BEHOLD! The power of frappe! It matters not that it’s just my usual “Baby Grasshopper” all whizzed up in a blender. I’m not in a rut! (Thanks to HostGator for the BlogHer ’14 swag. How do you like that product placement for a product I don’t even use? Pretty awesome, right?)
I am a joyful person.
I’m a joyful person plagued with an “angry, bitchy resting face” who usually keeps to herself because…. I like myself. Okay, that and many other people irritate the shit out of me what with their “my life is so haaaarrrrrrrd” kind of horse-pucky… But I digress, let me get back to joyful. Anyhoo!
via modernloss.com
I’m a surprisingly optimistic person. The glass is half full. The clouds are lined with silver. Pots of gold are found at the ends of the rainbows. There is always a bright side. You get the idea. I’d have kept going but I ran out of expressions of optimism. My sunny outlook on life means I attract all kinds of people, even with my “angry, bitchy resting face”. Most of the people who I attract fall into two categories: those that really need to talk to a professional therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist and not me because I’m not a professional and those that are resilient, optimistic folks. I prefer the latter to the former.
via peerpressured.wordpress.com
I like resilient, optimistic people. I don’t mind if they are also cynics (I’m pretty cynical for an optimistic person) because I tend to see the cynics as realists and I enjoy the company of realists. That probably plays into the the fact that I’m analytical and logical which is rooted in reality. So, color-me-happy when at BlogHer ’14, which took place in hot-and-sunny San Jose, California, last weekend, I met some wonderful people with whom I had some lovely chats and some great laughs. We chatted about life and our blogs (of course), addictions to cookbook collecting, bacon and how I’m allergic to everything (not really…. but it sure does seem like it).
Now that I think about it, the BlogHer ’14 Conference may have also counted as my very first “TweetUp” and I didn’t even come away feeling violated. BONUS!
One subject that came up was my “Fancy Coffee Friday” posts and their title. I was asked what I had against frappuccinos (nothing – except I’d rather get my coffee drinks here than there…that would be Starbucks) by a man known as Sisyphus on Twitter at @SrslyAmusing (how could I NOT follow someone with that handle!). Now, Barriques doesn’t have their fancy coffee drink menu posted online – I’ve asked for it to be done so I can sway my coworkers to get their drinks from Barriques vs the ubiquitous Starbucks – but they haven’t. So anyway, some intelligent soul snapped a photo of one of the Barriques locations fancy coffee drink menu and I saw “frappe” and I thought, “I can’t call today’s post “Fancy Frappuccino Friday” if I’m going to have a Frappe!” Besides, Starbucks probably trademarked that drink name and then I’d have to pay royalties or some other such silliness if I used it for today’s post’s title. So, to Sisyphus – thank you for shaking up my Fancy Coffee Friday and this was a very long-winded post about absolutely nothing just to say: I’ll see your Frappuccino and raise you a Frappe.
MARCO!
P.S. If you’re reading this, we had a conversation at BlogHer ’14 and I didn’t call you out on this post… just wait!
P.P.S. Friendships are made from good burns and playing Marco Polo during conferences that don’t live up to their hype.
Musings of the Amusing Muse 
A wonderful post about “nothing”.
LOL Thank you! I really tried to make sure that my “nothing” was substantial. 😉
Whole empires have been born out of nothing, maybe this will be the start of yours. This … and Fancy Frappe Fridays.
Although, I have to ask, were you fancy or was the Frappe Fancy? I like the idea of dressing up for coffee every Friday.
Friday’s are my “dress down” day at the office aka “the day I can wear jeans”. However, I don’t dress down much for work. Today it’s white jeans, combat boots and a semi-dressy army green top with a military-style “arm party” going on (okay, my party is more of a tête-à-tête). I like to look put together.
Now, for other days where I may need a caffeine boost and stop in at Barriques, I AM more dressed up: dresses, suit jackets, dress slacks and blouses, shoes that make me “ridiculously tall”…
You guys crack me up. But how can you guys post to blogs when there are so many Blogher14 recaps to be read? And new blogs to read? And twitter accounts and Facebook pages? And hotel scandals? And Pathfinder scandals? Who has the time? And how can I have planned a vacation in the middle of all this? I need to go get a coffee…..
LOL BlogHer recaps? Scandals?! You mean to say that a bunch of drunken “mommy bloggers” were so shit-faced that they caused havoc?!
Okay, so a friend who didn’t attend told me about this website… and in particular, this post: “BlogHer ’14 Apparently a Huge Womp Womp“. I laughed… heartily.
Okay, I just wasted half a day reading all that…no not wasted…any time you are laughing out loud or your mouth drops open in a “no friggin way” is not wasted. I had a hotel room to myself and I have a full time job. No one asked to share my hotel room. I feel like I should be offended 🙂 I need to go back and read more.
LOL I know! I was laughing too hard at my desk when I should really be working on the PILES of work that i have to do! I may have to entertain myself this evening looking up more BlogHer ’14 scandals. 😉
I went to a BlogHer in NYC a few years ago . . . I’ll be heading back. They’re great fun, aren’t they?
And while I’m a terribly optimistic person, I always look back on past events with a great deal of pessimism. Basically “oh, I need to do this, it’s going to rock!” And then, after it’s done, it’s always “well, that could have been better.” Somehow, I end up being the person in the office that people cry to. This always makes me uncomfortable.
I heard that the NYC one was fun. Chicago was good though I ended up with some logistical issues and didn’t get to see some of the events. San Jose, however, was incredibly disappointing and I’m not the only one who thought so: BlogHer ’14 Apparently A Huge Womp Womp. You’ll have to read it and all of the links – they’re pretty hilarious.
As for being the shoulder to cry on at the office, it appears that I have created a situation where people avoid telling me about their lives with a few exceptions (and those people I don’t mind).
I’m not sophisticated to join in on this conversation. I know what I like. I know what I don’t like.
I make friends by working with them. The rest of the world can go to blazes because I do not know them, nor do I care.
The world is full of people that 99.9% of those I will never meet. The .01 % that I come in contact with I will judge harshly. About 1% of those I will like as people.
You are that one tenth of 100th percent. Odd! Very odd!
How’s your grapes doing? Mine are doing pretty good this year, for a change. Providing those bastard deer don’t eat them.
I’ve been harshly judged AND survived!!! We should drink some wine and philosophize around the campfire to celebrate.
The grapes WERE doing great – now that giant vine by the entry gate got fungus. Boo. Add to that the lack of rain and the grapes, while plentiful, are turning out much smaller than anticipated.