Traveling

I'm off to the East Coast on Monday, all by myself.

I'll be visiting G'ma's oldest and dearest friend from her childhood.  I'll be staying with a cousin I see far too seldom.  I'll hang with Roomie and other high school friends, dancing under the stars at the beach, eating pastrami, riding the Long Island Rail Road.

There are dinners with friends from California and more friends from (junior) high school and, perhaps a niece or two, if I can fit them in.

I'm going to be sure to eat a slice (that's how you speak of pizza in The Big Apple) and have a pretzel from a street vendor.  I may indulge in a hot dog from a street cart (did you know they are illegal in Los Angeles?) or I might splurge on a full lunch, including fries and a coke, from Nathan's.

The trip is planned around BlogHer'15, the annual conference sponsored by my syndication company.  They've recently merged with She Knows, a giant female social media conglomerate; it will be interesting to see if the friendliness of past conferences can be retained.

There are amazing speakers coming to share their expertise - Melinda Gates and  Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi (the founders of Black Lives Matter), Girls Scouts CEO Anna Maria Chavez, Gwyneth Paltrow, Christy Turlington and Ada DuVernay, the director of Selma.  There are workshops on branding and content and image and social media and a Geek Bar to help with those pesky tech questions.

I have an appointment set up with a consultant from Go Daddy; if there are changes in The Burrow's look you can blame that meeting.  I'm going to an early morning yoga/stretching class sponsored by Depends (no laughing, please.... apparently, these undergarments are the new wave in adult fashion).  I have a consultation with a techie from Best Buy who promises to show me how to get the most out of Lenore the Lenovo Laptop.  There are parties every evening and a gigantic Expo with vendors tossing swag at all who walk by.

The conference is in a hotel across the street from the Museum of Modern Art; I'll be there for sure, getting my fix of The Bather.  He looks as tentative as I feel most days; it's nice to know that Paul Cezanne felt my pain.

There is always the theater, if I find myself with an empty evening.  There's the Shake Shack and Times Square and The High Line and the shops on Madison Avenue.

It's going to be a busy week, and I'm not sure that writing posts will happen.  If they do, I'll publish them.  If they don't, you'll find oldies but goodies filling this space.

Everybody deserves a vacation, right?  Even your trusty, every weekday blogger.