So where are you going again, exactly?” My mother-in-law looks at me out of the corner of her eye.
I shuffle my feet and mutter, “Erm, San Francisco.”
“Yes, and… for what was it, again?”
Desperately I look around for a distraction. CJ! WHERE is CJ?
And how is it that the child has an uncanny nack for interrupting EVERY SINGLE CONVERSATION except this one?
“A blogging conference,” I finally stutter. 
“Oh. Right. A blogging conference.”
She doesn’t ask HOW MUCH this trip is costing exactly or WHEN I’m going to give it up and get a real job or WHY I haven’t considered cleaning the house once in a while rather than sitting at my computer.
But the questions hover in the air between us, unspoken.
Or maybe I’m just imagining things.
When it comes to blogging, I’m pretty sure that most of my family thinks I’m crazy. My friends aren’t sure what to make of me. And the neighbors? Well… we don’t tell the neighbors.
And when people ask me where I was this weekend? I just tell them that I “met some friends” in San Francisco and leave it at that. Because… they really don’t want to know.
Or maybe it’s that I don’t want to tell them.
So I’ve spent much of my time back in Seattle playing a little game that I like to call NOTHING HAPPENED and THERE’S NOTHING TO SEE HERE.
Blogging Conference? I don’t know nothing about no blogging conference.
I ain’t never heard a no BlogHer…
I was just lying low in the city by the bay. All alone. Without any DOOCE’s or Kawasakis or cheeseburgers.
And definitely without any BLOGGERS.
Carry on.
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xo Jen
July 25, 2008 at 4:01 am
Funny that you should post this right now. Not that I have been keeping my blog a secret, but none of my family had ever seen it until 2 days ago. It makes me feel a little weird knowing that they might be reading it now.
When I went to visit in June I mentioned that I had a blog and they all gave me this strange look. My sister actually said “What the heck would you have to blog about?!”
I guess I’ll just have to pretend that they don’t know and keep writing.
Looks like you had a blast btw!
July 25, 2008 at 5:48 pm
“what the heck would you have to blog about?”
HOW RUDE! I think I’d respond with, “well, YOU, for starters!”
July 25, 2008 at 6:14 am
I so feel the same way. I told a few friends when I first started and they looked at me like I was crazy…don’t really talk about it since.
July 25, 2008 at 6:27 am
Looks like you had a great time!!
July 25, 2008 at 7:04 am
Do we have the same mother-in-law? That’s how I felt when explaining about the SOBCon events I went to.
You look like you had an absolute blast at BlogHer!
July 25, 2008 at 7:11 am
My husband refers to my internet buddies (mostly from a scrapbooking message board) my “imaginary friends.” And I feel very weird talking about them to other people. They just don’t get it.
July 25, 2008 at 5:47 pm
oh that’s just priceless. imaginary friends. I’m gonna start using that! ;)
July 25, 2008 at 8:37 am
what? what conference? i see no conference here!
alis last blog post..i am a liar! (albeit not a very good one)
July 25, 2008 at 8:40 am
I’m trying to figure out what to tell my HUSBAND next year (bc I’m definitely going next year). He just doesn’t understand how I can have real, meaningful relationships with people through the Internet. I’ve already met quite a few of my Internet friends, but he still just doesn’t get it. So, leaving him with four kids for a long weekend to go meet more is going to be a struggle.
July 25, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I hear that. When Amie (my roommate) and I checked into the hotel and told the guy that we’d met online, he asked if we met on Match.com. Which was awesome and the running joke through the weekend! ;)
July 25, 2008 at 9:42 am
LOL! My family doesn’t really get it, either. My dad started reading my blog and now I’m constantly wondering if what I’m writing is “appropriate”… ug.
But on another note… WHO is it that is TAKING the picture in that 2nd picture? I must know because the suit she is wearing is awesome. AWESOME.
July 25, 2008 at 5:40 pm
It’s Susan from Five Minutes for Mom. And yes, she looked fabulous.
July 25, 2008 at 10:54 am
Next year, I am hiding IN your suitcase.
July 25, 2008 at 11:27 am
Sooooo funny! I have been a long time blog reader, but just recently started writing. NO ONE knows. Not my friends, not my family, only 1 of my high school friend’s wife. (I got started by reading her blog.) I want to write what I think so I don’t want them reading….lol!
July 25, 2008 at 5:37 pm
oooh I wish I was in your shoes! Although maybe not… cause then I might live in fear of people FINDING OUT. Hmm.
July 25, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Wow, those are some really fun pictures! You’re making me want to go to a blogging conference now!
Ashleys last blog post..ABC’s!
July 25, 2008 at 1:58 pm
My parents paid for a stick your finger in the hole & dial phone until 1999.
They don’t even have email or a ‘puter.
Jackie W transplanted Okie (Buried in Legos)s last blog post..Fight the Frump with Fussy … Black & Brown
July 25, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I’d post a thoughtful and insightful comment on this if I weren’t humping my new computer. Again.
July 25, 2008 at 5:36 pm
OH the visual that you just gave me!!!
July 25, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I’m glad you had a great time at blogher-if in fact you had really gone. The reviews I read have been mixed. You are very photogenic-that is if there had been any photos of the event you didn’t attend.
Mrs. G.s last blog post..The Seventies
July 25, 2008 at 5:35 pm
IF you had left on a comment on the post I didn’t write about how I didn’t go to BlogHer than I probably would be really snort-out-loud-laughing right now. But I’m not. Got it?
Me neither.
July 25, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I totally didn’t see you and chat with you at any blogging conference in San Francisco.
Two times.
Jenny, Crash Test Mommys last blog post..Life Overload
July 25, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I’m just so jealous that ALL my favorite bloggers (ok, 85%) went and I didn’t! I am not worthy.
If it makes you feel any better, I once went to canada with three people that I knew from an online forum… to visit two other people we had never met in person. It was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken!
Good on ya.
Reeses last blog post..School Daze
July 26, 2008 at 10:44 am
girl i totally hear you. my family thinks i am crazy for blogging. they don’t get it at all. my sister is the only one who really ever reads it. my mom told me that i already talk too much so reading my blog would be like listening to me talk more. thankfully i thought that was hysterical and didn’t get my feelings hurt. i do live on the other side of the planet from them so you would think that reading my blog might be something they would want to do to stay connected, but nope, it doesn’t seem that way. and next year…i will be right there with…at blogher and afraid to tell everyone where i went!
natalies last blog post..My day and a message.
July 26, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Some people get blogs and blogging and others are completely clueless. Luckily my husband thinks it is good for me (creatively and mentally), and is definitely cheaper than therapy.
I have a private blog that is basically a family journal. I loved it so much I started a public blog and told my family they can read it or not… but I write whatever I want.
I love making new friends online. I think it’s easier to be yourself sometimes.
Honey Mommys last blog post..Inspected by Number 1
July 26, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I somehow, sadly, completely missed you this year! Arrrrghhhh.
July 26, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I can totally relate! My family just doesn’t understand that I LOVE doing this even when I don’t get paid. I’ve only been to one conference, that was pre-baby. The babe kinda prevents me from attending more. But the BlogHer Reachout Tour will be in my hometown in Oct. I’m so stoked about that! http://www.blogher.com/blogher_conference/conf/3/city/3
Daras last blog post..Natural Food Find: MaraNatha Creamy Peanut Butter
July 27, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I dih-ent go to no blogging conference neither. :)
I absolutely loved meeting you. (I mean, I WOULD HAVE LOVED to have met you, had I gone to a blogging conference. Which, I dih-ent.)
Bobitas last blog post..Writer’s Block
July 28, 2008 at 12:20 am
LMAO. When pressed, I was at “A Conference.”
That is all.
VDogs last blog post..Weekly Winners ~ Last Week of July
July 28, 2008 at 10:36 pm
My parents don’t know about my blog, and I told them I went to a conference on women, culture and technology. Not a lie, right?
nonlineargirls last blog post..Dear Friends
August 2, 2008 at 10:07 am
I think we should make out.
Totally.
Loralees last blog post..Why bother with the birds and the bees when you can just scare the hell out of them?
August 3, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I’m still waiting for those pics to be changed up top. Wink.
I had so much fun not attending a blogging conference. I just loved not meeting you.
Heh.