If you are a regular reader here, you have already read about how I took the Brave Woman Pledge. If you aren’t, the Brave Women pledge is:

I pledge to honor and respect brave women and children who tackle the difficult journey of change from domestic violence to a new life. I acknowledge my own moment-by-moment bravery, will remain aware of what is happening to others around me, and speak up against violence in any form. I will stand up for human dignity and safety for women and children.

A Brave Woman is a woman who has a lot of courage which is why I took the Brave Woman pledge. I may personally never have been involved in a domestic violence situation. However, I learned with my original post that may women that I know have. Some of the stories I have since heard writing my original post were heartbreaking. However, these are woman I am proud to know. Why? They were able to get away from their horrible circumstances. They don’t want their children to head down that path and put themselves in those circumstances. They want change. Most of all, they want to help others.

I believe that one person can make a difference. I believe that I can help support women who have been to hell and back and give them the courage and the faith that they can do this. They can leave for a better life.

Why are you taking the Brave Woman pledge?

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Did you know that ONE in FOUR women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime? That is an amazing statistic to me. I have lucked out, because I personally am not the one in four. However, I know there are women out there have to make those moment-by-moment decisions requiring brave choices and bold actions. You may not think this effects your life, but I can guarantee you that you know someone who has/had domestic violence in their lives. It is the hidden epidemic. I can’t be the only one who remembers the PSA commercials telling people to report domestic violence (I don’t see them anymore on TV, but I definitely remember them. I do wonder why they don’t show them anymore.)

It can be hard to believe in ourselves when we have been beaten down by circumstance, and that is where BraveWoman.org steps in. Brave Woman is a grassroots movement to shift personal and public perception of women facing domestic violence situations from a victim mentality to one of courage and strength. The ultimate goal is to create a community that supports difficult decisions involved in creating a new life of safety, healing, and independence. I wish we were there already. Every woman and child should have the supportive resources they need to live without fear in their homes and see themselves as courageous victors, finally free from family violence. I love that they have a link on the site called “click to hide site”. They get it that it can be dangerous to women to even be looking for a way out.

Even if you aren’t involved in a domestic violence situation, you can still become a Brave Woman Champion. You can take the pledge today and join other brave women. The pledge is:

I pledge to honor and respect brave women and children who tackle the difficult journey of change from domestic violence to a new life. I acknowledge my own moment-by-moment bravery, will remain aware of what is happening to others around me, and speak up against violence in any form. I will stand up for human dignity and safety for women and children.

I think this is something we can all do now and next year. Everyone who joins the Brave Woman community receives a free download of Jana Stanfield’s song, What Would I Do Today If I Were Brave and other sources of reflection and encouragement. You can also join them in a Brave Woman Twitter party on December 19th at 1:00-2:00 PM EST.

Will you be pledging to be a Brave Woman in 2012? Do you currently do anything to help those who find themselves in a domestic violence situation? (For example, we donate teddy bears to our church this time of year. Our church then gives those teddy bears to children in domestic violence shelters. It doesn’t seem like much, but those bears can mean the world to those children).

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I’ve been mulling for days how to write these posts. Instead, I’ve opted to write them into one big, long post, because they truly intertwine into one another.

Let’s start off by saying that this was my first BlogHer.  Yes, I was a BlogHer virgin.  Okay, enough with the snickering.  To be honest, I had no  idea what to expect at all.  When my cab didn’t show up to get me (another post will be written about this!), I thought that was the beginning of the end for this trip.  However, I learned more than I thought and made some great connections.

Also, I do need to say, my blog is my business.  As you all know, I make money from my blogs.  I get products to review for my blogs.  And last I checked, that does not make me a sellout.  The fact that there was a fight in the sponsored vs unsponsored session about this makes me sad.  There are no rules to blogging, and I don’t get why people have to impose their blogging edicts on me.  Seriously.

That all being said, since my blogs are my business, I try and act appropriately.  I would never elbow a baby in the head to get free stuff or try and blackmail a company’s spokesman.  That is just, well, bad.  The part that scares me is that this kind of behavior scares companies away from us.  It does.  You want advertisers to send us products, quit acting like the children we left at home.  Seriously.

I know you are all cringing, but yes that behavior did happen. However, the flip side of this is that there were awesome, caring people there too.  When a couple of my friends saw that I didn’t have any swag on Thursday night, they gave me one of their bags from the 704 party and one from the People’s Party.  Seriously.  Now, how is that for the people who think swag should be done away with?  For as much bad behavior there was, the good always shined through.  It really did. (I’ll admit it — I am swag whore but my roommate and I shared and traded lots of our swag).

I read some posts stating that they didn’t get anything out of this conference.  I say to those people, did you go into this with a goal or purpose?  If you didn’t, you just wasted your time.  Personally, my goal was to meet bloggers and PR people I hadn’t before.  You can’t go to a conference without a plan.  (Again, this falls into the business end of things).  Maybe since I have been to several conferences, I know this and others still need to learn it.  Ticking off PR people by holding them hostage doesn’t help either (the crocs incident).  I tried to be friendly and cordial (since I need these contacts) is always a must.  Also, my drinking was kept to a minimum.  You never know who is watching or who is going to post a really bad picture of you.

With all that being said, the PR blackout was discussed often.  I personally think it is dumb.  I mean I have no other words for it.  Since my blogs are my business, I’ve had to take control of them.  That requires me to say “NO”.  I don’t need permission from another blogger to do so.  If you go check Lisa Reviews (where I post all my reviews), I haven’t posted there in a week, because I choose to take a break.  I didn’t announce it.  I didn’t ask other bloggers to join me.  I just took a break, since I was going to a conference.  When I start getting burned out, I do the same thing.  I just take the break I need.  I don’t understand why other bloggers can’t do that.  Then again, I guess I consider my blogs a business and treat it as such.  If you were working in an office, would you and your coworkers decide to boycott the office for a week because you were feeling burned out?  That’s how I feel this is.  (Feel free to disagree)

Back to BlogHer.  I missed the keynotes, so I have nothing I can say about those.  However, I did attend quite a few sessions.  My thoughts are a bit mixed on them.  I guess my biggest thing is that I hate when I know more or as much as the speakers.  I did speak up in one session that was giving bad advice and was shot down, so I kept my mouth shut after that.  I then had to laugh when the next day I was in a session whose speaker was a true expert (Vanessa Fox), and she pretty much said what I did.  Whatever.  I would love to see “real” experts on panels not fellow bloggers.  I heard several people say the same thing especially after having session contradict themselves.  The excuse I heard was that they couldn’t afford real experts.  Well, if that’s the case, don’t have the sessions, because bad information was being given out.  (Then again, this happens at every conference I’ve been to, so the experts don’t know everything either).

I personally loved the Expo Hall. I loved the swag.  I loved talking the PR people (shout out to the Tide booth since I talked to them for like an hour).

Food.  This could be slightly improved upon.  Since I am lactose intolerant, there was really nothing I could find to eat besides fruit (not all that filling) for breakfast.  Neither day could I find a plain bagel or anything that wouldn’t make me sick.  Also, I would pay extra if they would include some sort of dinner.  The best dinner I ate (besides the Team Mom dinner I was invited to Thursday night) was the Cheeseburger Party!  That consisted of a cheeseburger and a small fry.  I heard this years food was an improvement from last year, so I hope they continue to do well on this front. I also couldn’t find a plain old boring bottle of water either.

The Parties.  If you have rules, seriously, stick to them.  If you tell people on your RSVP you are giving them swag, don’t be surprised when they don’t, they get it they are ticked.  If you have a list, stick to it.  Especially when people were seen walking away with more than one bag (or being told they were out but “special” people were still getting them).  Personally, I wasn’t expecting anything, so it didn’t bother me all that much.  If you have an event at this conference, expect babies to come with their moms (I think everyone heard about that snafu).  I’ll be honest, the 704 party free for all sucked.  I felt like I was at a concert for as swished as we were all getting.  In their defense, I don’t think they had any idea how crazy that was going to be.

Wow.  This post actually turned into a book.  What can I say?  Would I do Blogher ’10?  If I can find a sponsor, heck yeah!  There is no way I could afford this without that, but if I line one up, I am so there next year.  For all the bad things, there were 10 times as many good things.  There were so many bloggers that I wanted to meet and didn’t.  There were bloggers I was too afraid to approached and now I read their posts and wish I did.  Was it worth it all?  In one word, Yes!  (Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as I find the cord that gets the pictures off my camera.  It’s here somewhere.  I think.)

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It is hard to believe that it’s almost time for school, but we are looking at around month away!  I have a couple of high school graduation parties to still attend, and it is always fun to give my college advice.  It wasn’t that long ago Bill and I were in college.  I remember Bill eating ramen noodles to save money (ewwwww is all I have to say).  However, noodles are cheap.  Any kind of noodles will work too.  Another way to save money is buy thing like fruit and snacks on your meal plan and bring them to your room.  It’s much cheaper than eating out of vending machines.  Another way to save money is to bring your laundry home.  It’s much cheaper to do it there!

With all that being said, a great gift for a college bound student has to be gift cards.  The Sears Reloadable Gift Cards are the perfect gift.  You can get them in your local Sears and Kmart stores.  Once in school, if you want, you can reload it online.  This allows you to watch what they are spending and giving them some money to help with their home away from home.

Sears has a great campaign called Sears CampusReady to make sure you are ready for college. There are tips, advice on how to make the best with the amount of space you have in your dorm room, and even a checklist. There is even a CampusReady on Facebook that is really easy to use!   This is great way to make sure your student has everything they need!  Giftcards, checklist, supplies — what more could you ask for?

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I know, two things you never thought would mix, but this whole thought process came to me while reading TMZ (I know — not the best sources for anything but it was great break).

I’ve been with paid blogging (well, at least Izea, since a few months after it started).  I’ve been in it for the long haul.  I’ve been called everything from a shill to a sell out to well even worse.  I’ve been told I’m selling out my kids and exploiting them.  Guess what — that’s everything that I am reading about Kate from Jon and Kate.  I seriously started having flashbacks.

Granted, the whole sponsored conversation (aka paid blogging) has gained a lot more acceptance or so I thought.  People actually admit to doing it now whereas two years ago you were the antiChrist if you were a paid blogger.  However, what I am seeing again is that if you are reviewing products, then you aren’t a mommyblogger.  If you aren’t disclosing like certain people want, you are scum of the earth.  You get my point.  Amazingly, everyone was cool with Jon & Kate until the news broke he had an affair.  Now, you’ll see all the people coming out of the woodwork saying that they are selling their kids out, exploiting them, overworking them, etc.   (And what kills me that according to most of the comments I’ve seen, it’s all Kate’s fault.  Seriously, why is it always the woman’s fault?  He cheats and it’s her fault.  Just don’t get it.)

I think once the tabloids start leaving them alone the public will come back around and support them again just like mainstream media is picking up that paid blogging is here to stay.

Side note:  Honestly, I like Jon & Kate plus 8.  I think TLC portrays Kate as a bitch, and you don’t see what their life is really like.  It think if her brother truly cared about her kids, we wouldn’t be charging $30,000, so he could bash them on national TV.  You wonder why they distanced themselves from her family?  I think I can see why.  Also, I think Jon has already checked out of the marriage.  Seriously, who buys a sports car when you have 8 kids!!!  I’ve also seen people bitch, because Kate goes tanning and gets her nails done.  Who cares?  How many husbands complain, because their wives let themselves go?  The other thing I’ve seen is that they are pissed that she’s out on her book tour.  Really?  If it was Jon out there, this wouldn’t be an issue.  I don’t get why in this day and age that heaven forbid the woman works outside the house.

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