Wannabe

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've no doubt been witness to my recent exultations about my newest twitter followers, @ErnestoRiley and @_erinheatherton. The first is a pseudonym for Matt Davis, who plays Alaric Salzman on The Vampire Diaries. The second is an actress and Victoria's Secret model, who presumably found me via Ernesto. (Find me at @MsRantyPants)

Despite being 35 and seriously too old for such things, I am unabashed to admit that I am quite giddy about being followed by two celebs. I mean, putting this in context: I'm a suburban working mom living in (groan) Sacraghetto; this is about as exciting as it gets these days. Long gone are my semi-glamorous stints on teen celebrity magazines in London and Los Angeles or managing special events in the OC. I'm all growed-up and responsible now, folks. (Gag.)

But yet, here I am with a direct line into the world of teen tv shows (and a VAMPIRE show at that!) via my twitter feed. Now, when I write something they SEE IT. That's right. People who are people (or vampires) and who know other people who are people (and maybe also vampires), are reading my daily drivel. It's just a little intoxicating. And paralyzing. I mean, surely they will eventually realize that my life is about as interesting and compelling as watching a dog shit in the park, and they will promptly unfollow me or, worse still, block me entirely, thus cutting me off from future notoriety in celeb circles. How does Hubby and me singing and dancing in the aisle of Trader Joe's to starve-off a toddler tantrum, compete with sucking fake blood out of a super hot dude or chick? I mean, it just doesn't.

Of course, my giddiness is completely nerdworthy. Deep down, like all 35-going-on-14 year olds, I harbor some thoroughly ridiculous notion that my tweets will be sooooooooo witty that they will connect me with talent agents in Hollywood who will make me famous. God knows exactly what for because I've turned out to be a jack of all trades and master of none in this life but, you know, this is my fantasy notion, I get to skim over the inconvenient details. And, it is without a doubt that, in this dream reality of mine, I will hob-nob with hot men who play vampires (I'm following @iansomerholder but I'm guessing he's busy because he hasn't joined the *rush* to follow me yet) and hide my face from TMZ as I duck out of some unmarked private club at 3am.

Ahem. Yes, Quite.

Alright, we all know I go to bed at 10pm. Like I said: inconvenient truths.

Undoubtedly, it is likely that Matt and Erin will read this blog (because I post links on twitter) and block me by morning.

In other news...


I have been finding a lot of other really cool mommies-who-blog-and-take-great-photos blogs. Apparently I am neither unique or trailblazing (there goes those twitter followers for sure this time). It seems there are almost literally millions of talented mommy writers and photographers who, through the powers of Social Networking, have become quite infamous in their own right. And yes, I'm sure late to the party on this one too.

As I find these cool sites, I'm adding them to my blogroll on the right but I will endeavor to talk about one or two of them on an occasional basis here. I like finding other great blogs through existing blogs I like and maybe you will too.

One of the new blogs I found is Dude and Sweetie. Jess, the writer of D&S, started following me on twitter too after I followed her (as you do... everyone who blogs Facebooks and tweets) and commented on one of my tweets about my burgeoning waistline. (Oh, there, that's it. Supermodel unfollowed me for sure.) Aaaanyway, she said she needed to lose some pounds also and so we sparred back and forth re: a possible competition, held accountable by our respective blogs, to lose 15lbs. We got stuck on the "stakes" and now she is sick and probably eating mashed potato with lots of butter to drown her sorrows, so we're on hold right now. Or maybe she wasn't serious? Hmmm... well.... anyway, I was. I love a little competition. So, if you do have any ideas about the stakes for winner or loser, please comment. Fun and funny and motivating would be my criteria.

Jess did suggest bare-ass photos on our blogs but, I think, maybe not. One of these days I may take my suburban mom status to the next level and join the PTA or something and I can just see some snotty-nosed soccer mom parading those photos around at a PTA meeting, to get me voted off. Plus, if Matt and Erin are still with me (and GOD FORBID Ian has become a fan too) that will definitely be the nail in my twitter coffin.

On pause

You may have noticed that my feverishly-frequent updates have been on pause lately. Or, maybe you have not noticed at all, in which case I thumb my nose at you, you traitor!

Anyway, I wanted to post something brief, in case you're not connected to me on Facebook or twitter and wondered if I was still alive.

This last week we have been focusing on family. My mother in law has been extremely ill, critically so, and has been in the hospital for 10 days now. Things were not going so well for a while but now I'm pleased to report that it's all looking up again.

In the face of something so emotionally all-encompassing, I have not been in a space to do things like go on jaunts to Sacramento "hot spots" or play with my camera settings. In fact, there has been little room in our heads and hearts for much else. Hence, the lack of posts.

As a quick update for ya'll, however...

• I have signed-up for more photography classes at the same studio where I took the recent workshops. The next round, Class 3 (I skipped class one because I am ohhhh so advanced already) is on composition, I believe. This is where I consider my "skills", such that they are, to be the strongest and so I'm expecting the biggest blow to my ego here. Next two classes are at the end of August. Will blog more on that when the time comes.

• My fancy new, custom camera bag has shipped! I'm soooo excited, I can barely contain myself. I've been looking for something fun, stylish, and functional for a while, that would hold not only the camera itself but also my lenses and a couple of filters and stuff, and coming up against a whole slew of websites with either cute-and-impractical bags or boring-and-functional ones. Then I found this site. My bag is the custom type. I picked the fabrics but, otherwise, what will arrive will be somewhat of a surprise. Kewl. I'll take a photo and post it here, of course. I know, you're just DYING of excitement, right? You can admit it.

• In the absence of a vampire TV show or movie that I have not seen, to satiate my bloodlust I have begun reading The Vampire Diaries books. This is probably not incredibly surprising to you, of course, if you know anything at all about me. The reason I'm mentioning it here is because I think the books are terrible. If it's even possible, they're more corny than the Twilight saga. (I know, gag!) What's worse is that the main protagonist, Elena, is not even likable in the books. In the TV show, she's nothing special, admittedly (the attraction is, literally, all with the two hot vamp brothers) but at least she's not dislikable. Elena of the books is vain and self-centered and somewhat lacking a redeeming quality, except for the fact that she seems to like tall, dark strangers with fangs as much as I do. I started reading the first volume and cringed most of the way through it. The sad thing is, though - and here's an insight into how incredibly sad my vampire obsession is - I'm completely hooked anyway. I raced through books one and two and then sought out book three online because I didn't have the patience to wait until I could get to the book store to buy it. I know they're bad but I can't help it. Oh God help me!