My mom would have been so thrilled!

I'm an aunt again!

This happened on Saturday while Brett, Natalie and I were attending WordCamp St. Louis. This is where web developers and managers get together to learn about the WordPress (a most excellent content management system). Brett and I traveled to Chicago last year, and this year, St. Louis hosted its first event. It wasn’t until we were reviewing the schedule on Friday night that we noticed that Matt Mullenweg, the founder and advocate of WordPress, was going to be there.

To put this in perspective, Brett and I have watched Matt’s interviews for hours because he’s interesting and is on the cutting edge. Plus, we love WordPress and are amazed at how Matt has helped this Open Source effort to grow exponentially while also improving quality. As a result, about 50 million people and companies, like the NY Times and our company (of course), are using WordPress.

It was a great event, and I was thrilled for Brett to meet someone that he admires so much, especially when I know that he would have been too shy to go up and talk to Matt otherwise. Matt was, as I expected, a charming and down-to-earth guy. I pray blessings on him and safe travels!

Brett Coleman and Matt Mullenweg at WordCamp STL 2011

It’s cool to be writing this post using WordPress and talking about WordPress. Brett said that he felt like a “5 year old.” It was a much better 5-year-old face than when he has to eat his broccolli, let me tell ya.

Here’s the breakdown from Brett on his blog:

http://www.brettcoleman.com/2011/06/13/st-louis-music-update/

Hope to see you at some concerts!

These are 2 artists I’d love to see, however realizing they will likely not be as prominent as the local churches featured and such…

9/24/10 ($25-40+) – Jonathan Butler at 560 Music Center at Wash. U.
http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/2010/07/jonathan-butler-to-play-friday.html
(I’ve seen this guy perform at the Bottle Neck Blues Bar with Rick Braun and Richard Elliot and he was fantastic! He’s a guitar master and great gospel singer. No snoozing at one of these…)

I know little of C.S. Lewis and the Screwtape Letters, however I’ve heard good things, so we’ll likely be checking this out.
9/25/10 ($38, $48, $59) – http://www.touhill.org/default.asp?touhill=51&objId=593

Don’t forget about Wash U. I gotta check this out more often:
http://ucollege.wustl.edu/jazz/

And as always Dean’s blog and calendar are a great resource:
http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/

I hope this helps! Jam on, and let me know if you’re showing up for anything…

Oh, and the Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival in WI was SWEET last weekend!
http://kmjazz.com/enter.htm
Great lineup and we saw them all. My hearing has almost fully returned. =)

If you like high energy, Richard Elliot is fantastic on the sax, however he’ll be at the venue from hell (The Padgett – nice looking but bad acoustics). I really wish St. Louis and the stations would use some other venues. I’m sure it’s all who you know. Oh well… =)

http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/2010/07/stljn-saturday-video-showcase-rnr-with.html

For the first time we caught Jonathan Butler at the Bottle Neck Blues Bar a while back and I’d love to see this guy again! He’s back:

http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/2010/07/jonathan-butler-to-play-friday.html

If the schedule permits, I’m there. I sure wish I knew what Bronze, Gold and VIP were, etc… Not very clear on metrotix.
(Note from Sonia: I loved seeing Jonathan Butler live! He’s awesome!!!)

The Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival in Milwaukee looks like it’ll be a good one if you don’t mind a flight or hopping in the car for a bit:

http://kmjazz.com/enter.htm

We’ve done this in the past with our buddy, Dan, who’s also awesome on the keys. It was pretty neat. The cooler weather helps a bit too! =)

Just an FYI. Enjoy the music and let us know if you know of any great concerts.

Finally, I gave up on writing something deep and meaningful… and decided to write something that was fun instead. Let’s face it: we all need more fun in our lives.

I have always loved murder mysteries, so I decided to take the plunge and attempt to write a novel. It was an interesting exploration quite different from journalism; a cadence between cranking out new scenes on my iPhone and editing on my laptop. I also found I couldn’t get more than two scenes ahead of myself in the book without losing my way; so long, careful outlines just didn’t work.

For the longest time, I didn’t know who was the murderer myself, and I thought this was good because then my writing wouldn’t become to predictable. I tried to walk along side the main character and learn about things when she did.

As I’m a reader who has always enjoyed walking along a library shelf and picking out a book based on its cover, I was thrilled when Brett designed me this awesome cover. I am planning on returning to editing soon once I get more feedback from my first round of friendly reviewers (friends and family). Then, Brett and I may see if we can get it published in Apple’s iBookstore.

I’m adding some photos for you check it out. Also, if you have an iPhone 4, let us know. Brett hasn’t had a chance to try out the new Video call feature yet.

My favorite line: “No… I want the haircut and the highlights, but I only want to pay for the haircut…”

I’m writing now on our new iPad so hopefully this will help me keep all of my websites and blogs up to date. What do I think of the iPad? I think it’s beautiful and fun to use. I look forward to giving it a workout.

Speaking of workouts, Brett and I have been exercising a few times a week since the new year, and it’s starting to pay off. We’re feeling good and looking better too.