So I am in Salt Lake City for the first time ever. Actually, I’ve never been to Utah at all, although I’ve always wanted to visit, both because all those panoramic exterior shots in Big Love look absolutely gorgeous, and also because I’ve always – and somewhat inexplicably – been something of a Mormon history buff. I’m fascinated by the way the LDS pioneers persevered against unbelievable odds to create their own nation within a nation here in Utah. One thing I noticed right away when I arrived is that people here are exceptionally tidy-looking. And they just exude industriousness. Just being around these people, I feel lazy, messy and inadequate. The Latter Day Saints – both past and present – are fascinating folks, fo sho.

I am sitting here in my hotel room, trying to get a little work done before I go meet up with Jon and Heather to visit and talk about some business stuff. I am really looking forward to seeing them, and checking out their new digs. H is apparently feeling a bit puny today due to a cold, so I may not be able to drag her out with us after our meeting this afternoon (I plan to try though!), but in any event, I am really looking forward to meeting up for dinner tonight with another fave blogger of mine, Monica B, otherwise known as The Girl Who. (Isn’t it kind of weird that Salt Lake City is so loaded up with super-gorgeous, hilarious, more than slightly profane, ex-Mormon girl bloggers? What if Knoxville were all covered up with tall, blonde, cursing ex-Southern Baptist girl bloggers? Yeah – it would be kind of like that.) But anyway, Monica and I , and maybe her hubby are going to take downtown SLC by storm tonight – or at least have dinner and drinks and check out the very fascinating Temple Square – right up the street from my hotel – on foot. (I’ll have to drink Monica’s beer for her though because she’s knocked up. But I don’t mind. I’m happy to shoulder the burden.)

I was feeling very, very, extra sad about Henry yesterday. While traveling to SLC from Knoxville – via Atlanta, I saw so many sweet, healthy 17-20 year old, shaggy haired boys, guitars and duffel bags slung diffidently over their still-growing shoulders, happily striding through airports on their way to college or travel abroad or wherever. I wanted so much to see Henry have the chance to travel, to go to college, to see the world and then tell me all about it. Instead, he’s gone forever for no reason I can quite figure out. I miss him so much that it aches. There’s an ache that just never stops, even when I am otherwise feeling joy or having fun. I brought his journal from his first three months in treatment with me on this trip and I read it last night before I fell asleep. He was such a special, quirky, tortured person. So funny and creative and loving. The world is dimmer without him in it.

Okay, gonna shake off the blues right now and enjoy the day ahead. The Wasatch mountains out my hotel window are beautiful.

….I have a new gig.

I am really excited to share that I’ve accepted a wonderful opportunity with Scripps Networks. I’ll be working as Social Media Manager for their shelter brands – HGTV and DIY. I start in about two weeks. Scripps is one of the most progressive and innovative media companies in the world, and I feel very lucky to have been asked to join their supersmart team.

I will miss seeing my very dear coworkers and clients at Ackermann on a daily basis, but I plan to force them to have lunch and/or drink beer with me on a regular basis. They won’t be able to escape me. Muwahahahaha!

So anyway, that’s my big news. I think it’s going to be great.

Today was my first day back at work, which meant that it was Baby G’s first day at work….with Jon. He works at his family’s accounting firm and he has been taking C to work with him each day since she was 8 weeks old. Today he had both C and G for the first time. Of course, he has some pretty amazing help in the person of his mother, who is a saint and a terrific grandmother. She comes to the office each day to care for the kids. C looooves going to “her” office each day to play with her Mimi, and I’m sure G will too.

Reports indicate that G’s first day in the office with her daddy went well.

I can’t quite figure out why some days are so much harder than others since Henry died.  Today I feel very, very sad – worse than I’ve felt in a while. Maybe it’s because I go back to work tomorrow. I am actually really looking forward to seeing my coworkers and clients, and I feel ready to be productive and useful at work. But it also feels like I am leaving a certain home-focused phase of grieving behind. Even though the six weeks I’ve spent at home were actually a maternity leave, this time of cocooning at home with Baby G has also allowed me time to grieve privately, and also to spend unhurried time with our whole family, including Henry’s father and stepmother. We all needed this time to be together and remember Henry collectively – all of us who loved and knew him best. I needed the days I’ve spent alone at home in the past few weeks, simply sitting in a rocking chair in my nightgown for hours at a time, cradling my newborn and thinking about my son and his death, and what it all means.

But tomorrow I am launched back into the real world. I guess it’s time. I can’t stay in my nightgown at home forever. But today feels like the end of an important phase of  this experience of losing my child.  I think that’s why I am feeling rather melancholy.

That’s what I am pondering in my latest post over at my Babble blog.

After reading this, I’m pretty sure Kristin Van Ogtrop is my parenting doppelganger. I can’t wait to read her new book on working motherhood.

The perfume ad I posted below got me to thinking about whether and how much gender equity has changed in the last three decades when it comes to household chores, shopping and cooking. That’s what I’m blogging about over at Babble today.

This Enjoli ad from the late 70s makes me feel like an utter failure 30 years later.  I think the only part I do relatively well is the bringing home the bacon part.  How about you?

Knoxville News Sentinel reporter Amy Nolan interviewed me – among others – for a piece on social media business strategy.

Thanks Amy!

Hello. My name is Katie, and I am a CrackBerry addict.