Things I learned in Arizona

I'm still not over PJs @ TJ's. I keep reading all the awesome recaps and thinking "OH YEAH!" so here are some of those moments. Also, maybe the coolest thing (other than the floor bed) was that this event CREATED A BLOG! Yeah! Peer pressure!

1. Hotel bunnies aren't afraid of people with cameras.
2. Stephanie is an awesome roommate
3. Sometimes what you need is to just roll over & go back to sleep. And if you have an awesome roommate (which, see above, I did), she will too & it will be like magical sleepytime...magic.
4. Elise is the baby whisperer. Seriously. She rocked/bounced/soothed all the fussy babies to sleep. All of them! I spent a lot of time watching her to try to discern her secret ways as that might come in handy soon. Thankfully, my mom also seems to have this skill and she's a lot closer than the Far North.
5. If I'm going to get heartburn no matter what, I'll have an extra piece of pizza. And another soda. And a tiny ice cream sundae. And more awesome dip. Ok, so all the food really.
6. What I think is heartburn is very mild compared to what could be going on in there, so I'm very grateful.
7. I like braiding my hair. I kinda forgot that, and now I wish I did it more often.
8. I recognize Diane by her glasses. Also, she reminds me of my grandpa, which is actually a compliment, because she's the one you want to sit next to because she says funny stuff, but in that quiet, under-the-table way.
9. Noemi has amazing hair. For real. And I was a little starstruck honestly. Because I've been lurking on her blog for a long time. Lurking isn't my normal M.O. (I'm too obnoxiously loud for that!)
10. People in real life really do look just like they do on the internet. It's kinda bizzare.
11. Other not-shy people make me happy, and complimenting someone's freckles can turn into a conversation about boobs and genetics. Seriously.
12. Glitter-hippies are the best kind and talking about some of the crazy hippie stuff that I'm trying with people FROM THE INTERNET in real life is also pretty amazing.
13. When in doubt, just wave at strangers and hopefully they'll be the ones who were looking for you in random public locations. Worked for Kammah!
14. Canadians don't know how to work electronic card reader/signer thingies, but will not blink an eye at multiple u-turns and crossing 4 lanes of traffic to turn left on the wrong road. (I didn't know it was the wrong road at the time)
15. I didn't mean for this to be a big name-dropping thing as I really did enjoy everyone that I got to talk to, which I think was everyone.
16. I think my superpower is being able to get back to the places I've been to. I mean, in terms of navigating & giving directions. If I've been/driven there, I can probably get back there, but only by the route I got there in the first place. Alternate routes just confuse me.
17. I really loved the way that everyone cooperated to make stuff happen--like carpooling & making trips to pick people up and taking the Canadian to a Target, which apparently they don't have in BC.
18. The smallness of this event was really appealing to me. It was all my favorite parts of the Blathering--eating & talking to people in small groups--without any stress about what I "should" be doing (based on no one's pressure but mine, by the way. But I've been to Phoenix before, so I didn't feel like I had to "experience" the city to make the trip count. I could just sit and talk, even though I'd only met 3 of the people before).
19. I have to remember that people read my blog, so I don't have to repeat myself. I'm really bad at this. It's that weird line of not wanting to seem to self-absorbed that I assume everyone remembers every word I've ever typed and not being so self-deprecating that I assume no one reads so I can tell the same stories over & over again.
20. Babies do crazy things, and listening to moms tell stories (even stories about the awful parts--pinching, getting you sick, being demanding little tyrants) is pretty cool. I have NO IDEA what I'm getting myself into, despite the vast wealth of information I've accumulated. I know that I'm having a baby, but no idea what that really means. Thankfully I know that all these women will be there in a few months when I start asking more WTF questions.
21. The desert is dry. I know, that sounds like the stupidest thing ever, but I had to actually pay attention to how much water I drank, and I didn't really realize that the difference in humidity (or lack there of) would make my skin freak out. I don't know if it's because pregnancy hormones are making me more sensitive, or I'm just paying more attention to everything that happens with/to my body. Either way, the air was dry and I needed lotion.
22. Phoenix roads will randomly gain or lose a lane without warning. This can be very confusing in the dark.
23. There is a Carter's STORE! A physical building full of nothing but Carter's baby stuff... I didn't know they had such a thing! It was...well, I'm just glad there isn't one too close to me, because I would GO NUTS! Everything with a giraffe or hippo would be MINE... I mean, Freckle's...whatever.