Image by Always Bë Cool
As you most likely know, for the last eight months or so one of the projects I have been working on has been the Aussie Bloggers Conference. Well the time has finally come and the conference is this Saturday. It sold out weeks ago and it looks set to be a fantastic event.
As excited as I am by that, part of me is actually just so excited to be going away on my own! Not with my husband, not with the kids, but it is just me getting on that plane. It will be nearly four years since I have had some time away like this on my own. I cannot wait and so I can make the best of my time away, I have been getting myself organised (albeit very late!):
Essential Apps For The Conference
Thanks to Rosa and Stu who bought me an iTunes voucher for Christmas, I have bought some apps, mainly for the conference, but they will be handy afterwards as well.
- Twitpic – makes uploading pictures on to twitter super easy. $1.19
- Scan Biz Cards – this is expensive but quite awesome. Scans business cards and then lets you add the details into your contacts! $8.99
- Speaker Clock – I won’t need to track time for the Social Media session that I am a panelist on, but i am moderating the SEO and Branding session, so will this will be a fantastic way to keep track of the time for each speaker. $1.19
- WordPress – Can’t believe I haven’t downloaded this before. It is free you and lets you moderate comments, create or edit posts and pages, and add images or videos. While I don’t imagine I will write full posts, I often have ideas for posts when I am out and about. I usually type them into a note app, but now I can enter them straight to wordpress.
- Night Camera – By using the accelerometer sensor, Night Camera only fires the shutter when it detects the iPhone is steady, thus greatly improving the sharpness of your photos – should be very helpful at the dinner dance! $1.19
Note my completely out of control unread messages! Last week was an absolute doozey.
Spray Tan
Anyone who knows me well will most likely have fallen off their chair reading this, but I have had a professional spray tan. I am your typical red head – fair, freckles and tanning through every day exposure to the sun just doesn’t happen. I have never been overly worried about this, but with baby numbers 4 and 5 my varicose veins have worsened. The veins are particularly bad around the back of my knees. I have become rather self conscious of them and they have started to limit what I will wear – a dress above new length for example means they can be easily seen.
I love my dress (my younger sister helped me choose!) I will be wearing to the dinner dance, but it does mean my varicose veins will be exposed. I have played a little with self tan this summer and have found if I have some colour I my legs, it hides the veins quite well -I feel much better about having them exposed. But for the conference I was not prepared to look a little patchy and uneven (which is how my self tan looked). This time I have had a spray tan and the difference is amazing. I haven’t gone from my usual pale self, to a bronzed goddess (impossible!). It is subtle, even and just gives me a nice colour and glow.
I have considered a spray tan before, but the thought of finding time on my own so I could do this and then be able to not have kids climbing over me, spilling drinks on me etc while the tan sets. So this is where Brown Bodies is pure genius. They come to you. I had my tan at night and didn’t have to worry about getting someone to look after the kids. Don’t think this will be the last time I have this done!
Karla from Brown Bodies who did my tan (is also a work colleague of my husbands) said they have a special 100% certified organic spray tan solution they use for pregnant or breast feeding mothers. This tanning solution also has an extra bonus as it is a ‘Rapid Tan’. Rapid Tan means you can have a shower in as little as one hour after your appointment – so you can be tanned and showered in between feeding times.
Packing – Using The Palette Concept
Thanks to the advice from Nikki in her guest post yesterday on the essential items for winter, I have a new pair of ballet flats and some skinny black jeans. I also took the advice of Super Kawaii Mama (SKM) when it came to packing and I used a “palette”. Now SKM has a far more gorgeous palette and photos, so you should take a look, but this concept really helped me pack. Yes I know there is lots of black – at least my new ballet flats are pink! My little “helper” kept trying to rearrange everything for me – he felt the gym gear should have been in the photo.
Not all of what I am taking is in the photo. I am away for three nights and am actually taking quite a bit of stuff – I have events each day and night requiring different outfits. Throw in a couple outfits for running and I am at the max luggage allowance.
Logisitcs For The Kids
The weekend I am away has many parties and sporting commitments which will be quite a bit too juggle. I have made some arrangements with friends and family to help out with this. This is also the first time our toddler will wake up to not having me around. He will be fine and his dad will be here, but he has a few quirks now that his dad will need to be aware of to avoid the toddler meltdowns!
A Book To Read
I haven’t read a book for ages and am so excited by the prospect of being able to read on the plane and from past experience – while waiting for planes. I have been wanting to read Freedon by Jonathon Franzen for ages, so have bought and packed it in my bags.
There was lots of discussion around this book last year with Jodi Picoult tweeting:
NYT raved about Franzen’s new book. Is anyone shocked? Would love to see the NYT rave about authors who aren’t white male literary darlings.
Her criticism appears not so much to lie with Franzen but with the patriarchy of the NYT, as she is quoted in The Guardian:
“the Times favours white male authors. That isn’t to say someone else might get a good review – only that if you are white and male and living in Brooklyn you have better odds, or so it seems”.
I think there is probably an element of truth in this, but I loved Franzen’s The Corrections and want to read Freedom regardless.
Cooking
I will make a couple of meals for the family before I go. While Mr I is getting much better in the kitchen, I am away for three nights and there is a lot going on those days, so it will make life a little easier for everyone.
Sleep
The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy for me, so I am aiming to get to bed early this week – I don’t want to fall asleep at the dinner dance.
What do you do in the lead up to going away on your own? How long has it been since you were away on your own?