*

blogher 09 was fun and surreal at times. the community keynote reading, in which i read my post “amends,” went very well, mostly because i felt surrounded by a bunch of incredible writers and, well, would you look at that audience? so nice they were.

the secondary burst of applause backstage after each reading didn’t hurt either.

or the standing ovation.

or the valerian root.

during the other parts of the conference, mostly i just floated and wandered on the outskirts, hung out with my two fun work pals, and dined in the eves with ed. when alone in the midst of it all, there were fidgety bursts of anxiety, a few momentary dashes of bravery where i said (and you won’t believe this!)…hello, i’m sheri, and some inspiration (divine and earthly) that is still bleeding out my edges.

highlights:

• dinner with friends at feast
• the soft, deep hotel bed
• the community keynote reading
• coffee-braised pork ribs at avec
• warm walk in the rain after dinner
• the storytelling session with amy and neil
• housemade nutter butters with chocolate sabayon (puddin’) at bristol
• shutter sisters party (nice friends and fireworks going off out the window)
• ducking out of the cheeseburgher party (my sobriety in tact…barely!)
• birds, flowers, and bunnies in millennium park
• the cy twombly “natural world” exhibit at the art institute of chicago
• and whatever crazy luck got us to our plane, after our alarm didn’t go off, with five minutes to spare before takeoff (pant, pant, sweat! phew…)

i’ll probably share more photos from chicago this week.