J&J Camp Baby - Day one, in the bag

What a whirlwind of a day! Flying always makes me feel that way because it's such a chore. The whole airport, luggage, boarding...yada, yada, yada.

I took my sweet time in my room before heading out to meet up with the others for refreshments and snacks. I walked into the room and immediately felt like the person in the nightmare who is without clothing. You know that feeling, right? Although, it didn't take long to blend right in with the rest of the bloggers in attendance. Met some bloggers from the St. Louis area and more from the New England states. Even met one from my home Chicagoland area.

After our little ice breaker, we dispersed and I had a nice little Skype video chat with the hubs and the bug. He was feeding her miniature Oreo cookies. She was on her fifth one. Glad I'm here and not there! I kid, I kid! She did very well at "school" today. Hope I get the same report for the next two days while I'm gone.










Around 6:30pm, we gathered for a delicious buffet dinner and then some fabulous wine tasting, hosted by Ted Allen. I wasn't even starstruck! Or maybe I was. I wasn't shy, that's for sure. But if you know me, you know I'm not afraid to speak up. I reminded him of an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy where they made over an old friend of mine from my hometown. He recalled the episode! Good times.










Ted left before I was able to snag him for my famous "Amy is a groupie" picture. Shoot! Hopefully he'll blog about tonight or at least check our blogs...naaaahhhh. We did get to chat with him throughout our wine tasting and it sounds like he has some fun television stuff in the works aside from Top Chef and Iron Chef America, so stay tuned.











Hanging out with these two ladies has been a big highlight so far.










Christine of "From Dates to Diapers and Beyond" and Jane from "Pinks and Blues" (you know, my favorite Throwback Thursday girls?). I was also able to connect with these fabulous women tonight:

Jodi "Mom's Favorite Stuff"
Jennifer "jenandtonic.ca"
Lisa "Midwestern Mommy"
Leighann "Soy is the new black"
Jamie "Blonde Mom Blog"
Colleen "Classy Mommy"
Stephanie at "About.com" (Babies & Toddlers Guide)
Last but certainly not least and much to my delight, Stacy DeBroff of Mom Central

Hope to hang and meet with the other bloggerettes at camp baby tomorrow!

*Originally posted at The Ladybug and her Blogging Mama

Technorati Tags: jnj, jnj camp baby, johnson's camp baby, mommy blogger,

ted allen

Because Johnson & Johnson Already Practically Owns Me, Apparently!

If you're plugged into the blogosphere, particularly the world of "mom-bloggers," you've heard more than enough about The Great Camp Baby To-Do of 2008. If you've missed the dustup, you can bring yourself up to speed here, and a little Googling will turn up plenty more fallout.

What happened was, Johnson & Johnson and their PR firm, in an effort to "connect" with what is becoming an increasingly powerful demographic, MOMS WHO BLOG, decided to host a 3-day "getaway" for moms, culminating, naturally, in a field trip to J&J headquarters for a product expo. The hope is that the blogger attendants will return home and write (hopefully glowingly) on their blogs about the J&J products they saw, and how well they were treated by the giant corporation. They invited 50 "influential bloggers" on this junket, and shockingly enough, Yours Truly was one of those 50. I'm still trying to figure out quite how "influential" I am, but I registered for the trip based on a few key factors:

1. FREE. The trip is FREE. As in, all expenses paid, including airfaire, car service to and from the airport on both ends (though I excused them from sending a car for me here at home), great hotel accomodations, meals, a wine-tasting hosted by Ted Allen (fangirl squeeeee!), lots of pampering activities, a Wii-party and fine dining at The Frog and The Peach, etc. Yes, apparently, I can be bought--although I have to give props to our sponsors at J&J for making it clear right up front that: a.) We are not obligated in any way to write about the trip or the product expo, and b.) If we DO write about any of it, they ask that, in the interest of total transparency, we reveal that we were there on THEIR dime. I respect that.

2. The opportunity to visit with scads of my all-time favorite blogger-buddies from all over the continent! And these are just a few of the ones who I know will be there--I'm sure I "know" a heck of a lot more of the 50 attendees, if only online. If I had to guess, I'd say that MOST bloggers who accepted the invitation did so with this motivation high on their list of priorities. That was smart of J&J. I've heard lots of complaints that "the same group of bloggers gets invited to all these corporate-sponsored junkets," but this is the first time for me. It will be interesting to see if my participating in this activity gets me on some kind of PR "list" in the future. I do get PR pitches from time to time, but I'm certainly not inundated by them like some folks say they are.

3. TED ALLEN. 'Nuff said. I'm a dorky, dorky Top Chef/Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fangirl. I'm not ashamed. Much.

In preparation for this trip, in order to educate myself about exactly who was buying my attention, I did some research into the companies owned by Johnson & Johnson, and the products they make. I was ASTOUNDED at the sheer number and variety of things made by J&J or one of their subsidiaries which have directly impacted my and my family's lives. They're not just Band-Aids and Baby Powder. From psychiatric medications that have benefited my bipolar husband to the Interceed fabric that repaired my resectioned colon and protected me from adhesions during a lifesaving surgery in 2000, I've spent enough money with Johnson & Johnson that a plane trip and a few dinners are looking like a nice "Thank-You" note at this point! Check here to see how much influence Johnson & Johnson has in your life--you might be surprised!

I'm looking forward not only to visiting and schmoozing, but also to doing my best at being a representative of wonderful folks like this amazing woman and others.

Cross-posted at my space on The Arkansas Times Blog.

Watch out, New Jersey. Here I come!

I'll admit, I was a little floored by the invite from J&J - they wanted me? To come to New Jersey and hang out with other blogging moms and have fun?

I don't know how I got on that invite list, but I'm really looking forward to it.

The last few weeks have been busy, and I haven't had a chance to do much planning or anticipating for this whole Camp Baby weekend. The kids had field trips, I had to work, there were a couple of holidays and birthdays in there... and then I looked up at my calendar and realized that on this coming Wednesday morning, "a car" will be picking me up and whisking me away for a whirlwind adventure.

A car! A car not driven by me! If it is a limo I might piddle. Because that? Would be hilarious. I might not be able to restrain myself from doing the Mary Katherine Gallagher "SUPA-STAH" upon arrival at the airport.

I might do that anyway. I'm just like that.

I'm also giddy with anticipation about being able to fly with my buddy Jenifer - we've even got seats together, which means that no harmless strangers will be talked to death on this flight!

J&J recently sent out the itinerary for the trip, which is making me all kinds of intrigued. First of all - I hope the flight lands in time for me to freshen up at the hotel before the Welcome Social because airplane travel makes me look like a greasy, drowned rat. No really! Photos to come! You're welcome!

No, see, I need to make myself look nice, because OMG Ted Allen leading a wine tasting. I need to work on not sloshing my glass. Bad things happen when I'm drinking and gesturing. Trust me.

And then the next day looks packed with great activities, too.

Two sessions that are already getting a lot of speculation are the "What's Happening Down There? and the "Braiding At Its Best" sessions.

Will there be an Australian celebrity telling us the latest news from Down Under? OMG, J&J is bringing Nicole Kidman to Camp Baby!

As far as the braiding goes, I'm not sure what they have in mind - will it be lanyards? Xtreme friendship bracelets? Will we be braiding each other's hair? Man, if it involves beads too? That will be awesome.

Next up? Figuring out what exactly to wear. Because man, do I have issues with clothes.

cross-posted at Three Kid Circus Auditions.