back to school in just 5 and 6 weeks! I feel like I'm just getting warmed up to summer. Time to get out the calendar, try to squeeze in some memory-making activities and start watching for back to school sales. Where is the "pause" button?


Next week, I'm headed to Cincinnati to attend Bloggy Conference. (See the button to the right. I tried to paste it in here and it kept jacking up my entry.) I got my conference registration in exchange for volunteering to work the conference. And I'm sharing a room with another blogger, Judy, who writes at Dirt Road Musings. We've only spoken on the phone, but I'm pretty sure she's not a serial killer. She is younger and skinnier than I am, but I'll try not to hold that against her. Funny thing is that Judy is from the same town as one of my favorite bloggers, Annie, of Annie Weighs, but they don't know each other...yet. Bloggy Con will be the first not-for-business social media conferences I've gone to. I'm excited (and a little nervous). Anyone else going?

Don't forget to enter the Chex Mix Muddy Buddies giveaway. I'll draw the winner Saturday night at 9pm EST.

One last thing before I wrap up. God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. No details necessary (no job offers for Mike to share, either), just thankful to be on the receiving end of His faithfulness today. 

Be sure to stop by Mrs. 4444s's place for more Friday Fragments.