Doooooooooooooce!

Last night I heard Heather B. Armstrong do a reading from her book, It Sucked and Then I Cried. It wads probably a good couple months ago that she announced she'd be coming to the area as part of her book tour, and I've had the date written on my calendar ever since. I happen to kind of love this woman. I found her blog before getting pregnant, and liked her then, but becoming a mother has given me a whole new level of awe and respect for her. While pregnant I read through her blog archives from her first pregnancy, with Leta. And during those dark moments in the first months after D's birth, when everything just seemed to suck and I felt so frustrated, I'd read through her early experiences with Leta as a baby and it helped me feel better. Not in a PHEW-she-had-it-so-much-worse! kinda of way, but in a thank-god-someone-else-admits-how-crappy-this-can-be-sometimes kind of way. That's part of what's allowed me to be more honest about my own experiences as a mother, and from the comments I get from time to time from other moms who say I put in writing everything they've been feeling, I get the sense that I'm helping others in at least a tiny way like how Heather's blog has helped me.

I also just find her funny as hell.

I was excited and kind of nervous about meeting her, since I've never been to a book reading before or met a "celebrity" before (unless you count Antonio Sabato Jr a few years ago in Vegas). I knew B was going, too, and thankfully she got there early and saved me a seat as otherwise I would've been standing in the very back with no view whatsoever. Heather came out and she told a funny story that I caught on video, then read 2 excerpts from the book. There were questions afterwards, and then it was time for the book signings. I hadn't yet bought the book, and wasn't sure I would get one signed as I figured the line would be super long (the place was PACKED).

(Quick aside-- A few months ago, after seeing her feature a wooden platter shaped like a chanchito, that adorable, traditional Chilean 3-legged piggy, on her style section of the blog, I sent Heather a couple of my etsy cards with photos of chanchitos on them. Yes, part of me wondered if she might find them cute enough to feature on her blog and bring me overnight success with my shop, but mostly I just wanted to send them as a little token of admiration and as a nice thing to do-- I know she gets things sent to her from people a lot, and it's not like it took much effort or anything. I was pleasantly shocked when several weeks later I recieved a postcard in the mail, with a photo of Chuck in a wig and legwarmers on one side, and a handwritten thank- you from Heather on the other. So part of me was also figuring I already have a personalized, handwritten thank you note from her so don't necessarily need a book signed as well.)

But then they started dismissing us in rows to do the book signing, and we were only about 5 rows back, and I had just enough time to slip to the cash register to buy my book and get back to my spot for the line. I got my book signed, and in the 5 seconds before the bookstore lady ushered you of to the side (I was reminded of when Oscar speeches get too long and they start playing the get-the-heck-off-the-stage music), I was able to mention to Heather how I considered her blog my post-partum therapy and thanked her for it. And I could really see in her face that she was touched to hear that, even though I'm sure she hears it so often.

I took a couple pictures, and was quite glad to have my new little point-and-shoot along. The 5x zoom was great, and even though the picture quality is far from great the ISO3400 setting made it possible to take a photo, where the flash would have been pointless.



BTW I'm wearing my new glasses in the pic, which I've been meaning to blog about but haven't gotten around to it so I guess this post has become the "hey I have new glasses!" debut post after all. I'm only wearing them part-time, when I need them, as I have slight astigmatism and have trouble reading things like street signs or the menu board at Starbucks, so I'm wearing them more when I drive and am out of the house in general, but at home I don't bother (would be pointless around D anyway) and for most things I still see fine without them.