Does Anyone Realize How Bad I Want This??

I am so insanely happy that I subscribe to the ZRecommends newsletter... They are holding a giveaway for a BlogHer '09 ticket and I want in, in a bad way.... And if you want in too, okay... I'll deal with the competition, you can head over to ZRecommends and learn how to enter to win a ticket to BlogHer '09.

ZRecommends has asked for a post that "exemplifies the kind of blogging you most enjoy or a post you are particularly proud of." Now I dont want to say that this is easy for me, but not too long ago I wrote a post that I'm so happy that I wrote. I wrote about how I came to be in the blogosphere and what that road entailed. I wrote about coming out of my shell and being accepted by some of the most fabulous women that I've ever "met."

Why I Blog.

"For me, blogging wasn't something that I had pictured myself doing. I would occasionally read blogs, and I was a lurker for a while. I read and never commented, I laughed along, and had heartfelt feelings for people, but they never knew it. I was shy at the beginning. (Though anyone who actually knows me, knows I am not at all shy!)

I started commenting. People were so friendly! They actually noticed my comments!! That opened up a whole can of worms!! I started commenting all over, I started entering the giveaways and I snagged up some wonderful things in the process. But more importantly, I had a "network."

Being a stay at home mom, home all week without a car is tough. The only friend that I have in real life who is still in the area is about an hour away. My friends aren't stay at home moms like me, they have busy jobs, careers even. They have no kids, most of them barely relate to me anymore. Being involved with blogging made me see that I can still have friends, even if we don't talk on the phone, take shopping trips or anything else that friends do together in life. We do these things differently around the blog-o-sphere.

The little bit of acceptance started the ball rolling, I got my own blog and I wound up making more friends! More people came to see what I had to say! I couldn't believe it at first- people care about what I have to say!?!? People want to give me advice about topics that I needed help with?!?! People thought that items that I used could help them out?!?! Little ol' me? CaseyDeuce who lost her self confidence years ago because of all the grown apart friendships? I was dumbfounded.

Since then I have met so many amazing women, mothers, aunts, grandmothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, and the list goes on. Each person has something so special to bring to a friendship and that has been the greatest reward of my blogging experiences. I finally feel like I fit in somewhere, like what I've been doing makes sense. Its a tension reliever to be able to chat with these people and I feel truly lucky to know them."

Now whether or not this post gets me to BlogHer '09 doesn't matter. (yes it does, but in a way it doesn't) Its just one of those eye opening posts for me. One that I expressed feelings that I wasn't aware of. Feeling ways that I didn't even know that I was feeling. Now I know that there's tons and tons of moms who blog out there, there are tons and tons of people that feel the way that I do, but I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE!!! Let me go to BlogHer and get away from the kids that I love so dearly! I have been away ONE NIGHT in the past FIVE YEARS!!

I have to say thank you to the parents' giveaway and sweepstakes hub PRIZEY as well as the parenting, product review, and consumer advocacy and research blog Z Recommends for making this post possible and maybe making my hopes of going to BlogHer '09 a reality!! Oh, and since my birthday is July 23, I should totally win this as a birthday present. No joke. I'll show you my drivers license if you want, or even my birth certificate. C'mon... happy birthday to CaseyDeuce at BlogHer '09!!