#TOONswag - Live-drawing #BlissDomCA

BlissDom Canada conference, Toronto.

When I sit down to live-draw someone new, I think to myself, "...can I do this?"
Every. Single. Time.

Going to a conference to meet a lot of new people can have the same effect on me: What if everyone finally finds out that I have no idea what I'm doing? I'm getting better at pushing through that.

I have to start at a pre-Blissdom meetup here in Montreal - organized by Fariha Naqvi who blogs at Canadian Mom Eh. You may have seen her in the media lately speaking out against the Quebec Charter of Values. We met for coffee and I totally toonswagged her!

Super-cool @JackiYo finally posed for me at BlissDom Canada. She blogs at What Did She Say? I've met her a few times now.

This is Jason Theodor aka @jted. His session at BlissDom - The Art of Creativity - was amazeballs. This man is truly gifted at wordgenesiosis. Watch for his upcoming book at JasonTheodor.com.

I met @ActiveKidsClub at BlissDom's Great Canadian Outdoors Party, which was a good fit for someone who blogs about getting kids outdoors at Active Kids Club. I was smitten by her pink stripey billyboots and sparkley silver top. Toonswag ensued.

Kirstine Stewart, Head of Twitter Canada, was giving a brilliant keynote at BlissDom about Twitter "moments" when I drew her. But when I tweeted out the image, I sent it to @KirstenStewart. OOPSIES.

Twas the jugular of irony. Luckily @RadioRedHead was on the ball and made sure @KirstineStewart got the tweet.

And she used it as her profile pic.

I know, right?

Which culminated in a perfect Twitter "moment" for me, #toonswag and #BlissDomCA.

Of course, I didn't want Kirsten (Kristen?) Stewart the actress to feel left out, so I drew her too. I can't even tell which account is actually her! What a debacle; I blame menopause.

What is this woman's Twitter handle and can Kirstine Stewart get it verified for her?

After four years of Innerwebbing I met Tamara McPherson of WonderMoms.ca at BlissDom Canada. And she posed for me. It was her birthday, so she didn't hold still for long.

Silver crowned loveliness! @RossanaWyatt showed off her groovy necklace. She blogs at Being Gluten Free.

Sandy Macnamara invited me to be BlissDom roomies at the Delta Meadowvale Hotel. We stayed up late chatting and getting to know each other; it was like super-concentrated friendship. I miss her already.

@ToyWithMe on Twitter, Sandy runs an adult toy review site called Toy With Me. Go check it out: it'll be your pleasure.

This woman is @ShannonFisher - a blogger who walks the delicate line between courage and vulnerability. She's got a zillion watt smile and writes with her heart on her sleeve at Truthfully. We had recently bonded over the Mrs Hall blip and Shannon posed for me at BlissDom.

Who's the Daddy blogger with the biggest heart? Chris Read! If you sit near him, you can actually hear it go BOOM. This dude blogs at Canadian Dad and tweets as @CanadianDadBlog

Finally, closing up the bookends with another homie, @MoxieDude! Also known as Mona Andrei, she blogs at Moxie-Dude (as in "she's got moxie, dude!"). Ask her about the hamster.

Mona drove us to and from Toronto for BlissDom. She only hit the rumble strip twice and I'm pretty sure one of those times was to wake me up.

One conference, eleven TWELVE toonswags.

Who's next?

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#BlissDomCA TOON swag!

I'd been wanting to reach out to more Canadian bloggers...I mean, I'm Canadian, but for some reason the bulk of my Internet friends are in the US. I dunno why...it just feels like they get me.

So I went to BlissDom Canada in Toronto ...and it turns out there's a bunch of Canadian bloggers that I already know!

I attended the whirlwind Microsessions (too short, too rushed) one of which was led by award-winning author (six books!!), public speaker, and TV personality Kathy Buckworth. Here she is, speaking publicly about public speaking, as it were.

She's quite animated so tooning her was easy! And @KathyBuckworth is just as animated on on Twitter - smart and funny.

Do you know Evelyn Hannon, AKA the @Journeywoman? Evelyn is CEO of Journeywoman, the largest online travel resource for women on the planet. We worked together on her short film Journeywoman Around the World, but never met in person until she popped in to have lunch with me at BlissDom. She said, "I'll be wearing a red cape." But I would have recognized her trademark bangs and glasses anywhere.

We spoke of our children, balancing family, work and life; we marveled at how meeting people in real life after developing a virtual friendship, can be quite the kick.

I was at BlissDom blocking hotel toilets ...drinking um... hanging out with my friend The Robin. She's new to blogging and wants to get started on the right foot.

Actually it was The Robin's wedding anniversary while we were at BlissDom. Pretty nice of her husband to let get her bliss on with me! (Happy Anniversary to both of you, btw, I know you're reading this you crazy stalkers. Muah!)

I met Schmutzie!

Yes, I was a little starstruck cuz of this Ted Talk I saw her do one time. But we all have hurdles to overcome, and mine was getting up the gumption to say hi for realz. This is actually a big deal for people going to conferences - we all experience the rabbit-in-the-headlights freeze when confronted with meeting those we admire. AKA Elan Morgan, she was at BlissDom with her huz, the Palinode. Both were Community Leaders doing sessions there.

ANYWAYS I plonked myself down on the floor in front of her and boom. When Schmutzie smiles, the room lights up.

I drew her as she iPhonographed me drawing her iPhonographing me.

I seem to be sitting on a magic circle there...I love this picture of me because she's caught me doing what I love. Also because I look hawt, but mostly cuz she got me. She's talented.

Quite a bit of toon swagging has been flowing from me lately. Where shall I go next? Any conferences you think I should attend? If I draw you will you draw me too?

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The Tenth Floor TURD.

WARNING: Not for those who are easily flushturd.

This didn't actually happen. Well, okay, it did happen but not exactly.

Me and my friend Robin (known as #TheRobin on Twitter cuz she has yet to exist there) went to BlissDom Canada this weekend. We trained it from Montreal, and headed straight to the Sheraton Centre, located "in the vibrant core of downtown Toronto". Needless to say the long train ride had resulted in an urgent need to use the toilet for Number 1. Which we did as soon as we got checked into our hotel room.

But instead of flushing, the toilet did that horrifying thing with the water rising up threateningly to the brim of the toilet bowl...and then just staying there. Uh-oh!

The Robin called the front desk, and some poor unsuspecting maintenance man came up from house-keeping. He just stood there and stared at the toilet bowl. I was standing next to him thinking, wow, this is really embarrassing! But I love embarrassment, it's like, one of my favorite emotions.

Some of my best stories come from my ability to embrace embarrassment.

So the maintenance dude and I are staring silently at the toilet, full to the brim with pale yellow water. And a token bit of toilet paper floating sexily on top. Naturally it also smelled faintly of female pee.

Eventually he looks at me and says, "If I flush it, will it overflow?"

Seriously? How should I know? I shrugged and smiled. Anything could happen and I was hopeful.

He wisely decided not to try flushing it. Off he goes to get a plunger, tarum, tarum, tarum. And he unplugs the toilet. And later that same day it blocked up again. So he came back and unblocked it again.

Lucky for him, it was only ever Number 1. But that didn't stop me and The Robin imagining what it would be like if it was Number 2.

The Robin came up with the title for this blog post. You guys can thank her for that. And the Sheraton gets top marks for prompt toilet unblocking services.

Embarrassment might be one of my Super Powers.

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