Tweetup!

Last Wednesday night I put on my big girl who isn't scared of new people pants and headed out to a local blogger tweetup (Tweetup! Hello Web 2.0! I have arrived!) at Swoon. Where I would please like to make a weekly pedicure appointment for the rest of my life. Seriously, have you had one of those? HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I wasn't feeling very confident about this tweetup thing. For starters, I was invited by some random Susan person via out-of-the-blue Evite. And it was sponsored by Pledge, and I imagined I might be subjected to some kind of time share presentation type deal and harassed by lemon-scented Pledge representatives. And for another thing, I knew maybe two or three names on the Evite list. And you know what that means. NEW PEOPLE = HIVES.

But the Evite also promised a free manicure and a free pedicure and a free massage and, to be honest, they had me at FREE.

So I did the requisite googlestalking of all the attendees, attempted a go with the mascara wand and managed to find parking in a rather parking-sparse neighborhood. I walked in, tried out this "calm, cool and collected" thing I've heard about and immediately failed when Kathryn from Daring Young Mom walked in a few minutes after me. GAK!

I very quickly learned that the random Susan person was actually Way Super Cool Susan from 5 Minutes For Mom and the event organizer. That the lemon-scented Pledge reps were actually two very nice girls from Chicago who alternated between wiping our laptops down with their new product (which, by the way, is the only thing I've tried on stainless steel that HASN'T made me want to rip my hair out, so, there's your plug Pledge! It's even an honest one! Love this stuff!) and fetching us drinks. And also that spa treatments aren't half as fun as meeting bloggers who live ten minutes away from you.

I didn't get to meet everyone, but I did hover around the [crazy delicious] food with Erin and Astacia and I had my nails done next to Ellen and was educated in the ways of a pedicure by Shera and then I fumed about not getting to talk more with my new best friend Mona while I had the most amazing twenty-minute back and shoulder massage. Seriously, the only lame thing about a blogger get together at a spa is how the spa staff is constantly dragging you away from the Awesome New Person You Just Met for a spa treatment. Lame!

I got over my Dorkness pretty fast (wait, not the Dorkness, let's call it the Nervousness ABOUT The Dorkness, the Dorkness never disappears) as it turns out there is a surefire way to start up conversation with other bloggers, that being: "So! What's your website?!" I am very VERY ashamed to say that my feed reader is embarrassingly thin when it comes to local reads, so this wasn't even a lame attempt at conversation, it was a GENUINE QUESTION.

It was supposed to be over at 9, but they were still doing my toes at 9:30 and across the room Kathryn yelled, "Maggie! Talk to me before you leave!" And you guys I was SO RELIEVED. Because Kathryn also blogs at Parenting and is, I believe, the reason why I get to blog at Parenting and I've always kind of wanted to hug her. When my toes were done, Kathryn and Mona were talking and I just sort of invited myself into the conversation and Kathryn turns to me and says, "I'm going to say something that is maybe a little rude."

And I am thinking, "Oh God. What did I do? What did I say? I mean, WRITE?"

And Kathryn says, "You are WAY cuter than the picture you have on Parenting."

So that is how Kathryn became my OTHER new best friend, even though I am absolutely certain she never reads THIS blog and is a thousand percent cooler than me and whatever, I am not too proud to beg, HANG OUT WITH ME, KATHRYN!

That is also how Mona, who is a Photographer Extraordinaire (am not kidding, go see her tweetup recap with pictures, including one of me shielding my face NICE ONE, MONA at Seattle Mom Blogs) started taking HEADSHOTS. OF ME. GAK.

So Mona is taking my picture and, like, DIRECTING ME and Kathryn is fluffing my hair and also DIRECTING ME and oh my gosh I was as mortified as I could possibly be, but also TOTALLY ENJOYING MYSELF. Is that even possible? Anyway. I told Mona to make me look skinny with her mad rad Photoshop skillz and I know she will, because she is my new best friend.

There are lessons to be learned from my big internet tweetup and they are as follows:

1. Never EVER turn down a free pedicure, for they are wonderfulness
2. Never EVER turn down an opportunity to meet your fellow bloggers, for they are crazy fun, and when they decide to TWEET the fact that this is your FIRST PEDICURE EVER, you won't know whether to hang your head in shame or bear hug the woman with the iPhone because SHE IS OF YOUR TRIBE.
3. The people in the internet ARE as awesome in real life as they are online, which is why
4. YOU SHOULD SIGN UP FOR ESCAPE TO SACRAMENTO!

Comments

[Carrie]

I'm so glad you went and had fun!

[Manda]

Um, HOW DO I GET SIGNED UP FOR A TWEETUP? And free stuff? I like free stuff. A LOT!
Congrats on your mani-pedi. Are they not the best. thing. ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[el-e-e]

I am just sad you didn't get to meet the fabulous Leslie Flinger!! But wow, that sounds like it was awesome.

Are you like, BIG-TIME now or what?! I think you ARE!! :)

[Christina]

Okay, that's it. I am now officially JEALOUS OF YOU. That looks incredibly fun. And also, I feel tragically uncool just looking at the photos - you are clearly part of the "in crowd" and I think it's very nice of you to even let me comment on your awesome blog. :-)

[Jess]

Am jealous! Have been meaning to get a pedicure for ages but yours was FREE and also SO FUN.

[Elizabeth]

I believe #5 should have been "Elizabeth is always right" but some how it was left off the list!

Um, let's not even talk about how excited I am about this new Pledge product. My love for new cleaning products is really out of hand.

[Amanda]

I can't BELIEVE you've never experienced the bliss of a mani-pedi! Even here in the Stix (hehe), they are such a necessity (especially whilst preggers). Of course, here in the Stix, you have to wait for the horses to get theirs first...

And I HEART Daring Young Mom. She's actually one of the first mommmy blogs I started reading (I think I googled PPD + blogging.... not sure...). Anyways, she's how I found you. Good stuff.

Glad you had a wonderful girl's night!

[Sheila]

This comment is kind of not relevant... except for the fact that cool stuff seems to happen a lot in Seattle. For example: the only politician that I have ever cared about (Ron Paul. Yes, I know he's a crazy conspiracy theory kind of guy. Yes, I love him anyway.) is going to be there this weekend!

[Megan]

this post is hilarious! good for you on your first pedi...you'll be addicted before you know it!