Bowling and Babies and Nikon and Burgers – OH MY!
So y’all getting back in the swing of things after BlogHer? I am quite sad that I didn’t go, but the weekend was almost as jam packed with me staying here as if I ventured to Chitown. I had 4 parties. FOUR.
First, there was the baby shower for my best friend and her newly adopted son.
And I can’t forget the gathering to say goodbye to old friends who are moving to Houston for a new opportunity. Talk about bittersweet. Declan and Trudy have been close friends since they were TWO. The kids don’t really understand what all this means yet, but WE do. [Rest of the pool photos are here.]
Then, I was proud to host the Denver regional part of BowlHer. Full set of photos here by MelissaWrites. [Thank you Melissa!] BowlHer Chicago was a bowling themed party with lots of pink boas. We had no bowling. Or boas. I am seriously terrible at bowling, although I could have rocked a boa. So we drank. And ate pizza. And chatted. And connected to other parties via MomTV. That worked.
What a fun night. Except for the part where I calculated the tip TOTALLY wrong for the awesome crew at Stella’s on Colfax (formerly Cafe Star) who TOTALLY took care of us. Like so wrong that I stopped by the next day with an envelope of cash and a bashful note that said, “Hey, I’m a Mom Blogger, Not A Math Blogger.”
OK. Speaking of Mom Bloggers, let’s talk #Nikonhatesbabies.
For those who haven’t heard of it, Nikon threw a party at BlogHer, an invited vlogger (who I met at Mom 2.0 and is a lovely person) arrived with her baby, the bar was 21 and over, Nikon turned her away – and of course a shitstorm broke on Twitter within minutes.
Here is the problem. It’s a woman’s conference, where some of the women happen to be mothers and are encouraged to bring their babies if they like, and if they want to go to parties, they either have to find a babysitter in a strange city, or leave them with someone else also attending the conference. Not an easy task. So, while I get the backlash of people twittering that it’s stupid to assume you can bring a baby to cocktail party, I also get why she thought she could. Other people have – many times, in fact.
I brought Declan to Ignite Boulder – you know, the time he learned to curse, which was awesome. We called the Boulder Theater and asked him if we could bring Declan, they told us it was up to the renter if under 21 could come in, so I made Andrew let me bring him. Easy enough for me because it was local.
I don’t know if the laws are different in Illinois. But the problem, as I understand it, was the event was held at a 21+ bar, the bar held the line, Nikon’s hands were tied, they felt like crap, and then the moms went crazy. Partially justified, in my opinion, as I stated above – so Nikon should have absolutely been prepared for this eventuality.
Then the anti-moms who love to drag us down because we are getting all the attention right now and are pissed THEY aren’t getting all the trips and swag and blah blah blahhhhh have now gone nuts over the moms going crazy.
Ahhh, WOMEN ARE SO FUN. Can’t we all just get along?
In general, I just see this as a case of an event coming together not so smoothly. Not a reason to say something as incendiary as “Nikon hates babies.” One simple cocktail party can’t be all things to all people. Moms should check to see if they can bring babies to bars, it’s just *not* something I would automatically assume, as I mentioned above. And Nikon could also be prepared that there will be *some* moms with babies at a woman’s event and have a Plan B.
And as for who is getting what and blogging about it? I love the site that Susan, Liz, Kristen and Julie have come up with – Blog with Integrity. It’s kind of a no-brainer, but if we all stopped to do [on our blogs] what we do more naturally in real life (maybe?) things would be more smooth in the blogosphere? My mantra for Greeblemonkey is simple. Be upfront and truthful. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t say to someone in person. Which is, in essence, what the pledge boils down to. The Golden Rule of Blogging, so to speak. Rawk.
And finally, one last thing, before I end the longest post in the history of this blog. The thing I missed most about missing BlogHer this year?
The CheeseburgHers.
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I still think the mombloggers were way out of line on this one!!!!
Right on, Aimee.
I’m looking at your picture now and saying oh wait THAT’S Aimee! I’m so sorry we didn’t get to hang out more this weekend.
Thanks so much for your support of Blog with Integrity. It means the world.
So you wouldn’t say all this to the people mad at the self-righteous mom bloggers? Right.
So Awesome! We did have a great time doing BowlHer remotely!! Love the post and picts!!
Stephanie from MomTV
I’m sorry that I missed Danielle’s shower, I’m sorry that I missed BowlHer Denver, and I’m really sorry that we both missed the CheeseburgHer party.
But thank you for your support of Blog With Integrity – you’ve got it in a nutshell, and you’ve always got my back. You rock.
With the situation regarding the infant at the bar, being a former bar owner I am gald that the establishment held the line. That is their liliehood every day, 365 days a year. To make an exception for one person could cost them their license. for one event to lose their livelihood…I side with the bar.
I was at that party and have read closely along with all of this (especially as a photographer who loves to see involvement from companies who acknowledge that many of us are – duh – taking pictures) I’ve even written about it on my own site. And whereas I’m with you part of the way, I have to say (as a non-mom who loves my momblogger soul mates – you included – with thousand-sun-like heat) that many of the people complaining about the hashtag and other aspects of this are moms themselves. Not anti-, not non-, specifically. It’s a cross-section, which the comments in Kristen’s original post bear out.
You know you’re one of my self-selected tribe, and I just wanted to point that out to rep myself and others like me who are not parents but decide our feelings on things when they happen based on the facts at hand, not based on some irrational judgment of a woman with a stroller, which to me wasn’t a problem at all. I’m just really hating the labels this week. I’d like it if we all just called ourselves bloggers, or writers, or photographers, and most of all, allies.
Laurie, you are right and my comments re the anti-mom sentiment was really more for the twitterstream that was pretty ugly, petty and mean towards moms, not people who took time to write their conscious thoughts on the subject. In retrospect, I should not have let that sway me one way or the other, because a twitterstream is generally, that, just a stream letting off steam and doesn’t mean much. It’s the people who take the time to really articulate their thoughts that matter – thank you for reminding me of that.
1. That is the cutest cake EVER. And I don’t even like cake.
2. I agree with William. The bar owners could have lost their livelihood if someone decided to crack down. We all know that babies don’t drink. But if someone snapped a photo that showed the baby in the bar, etc. Could be a big mess.
3. Blog With Integrity. I’ve seen this in a lot of places, most specifically at Mom101 (love Liz). I feel like I’ve never stopped, so I don’t understand why I should take a vow. I mean, my blog isn’t the best on the internets, and comments have crashed in the last year or so, but I don’t write reviews for things I don’t care about, I don’t give good reviews for things I don’t like, etc., which is I believe what the pledge is supposed to be about. So it seems to me that the people taking the pledge don’t really need to, because they’ve been blogging with integrity all along.
Missed you at BH this year. I even attended the CheeseburgHer party (it was a total blast, btw).
And more to the point, that picture of you up there, I love it. 🙂 We didn’t go to Bowlher – I don’t even think we left the madness of the Sheraton – so I didn’t get to see what everyone was up to elsewhere and that was what I missed out of everything. I hope we’re in NYC together.