I can hardly believe that on Saturday I’ll be flying from Australia to New York. Thanks for such wonderful travel tips in my last post, to help me prepare for my trip to BlogHer. Apparently there will be 4,500 bloggers attending…wow! Please say hi if you’re going to be there – and if you’re heading over from Australia please let @Nellbe know as she’s hoping we can get a group photo! I’ll be packing my passport, a few favourite dresses, good walking shoes, lipstick, a sense of humour and a portable recharger for my phone!

Here are some of my favourite links from this week.

• Crash Test Mummy gave some excellent tips for reducing jet-lag symptoms
• I loved these tips from Carly Jacobs of Smaggle on some simply glamorous ways to travel
• Cinti from My Poppet shared some excellent practical tips…a must read for anyone wanting to travel.
• Another post..an oldie but a goodie from @planningqueen on preparing the family when you’re flying solo

So now that I’m almost organised…what do I plan on doing once I’m there?

I’m looking forward to discovering a new city, meeting new and old friends over some delicious meals and getting lost in all kinds of art. I’m hoping to meet people (and brands) who are finding creative ways to live extraordinary lives in the simplest ways. I think I’ll remember to take lots of photos. And then I hope to continue the inspiring conversations and connections once I’m back.

Yes, I will miss my boys. A LOT. A week will fly by though, I’m sure and I know they are in good hands with Mr Wonderwebby.

(see these Plants vs Zombies figurines? They surprised me with a crafty interpretation of their favourite iPad game recently!)

What do you enjoy most about traveling? The people or the places?

When you’ve not been overseas in a long, long time

(The last time I went was in 1999)…

Okay that’s about as far as I’m getting with a poem today. But I AM excited about my trip to NYC  which is coming up in two weeks! Yes, it has been a while between trips overseas. So what does a girl need to know about travel these days? Where should I keep my passport? What is LAX airport like for transfers? What do I do for cash? What are your essential jetlag survival techniques? What should I be prepared for? How do I navigate the subway? I have five days of sightseeing in New York before two days at BlogHer. I’d love your advice.

To celebrate my BIG trip I’m giving away a copy of a ProBlogger ebook – of your choice.

All you need to do is write a comment below with your best travel tip for me. I’ll draw a random winner on Thursday 19th 2012 9am local Melbourne time.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue to be inspired by random but wonderful instagram photos of New York.

Stop.

Don’t make anything.

Put down that iPhone camera.

Just be.

At least that’s what I’ve found myself doing this week.

As soon as I find myself in a contant information consumption mode, I know it has been too long between breaks. The creator becomes the consumed. Instead of seeing the world, you’re just looking at the world. Through a screen. It’s definitely time to put down the tools and just hang out.

I love the tools. I love creating. But if I don’t stop “being creative” sometimes, creativity simply stops. Term two was a looong school term and life was extraordinary with positive twists and turns. Now, I’m enjoying a little break at home with the kids.

Do you take regular breaks to regain your creative focus? What works for you?

We were stuck inside the house most of the weekend as the kids recovered from winter headcolds. So we made up some Lemon Yoghurt muffins to cure hungry tummies and a dose of boredom. I can’t give you the exact recipe, because I sort of make these things up. Most times they work. But sometimes they don’t and I end up with egg on my face. These muffins, thankfully, turned out a treat and disappeared in minutes.

Most of the time I use this banana muffin recipe as a baseline and throw things in until they look to be the right consistency. I know, some of you are probably cringing. But I prefer guidelines to hard set rules, any day!

Unrecipe for Lemon Yoghurt Muffins

approx half cup Vaalia lemon yoghurt

quarter cup olive oil

a little finely grated orange find (picked from the in-law’s tree)

a tiny squeeze of orange juice

self raising flour

caster sugar

one free range egg

pinch of salt

dash of milk

mix liquids together with a fork then add dry ingredients and gently fold with a spoon (not for too long)

15 minutes at 180 celsius fan force

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Do you prefer guidelines for creative feasting? Or do think that a recipe is a tried and tested preference for perfection?

It’s been a while since I’ve shared about my daily work, so I thought I’d jot down a few things that are happening at Wonderwebby HQ.

Getting Ready for a Big Blogging Training Event

Funny how life works out. One minute you’re blogging, the next thing you’re working for a blogger to create a conference for bloggers! One of the big things I’m working on with the ProBlogger team right now is the 2012 ProBlogger Training Event (PBevent) – an event for 300 bloggers to learn more about creating successful, profitable blogs. I’ve been talking to some wonderful sponsors, our venue Etihad Stadium about logistics and looking at ways to make the event informative and fun.

Social Media Conferences and Events

Before I get to PBevent, I’ll be attending BlogHer in New York. It will be wonderful to meet some bloggers from around the world and to enjoy the conference as an attendee, instead of an organiser! Please say hi if you’re going to be there. Oh, and there’s New York itself. Did I mention New York?

I also bought a ticket to attend the Maha/ProBlogger food blogging event. The dinner (which sounds amazing), wine and information about food blogging will be worth it. I’m trying to get along to a few more local face-to-face events in Melbourne this year, like NetSquared Melbourne, Social Media Club, Tweastie, and the First Tuesday Blog Club but it’s always a juggling act to attend meetups between family and work time. Breakfasts are also tricky to get to, when there are school lunches to pack and freeway traffic to contend with. This week I’m going to our school disco instead of a meetup. Like I said, juggling.

(you have to love Melbourne at night, even in Winter)

The wonderful world of Webinars and eBooks

In addition to the event, we’ve been organising more webinars for ProBlogger and putting a calendar in place. I’m moderating over at the ProBlogger community and we’ve also launched a few ebooks at dPS. So far this year we’ve seen the launch of Nuts and Post and Natural Light…and I’m helping a couple of new authors to put their ebooks together right now. Just this morning I met with an author at my place to talk about her upcoming book over coffee and a cheese platter. It’s so enjoyable to provide a point of coordination through the production, keep things on track and to provide publishing guidance and direction. I’m so happy to be part of the creation of these titles, I’m learning more about ebook marketing every day and I get to work with some clever people along the way.

 Blogging in Australia ….and a new client.

Have you noticed more Australian bloggers and brands are working together? I’m watching this space intently – as bloggers and brands find new, innovative ways to work together. Think partnership (not just blog posts), influence (not just readership), creating value and rewarding to reap the benefits. In fact, I’m taking on a second client….I can’t say much for now, but I’m excited about working with this brand as they increase their online presence and engage with the blogging community.

How about you? Are you working with brands and blogs? What do you do? 

Are you seeing more sponsors engaging with bloggers this year?

Or maybe you’re a blogger wanting to work more with brands…who would be your dream brand to work with?

This was my favourite life drawing from last week. Our model was a waif-like young woman with a determined stance and a tiny pair of angel wings tattooed on her back. I know the proportions in this picture are a bit out of whack, but I think it still captures her personality a little and I had fun drawing it. Oh, and I drew this using some plain old textas and cartridge paper from the Reject Shop.

Yes, I think I’m enjoying this. So glad I started life drawing group this year.

Shy is a girl I know so well.

A brave, determined, quiet girl.

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Q. What does Kindergarten Fundraising and a Blogging Event have in common?

A. A shy girl making multiple phonecalls and emails to sponsors.

{it’s true…and I’m getting better at it. Last year some kindergarten mums said to me “oh I could never ask for sponsors, I’m too shy.” Thing is, I hesitate too, but it’s something that I’ve done so many times that I don’t mind any more. I’m finding that as long as I focus on my strengths- like my resilience (some may say stubborn?!) then making requests for money doesn’t phase me any more. Instead it’s all about persisting to achieve a solution that both parties can benefit from.}

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Once upon a time, I feared failure. I was also very, very quiet.

Just because you’re shy, doesn’t mean you can’t achieve. Just because you achieve, doesn’t mean you’re not shy.

{Writing about success- is that bragging? 2012 has been a year of new creative projects. Making the decision to join my life drawing group, booking a trip to New York (to have your boss suddenly offer to pay for your costs – out of the blue!), investing in a SuperAwesomeMicroProject, writing an ebook (later this year)…these things don’t just happen. Especially when you’re juggling 3 kids, a husband, a part time job and all of the colours of life. Each time I ask myself…can I do this? I question my abilities and capacity to do these things. But curiosity wins every time. }

life drawing week 6

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A type of shy: the apprehensive, questioning, persistent kind. I’m probably an introvert. Recently I scored as extrovert on a personality test. That can’t be right, I thought.

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::endnote:: take risks, embrace opportunity, be creative, keep trying, share your journey ::note to self::

How about you? What does being shy mean to you?

What a week! I’m just pausing now to catch my breath and the thought just occurred to me…

…if I never started using Twitter, I never would have started blogging and I would never have imagined that one day I would be working for a blogger – let alone be heading to a conference in New York this year. How amazing is that?

If I had never tweeted or joined in some collaborative blog for good projects -  I wouldn’t be part of an exciting microproject which started this month. And I wouldn’t know about projects like Nathalie’s “blogging village to raise a child” approach – which is exciting and interesting as people with a common purpose get together to make a difference.

So what’s this all about?….

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1. New Yoooooooork!

YES! I’m so excited to be heading off to New York for a week in August this year! I’ve always wanted to visit NYC so this is literally a dream come true :)  ProBlogger is sending me off to BlogHer’12 (big big YAY!) a leading social media conference for women. It’s going to be very interesting and dare I say, so much fun!

As thrilled as I am, this is also the first time I will be spending a whole week away from my husband and kids (did I mention how awesome my husband is?!)… and very, very far away at that. I know that I’m going to miss them like crazy. Believe it or not it was actually a big decision to take a trip away from them. Buuuut… I think I’ll enjoy a little time on my own in NEW YORK (did I mention I’m excited?) exploring (and instagramming!) an amazing city, meeting some wonderful people and hopefully- at least once – sleeping in for the first time in a loooong time.

Do you have any tips on things to do in New York? Places to eat? Must see places? If you were going to visit New York, where would you like to go? This is my first trip to the US, so I’d really appreciate your suggestions!

Very, very exciting!!!

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2 #Superawesomemicroproject

Recently I saw some interesting tweets flying about on Twitter which caught my interest. There’s not much else I can say right now….except that I’m now a patron of this, along with 39 others. It’s a collaborative project from the guy behind this.

I know some other people who have invested in this project through Twitter and blogging. Others, I met for the first time over pizza “project launch” in Melbourne last week. Oddly enough, I have handed some money over to a stranger for – what some may say – is a peculiar project. A very cool, peculiar project. Stay tuned!

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3 The Fish Slap

Could a bunch of bloggers help to make a big difference? Nathalie from Easy Peasy Kids is very generously having a get-together for 40 people at her home June 5th (in Melbourne.) She’s raising funds on the day for World Vision Australia. You can RSVP or send her a prize that she can auction off on the day. Nathalie is hoping she can get 40 bloggers together.” With forty of us here we can form groups of five contributing $10 a month and sponsor eight children as a community. This amount will also ensure that Angel for the Forgotten and Foundation 18 also receive support or a charity of your choosing.”

RSVP and learn what the fish slap is all about over here.

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At the heart of all of these activities…it’s the people that make all the difference. Social media is helping to make that happen. Yes, it’s exciting. That I can be part of this, work from home and still spend lots of quality time with my three kids, is simply awesome.

Grateful.

We found a tree or three backlit in the most spectacular afternoon sunlight. Perfect for the #sundayart theme of trees.

We happened upon some fairytale-like mushrooms only a few houses away from us.

The boys were chased by their own shadows.

Don’t you love the discoveries that can be found just around the corner on a Sunday afternoon?