The DOLL.

This story originally appeared on Aiming Low.

When our first baby was born, the stars twinkled and all the flowers bloomed. It was spring and we were blown away. We were in love, we had cool hair...and a brand new daughter.

The infant girl was perfect. I dressed her up in old fashioned baby clothes, kinda vintage, with lace dresses and Victorian bonnets. She never cried, except when she wanted my milk. I used to joke that “sleeping like a baby” actually meant “waking up every two hours”. Ha. Ha. Ha.

After two months of Sleepus Interruptus, reality kicked in. Life as we knew it was OVER. Forget about cool hair.

We were living in London at the time, and it happened that we drove down to Penzance in Cornwall to visit my mother-in-law. One evening, The Huz suggested we go out to the pub and have a civilized pint. I wanted to go …but I couldn’t leave my baby alone with anyone, not even my MIL. I just wasn’t ready yet. So we decided to see if the pub would let us in with our baby.

Out we went with our tiny daughter in her pram. She’d just been fed so she was quietly blissed out.

We walked along until we came to a really nice old pub called The Admiral Benbow. And in we went with the pram. The barman marched right up to us and said we couldn’t come into the pub with a baby. The Huz looked him right in the eye and said,

“That’s not a baby. That’s a doll.”

The two men stared at one another.

The Huz raised one of his eye brows.

The barman glanced down at the pram.

What he saw was a Victorian bonnet with tiny silken eyelashes resting on a pink porcelain cheek, perfect rosebud lips mutely dream-sucking, and an impossibly dimpled hand on the lace blanket.

He looked back up at me, my mother-in-law and The Huz and said,

“What a beautiful doll. Please have a seat.”

Judge me if you want, but I'm sure a fair number of you have snuck your baby into a pub.

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Audience Participation.

I'm sooooooo late in cutting this video together. Sorry. It was the "audience participation" segment of my Opening Keynote at the Aiming Low NonCon in October 2012. I wanted to empower the crowd while paying tribute to Anissa Mayhew, who leads Aiming Low.



Anissa Mayhew and everyone from Aiming Low are pretty special in their outlook. The incredible irony is that as I post this video, Anissa is recovering from breaking the wrist on her stroke-affected arm. And in her inimitable style, she jests that she "wasn't really using it anyway".

Here's the simultaneous "I can. #noncon" tweet stream generated.

Dare to dream; the world needs more of it.

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Aiming Low #noncon TOON swag.

Here's the TOON swag* I did while at the Aiming Low Non-Conference last week.

*What the heck is "toon swag"? It's when I live-draw people that inspire me. The drawing is a gift to them, and it fits neatly into their luggage.

When we arrived at Callaway Gardens, I met Jasmine Banks, blogger at Just Jasmine. She asked me how my room was, and I said it was fine, just a bit cold. So she arranged for blankets to be sent to our room. Sweet! She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at me, and I had to draw her.

@Djazzo has the kind of curves that artists swoon to draw, she's so, so beautiful. She possesses an inner light that is a disarming mix of strength and vulnerability.

If you're ever lucky enough to meet her IRL, ask her respectfully about her amazing tattoo; I only managed to capture an impression of it here; the actual detail and execution of the work is world class and it's an integral part of her story.

One of the best things about the NonCon were the Roundtables, a concept brought forward by Anissa Mayhew, the unstoppable mojo behind the Aiming Low community. I could do Roundtables all weekend. Because of the format, you can learn, share and connect simultaneously. During the "Working as a Team" session, I was sitting across from Jana Anthoine. As an attendee, she shared this powerful bit of wisdom with us;

"You must be courageous to be part of a team."

I believe it does take courage to step forward and make a contribution as a team player, rather than simply following the leader. And there she was actually making a contribution by saying so. I just whipped out my iPad and started drawing her right there.

Jana's Thinking Place

I think @Jana0926 suspected I was up to something, but I always check with people before posting my drawings. Unless you're Martha Stewart. Or Katie Couric.

At one point during the conference, Faiqa Khan came up and said "Hey JC, when are you going to draw ME??" And I'm like, uh....I already have...?

I'm sad that I didn't get the chance to draw more people, but there was so much going on and I also wanted to soak up some Aiming Low love. But there was one person I was determined to nail down, and this was Julia Roberts.

As I drew her, Julia showed us pictures of her children, Gage and Quinnlin on her phone.

Julia is the arms that enfold, the heart that loves, the shoulder that supports, the eyes that know you. She's a mother to not one, but two kidney transplant children, and a leader in the parenting support community via her blog Kidneys and Eyes.

And it has to be said, @JuliaRoberts1, along with several others, is part of the very soul of Aiming Low.

The next NonCon is now the must attend conference at the top of my list. But meanwhile, I guess we'll have to be content with AimingLow.com on the Internets.

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Dare to DREAM.

It was an honour to do the Opening Keynote at the first ever Aiming Low Non-Conference...and I wasn't nervous at all. I actually got everyone to sing the original Star Trek theme whilst The Huz sorted out the audio-visual. That was kinda epic.

And then there was this:

1. Sit on your good hand.

2. Shut one eye.

3. Using your other hand, tweet:  "I can. #NonCon"

And then we used both our hands to give the incredibly feisty Anissa Mayhew a round of applause for getting us together at the NonCon. She made her dream come true.

If she can, you can too.

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5 Ways to tell if you're aiming low enough.

This story originally appeared on Aiming Low. Since I have the humbling honour of opening the very first Aiming Low Non-Conference in two days, I thought it would be cool to repost it here so you can see if you're aiming low enough. My Keynote will be about how aiming high and aiming low are closely related. To paraphrase a friend of mine, they are two cheeks of the same butt.

*     *     *     *     *     *

I gave up the notion of a tidy home long ago. Are you like me? Here’s a handy illustrated guide:

1. You have at least one vase in your home with flowers mouldering in it since last Valentines Day.

2. You’re actually starting to like tall grass and dandelions.

3. You can use your laundry pile to change a lightbulb in the ceiling!

4. Your eleven year old son wins first prize wtih the kitchen sink as his Science Fair project.

5. You’d rather read a book with your kid than change the sheets. 

Don’t sweat the small stuff, that's what I always say.

How low can you go?

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The First NonCon.

"Any questions...?"

I dunno about you, but I'm always terrified to ask my question at the end of a conference panel. My heart starts pounding, my mouth gets dry and I feel kinda dizzy.

And the questions that do get answered never have a chance to evolve into stimulating discussion. The three panels I attended at BlogHer12 all felt like they ended too soon.

Whelp. The very first ever Aiming Low NonCon is being launched October 12-13.
Their concept for panels is truly inclusive - they're calling them Roundtables*.
*Tables may not be perfectly round.

A session will have three tables running simultaneously on the same topic, each with its own leader. The Roundtable leader guides the discussion with the smaller group. You don't have to wait until the end to ask your question and the discussion can evolve organically.

Then they switch tables.

So you get to talk with each of the leaders and it gives you a more rounded spectrum of info on the topic.

Big, big conferences can be intimidating. But not the NonCon - here's the typical Aiming Low personality profile:

The NonCon has been thoughtfully programmed with the attendee in mind. Go to the NonCon and you'll get maximum take-away in blogging know-how, and hanging out with top bloggers who truly know their stuff. Chances are you'll also make friends for life.

The first NonCon is free; it's taking place in freaking paradise - seriously, check out the Callaway Gardens in Georgia. There's special rates for the NonCon, and The Huz is coming with me cuz it's so pretty. Well that, and the fact that James Brown was from around there.

I'll be the Opening Keynote...at 8 AM. Don't let my pyjamas fool you - I'll be wide awake.

The Closing Keynote is none other than Ree Drummond, AKA The Pioneer Woman.

I hear Friday night will have a super-hero themed costume party (my idea, naturellement). No promises but FUQMAN may make an appearance with the Maid of AWsum.

Space is limited! Register here.

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Toon SWAG at #BlogHer12

Next week, I'm headed to BlogHer in New York.

My SWAG? I’m gonna draw people I meet …and tweet the toons with #JCsaw.

If you’re at BlogHer, and you'd like a little toon swag, come and say hi. I’m easy to spot cuz I’m animated.

OK, I’m a little more 3D in real life. But you’ll see this drawing on the back of my hoodie.

Fun fact:
I won a BlogHer Voice of the Year VOTY honor for my MotherHOOD story so I figured I should prolly go.

Another fun fact:
I’ll be bunking with Anissa Mayhew and the Aiming Low gang which in itself is toon-worthy.

Anissa’s one of the few people I let boss me around; she's just good at it! Anyway she talked me into drawing on people at the Come As You Are (#CAYA) party next Saturday night. I was wondering what I should draw and thought maybe Pickle Weasel could make an appearance along with other fruits and veges that may or may not look like Channing Tatum. Anyways I promise I’ll tweet photos of the drawings I do on peoples arms and ...well, just their arms. 

Yet another fun fact:
My presence at BlogHer is partly sponsored by SeeSaw’s Internet Media Labs - YAY! SeeSaw is a visual way of seeing Twitter and it's amazeballs. I reviewed it here.

If you can’t be at BlogHer in person, you can follow my drawings on my #JCsaw board on SeeSaw. For that matter you can check out everyone’s photos from the conference by searching #BlogHer12 on SeeSaw. The pix will update in real time... which is almost as good as being there.

 Except that I won’t get to meet you.

I'll be drawing my toon swag on my iPad using Adobe Ideas and a Wacom Bamboo stylus.

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YOU. @AnissaMayhew.

I started following @AnissaMayhew on twitter nearly two years ago because she was smart 'n funny. Then she had the stroke(s) and coma. With thousands of others I watched all this unfold online...I read her husband's updates, I got the TEAM ANISSA t-shirt to help support the family and the rehab, and I cheered out loud to see her back online. Of course she's had no idea who I am, but to me... she's like a hero. Because her last tweet before the stroke was about feeding the world's hungry with soup. Hands up if you remember this?

So imagine my excitement when she asked me to guest post on Aiming Low. I just about filled my shorts up. My post is called The YES-aholic. Go see it now!!!!

Here's seven things I think are cool about Anissa:

1. She's friends with @IamthePeachy1 in real life. That alone tips the scales into the land of cool.
2. She's unfettered by the trappings of expectation.
3. She's now an accomplished lefty. 
4. Adversity has not defined her; it has made her more her.  
5. She was awesome on Oprah. 
6. She's smart 'n funny. Already said this.
7. She cares.

Anissa is the founder and lead editor at Aiming Low,  and also blogs at Free Anissa.
"Now stronger and more determined" is a quote from Anissa's guest blog at Women on the Fence.

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