BlogHer 2011: eBay Classifieds & my renewed resolve to not end up on an embarrassing reality show
Aug 5, 2011 Blog & Social Media Stuff
I’m so thrilled to be attending my fourth BlogHer conference! I can’t believe how far I’ve come since I attended my first one in San Francisco in 2008. I had just started blogging and had no idea what I was doing, but my sister lived in San Fran, so I figured going to the conference would be a good excuse to visit her. Honestly, I left BlogHer ‘08 a little more confused than when I went in, because of the enormous amount of information that had been shoved into my brain in the space of two days (so it was a good kind of confused). When I’d started blogging I thought it was something you did alone, for free, and possibly every once in a while you’d get to do something cool, like meet Grover. I had no idea what I was in for, or how blogging would take over my life.
With each successive BlogHer I have to admit I’ve attended fewer conference sessions and instead used it as a networking marathon of sorts. Thousands of bloggers, PR and brand reps attend, so it’s a great place for relationships to start or move to the next level. And on Saturday my blogging career will enter a new phase, when I host my first event, along with my fellow Blogging Angels and the ladies from Zebra Partners. We’re holding a breakfast for about sixty fantastic bloggers, and we hope they leave with some tools to better present and market themselves. Because as much as some bloggers would like to present this as a warm-and-fuzzy community of women, for many of us it’s a business. And I must confess: I have a lot to learn at the breakfast as well. After more than three years of blogging, I still feel in many ways like I have no idea what I’m doing.
Listening back to some things I’ve said in Blogging Angels podcasts, I notice I’m getting a little cocky. Perhaps it comes from getting somewhat comfortable and confident with what I’m doing – just enough to act like a know-it-all, even though I still have so far to go. So I’m really grateful that as an eBay Classifieds ambassador I get to attend BlogHer with their sponsorship money, not worrying about how many hours I have to work or how many posts I have to write to make up for the plane fare and hotel and conference ticket and, yes, a nice meal or two (a girl’s gotta relax a little, right?).
I’ve been working with eBay Classifieds for a while now and I feel like I’m on the precipice of a major shift in my life. I’ve been letting a lot of stuff build up in our house, and I’ve been blaming our renovation. One entire floor hasn’t even been started yet, and honestly I don’t know when it will be (when money rains from the sky, perhaps?). I keep telling myself that once that floor is usable I’ll have plenty of storage space for everything I’ve accumulated, but I think it’s finally time to admit that if I wait for that floor to be finished, I just might be found by my kids one day, buried under a pile of crap.
Now there’s no need to call the producers of Hoarders or anything like that – I’m not at that stage. But I am at the stage where when people come over, there’s a mad dash to get stuff hidden, and I never ever let anyone see the upstairs. It would take days to prepare for that. So, while eBay Classifieds has been my go-to site for buying some really wonderful things (an awesome treadmill and a really great TV, to name a couple), I haven’t been using it as I should have, to also move things out of the house. So, that’s the project when I get back from BlogHer: Operation Move The Crap Out!
The goal? To be able to use some key areas that right now are just piled with stuff. I have an entire room on the top floor that’s supposed to be my dressing room – there’s an awesome art deco dressing table in there, and shelves for my shoes and accessories, but I’ve never been able to use it as such – it’s filled with crap. On the parlour floor, my piano – which I would really love to use – is buried under boxes. Even on our kitchen floor, where I’ve set up several beautiful shelves in a back hallway to organize all of my baking and overflow kitchen stuff, I can’t get to anything because whenever something is in our way we just toss it in there, somewhat out of sight.
And I don’t want to put too much pressure on this project, but I’ve found in the past that when one area of my life gets in order, others tend to follow suit. So there’s some extra motivation there.
At the risk of my husband divorcing me, I will be posting “before pictures.” They will make the “after” pictures look all that more impressive.
But first, on to BlogHer! And a huge thanks to eBay Classifieds for getting me here. If you’re here and want to hear about what a fantastic, free listing site eBay Classifieds is, tap me on the shoulder and ask!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 14. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Blogging, cleaning, eBay Classifieds, Travel
eBay Classifieds and my half marathon attempt
Feb 26, 2011 What's Going On
The following post is sponsored by eBay Classifieds.com.
So back in September I’d heard about the Disney Princess Half Marathon on twitter. It seemed like a reasonable goal: 13.1 miles, with almost six months to train. I admit it, I get excited about things in the beginning and then my interest tapers off. But I had run a four mile race on Mothers Day, and I was motivated to do this! I started jogging two or three times a week and by November had worked myself up to a slow six miles. I was really proud of myself, and things looked really good for the race in February.
There was just one factor I hadn’t taken into consideration: it would get cold. Duh. I mean, I just didn’t think about it! I don’t like gyms, so I’d been doing all of my jogging outside. Once it got cold, I just stopped. After a little while I decided that the only way I’d be able to train consistently would be if I got a treadmill. If I’d just done it right away I’d be in really good shape right now. But I procrastinated. It was really stupid.
I’m an eBay Classifieds ambassador, so it was a natural place for me to start looking. Once I finally did, I had a treadmill in my house within forty-eight hours! There were a lot of them for sale in really great shape that were ideal for walking, but I needed a heavy-duty one for jogging. I found one in Connecticut and my neighbor drove me up there in his truck to take a look. It was perfect: made by True, a really great treadmill company, it had been lightly used over the years and was in fantastic condition. This was much closer to something that you’d find in a gym than the ones you see for sale on TV.
I wanted to leave it in the front entryway. My husband had a problem with this.
Getting it down our basement stairs was not easy. We had to take it apart, and even then it weighed a ton. But we got it down there, and I was able to get some training in for the last few weeks before the race. After a while I got tired of watching TV on my laptop while jogging – it was hard to see and even harder to hear. I jumped back on eBayClassifieds, and found the perfect TV: a 27″ Sharp Aquos HDTV, in perfect condition, being sold for half what a new one would cost (the owner had upgraded to a bigger set). I called the seller and picked it up that night!
I need to be distracted while I exercise. A Daily Show and a Colbert Report and I'm done!
My original goal with this race was to really run it. But my winter non-training routine put an end to that. So, my only goal for tomorrow is to finish the race without getting picked up by the sweeper bus, to make it 13.1 miles and get that gorgeous princess medal at the end. And then the clock starts on next year. I will have a year to get ready, with no excuses: the treadmill is in my basement, with a big TV! My next purchase on eBay Classifieds, as soon as I get back, will be a big fan so that I won’t come up with another excuse not to exercise once the summer comes. And come next February, I plan on kicking this race’s butt.
EBay Classifieds is such an easy site to navigate. The look is clean, the pictures are prominent, and there are many different ways to search. It’s become my go-to site not just for used items, but I also found an amazing AV installation company there to come out and hang a couple of TVs for us. Whenever I look for something on the site I don’t have to sift through a bunch of irrelevant or out-of-date listings, and I get the piece of mind of knowing that they don’t allow any “shady” categories.
My goal for the spring is to really clean house, getting rid of a lot of stuff that’s been taking up space, and anything worth selling will be listed on eBay Classifieds!
But first, I have to get through tomorrow’s race. I actually have to get up in less than four hours to make it to my race bus on time at 3:45am (insane, I know). I’m really looking forward to the race, and I mean that. I only wish I’d gone to eBay Classifieds and gotten my training back on track a few months ago.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage, and podcasts with The Blogging Angels.
Tags: eBay Classifieds, jogging
Twitter had my back
Feb 21, 2011 Around NYC
So I’m one of those people who likes to live by statistics and odds. No matter how many Lifetime movies are made about people getting murdered after placing or answering an ad online, it’s just not likely to happen, even if you answered an ad a day for a year.
Today I was looking for a TV on eBay Classifieds to put in front of my treadmill (which I also bought from eBay Classifieds). I found one that was the perfect size and type, with a good price, in Brooklyn. I called the guy selling it and we set a time to meet at his apartment.
It wasn’t until I was actually walking in the door of his building that I realized nobody knew where I was! Normally there would be a husband and kids at home waiting for me to come back, but they’re in Florida right now. The cable guys are coming tomorrow, but I doubt if they’d call the police if I didn’t answer the door. And while it would be a little weird that I wouldn’t talk to my husband until he gets home on Thursday, it wouldn’t be completely out of the question. If something bad happened while I was in this stranger’s apartment testing out the TV, it’s quite possible that nobody would really miss me until I didn’t show up at the airport to pick my family up on Thursday.
So, as I was following him up to his apartment, I sent out a quick tweet letting my followers know exactly where I was in case something were to happen. I felt stupid doing it, but…just in case…
Of course, nothing happened. The guy I bought the TV from was perfectly nice – even carried the TV half a block to my car for me. I tweeted that I was back safe in my car. I got home to a whole bunch of tweets from concerned people, some of them saying I should’ve gone with a friend. I dunno. If someone asked me to take an hour and a half of my time to go buy a TV with them I’d be really annoyed, so I’m not likely to ask anyone to do that for me. But next time, I will remember to call my husband and tell him where I’m going.
As for the TV? Fantastic condition, perfect for my basement. Now I won’t have to bring my laptop downstairs and watch on a little screen while I’m exercising. If I’m going to make myself work out, I want to be as distracted as possible. How did people work out before TVs and mp3 players anyway?
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 14. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage, and podcasts with The Blogging Angels.
Tags: eBay Classifieds, jogging, TV
eBay back-to-school deals: big savings & free shipping!
Aug 4, 2010 Uncategorized
I’m supposed to be getting ready to head to the BlogHer conference tomorrow in the city (that’s what we Brooklyn dwellers tend to call Manhattan, as though we live on a farm), thanks to my awesome sponsors at eBay Classifieds. But I just saw a string of emails from my kids’ school about school supplies, apologizing for not having sent out the lists yet. Back to school shopping lists? Seriously? Isn’t the start of school still months away?
Of course not. It only seems that way. For many people school is just around the corner, and that means pencils and markers and notebooks and all that other fun stuff. But since this is 2010 and we’re not Amish, it also means printers and voice recorders and calculators…and coffee makers and irons and a zillion other things. Which is why eBay is running a week of sales and specials for back-to-school items, through Friday. Not only is there a big selection and great prices, but all of the back-to-school items in the Back to School Blowout have free shipping as well!
There’s also an instant win game where you might win a $25 eBay gift certificate, and they’re giving away an iPad. So check out the deals and enter to win a couple of great prizes. And remember, just like all of their other fabulous Daily Deals, they change…daily! And sometimes even multiple times each day if they sell out quickly. So check back often.
OK, seriously, packing now.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 7, 8 & 12. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage.
Tags: back to school sale, BlogHer, eBay, eBay Classifieds
