When I moved Table for Five from Blogspot to WordPress.com, back in 2006, I was so pissed off at Blogger that I actually DELETED their copy of the blog once everything was moved over. I never thought that I would one day wish I could look back at it!

Well, that day came, I wished, and I found something I never thought I’d see again.  I used the Wayback Machine to do a search for table4five.blogspot.com, and LOOK:

I was hoping for something I wrote in 2005, but this was as far back as it went. If you are wondering why it says I’m married to “BC” in the About Me section, it’s because originally Chris wanted me to use an alias for him.  Check out my humongous glasses!

The theme was customized for me by a blogger whose name I can’t remember now, I remember her telling me she used Photoshop to create the image in the header and I thought that was just the coolest thing to know how to do.

Let me show you my blogroll from back then!

As Crazy As It Sounds was my sister-in-law’s first blog, she moved it to another URL shortly thereafter, and then stopped blogging.

Baby Poop & Business Suits is written by a terrific Michigan blogger named Gerah, I’m sorry to say we’ve lost touch   Gerah, if you’re seeing this link, leave me a comment! Let’s reconnect!

Baleful Regards is written by the wonderful Dawn, who I hugged over and over at BlogHer because I was so happy to see her! She lives in Canada and we first met at BlogHer 2006.

Below The Eight is the blog of Fraulein N. from Philadelphia. You need to watch the YouTube video she posted about a woman doling out some justice to an attempted carjacker. It’s beyond awesome.

Bombadee’s Garden is written by Jenny from Texas. I found her site and the top post said Group B Strep, so I scrolled down to read more, and found she has a new baby, and the baby has Strep  Sending her big virtual hugs for her and her family.

Breed ‘Em And Weep is written by Jennifer Mattern,  a writer/poet/playwright/mother of two who is all kinds of talented. She’s been through a really, really rough divorce, her recent post combines an upsetting visit to Family Court with a recap of “Eat, Pray, Love” that is just brilliant. Give her that book deal NOW!

Days Like These! is the blog of my dear friend Tanyetta, whom I wish I could just MEET already!  I know Florida is hot in August, but couldn’t BlogHer be held there just once??  Anyway, Tanyetta has been a loyal reader and Internet Friend for years now.  I didn’t realize it had been 4 years!

Fancypants is no longer blogging, sadly.  She once sent me a mix CD of current music that introduced me to The Killers and Belle & Sebastian before any station in Lansing was playing them.  I miss her.

Goose, Mousie, Daddy & Me might not sound familiar, but I bet you’ve heard of it’s author, Julie, who first renamed her blog Mothergoosemouse and then changed her focus and created The Mom Slant. She was also the co-owner of the defunct Parent Bloggers Network. I greatly admire Julie and am glad we have been friends for so long!

Halloweenlover – I actually had the title of this blog wrong, it’s Lots and Lots of Nonsense. Halloweenlover is her online name. It’s been so long since I stopped by her blog that I didn’t know she had a ONE YEAR OLD BABY.  I suck.

JenandTonic has now become Jennui dot com (pronouned jon-wee). I think Jen  is way brave for just starting over with new a blog after nine years.   Jen is lovely and kind and I look forward to seeing her at BlogHer every year.

Mabel’s Mind Wanderings seems to have been closed down.

Mainely Madge stopped posting in 2007, sadly. She was a fantastic teller of stories.  Her husband was almost killed on the job and they went through hell and back with their lawsuit, but she also had an adorable little girl she called The Bird, and wrote about their lives really well. I wish I knew if she was still around online somewhere.

Mamatulip ‘s blog is actually called Where am I going…and why am I in this handbasket?, but it was probably too long to fit

Mean Girl to the Rescue! stopped blogging in 2009, but for a good reason – she had a baby!

Megger Says is no longer active.

Mocha Momma is the lovely Kelly, who I first met at BlogHer 2006. We did the Chevy Test Drive event together in Memphis, in 2007. She writes really well and is funny, too.

Mom/Ma’am/Me is the blog of my friend Nancy, although she hasn’t posted anything in a long time. Nancy was the first blogger I met IRL, when we met up at the Houston airport on our way to BlogHer 2006.  She was also one of my first regular reader/commenters.

Mom-101 is, of course, the incomparable Liz Gumbinner, who was also one of the first reader/commenters on Table for Five. It cracks me up that I have her URL listed as NEW!, because back then, there weren’t as many Mom blogs as there are now, and finding a new one to read was a treat for me. Sorry about missing the hyphen back then, Liz. edited to add: Liz is also a partner in Cool Mom Picks, the website that finds the coolest products for kids of all ages and their parents!

I just noticed I didn’t have any kind of RSS feed link back then! I guess if anyone was subscribing, they were probably using Bloglines and just typing my URL into the subscription box.  Can you even imagine starting a blog now and NOT having an RSS feed link?

I hope you enjoyed this look back at Table for Five, circa 2006, and meeting the fine folks who were on my blogroll back then. I have to say, the sheer simplicity of it, the uncluttered sidebar, it looks wonderful.   It’s so hard to resist the allure of badges and buttons, they have been my weakness for years. I like the design I have now, to be sure, but seeing what I had, I should have appreciated it more.

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Dear readers of MY blog Table for Five, I have to tell you something It all started with Google Alerts.  I subscribe to an...
2. Send Table for Five to the Type-A Mom Conference and Promote Your Site! I want to go to the Type-A Mom Conference! Held...
3. Getting Back to Basics Ever since I started blogging a jillion years ago, I’ve...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

From the time I had to walk a mile and a half from one end of Terminal C to the completely opposite end of Terminal A at the Detroit Airport last Thursday, my feet started to hurt. During the evening Bee Squad event, I stood for two hours and then finally had to sit down to get the pressure off my feet. At the People’s Party, I finally took off my high heeled sandals and walked barefoot the rest of the night.

Friday I walked, and walked, and walked. And stood around waiting for elevators. And walked some more. I tried to massage my feet before I went to bed but it still took a while to fall asleep due to shooting pains in the bottoms of both feet.

Saturday morning, I got a reflexology foot massage at the Unilever event. My eyes rolled into the back of my head more than once, and I had to force myself not to moan inappropriately. For about two hours after that massage, my feet didn’t hurt at all. But after more hours of walking and standing, and then dancing at the Sparklecorn party, my feet had finally had enough.

I woke myself up crying in the middle of the night. The bottoms of my feet felt like they were being stabbed with hot needles. Nothing I did helped. I tossed and turned, rubbed my feet against the cool parts of the sheets, and somehow was able to fall back asleep.

Sunday morning I looked at myself in the full-length closet mirror in the room and gave myself a stern lecture. I told myself that this was the last straw. I may not have the highest self-esteem in the world, but dammit, I’m important. I am worthy. I deserve to be able to move around comfortably.

I have issues from my past that I believe have led me to be this overweight. I can’t afford therapy and am not even sure it would help. I know exactly what the issues are, exactly what makes me afraid to be thin. I also believe that I have the power to overcome those fears. Because I HAVE to.

I cannot make it through another BlogHer at this weight. I never want to experience the kind of pain I had this past weekend again, ever. I do not care what it takes. If I can’t make myself enough of a priority to get myself in shape by next year, I am not going to BlogHer. Even if I have a sponsor.

I hope that doesn’t scare off prospective sponsors, but it has to be said. I have to set a goal big enough to really want it. It has to be something that I can circle on the calendar and work towards. And the goal has to be something I want badly enough that failure is not an option.

Regular readers know that I’ve been down this road before. I’ve announced my joining of Weight Watchers, my intention to start exercising, so I know what you’re thinking. But I’ve never dangled this big of a carrot in front of my nose before. The only other time I set a goal to lose weight and was successful was for my wedding. And I went from 160 to 125 in 8 months.

I’m purposely not throwing out numbers or dates right now. I don’t want to set a goal weight number and then fail to meet it. I’m thinking in terms of physical comfort goals:

Being able to go down into my basement, throw in a load of laundry, turn around, and climb back up the stairs without my heart pounding and breaking a sweat

Being able to scrub my kitchen floor without developing an ache in my hips and thighs and breaking a sweat

Being able to be on my feet for several hours, walking and standing, without my feet hurting

In order to accurately recreate the physical requirements of BlogHer, I figure I need to go to the mall wearing a 15 pound backpack and then walk a mile, stand still for 30 minutes, walk another mile, and then stand still again. Oh, and pick up a couple of shopping bags along the way, and gradually fill them so they get heavier, and heavier.

So here’s what I am going to do – I’m going to plan to be at BlogHer next year. I assume it will be held the first weekend of August. If I haven’t lost what I consider to be enough weight by say, May of next year, I won’t buy a plane ticket to San Diego.

I’m thinking now though, that it’s too vague. How much weight is “enough”? What about pants sizes instead? Okay, I’m going to tentatively say that I want to be a size 14 by next May. Minimum. I’m an 18 now.

Obviously that isn’t model-thin, but I think it would be a loss of what, 25 or 30 pounds? That would have to make a significant difference in the way I feel on my feet all day, right?

The category for my weight loss posts will be “Blogging My Butt Off”. So if you want to follow along with my progress, make suggestions, send me encouragement, whatever, look for posts in that category.

May 2011. Size 14. 25 or 30 pounds. Whichever comes first. Or no BlogHer next year. That’s the carrot I’m dangling in front of my nose to get myself motivated.

Because I’m worth it.

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Ads for sale on my food blog! The domain name registration for my food blog expired. Somehow...
2. Dona Nobis Pacem-2009 Blog Blast For Peace It started in October 2006 when Mimi from Mimi Writes...
3. BlogHer Recap – Yep, This Really Is Where I Belong I started out writing every single thing that happened every...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

BlogHer 2010 was the BEST BLOGHER I have ever attended. And this was my fifth year. I’m not disparaging previous conferences, there were definite highlights for me of each one, but this one, it was just the perfect combination of location (I LOVE NEW YORK!), hotel (okay, the elevators were a pain, but the hotel staff was wonderful and the room was way comfortable), sessions (Geek Lab ROCKED!), events (thank you again Bumble Bee, Healthy Choice, Hallmark, Clorox, and Unilever!), exhibitors, and PEOPLE.

Even in a crowd of 2400 people, I was able to find, hug, and pose for photos with a whole bunch of friends. Of course now that I’m home and going through photos I realize how many people I met up with but didn’t get a photo with, but I’ll have the memory of meeting them, so that’s okay.

There was ZERO DRAMA, people. None. Or if there was, I heard nothing about it. All I heard all weekend was how much fun everyone was having, how great the sessions were, how fun the parties were, how much everyone was enjoying being in New York. I did not hear a single word of complaint about anything, and that was a first for me.

I’m still adding titles and tags to my photos but if you want to see the photos I took from Thursday to Sunday, go to my Flickr page.

There should be some kind of medal, or trophy, or award we can collectively give to the staff of BlogHer for pulling this off. The logistics of getting everything ready so that when we came off the elevators Friday morning everything was in place? Well, it boggles my mind. I never saw Jory, Lisa, or Elisa (the founders of the BlogHer site) the whole weekend which had never happened before, but I saw Community Manager Denise Tanton and Volunteer Coordinator Jes Ferris several times, and told both of them how much I appreciated the work they did, and that BlogHer should be proud of themselves for pulling off such an amazing feat.

I have to admit that for me, this year’s BlogHer was more about connecting with the PR people I’ve worked with over the past year than about attending sessions. I went to two-thirds of the Geek Lab Room of Your Own session called “How to Take Great Pictures, Whether You Have a DSLR or Point-and-Shoot” which was REALLY useful, and another session that I won’t name that was so boring that I got up and left. If I go to BlogHer next year, in San Diego, unless I have a sponsor that pays for the full pass, I think I’ll just buy the Expo Hall and Cocktail Party pass. I don’t want to take up room in the sessions that someone else could be using.

Even though I only went to the one session, it was still the best BlogHer so far, for me. I talked to two different people about what we get out of BlogHer and we all agreed that it was all about “filling the tank”. Going to BlogHer reminds me that what I do, this blogging thing, it’s important and meaningful and fun and life-changing. The love, the respect, the friendship, the understanding that I feel projected at me during BlogHer, it fills up my tank for the whole year.

And that’s why I keep going back.

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. BlogHer Day One – Thursday Recap You GUYS. I’m in New York! So, here’s what’s happened...
2. This Is Where I Belong Image by Elizabeth/Table4Five via Flickr Before I was a blogger,...
3. Ten Tips for Getting Through BlogHer ’10 In two and a half weeks I’ll be getting on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I almost forgot about Friendly Friday! It’s been a busy day here. I decided we needed to do a thorough cleaning of the kids’ playroom today, and we spent three hours filling boxes for Goodwill, dusting, moving furniture, and vacuuming. It was exhausting and I was achy by the time we stopped but it felt good to be so productive!

I most likely won’t be putting up a Friendly Friday linky next week since I”ll be in New York for BlogHer ’1o and will have a jam-packed schedule. If I do get a chance I’ll put one up. Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog, too! Just click “Get the code here…” at the bottom of the list. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way to get even more traffic to your blog and make Friendly Friday more beneficial for everyone.

There are two “rules”, more like suggestions, for participating in Friendly Friday. First, join Google Friend Connect and post the widget code on your blog so that others can follow you. Two, follow the hostesses of Friendly Friday by looking for the Google Friend Connect widget on their blogs and clicking the Follow button. The hostesses are Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier, Christi at Frugal Novice and Charla at Healthy Home Blog. Also, I’d really appreciate if you would follow me on Google Friend Connect too!

If you posted the Friendly Friday code this week, leave the link to that post in this linky. If you’re a new follower on Google Friend Connect, let me know in your comment so I can follow you back. Have a great weekend everybody!

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Friendly Friday 7/16/10 Okay, I know, it’s Saturday, so I’m cheating the date...
2. Friendly Friday 6-25-10 Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi...
3. Friendly Friday 6-18-10 Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

American Girl is giving you a chance to make a big difference in the lives of children through their Shine On Now program, which I first told you about last week.  Their goal is to donate $1 million dollars to four childrens’ charities and in order to make that happen, one million virtual stars need to be donated to the program. Here’s how it works:

Go to the Shine On Now website and look for the Donate Your Star! box. Type in the name of your child and a parent email address and click the arrow. This box will pop up:

Click on the star, drag it into the outline, and you’ve donated one star. For every star, your daughter gets one entry in a drawing to win an American Girl Doll, they are giving away one every day until July 31st.  You can donate up to 100 stars a day so that’s 100 chances to win!

Not only did American Girl donate 1000 stars in my name to the program (which will become $1000 in donations to charity IF they reach 1 Million stars donated!), they are also giving me the opportunity to give a lucky Table for Five reader their own American Girl Doll!

The winner will be asked to fill out a form with their mailing info as well as their choice of doll from a wide variety of options such as skin tone, hair color and style, and eye color. The winner will be chosen at random using the “And the Winner Is” plugin and contacted by email. I will also edit this post to announce the winner’s name as soon as I’ve verified their main entry and received a reply.

WIN IT: To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me about a special girl in your family or community who you think deserves to win this American Girl Doll, AND write about why she deserves this doll — share with us what kinds of activities she is involved in, how she helps others, etc….. This entry must be completed before any bonus entries will count.

EDITED TO ADD: I apologize for not being more clear about the required entry.  What you need to do is leave a comment telling me who you will give the doll to if you win, and whether she does anything to help her community, like collecting canned food for the food bank or giving unwanted toys and clothes to Goodwill.  If the girl you are entering for doesn’t do any of those things, that’s okay, you can still enter!

HOW THE WINNER IS CHOSEN: I use a plugin called “And the Winner Is” that searches through the comments and pulls one at random. If it’s a bonus entry, I verify that the commenter also left the required main entry. If they did, I close the comments and notify the winner.

Open to U.S. mailing addresses only, entries must be received by July 31st 2010 at 11:59 pm ET.

Bonus Entries: Once you’ve posted your main entry, earn additional entries for each of the following that you do or have done. These are all worth ONE ENTRY-

• Post the link to this giveaway on any “contest linky” making sure to include the end date of 7/31. Leave the URL of the site where you linked it up.
• Tweet about the giveaway: Enter to win an American Girl Doll from @Table4Five & #shineonnow! Enter by 7/31/10 at 11:59 pm ET.http://wp.me/p9SRW-1FN
• Become a fan of Shine On Now on Facebook and post this message on their wall: I donated a star to Shine On Now and entered the giveaway on Table4Five.net!

For FIVE Bonus Entries: Blog about this giveaway and the Shine On Now program. Please link Shine On Now to http://www.ShineOnNow.com/ , and link Table for Five to http://table4five.net, and include that both the program and the giveaway end on July 31st. Leave the URL to your post in your comment.

Thanks for entering and good luck everybody!

disclosure: as an American Girl Shine On Now Parent Partner, I received a badge to post, information about the program, and will receive an American Girl Doll as a thank-you for helping spread the word about Shine On Now.

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. American Girl Gives Back With Shine On Now I am thrilled to be among a group of amazing...
2. Secrets of the Mountain Sneak Peek and Giveaway “Secrets of the Mountain” is a new family movie airing...
3. Super Quick Giveaway-Looney Tunes Eating Right Kids Gift Basket This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner, comment #39...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.