Yep, that was me with the special tshirt. My buddy Robin @ Pensieve took a picture of it for me. I forgot that Robin likes to take crooked pictures

I realized after the weekend I should not have written so much on the shirt. Because of the placement of the graphics, people didn’t want to be staring at my chest to read the whole thing. I did however find some fellow Brad Paisley fans. Even if you are not a country music fan, please watch the video for the song that inspired my shirt.

So you can have a better view of what’s on it, here is the graphic I sent off:

I thought it would be funny for people to see this on my tshirt because the facts there on the screen? They are not mine — well, except for the website, that’s mine As you may notice from the first picture I’m not a redhead. I’m also not 5’11″ or 125lbs — and have never been 36-24-36 I was also inspired by Scott Stratten @unmarketing to put my Twitter username on there somehow.

Shannon @ Rocks in My Dryer, bless her heart, whispered I was so brave to put my weight on my shirt. Guess I didn’t make that as obviously wrong as I thought

This is Robin @ Pensieve and me at the first cocktail party. She’s so adorable and takes the best pictures — She knows how to stand and how to smile, all of which she still needs to teach me

Left to right: Lisa B, Robin @ Pensieve, Sarah @ Genesis Moments, Jo-Lynne @ Musings of a Housewife. This was taken on Friday before the conference really started. It was a She Speaks reunion! All of us met last June at the She Speaks Conference. Dawn @ My Home Sweet Home was also at She Speaks, but about this time Friday, she was still fighting her way to BlissDom.

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I read a few tweets about how BlissDom was for Christian bloggers or faith-based. I can tell you that faith specifically was never mentioned from any of the panels that I was in and I’m sure there were many there who are not Christians.

However, I have to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised to meet many women there who are Christian that I didn’t realize were Christian from their blogs. See, when you come here, I kinda hit you right between the eyes with my banner up there. You know I’m a Christian or at least as far as you know I say I’m one very openly.

I have been thinking of redesigning this blog — I want to base it on a different theme that’s ubber cool — but I’ve been struggling with the graphic aspect of it. Some people you meet and just know — yep, they are flowery or they are swirlie type people. Know what I mean? Their blog headers fit them personally and I want mine to do the same. So while this one does — it only speaks to part of who I am. A very, very big part mind you — but still a part. From my header you don’t know that I’m going to talk about riding Harleys and drinking Coke all the time.

But I’m getting away from the topic of this post I want to tell you about some special ladies that I am positively sure God sent my way this weekend.

Lora Lynn @ Vita Familiae was one such angel although if she were to read this, she’d probably freak or think I’m a freak. Lora Lynn brought her youngest child to the conference with her. She sat across from me at the Mexican restaurant 14 of us ate dinner at Saturday night, although I don’t remember her saying anything. I was really out of it (more about that in a minute). Sunday morning though at breakfast Lora Lynn, Amber @ The Run Amuck, Robin @ Pensieve, and Rachel @ A Southern Fairytale allowed me to eat with them Amber asked Lora Lynn what she thought about the sessions and such (and remember I’m going on a fried brain at this time so my memory may not be exact). Lora Lynn shared that she really enjoyed meeting people but that she wasn’t interested in making money. She would have liked to get more information on how to write better or how to make her blog better — but not necessarily better for advertisers/sponsors and such. Yes, Lora Lynn — I am so with you on that. I’m not looking to advertise on this blog. It just doesn’t fit. Although if Harley or Coke want to come to me with some sweet offers, go for it. But I’m not going to change me or my blog for them.

Which brings me to another of my angels, Amber. I shared this in an earlier post, but I just need to share it again because I need to remember it:

Possibly the absolute sweetest, nicest thing said to me all weekend was by Amber at The Run Amuck. We were eating breakfast on Sunday and I admitted that I struggled when Doodle was a baby — and the bad thing was I never told anyone. Somehow I also admitted to her that I had so badly wanted to write a letter to her for The Mother Letter Project, but I just didn’t do it — whether I was scared to or just didn’t make the time, or just didn’t make the time because I was scared to — I didn’t. She looked me dead in the eyes and said, “your voice needs to be out there.” She was so sincere in that and it made me realize (yet again) that I blog because I want to get my voice out there. If only 1 person is blessed by what they read here, that’s awesome! Because then that 1 person will know they are not alone.

Amber tweeted one time from the room that she was going down to the conference to find her safety people. I was so thankful she considered me one of her safety people. I really wanted to pack her up and bring her home with me. She is absolutely beautiful inside and out.

Another angel was Sarah @ Real Life Blog. We found out we live in the same state although I’d love to live closer to where she lives. I love the mountains! The first time I saw Sarah (who looks just like she does on her blog!) was Friday at lunch. She was sitting with Jo-Lynne @ Musings of a Housewife and Sarah @ Genesis Moments both of whom I met at She Speaks last year. I went over to speak to Jo-Lynne and Sarah, and realized Sarah was sitting with them. I pulled up a chair and made myself at home I  joked with Jo-Lynne that we should have split lunch again — something we did at She Speaks, and Sarah graciously offered to share her lunch with me. That was a huge blessing in and of itself since it was crazy in there and probably would have taken forever for me to get food. Sarah and I ended up talking for a good long while in the lobby on Saturday night and realized we have quite a lot in common. I shared with her my delivery story (of Doodle – my one and only child). She had similar experience with her first. That talk blessed my boots off!

Saving the best angel for last I met Robin last year at She Speaks because we happened to go to the same Chili’s for lunch. Well, there was a group who was supposed to meet at Chili’s but we didn’t realize there were 2 and half went to the other. I’ve been crushin’ on Robin since last year and chat with her when I can. She is a great woman, a tremendously creative writer and has a heart of gold. Have you ever had a friend that can see right through you? Like if you’re upset and trying to hide it from the 13 other women at the dinner table? She can just look at you and you fall to pieces? That was Robin for me.

I was so out of it that I hadn’t called or texted Duck all day. He called me as we sat down in the Mexican restaurant. As soon as I heard the tone in his voice I knew he was hurt and angry. I also knew there wasn’t one thing I could say or do right then to fix it — I had messed up (again). I went back to the table and tried to fight back the tears but literally as soon as Robin looked at me, she leaned over and said “go to the bathroom with me.” So we went. She hugged me while the tears came and y’all — she prayed for me. She prayed for me and for Duck and it helped. Pray works y’all. Robin is my angel and she’ll always hold a special place in my heart!

All that praying makes up for the fact that I was totally jealous she won a trip to SXSW too Yep, I was jealous. I admit it. But she’ll have a good time and you know what else? She also gets to go on a trip that she’s been wanting to go on for several months. She is going to be part of a Compassion trip to India. She’s going to blog and write for those kids Compassion is helping and y’all, I’m so not jealous! She is going to do an outstanding job writing on that trip — I just know it. And you better believe I’m going to be praying for her every step of the way. She hates to fly and she’s got a 30-hr flight to get there

So there you go They are my angels from BlissDom and I love every single one of them!

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I’m so witty with post titles. It’s a gift.

This may not be the last post I put up about BlissDom. I do not promise that it will make sense, but I am dying to get some of this out of my head in whatever way it comes out — just so I can start thinking about other things I need to get done!

• What not to say: If I have the courage to walk up to you and introduce myself at a conference, don’t look at me nonchalantly and say “I know who you are.” Then nothing else. This is like the kiss of death. I would rather you just come out and say you hate me or you love me. It’s one thing to say “I know who you are! I love reading your blog!” and be all giddy. It’s totally another to just say “I know who you are.” I’ve had that happen to me a couple of times and no, I won’t name names.
• Awesome Roomie #1: Thursday night I roomed with Jen @ Beyond Beauty and Bedlam who just happens to be friends with Emily @ Chatting at the Sky and The Nester. Jen invited me up to The Nester’s room to chat and I felt very welcomed when Nester gave me a hug. These ladies are up there. The irony only recently hit me. Here I am the queen of take-out and design-challenged sitting in a room with Melissa (Inspired Room) and Sandra (Reluctant Entertainer).
• Awesome Roomie #2: Dawn @ My Home Sweet Home was a great roommate! She showed me some sweet stuff on her new MacBook — mine is supposed to ship next week. She was also gracious enough to help me with a hair emergency. I bought a new straightner thingy before the conference and I’ve never used one. I literally had my bangs sticking straight out from my head. Not what I was going for. She took her curly thing and fixed them down She probably thought she was going to get a break from fixing hair! Ha! We talked techie stuff all weekend too which was cool.
• Meeting Heroes: Last year at She Speaks I met Shannon @ Rocks in My Dryer. I was shell shocked when I met her, but I got to see her again this weekend and chat a little more. She is so super sweet. I love to hear her talk I got the pleasure of meeting Melanie @ Blogging Basics 101 and Don’t Try This at Home. I have a confession when it comes to Melanie, I have been jealous of her. She started Blogging Basics about the same time I *thought* about starting the same type thing. We totally hit it off though and talked techie stuff all weekend. I was even able to help her fix a few issues which was cool.
• New Hero: I got to meet Liz Strauss y’all. She is huge in the blog world. I was shocked when I found out she was going to be at BlissDom. She tweeted me and said “I’ll be the tall blonde who looks like me.” And sure enough, she looked just like her. She gave awesome advice on her panel and I can’t wait to get the audio to go back over it. “There is no other you. People come to read your blog for you.” Or something like that
• Photo Hero: Secret Agent Mama is so super-duper nice! She takes awesome pictures too! I love that I got to see her face when her husband walked into the lobby a day early. She was so giddy and to see the love they have for each other just made me miss my man all that much more!
• Breakfast – the most important meal of the day: I got to eat breakfast the last day with Rachel @ A Southern Fairytale on Sunday morning. I wish I had met her earlier and that I had found out her hubby has a Harley-Davidson. We could’ve talked motorcycles a little Anyway, I hope to learn more about her too.
• Best advice: Besides Liz’s “there is only one you,” Tsh @ Simple Mom shared on a panel about boundaries. She said “your content happens offline.” I so need to print that out in big letters and hang on my wall!

And on that note, I’m taking off here to go to lunch with Duck I’ve got a couple of other very special people to tell you about when I get back!

BlissDom ‘09 Recap Posts (back to the list)

The major thing I learned about me or at least was reinforced … I’m an introvert. I don’t know when it happened exactly. I used to be quite the life of the party. I’d socialized. I’d talked to everyone. I’d even make people laugh! Now? Not so much.

Mommie Daze wrote a great post: Confessions of an Introvert. I love it. I understand it completely. Three days later I’m still processing all that went on at the conference, and thinking “oh I should have introduced myself to her” or “I wish I would have taken pictures myself.” I don’t think I got to meet Mommie Daze (forgive me if I did — brain was fried), but now I wish I had. I would have loved to grab a corner and listen!

On to other great things I learned about me:

• I don’t care about affiliate marketing. I know. I’m strange. But I realized that I write because I want to write. I write this blog mainly for me because my memory sucks and I want to be able to go back and say “oh yeah, I met her” and “remember when?” I don’t care about stats. I don’t care about numbers. I can’t imagine a company coming to me to advertise on this blog — unless it’s Harley Davidson or Coke. I could understand that because I’m going to talk about them all the time anyway
• I lose all track of time. I was bad this weekend and didn’t get in touch with Duck nearly as much as I should have. Nothing to tell him I’m still alive or what I was doing (well, he was probably thankful for missing details of sessions and people I met). But seriously, I don’t think I knew what time it was the whole time there. I’d follow the crowd to one session or the next. I sat talking in the hotel lobby forever Saturday night. I still don’t know what time I went to bed.
• I needed more breaks for me. My buddy Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife went up to her room and ordered room service Saturday. That’s exactly what I should have done. She had some quiet time to recharge and she didn’t get any dirty looks for going through the food line early. Ok, yes. I was one of the ladies who did — I am not a pig, but I need to eat when I need to eat. The sessions were all running late and I was shaking — literally. I thought I might pass out. So I jumped in and got me some food before the masses came. I wish I would have went to my room more for breaks though.
• I need to exercise my voice more every day. See all the conversations I have on any given day are through email, Twitter and blog comments. I lost my voice Friday afternoon but that didn’t stop me from trying to talk the rest of the weekend. I am, though, just now getting my voice back.
• I will stop feeling like an idiot for bringing my own sheets and pillows with me. See, I have terrible allergies — and I had a major outbreak right before I left to go to BlissDom. I’m allergic to everything — grasses, trees, dust, animals (yes, we have dogs), some laundry detergents, you name it. I’m allergic to it. I’m on 2 prescription medications daily and when the allergies overwhelm those, I hit the Benadryl. Hey, another sponsor idea … oh wait, I’m getting distracted. Anyway, I will not feel bad about packing a much larger suitcase than normal to bring all that stuff with me.
• I’m easily distracted. See the point before? Well, with all the great panels and everything going on, it was easy for me to say “oh I can do that.” But when I really stop and think about it, I don’t need to do *that* necessarily. Either it isn’t me, or it doesn’t fit with what I want to do.
• I tried to make myself talk to people when I really just wanted to crawl under the couch and hide. I did meet a few ladies this way, but then there were some that I really was too afraid to introduce myself to — Barbara Jones comes to mind. I mean she was one of the head honchos in charge and I just didn’t feel like I was important enough to make myself known to her.
• I cannot listen to audio books while driving a long way after a weekend where my brain has been fried — even after I authorized my stupid computer to play the audio books I downloaded. Know what else? The people who put up rest areas spaced them perfectly. I also learned that 8 hours is a long, long way to drive. Next time I’ll fly.
• I learned I’m not the only one. I had a few conversations with a couple of very awesome ladies and realized I am not the only one who was getting overwhelmed. I am not the only one who struggled with the baby stage. I am not the only one with a daughter who’s hard headed.
• The last thing I’ll add to this list is I learned my voice needs to be out there. Possibly the absolute sweetest, nicest thing said to me all weekend was by Amber at The Run Amuck. We were eating breakfast on Sunday and I admitted that I struggled when Doodle was a baby — and the bad thing was I never told anyone. Somehow I also admitted to her that I had so badly wanted to write a letter to her for The Mother Letter Project, but I just didn’t do it — whether I was scared to or just didn’t make the time, or just didn’t make the time because I was scared to — I didn’t. She looked me dead in the eyes and said, “your voice needs to be out there.” She was so sincere in that and it made me realize (yet again) that I blog because I want to get my voice out there. If only 1 person is blessed by what they read here, that’s awesome! Because then that 1 person will know they are not alone.

So that’s my wrap about What I learned about myself. Check out others who have linked up to Jo-Lynne at What I learned this week {at Blissdom}.

Back to the BlissDom recap list and oh no, I’m no where near done writing about the weekend. I told you I was overwhelmed!

I just want to reassure you that this post is long and detailed only about Thursday night. Honestly brain function left me pretty early on Friday so my future recaps of BlissDom will probably be a lot shorter, and easier to read

Thursday night when I got to the hotel, I called my buddy Robin to see if I could catch dinner with her. I checked into my room and got all my stuff up there. I desperately needed a shower as I had been in the car about 8.5 hours getting there. She called back — can you be ready in 10 minutes? Sure. No shower and looking like a dog, I went to the lobby and met her and Lori (A Cowboy’s Wife) for dinner. We decided to head to the cafe there in the hotel and were soon joined with other Blisstahs (as Robin calls us).

I got to meet Melanie (Blogging Basics 101) and hug her neck in the lobby. She came and sat beside me at dinner and we talked all throughout the weekend — even having some techie sessions of our own in my hotel room!

Even Mrs. Fussypants herself came in there to eat. I got to meet Linda Sellars (Short Pump Preppy), Jerri Ann (Jerri Ann Reason), and Stephanie (Red Clay Diaries). There were more at the other end of the table that I didn’t really get to talk to, but I got to see Megan (Velvteen Mind) from afar and Deanna (Domestic Chicky).

I fell in love with Lori — she is just the sweetest although this dinner was the only time I really got to be around her all weekend. When she said all her boys go out with her Cowboy on the ranch, I wanted to know if she’d adopt me. I have always loved horses and would absolutely love to live on a ranch. Of course, that’s just a dream. A few days of cleaning out stalls and I’d probably be ready for my house again

The funniest thing was when Lori got up on her chair to take a picture of her dinner. It looked great, but I don’t know that I would have taken a picture. She runs a food blog too though — so I could see why she would. Domestic Chicky came and grabbed Robin’s camera and took a picture of Lori taking a picture of her food. It was funny — although Lori didn’t think the view from that angle was necessarily flattering to her

I had a great time chatting with everyone. As people started arriving in the hotel, they started coming into the cafe. Sugar Jones arrived as only Sugar can. I used to think Robin was a firecracker when she came into a room — Sugar was one of those Roman Candle things. You know, the kind that sets of all kinds of fire crackers and sparks and you never know when it’ll be over? Well, Sugar was like that all weekend I follow Sugar on Twitter but I didn’t really think she’d get all “squee” at meeting me. I didn’t really introduce myself to her.

After we started getting tired, Robin, Linda and Jerri Ann came up to my room to check out “the” shirt. I also showed Robin TweetDeck and all it’s awesomeness. I tried helping with a few techie questions but wasn’t able to do much. They left and I took 2 Benadryl because it’d been a long ride. I was worried about my roommate for Thursday night, Jen (Beyond Beauty and Bedlam), as I hadn’t met her yet. I called her before dinner to let her know what room I was in and such. When I came back after dinner, her stuff was there but she was gone. At least she made it in ok!

By the time I checked email and caught up on Twitter, Jen had come back into the room. She invited me up to The Nester‘s room to hang out, so of course I grabbed my computer and headed up with her. {There’s proof I was there — Nester took a picture and I’m in the corner with my laptop doing some old-style Glamour Shots pose. Yuck.} In The Nester’s room I saw Emily (Chatting at the Sky) again — I had met her at She Speaks last year and she’s The Nester’s little sis. They were absolutely adorable to watch together. They have such a great relationship. Also in their room was Melissa (Inspired Room) and Sandra (Reluctant Entertainer). I’d seen Melissa’s blog before, but had never heard of Sandra’s blog. They were all sweet as pie and let me hang out and feel at home. I checked out Sandra’s blog and y’all, I so need to hang out there more.

They just so happened to be rooming next to Robin, Domestic Chicky, Rachel (Southern Fairy Tale) and the famous Amber (The Run Amuck and THE mother from The Mother Letter Project). So while I was hanging out there, Robin and Amber come in. This was the first time I got to meet Amber and oh-my-word-y’all! She is awesome. She is so sweet and only has kind things to say.

The Benadryl kicked in and I had to go back to the room. Luckily I made it into the bed before any one had to carry me there!

BlissDom ’09 Recap Posts (back to the list)

Traveling to and from BlissDom ’09 was quite enlightening.

I live 8 hours away from Nashville according to Google Maps. I had the bright idea late Wednesday night I should download some audio books to make the most out of the drive. I went to iTunes and picked out 2 audio books. They downloaded and then it hit me. I don’t have an iPod or any such device. The audio books won’t go on my MP3 player. D’oh!

Duck saves the day and says they make an adapter that plugs into the car lighter to give you an outlet you can plug your laptop into. “Cool! I get one on my way out of town in the morning,” I thought.

I pack up the next morning and hit the road. Thirty minutes later I’m pulling into the local Wal-mart to pickup the adapter. Get it. Come back out to the car. Hook it up and boot up my laptop. Start iTunes and select the audiobook to play.

“Your computer is not authorized to play this audio book.” Can I tell you that I wanted to cuss? I didn’t out loud not that that makes it ok, but still. How can I pay for and download something to this computer and it not be authorized to play it? D’oh! All weekend when I heard someone refer to me as a techie or geek, I laughed

On the road again I try to find a Wi-Fi spot. Another 30 minutes down the road I see a truck stop with a big sign. Pull into the parking lot and try to connect. D’oh! It’s one of those subscription things. My brain totally froze as to who gives away wireless because I don’t ever leave the house — at least not with this computer. I give up and hit the road listening to music on the radio and my MP3 player.

I am convinced that the “powers that be” knew what they were doing when they put in rest stops. They were perfectly spaced for potty breaks and stretching. Oh, speaking of stretching, Duck hurt his back a few months ago. He put a back massager into the car so it would heat and massage his back on the way to work. I foolishly told him that he could take it out of the car before I left — that I wouldn’t need it. He smartly left it in there. He’s not My Genius Better Half for nothing. I started using it about halfway to Nashville and it really saved me.

I don’t know why I thought it was going to be a straight shot — it was a major interstate all the way there. Only one problem — it wasn’t flat all the way there. I was thinking 65-70MPH — straight shot — 8 hours — I can do it. Then I hit this little thing called MOUNTAINS! Ack! I mean I knew I had to go over mountains but it didn’t register until I was actually doing it.

I wish I could’ve stopped on the way and took pictures of the icicles hanging on the rocks on the side of the mountain. They were absolutely beautiful! Anyway, I was really dreading the drive back because, well, I hadn’t slept really a lot or well in the hotel. But I made it safely back and it was pretty uneventful — just looong.

Here are some things I’ve learned just from the drive there and back:

• If you are riding in the left lane and not passing anyone? MOVE OVER!
• Don’t talk on the cell phone and drive. You look like an idiot. Trust me.
• I didn’t think I’d have to include this one, but don’t TEXT (or TWITTER) and drive either (this means YOU Jerri Ann!)
• I’m setting a driving limit. If it’s not within 3 hours of me, I’m flying from now on.
• Massagers are a life saver!
• Stop often. Pay attention to your surroundings. Be safe not stupid.

I thought maybe I was the only one crazy enough to drive from that far, but I just learned this morning that Amber @ The Run Amuck and the Mother from The Mother Project drove about 8 hours too! But more about people I met and my new bffs in the next posts …

BlissDom ’09 Recap Posts (back to the list)

Yes, that’s right — postS. There is so much information rattling around in my head and so much I want to share, I’m not going to make you read one great big long post. I’m going to edit this post as a hub when I add yet-another-blissdom post That way you can be sure to read all my thoughts — if you’re brave!

Overall, I had a wonderful time. I met a lot of great ladies. Made some new friends, and networked as much as I could stand. But the most important thing is that I have the most wonderfulest hubby ever! I’m getting ahead of myself though …

On the road again … (traveling to BlissDom and back)

Pre-BlissDom Fun (Thursday Night)

What I learned about myself at BlissDom

Random Thoughts from BlissDom

Angels at BlissDom ’09

Photos from BlissDom: I’m so much cooler online