My Blissdom

March has been a whirlwind of travel for me…North Carolina, Louisiana over Spring break and now the Blissdom Conference.  Yes it was a little jam packed and I was almost wishing I had not committed to the blog conference but in the end, I am so glad I put in the effort and attended!  Slowly (and imperfectly I am still making lots of mistakes) the Lord is teaching how to balance this mommy and work thing.  It means relying on others sometimes even a lot some months like March has been for our family. For instance, God is showing me that when your husband says “yes its cool, GO” that YES it is fine, GO and have fun and work and learn, whatever.  No guilt. It also means when I am home. BE HOME, not glued to my phone or laptop. Having an office and better schedule is really helping me with those boundaries, I think. ha! I want to thank my clients for being patient during this busy season, I promise I am getting caught up and organized finally!  Navigating this working mommy thing  also means sometimes leaving meetings and girl time early and driving home when the sane thing to do is spend another night (darn I missed Jon Acuff’s closing keynote, someone tell me about it) an not be exhausted.  But it was worth it to get home Saturday and see Henry do his happy dance when I walked in the door and get big hugs from Drew.  The reason I am rambling about work and mommyhood and BLISSDOM is that it dawned on me on the drive home that my first venture into pursing my dreams was a little online bulletin board where women who read Victoria magazine talked about the BUSINESS OF BLISS. Does ANYONE remember that? Amy from Inspire Company and many other wonderful people were a part of that amazing community.  So cheesy I know but the words Bliss and Blissdom got me thinking very full circle!

SO, Blissdom.  Large blogging conference.  I had nothing to compare it to because I have never been to a blogging conference.  I have been to museum conferences.  Let me just say.  VERY DIFFERENT.  No soap stars at museum conferences.

These are not soap stars below, they are way BETTER than soap stars.  They are Superwomen and one (Camille) poured into me and my newlywed self and my wee  bit of talent early on in my life and the other (Whitney) has poured into me recently and it was joy to see them hang out and connect!

{oh and mercy don’t you just “love” that Texas flag carpet??!  not!;}

 And yes I was nervous about this conference. but excited too..Nervous excitement.

It was fun to meet people like Jana Hunter who have been following my blog and seemed to already know me..that is always a bit strange I must admit but not with Jana.  We quickly hit it off and I was really blessed by time with her and hearing how we both love the concept of “story and the home” and just our general joy in working with clients to create spaces they love. It was also fun to meet and hang out with Chrissie of Styled Chaos  A fellow stylist and Texas girl, she is so much fun! And others so many others.

Like Lisa Leonard.  We loved meeting Lisa.

I think I may have reached out to touch her hair.  I am sorry Lisa, that was weird. But she is so adorable with the curls and blue eyes and sweet gentle spirit. It was a real joy to finally meet her and hear her speak.

And Edie and Darlene (I can’t believe we didn’t get a picture Darlene).  Darlene of Fieldstone Hill is so nice and we share so many values and belief in the Master Designer so it was a pleasure to finally meet her and her cute baby bump!  I spotted Edie on the first night and Camille said I started “orbiting” was right..I was thrilled to meet Edie of Life in Grace. You may not have realized it but you probably saw her home recently in BHG and her kitchen on pinterest….it’s amazing! But Edie’s heart is even better than the best room in her house. And she brought FUDGE to the first session.

So cute. That is hospitality!  A total delight to meet them and I hope we can visit more at Allume.

And the Handmade Market was so fun! Very cute and well done. I fell in love with this artist from Denton, Texas, of course she has an etsy shop…Be sure and check it out!

Anne Tovar on Etsy. There were also some amazing flower bracelets there that I hope Camille will blog about.  And it was a pleasure to meet the Lovefeast pumpkin ladies and hear about their business journey a bit.

{That braid in Camille’s hair is killing me, hopefully she will blog about her willingness to let the VO5 tradeshow girl work on her hair!}

Better than conference sections are good times over dinner! Really relaxing and connecting.  One of the things Jon Acuff said (he was an awesome session speaker) is that its important as a creative and blogger (and really anything you do as a woman I think) to have good support and that is what we experienced sharing about our dreams and goals at dinner. And hopefully we all made some connections that will support us moving forward. Because we don’t do anything alone. If I have learned anything it is that!

So thank you Blissdom and every woman there (and Jon Acuff) for the encouragement and support! I hated missing the last sessions (ok ok i did make time to shop at the Wisteria outlet more on that later) but it as worth the effort for sure! Connecting with others is a good thing, don’t avoid even if it might feel a little scary at first. Drag a friend, make new friends and dream a little!