A is for Alli. A human dynamo. Who continues to impress and inspire through her BlissDom conference. Every. Year.
Photo Credit: Angry Julie
B is for the bonds made. And new friendships formed. (I'm lookin' at you, Catherine and Leslie and Brigid and Shab and Shell and Carmen and Megan!) Not from behind a computer screen. But face-to-face.
C is for the awesome chair massages that were offered! (I may or may not have had three.)
D is for the dedication of the entire Blissdom staff. From the creators all the way down to the tireless volunteers, it takes gobs of manpower to pull this conference off. Every year is better than the last!
E is for the enlightenment I feel after after attending. I know why I blog. I know why I LOVE to blog.
F is for the surprise flashmob that happened after the closing speaker. It. Was. Awesome. Now that I've experienced a real-life one, one of my goals is to now take part in a flashmob. And dammit, I can't get that Miley Cyrus song outta my head!
G is for knowing that everyone there "gets" me. Gets what I do. Gets why I do it. Ugh-it's hard to put into words the sense of belonging that permeates Blissdom. My friend Carmen says it eloquently in her post titled "Why I Go to Blog Conferences". Read it. Then you will understand me.
H is for hugs. It's a women's conference. There were lots o' hugs.
I is for the information I received. A ton.
J is for Jennifer, who was my roommate for the second year in a row. Jennifer and I had never met "in person" before last year, but we both started blogging and commenting on each other's blogs right around the same time. So when we met for the first time? It was like we had already known each other. This friendship, for me, is the best part of Blissdom.
K is for karaoke. I understand the concept, just not as it applies to me. (But man, it's fun to watch!)
Photo Credit: Shab (Also pictured: Mishelle and Leah)
L is for listening. Listening to others' words of wisdom and advice. Listening to my own heart.
L is for listening. Listening to others' words of wisdom and advice. Listening to my own heart.
M is for the one, the only, Mrs. Flinger!!! We bonded instantly over our mutual admiration for Amanda and our love of photobombing.
N is for nasal passages. Of which mine were blocked. I seriously felt like I had airplane boogers THE ENTIRE TIME I was in Nashville! (You're welcome.)
O is for Opryland. Gorgeous. (Aside from the recyled air giving me boogers, that is.)
P is for photographers. Everyone was taking pictures. Women were taking pictures of people taking pictures! Everyone was talking "shop" about their cameras, lenses, straps, etc. This is a language I definitely do not speak, but can certainly appreciate...*as I shamefully tucked my little Kodak point and shoot out of sight*
Q is for the quaint ole days before Twitter. After one of the panels, I think it was Dawn who brought up the point, "Remember the days before twitter? When us old-timers actually met *gasp* through our blogs??? So much has changed in this blogging sphere with the onset of Facebook and Twitter. I remember though.
R is for coming to the realization that my involvement with social media is something I enjoy. Unabashedly.
S is for speaking. I did it! Looking over the #blissdom #legal twitter feed, Charlene, Sara and I successfully managed to get a lot of useful information out there.
Photo Credit: Jennifer
S is for speaking. I did it! Looking over the #blissdom #legal twitter feed, Charlene, Sara and I successfully managed to get a lot of useful information out there.
T is for tribe. I found mine. The women who I click with. The women who I feel comfortable with. And a lot of them are part of the Boston Parent Bloggers. It was so comforting to see the familiar faces of Charlene, Kim, Melanie, Jodi and Niri in Nashville!
U is for underwear. I mean, what other conference can you go to and get free unders?! Thank you Jockey for supporting us - in more ways than one! Heh.
V is for value. I learned that my blog, my writing, and my time is worth something. And to quit selling myself short.
W is for winging it. Our presentation certainly didn't go off without a hitch. There was NO. AUDIO. And two of the things we wanted to do involved, yep, you guessed it, AUDIO. One of them was a remix of the YMCA song. Hard to do with NO AUDIO. But Charlene was a champ and saved the day.
Photo Credit: Jennifer
X is for exhaustion. I came home to the Trenches tired. Both physically and mentally. It's hard to switch gears so abruptly - from social, laughing, mingling and always being "on" to decompressing, unwinding and getting back into "mom" "wife" and "paralegal" mode.
Y is for yearning to do more and be more.
But then Z is for zen, the zen I feel knowing that
Photo Credit: Patty Christopher
21 comments:
<3 this
<3 you
love.
Miss you!
Perfect recap. Maybe I should do one?
First of all, that picture of you is GORGEOUS! So pretty.
This post is awesome. Makes me verry jealous. :)
Love that pic of you at the end.
Was so great to meet you!
L will always be for #Lawsome because that's what our panel was! Thanks for making this Blissdom so special for me.
And I have to add that my W is for WicketSmaht, which you are!
Hugs,
Sara
This is awesome! You mean I'm supposed to write now? I'll get right on that. I'm still decompressing. Love the photos.
A-Z - all covered...
My fave was L is for listening. Listening to others' words of wisdom and advice.
I'm learning, not only is it a good point you made - but a good lesson for me to learn. Post Blissdom take away. Thank you.
God Bless
Awesome recap and damn you are creative!!!! I have soo many many more awesome photos to edit. Stupid job getting in the way. I miss you already. And I remember you, "Pre-Twitter".
I shook my head from A to Z. I am so thankful for the chances I got to hang with you and Jennifer, (as well as all the other wonderful women I met through you.) I can't wait for next time. There will be a next time right? ;)
What a great way to recap Blissdom! I cannot agree more. It was an amazing conference and so great to meet you. I love your new picture too by the way- I saw it pop up on Twitter!
Fantastic post! I missed you guys something fierce while you were away, but I feel like I experienced a lot of it vicariously through the Boston Parent Bloggers in attendance.
I love your recap post. It's so hard to put into words the things we feel while we're at a conference. Many people don't get it if they aren't there. Even the ones who blog or participate on twitter.. until you're part of one, you just don't understand.
Is it sad that I'm already planning for next year?
That picture is gorgeous. Glad you had another great Blissdom!
What an awesome time you had. I so need to go next year. In fact, I am due for the good feelings a conference gives a blogger. :)
Hi Sarah,
I remember you now!:) Love the photo of Alli with the Good Enough Is the New Perfect shirt -- thanks for sharing that. I am in Blissdom detox. How many white chocolate pieces can one person eat in three days?:)
I love how you laid this out! How many Blissdoms have you been to previously?
It was such a great time, and I can't stop singing along to Firework every time it comes on the radio.
Love your recap! I was too tired to do anything but pics today. You're in one, btw...though sadly, not in our matching pj bottoms.
That bottom pic of you? Gorgeous!
Love this post Sarah! So glad we had the opportunity to get to know each other more! Can't wait to see what else is in store for future conferences!
Love this post. Love you more.
What a gorgeous picture of you. Love V the most. And the tee - good enough is the new perfect. LOVE IT!!
This is one of my favorite recaps EVER!
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