LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

Funny thing is that 3 years post-picture, my hair's almost that style again.

Welcome, everyone new! I’m not a mom blog and not a food blog and not even a design blog. This piece of virtual real estate is about an ordinary life in South Jersey. And that picture of me on the BlogHer page is easily 3 years old. I should update that. Heh!

But without further ado…the Friday Five! Today’s topic is “Horsies!”

1. What are your feelings about horses?

I LOVE horses, but I’m not in the area (geographically or financially) to interact with them regularly. But when I was small, I had some of those “Breyer” knockoff horses. They’d play with Barbie’s horse, who was named Dallas at the time. And who is apparently so stinking old that he’s in a museum.

2. How far would you have to go if you wanted to ride a merry-go-round?
Campbell’s Field – home of the Camden Riversharks – is about 5 miles away. But I wouldn’t do that because I’m one of those fogies that believe that if you go to a ballgame, you should watch the ballgame.

3. When did you last eat something containing pinto beans?
I had a Chipotle burrito on Wednesday. Nom.

4. How’s your mane?
Teriffic, actually! I trimmed off the dead ends and after over nine months of trying to grow out my natural color I bought a bottle of hair dye and my color looks natural and even! (Garnier Light Golden Brown aka “Brown Sugar”)

5. When did you last go hoarse?
All week long, as I’ve been suffering from an early appearance of my yearly June cold.

You’ll notice the new ads, I’m sure. They’re from the BlogHer network, and after 18 months of waiting, I was finally approved to run them. I also applied to be on the BlogHer Reviewer Program – I’m excited about the opportunity of trying a different form of writing. We’ll see how that goes.

I used the Google AdSense program for 2 years, and I didn’t even earn enough to get my first $100 payment.

Here’s my stance on ads…I don’t mind them at all. If I (or more likely someone else) can earn a few bucks for a future rainy day just with a few blocks of code, then that’s great. I’m also completely in favor of the recent FTC ruling that requires bloggers who review items to admit they’re received the items for free if that’s the case. Many bloggers are upset, claiming that professional reviewers don’t have to disclose they received review copies of products.

The differences is that when you read the newspaper (and we all do, yes?) you KNOW that person you’re reading is a paid reviewer and that s/he’s trying that product out for free or is reimbursed for the cost. When you read someone’s personal blog and they start mentioning a product over and over, you think they’re a fan of the product. If they happen to omit the fact that they were flown to NYC for a weekend courtesy of the company that makes that product, it adds a certain shadiness to the blog. And I don’t like shadiness.

So here’s to the beginning of (hopefully) a beautiful little partnership.

In completely unrelated news, I have to get rid of the “Beach” theme for Gmail, as it depresses me every night when the sun sets on the theme. I get that icky “last day of vacation” feeling.

After I shut down he computer Saturday night, I took a bath. I haven’t taken one in years – life has made me a shower person. I poured some Bath & Body Works “Sleep” Aromatherapy bubbly stuff under the faucet, and when the water was deep enough, I sank into the tub.

I was nervous. I was hoping I’d have someone to talk to. Mostly, I was hoping that I didn’t waste all of that money. So as I tried to plug the dripping faucet with my toe, I visualized a fantastic, inspiring and FUN conference.

And it so was! (Holy crap! That visualization thing WORKS?) There were two “tracks” to choose from, along with an all-day Geek Lab that you could drop into at any time. I picked the sessions that comprised the Beginners’ Track. Even with five years of blogging under my belt, I felt I could always learn more.

The sessions were:

• Blogging Basics: I Blog, Therefore I Am… figuring out your blogging mojo
• Blogging Basics: 6 Steps to Personalize, Polish & Promote Your Blog
• Blogging Basics: Managing Information Overload: How to find your blogging community

The sessions were fantastic. I took away many ideas I can use for both ladygypsy.net, but for my World of Warcraft blog as well. This old girl (the blog, not me, thankyouverymuch) could use a bit of spit and polish.

Not a redesign, but a refocusing. I don’t have to change what I write about, but I can put a little more thought into my posts and not make each one a massive brain-dump. I can categorize and tag my subject matter better. I can throw up my hands in surrender and FINALLY put my contact info on here.

But if the sessions didn’t exist at all, I’d have STILL paid the conference fee just to mingle with the attendees. Many were just like me – yappy on a keyboard but a bit shy socially. Get a bunch of geeky shy women together, and soon we’re laughing and talking like we were old friends. There were so many stories to hear and so many women brimming with ideas and potential. Some were just starting out. Others were literally changing their world AND ours via their writing. You’d have to be dead not to walk away inspired.

And the food was by FAR the best food I had ever consumed at a meeting. Usually, your afternoon snack at a meeting is a cup of M&Ms. We had hot soft pretzels, mini corn dogs, cups of trail mix AND ice cream bars. Top that!

The ride back on Sunday was uneventful and MUCH shorter. I hit the local Starbucks at 7:55am. I was on the road by 8:15am, and was home by 2:30pm with only one 15-minute break in Connecticut and a bit of a delay in the Bronx. Having listened to all my saved podcasts on the way to Boston, I sang along to the Mama Mia soundtrack almost the entire way home with a break for Sugarland. (It took almost 2 full plays of “Genevieve” to get me across the George Washington Bridge.)

It was so worth the trip and the money.

Here’s a list of some of the wonderful women I met – I’ll be adding them to my sidebar in a “BlogHer Boston” section.

Alicia – Oh2122
Busy Bee Lifestyle
Candelaria – CandelariaSilva.com
Dawn – Coming to a Nursery Near You and My Tasty Space
Diva Toolbox
Dina – This Marriage Thing
Dorene – Occasional Rambling
Elisa – Elisa Camahort’s Personal Weblog
Goddess in Progress
Jory – Pause
Kerri – Six Until Me
Kristy – She Just Walks Around With It
Laurie – Laurie Writes
Liz – Inventing My Life
Marie – Boston Bibliophile
Maris – In Good Taste
Megan – A Girl Must Shop
Megan – Megan’s Minute
Sally – Sex and the Knitty
Suzanne – Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York’s Best Unusual Attractions

And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I’ll cross the stream – I have a dream