Now that I’ve given you a day to let the The Big News sink in (if you have not been following, no I am not pregnant, I am bringing the Listen To Your Mother show to Boulder), I’d like to fill in some blanks… After speaking with my mother (to whom I usually listen, for the record), I realized that perhaps things could be more clear.

While my mom was obviously thrilled about The Big News, she wasn’t 100% sure what it was all about. She assured me I would have no problem pulling it off, based on the fact that I ran a half marathon. While I am touched by her confidence in me,  I don’t believe the two have anything to do with each other.  Running a race does not equal successful event planning.

Here’s the breakdown: I have a partner in crime and together we are tasked with coordinating this event. This involves many responsibilities, including but not limited to finding and booking a venue, ticket sales, advertising, securing sponsors, holding auditions, selecting a cast, holding a rehearsal, writing a press release (note to self: find out exactly what a press release is).  Also on the to-do list is read the 45 page manual on this event.  This is why I was feeling overwhelmed and why my mom assured me I would do a great job, despite having a limited understanding of the details.

Overwhelm aside, it’s exciting. This is going to be an awesome event- a celebration of motherhood, community, and STORIES. And who doesn’t love a good story!? We go to movies, we read, we gossip, we watch Teen Mom (or Real Housewives, or whatever your guilty pleasure, it’s ok, you can admit it)… Why? Because humans dig stories. Period.

Speaking of stories. My guilty pleasure (beside awful shows like Teen Mom) is mindlessly surfing the interwebs, specifically, reading blogs. I stumbled across Ann Imig’s blog several years ago, before she created the Listen To Your Mother show, which originally took place in Madison, WI. [True confession: I developed a girl-crush on her, mainly because of this post. If you don’t think it’s funny, then I’m sorry, I don’t think we can be friends.]

Fast foward to now- I had been keeping up with her blog for a few years, I was aware of Listen To Your Mother, and I had watched a few of the You Tube videos of the show and was blown away. One night I randomly found a link to the LTYM website on this blog (I’m not even sure how I landed there) a call for applications to bring the show to your city. At that point I had a couple of hours to meet the deadline, but I had a sleeping baby and not much else going on. The application form made me admit I had 11 Twitter followers which was embarrassing but apparently not a deal breaker.

Joelle, my buddy and co-director/producer, and I had our inaugural planning meeting today. Inaugural planning meeting = Eat lunch while talking, brainstorming, typing, and trying to watch our little girls as they explore (read: lick, chew, grab, eat, smack, fell on) every part of my house within the confines of the baby gate. We are excited about how much we are going to learn through this process. Lesson #1: Make every effort to schedule future meetings sans bebes.