Stuff rookie moms should know {Mother’s Day edition}

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It’s “the morning after” around here. The morning after Heather and I returned from Atlanta where we were at an amazing conference for professional-ish mom bloggers called Mom 2.0.

Atlanta is really no where near San Francisco, in case that wasn’t clear to you, but traveling there was 100% worth the investment.

When I got in the taxi at 5 am (2 am on my body clock) to return home, the weekend was starting to blur, but as I typed up all my notes on the plane, I realized I extracted more out of this conference than I had expected.

One silly thing that happens at lady blogger conferences is that many photos are taken, which leads to a lot of women acting ridiculous, coaching each other into making weird faces (You’re a cheetah! You’re a chalupa!), secretly holding our arms in awkward positions to make them appear more slender, and wearing more makeup and jewelry than we wear at home. Here are some shots of me, Heather, and our friend Morgan from The 818 striking a few poses.

Kidding. Here we are with Morgan, all dressed up for the evening of the Iris Awards.

Here are some other links we’ve collected this week.

The Cool Mom Picks Mother’s Day guide is here. Immerse yourself in the awesomesauce. They are all about supporting the small artists, and I love that.

If you’re going to treat yourself, but are not a splurgey kinda woman, I’m going to point to Old Navy pixie pants. They come in a jillion patterns, colors and plus sizes AND tall and petites. So yes, they’re for you… but they’re going fast. When I complimented a couple conference attendees on their choice of pixie pants patterns, they both gushed about the comfort and travel-friendliness of these pants. Owning red pants has literally brought joy to my closet this year.

Quick stuff you can send to your mom, mother-in-law, stepmother, grandmother, and your dad’s second wife who is not really your stepmom anymore:

• I love the app Postcards on the Run. Use your mobile phone to produce a postcard that gets sent in the mail. First time requires entering all your info, but after that, shoot off a thank you note postcard anytime you want. So easy.
• Use a Task Rabbit, if you’re not in the same town as Mom. This service will let you find someone to bring your mom flowers, wash her car, sweep up her front porch, or anything else that will make her smile, if you can’t be there to do it yourself.

For you older mamas, ie, the 80s are actual memories you can recall, my girl Jenny is having a hilarious smackdown of Gen X’s hearthrobs on her blog. River Phoenix vs Johnny Depp? Don’t make me choose! Go see which ones bring up strong feelings for you.

I took a video class at Mom 2.0 with the very adorable The Alison Show and my well-dressed friend, MomSpark’s Amy Bellgardt.

Check out Alison’s brunch decor. MOMS RULE! (See her post with more pics from this brunch.)

And finally, our friends Meagan and Sarah of The Happiest Home have launched a book called Beyond Baby (which we’ll review in detail later) but if you want it in time for Mother’s Day, hop over there now to see it. This book is for those who are feeling that sensation of “I’m starting to “see the light” at the end of the intense baby years, but I can’t quite tell what it’s shining on.”

As always, feel free to share any links you think I’d love.