While my mom has taught me oodles of invaluable lessons throughout my life – especially on the topics of practicality and self-sufficiency – she isn’t one to “give advice.” She’s more of a “lead by example” type of gal.

However, my mom’s mom, Grandma Pat, was in fact an advice-giver. A tall redheaded who spent 35 years as a hairdresser at an eclectic L.A. salon, she fed me tidbits of useful information like only a grandma could! Here are a few gems:

• Never ever dye your hair black. She’d seen too many teenaged blondes come in to the salon to fix the mess they’d created with a box of dye from the drugstore.

• Coffee solves everything. Coffee was to Grandma Pat what cheesecake was to The Golden Girls. I’d like to think I inherited my love for lattes, cappuccinos and plain old, freshly ground coffee from her.

• Wear this, you’re a “Summer.” I should wear colors that are the most flattering on my skin tone, like pastels. She was an autumn, so those shades were out for her.

• You’ve got a nice butt – but don’t let it get too big. Had anyone else said it, I would’ve been offended, but I’d like to think she was just giving an honest, grandmotherly recommendation.

Note: After chatting with my mom about this post, she reminded me of a great piece of advice she’d given me: Don’t get married near your birthday. You’ll always end up with a 2-in-1 celebration. Good call, Mom! 

While I would never have considered myself a spontaneous person, a few weekends ago I decided to get as wild as a 27-year-old with a full-time job and a doting chocolate lab can get. I took a road trip to Austin for 24 hours of South by Southwest Interactive without a badge! Luckily, my coworker Lauren, also badgeless, was willing to join me on my adventure. All in all, I considered the trip a success, so below I’ve listed some highlights and tips from our impromptu crashing of SXSWi.  

We’re on the Guest List (Have at least one activity planned before you get there.)

Luckily, we knew we’d be given the red carpet treatment (i.e. we could get in without a badge) at deviantART’s Sunday afternoon get-together at Frank. Thanks to my childhood friend, deviantART’s vice president of marketing, Heidi Chambers, we had a chance to mingle with members of the company’s online art community, chat with deviantART’s co-founders and enjoy a topnotch Moscow Mule, or two.

SMCFW Pride (Reach out to who you know.)

About a dozen Social Media Club of Fort Worth members were in Austin for the festival, which made for a successful last minute, mini tweetup at Maggie Mae’s. Having our established hashtag, #SMCFW, helped us quickly communicate and plan via Twitter and represent DFW in the state’s capitol.  

Check-ins Galore (Proof that social services tools are useful for stalking.)

In addition to earning our “SXSW Virgin” Foursquare badges, our use of location-based check-in services (e.g. Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places) made it easy for us to see where festival attendees were spending their time and therefore, where we should be headed!

GroupMe (Because everyone knows how to text.)

GroupMe is an app that helped Lauren and I keep in touch with our fellow B-Team members. With one simple text, we were able to communicate with our six-person party and stay posted on plans.

Dream Big (Even if you don’t have a badge, you can get stuff for free.)

Lauren had three goals, which I quickly adopted. #1 Meet Conan O’Brien. #2 Get a shirt for free. #3 Get something else for free. While goal #1 didn’t pan out, #2 and #3 were easily conquered. Our favorites – a free shirt from blogads.com and a free koozie from HootSuite’s own mascot, Owly.

Just a Teaser (I’ll be back!)

More than anything, this experience has served as a preview of what I hope to be experiencing March 9-13, 2012. From the speakers and panelists to the networking and chance to run into Conan – I’m giddy about all that SXSWi has to offer.

Perhaps it's because my mom owns a personalized stationery business, or maybe it's because I've had a pen pal ever since I could write. Whatever the reason may be, I love hand-written notes. So after more than a quarter century of receiving (and forever keeping) some pretty phenomenal hand-written pieces, I share with you a few of my favorites.

This is a thank you note sent to me from Aimi, a Japanese exchange student who lived with our family when I was in 10th grade.

For my 19th birthday, my neighbors in the San Diego State dorms made me a Saturday Night Live-inspired birthday card, complete with illustrations.

My mom has beautiful handwriting, and she mailed my significant other and me The Barbecue Bible, along with a personal greeting.  

Each of these may not have cost much money to buy (or make) or have even taken much time to write, but I'll always love revisiting the memories they represent.