I’m back from BlogHer08 (photos here) and reflecting on my experience, which was quite different from last year.

Last year - my first at BlogHer - I was excited, nervous, and intent on finding a few new friends to tag along with so I never had to walk around looking like a lost puppy. This year I spent a good amount of time wandering around alone, in search of new people, making eye contact and introducing myself. And still there are SO MANY people I never got to meet, or only shared an all-too-brief squee with.

It seemed to me that the BlogHer receptions (Friday and Saturday nights) were attended by a lot of mommy bloggers, but not by the tech bloggers. And while I love me my mommy blogging friends, I really wanted to spend some time with the women who have been inspiring me of late, like Gwen Bell, Tara Anderson, Tara Hunt, and Laura Mayes.

I’ve written before about my increasing discomfort with blogging about my kids and my desire to pursue a career in social media marketing and blog design. I had decided to try to mash it all together on this blog, but being at BlogHer around all those brilliant women helped me to admit something that I’ve known deep inside for awhile now: I have to focus. It can’t all work the way I want it to under the name “PHAT Mommy.”

I recently read an interesting article called “We Need Social Media Interpreters, not more Evangelists.” Shey makes a good point. There are many bloggers who would love to understand more about social media, building their blog traffic and increasing their revenue stream, but who have little interest in becoming “experts” or “evangelists.” They can use someone to show them the ropes… to interpret, as Shey says. I think I have a lot to offer in that space, so that’s where I’m headed.

I love the internet. I love information. I love designing and coding (well, maybe not so much the coding). I love social media. I love marketing. THAT is where I need to be now.

Note: I’m especially interested in social media “camp-type” events held in the NYC area. If you know of any, drop me a comment.

This month I am competing in the Blogging Idol contest. It would be cool to win the big prize, but it would also be wonderful to just gain more blog subscribers and learn more about traffic generation. And what’s one thing that brings a lot of traffic? A contest.

From now until July 31, 2008, if you subscribe to my blog via email (click here), you’ll be entered in a sweepstakes to win a free custom blog theme designed by yours truly! And, of course, you will all win by subscribing to my blog and receiving my scintillating content.

The fine print: Free custom design applies to Blogger users and self-hosted WordPress users. If the winner uses another blogging platform, he/she will win a free custom blog header graphic. Winner will be notified by email on August 1st, 2008.

I have swag (ice cream scoopers!). I have biz cards (which came out really purty). I have clothes and shoes and a new haircut and a pedicure (with little watermelon slices painted on my big toes). Seems like I’m pretty ready for BlogHer. Except? Not.

My blog is not where I wanted it to be. For months I’ve been trying, planning to include more blogging and social media posts on my blog. I wanted to have a better “face”/blog for my web design services. I wanted to have another new project up and running. But it’s not happening in the next two days.

Also, my Google Reader has been neglected lately. I have little clue about what’s going on with all the wonderful women whose blogs I read kinda sorta somewhat regularly but not nearly often enough.

Therefore, the next two days will be spent working hard to tie up some loose ends. I’m declaring today and tomorrow pre-BlogHer Immersion days. I’m going to clean out my GReader account and go through ALL your recent posts. So perhaps when I meet you I will have something relevant to say other than, “Sheesh, isn’t is COLD in San Francisco in the summer?”

And when introducing yourself, I’m more likely to know your Twitter name than your blog or real name. Forgive me?

Update: I’ve entered this photo in 5 Minutes for Mom’s Summer Fun Photo Contest.

For years I’ve classified myself as a “foodie.” I love to enjoy food. It’s an emotional, sensual, social experience. I’ve told myself many times that if I am to lose weight, it will be through exercise, not food restriction. My husband scoffed, but I continued to deny that my eating habits were the cause of my sluggishness, depression, fatigue and weight gain.

Today, I officially say to PHAT Daddy, “You were right.” (He loves this.)

It’s day seven of my nine-day Isagenix cleansing diet. The first three days I lost 5.2 pounds. The next three days I only lost 0.3 pounds which kinda pisses me off because I am eating only the best food and exercising. Still, 5.5 pounds in 6 days is pretty exciting. But the absolute best part of this diet is the way I feel.

I am needing less sleep and I wake up easily, feeling energetic - and I’ve had no coffee for seven days. I am in a great mood, I am productive, and I feel less stressed.

I’m very curious to see if my new-found energy is the result of a “cleaner” diet (no caffeine, very little sugar and processed foods), or if it hinges on the Isagenix products, which are supposed to be giving me all the vitamins, etc that I need to survive on such little food (I’m eating about 600 calories a day along with two of their shakes). I have noticed that shortly after I drink a shake, I start to sweat. So maybe some thermogenic thing going on? In any case, I’m very pleased with the results. We shall see how things go when the nine-day program is complete and I am left to diet “on my own.”

And even when Megan from Velveteen Mind goes and posts multiple photos of Double Doozies on her blog, I feel strong. Here I am giving the finger to the Double Doozie. (Photo credit: turbo binge, with my added photoshop skillz.)