my day at blissdom!

28 January 2011

I didn’t even tell you I was going, did I? I remember when I wasn’t going last year and it would kill me to hear the pre-blissdom talk, so I tried to stay restrained about it, plus I was nervous as heck.
Blissdom is an annual blog conference held in Nashville at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. The timing was not good for my family as my husband is in the middle of the semester (he’s a professor) and juggling it with 5 kids was a task. But I was able to arrange to fly down early Wednesday morning, attend the Wisdom Workshops, and then I headed right back Thursday morning so I ran with it. Crazy, whirlwind trip, but it was worth every penny.
Mostly because I got to spend the day with my sister, Kristin!! january 2011 091 1


She is 3 hours from Nashville, so she drove down to meet me. She is also starting a blog which you’ll love ~more on that later! She had a car in case we hated it and wanted to escape and go find Tim & Faith or Wynona or someone….but the getaway car wasn’t necessary because we had a great time.
The hotel blew me away. Huge and gorgeous and we got lost a lot.
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The first workshop we went to was the photography one and it was excellent. This is Angie from I Heart Faces:1.27.2011 019 1
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They really focused on our questions and helped us figure out our cameras and had some excellent tips, which I’ll share later. Kristin, trying to figure her camera out with Deanna. ^
Traci made this cute, crafty notebook and it was my photography subject:1.27.2011 036 1
Adorable Katie from Cleared for Takeoff was at our table as well:1.27.2011 026 1
  Traci was an absolute doll. We loved spending time with her:1.27.2011 038 1
We were so thrilled to meet Susie Davis:1.27.2011 050 1
Melissa from the Inspired Room and Nester had a down to earth, heartfelt home blogger session where they gave some wonderful thoughts as well:1.27.2011 059 1
Traci from Beneath My Heart, Marian from Miss Mustard Seed, me, Richella from Imparting Grace, Kate from Centsational Girl:1.27.2011 066 1
I can’t tell you how much I love these girls. They are refreshingly normal and just delightful, just as I expected them to be. 1.27.2011 068 1 I was able to have dinner with Kristin, Traci, Marian, and Richella and it was so nice to talk and laugh and share and come to know their hearts better~they are all beautiful and I love that I can hear their voices when I read their blogs now.
  The rest of the night was a whirlwind of meeting people and it was loud and dark and kind of hard to talk, but I would have loved to sit and have a good long chat with all of these girls:
Kristin, me, Angie, and Cheryl (Tidymom!)1.27.2011 073 1
Laurie from Tip Junkie:1.27.2011 074 1
Jen from Tatertots and Jello and Beckie from Infarrantly Creative:
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L-R: Emily from Decorchick, Megan from Honey We’re Home, Kim from Sand & Sisal, Rhoda from Southern Hospitality, Kate from Centsational Girl, me, Kristin, Brooke (soon to be blogger), and Amy from Earnest Parenting.1.27.2011 078 1   
There are so many more I wanted to meet and just talk with! The wisdom workshops on Wednesday were $69 and from lunch, the party that night, and all the free stuff we got and all of the blogging info, I thought it was worth it. I was wishing for one more day to talk with everyone, explore the hotel, and relax and be dumb with my sister, but glad to squeeze in what I did. Everyone just made us feel so welcome~no one cared what you where wearing or what your business cards were in, or if you completely embarrassed yourself and spit your gum out on their shoe (sorry, Jen!)
I was so thankful to make my flights in between the storms the northeast has been having back to my family….I have some great tips and nuggets of wisdom I learned at Blissdom I’ll share on Monday.
I wish you all could have been there!
Have a great weekend~