Suburban in the City

May02

08:53 am on May 2nd 2008 Sara

I made it to Chicago yesterday, despite a bit of a rocky start. I won’t go into too much detail, other than to say my dogs conspired against me and decided to make their Great Escape as I was trying to get my luggage out to the car so I could drop the kids off and catch my flight. Luckily the airport in Mobile is tiny, so the time I lost trying to deal with the dogs was made up with check-in literally taking less than ten minutes from entrance to gate. I had this idea I was going to be arriving here in an airplane, but what I got instead resembled a tin can with wings. I’ve never seen a plane so small! 3 seats across, and naturally I got the two most talkative guys on the plane sitting across the isle, both trying to chat me up. Thanks goodness I remembered my Ipod. Paul O’Flaherty met me at the airport, and actually managed to find me in O’Hare, no small feat. My first impression of Chicago was total awe. I’ve never been in a city this large, and the size of it along with the constant commotion of people and noise and traffic and everything made it a bit overwhelming. I spent the entire ride to the hotel dumbstruck, and I know O’Flaherty was laughing at my Country Mouse/City Mouse moment. The hotel we are at is nice, the rooms are smaller than I’ve ever seen but I’m told in a big city thats pretty normal. Still trying to adjust to the constant noise outside. It was exciting almost to the point of being over-stimulating.

After several weeks of planning, we had the FuelMyBlog blogger meet-up at O’Callaghan’s last night. Amazingly interesting to see what happens when you get a bunch of bloggers together, and throw alcohol into the mix. A few random things I picked up last night-

Joanna from Confident Writing is from Scotland, and I could have listened to her talk all night. Her accent is seriously something you have to hear. Loved it!

Colleen at Communicatrix has got to be one of the most interesting people ever to talk to, and I really hope to get to spend some more time with her this weekend.

Derek Semmler is in his own words quite shy, but you’d never know it in person. And because I did ask, the piercing in both his ears are indeed his only piercings.

Wendy Piersall was way cooler than I expected, and this may or may not have something to do with the fact that she has not one, but several tattoos. And she said ‘fuck’, which you’d never see on her blogs.

Terry Starbucker doesn’t drink. No, seriously he doesn’t. He is however more than happy to encourage others’ imbibery

Liz Strauss was a bit more of a social butterfly than I expected, as she always seems so quiet! She draws people to her in a way thats really cool to watch.

There were tons of other fun and fabulous people there, but we didn’t leave until 1am, so thats as good as it gets for now. The plan had been to do video footage last night, but due to a lack of available wifi, that got nixed. Everyone was busy socializing, so instead of podcasting, Paul decided to stage an impromptu pool tournament that truly was the highlight of the evening.

Overall it was a really fun evening, and I look forward to seeing them all again tonight

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15 Responses to “Suburban in the City”

Feuling Chicago Bloggers - O’Flaherty May 2nd 2008 at 09:08 am 1

[...] Oh, I can’t write a post about last night without giving a special mention to Sara from Suburban Oblivion. Thank you for all your hard work Sara, without your effort last night wouldn’t have been half a successful. [...]
Derek May 2nd 2008 at 09:34 am 2

It was great to meet you Sara and I look forward to seeing you again before you leave the big city, lol.

The meetup was great last night, you guys did a great job putting that together. It was so interesting to meet everyone and learn so many interesting things about the group.
Wendy Piersall May 2nd 2008 at 10:07 am 3

OMG you totally outed me!!!!!
Daddy Papersurfer May 2nd 2008 at 10:17 am 4

Are you missing me honey? - have a drink on me, probably cocoa would be best.
Natalie May 2nd 2008 at 10:55 am 5

I had no idea you had never been to such a big city. Chicago is ton’s of fun. I’m glad you are having a good time
Pendullum May 3rd 2008 at 12:10 pm 6

Sounds like a great trip…
Thank you for bringing me along for the adventure!
Shannanb aka Mommy Bits May 3rd 2008 at 09:22 pm 7

How fun. I don’t even know what I would do if I got to meet some of my online friends.
Meg May 4th 2008 at 08:51 am 8

Chicago, alcohol and bloggers–my favorite combo (along with a bit of chocolate)!! I’m glad you’re having fun.
Cassey May 4th 2008 at 09:22 pm 9

Those small planes are kind of freaky, huh? I always get sick on them. Hope you had a good big city adventure.
Todd Jordan May 5th 2008 at 03:20 pm 10

Howdy! So glad you made it this weekend. Yes, the city can blow you away at times, me included. I’ve even been several times before and every time I’m in awe.

I’m sorry I missed the blogger party Thursday, but the weekend was fantastic. Can’t wait to read more of your thoughts about it.
Be sure to link us in on Twitter.

Yours,
Tojosan
O'Flaherty May 7th 2008 at 12:53 pm 11

Shashi caught me :)…

Shashi Bellamkonda caught myself, Sara from Suburban Oblivion and Steven Smith on video while we were hanging out on top of the SOBCon08 boat last Friday night..
Shhh.. don’t tell him it’s the water that’s moving ….

SHARETHIS.a…
communicatrix May 8th 2008 at 12:12 pm 12

OMG you totally outed Wendy!!!

I cannot believe I am all that interesting, but I’m thrilled that anyone wants to hear me talk. Because I could talk the paint off a wall, sister.

What–you didn’t check out the walls after we left the bar?

Uh-huh. Thought so.
wpmomof2 May 10th 2008 at 10:15 am 13

I hope you post some pictures of Chicago. I don’t travel much to big cities, but oh when I do, I love Chicago!!!! It’s so pretty this time of year with all the tulips in bloom.
Dawud Miracle May 10th 2008 at 12:27 pm 14

Hey Sara. Loved meeting you. Be great to talk parenting some time.

And just forget that little thing about Scoble…
Fueling Chicago Bloggers | Fuelmyblog - The blog for the exclusive blog community. Jun 12th 2008 at 07:34 am 15

[...] without giving a special mention to Sara from Suburban Oblivion. Thank you for all your hard work Sara, without your effort last night wouldn’t have been half a successful. « Suburban in the City Blog of the Day » Posted to » Fuelmyblog News Tags: [...]