Starstruck at Blissdom

So, here I was….surrounded by 700 of my closest online friends, feeling utterly alone. I mean, its intimidating to be in a crowd of creative, inspirational, beautiful women who have eloquent words, stunning photographs and a gazillion followers. Each.

And P.S. This is a terrible photo I took on the first night of Blissdom…..I kind of snuck it at the welcoming cocktail party. You know, casually holding up the camera….a quick snapshot where you hope no one sees you and thinks you are such a dork for taking that obvious crowd picture while you are supposed to be mingling at the party….and then casually slinging the camera over your shoulder to give off the impression that you didn’t even really mean to take said picture. And then you remember that this is a blogging conference and EVERYONE is taking photos and you are not alone…or a dork.

That picture is not good for many reasons, but the biggest thing about it is that it only shows about 1/20th of the amount of people at the conference. I arrived early to the cocktail party and had I waited another 20 minutes, it would have been a much more crowded photo!

Ok, back to my insecurities about being surrounded by awesome bloggers. For those of you who don’t blog, you may not realize that there are celebrities within the blogging community as well. You probably have never heard of them, but then again…maybe you have! I mean, several of my personal idols now have shows or are involved with HGTV, FoodNetwork, Dave Ramsey, and The Nate Berkus Show. Amongst Others. So, I was thrilled to get to meet (and get photography tips from) the oh so entertaining Me Ra Koh, who is the photographer for the Nate Berkus Show. And then there was the keynote speaker who started the whole conference out….you may have heard of him (Jon Acuff) or his books (“Stuff Christians Like” or the new one”Quitter”). He was hilarious and oh-so generous by giving us all signed copies of his book.

And then there are the not-so universally known Blogebrities. My own personal one was Edie from Life in Grace….one of the very first blogs I ever followed, and who is a personal inspiration of mine. I actually met her yesterday, and hugged her neck….and I’ll totally blame it on the pink eye, but tears came a little. Read her blog and feel renewed. Read her friend (The Nester)’s post, about what happened to Eddie and you will feel so blessed and so inspired by Edie’s faith. And I got to finally meet her!! (*tiny little squeal!*)

But, I have to admit that I was completely in awe of what the Bliss Chicks arranged for our evening entertainment. Not only did we have several personalized video messages from Oprah, Zac Efron, and Paula Deen, we also had a song written just for us by Jewel (I think it will be officially released to the public soon…it’s called “Hope”). AND. We got performances and meet and greets with Nathan Pacheco, (a very handsome guy who happens to be a famous opera singer too!), The Lorax, Joe Jonas, and Rascal Flatts!!!

I got to meet all of the above. And as much as I’d like to say I was cool as a cucumber around the celebrities. I was not. My new friend Megan and I were giggling like schoolgirls over Joe Jonas (even though neither of us knew of any songs he sang….or if he was even of legal age to giggle over), and completely dumbstruck when getting photos with Rascal Flatts (although I did manage to sneak in a hug and thank them for “Broken Road”….our wedding song!). The Lorax, however, I felt completely comfortable around. Hmmm.

BlissDom ’12 Icebreaker

As you may know, next week I’ll be headed to my very first blogging conference in Nashville, TN. Since I’m a newbie at all this, Kristi over at Creative Kristi was nice enough to create an icebreaker for all of us to start to getting to know each other. So, for those who already know me, feel free to add flattering comments that will only enhance my personality =) And for those of you who don’t know me personally, here’s a little sneak peek!

Actually, for as excited I am about the conference, I’m probably equally nervous. You see, I’m not a “crowd person.” I am so pumped about learning more about the blogging community, and networking with the wonderful ladies who I’ve gotten to know through their blogs. I feel like I should be surrounded by friends…yet in actuality, I don’t know any of these women. My greatest fear is to walk into a room of beautiful, creative women who all of who know each other and know what to expect from the conference…..and I’ll sit there all by myself. Which would be something I’d do. Don’t get me wrong, I am not really a shy person. I’d totally talk to the ladies who sit at my table, and make awkward comments and small talk to the lady next to me in the line for the bathroom. But I’m totally going to have to step out of my comfort zone and really push myself to be the one to initiate such conversation, or (Heaven forbid), walk up to someone out of the blue.

Sooooo….the biggest favor you can do for me? Walk up to me instead! Introduce yourself and I’d be happy to talk to you! Here are some things about me…

-I am a former special ed teacher, a former wedding planner and a current stay-at-home mom trying to find her niche in blogging

-I love to take pictures (mostly of my kids), but don’t really know how to work my camera. So I’m really looking forward to the Photography Track: It’s in the Details: Mastering the Angles and Composition….hopefully I’ll figure out a little bit more how to use it!

-I’ve got two little girls, Jayna just turned 3 and Amelia is just about 6 months. They are the lights of my life.

-I’m a little OCD (or “quirky” as some’d say). Not about clutter or dustbunnies….neither of which I particularly like but seem to love hanging out in my house….but about little things like doors being cracked (“eeep!), underwear being folded in my drawer (“ack!”), oor sharing toothpaste (“eeeew!”). Just little things.

-I, (like so many others) am a teensy bit obsessed with Pinterest. I love it….and love finding all of the creations and crafts that others have been nice enough to think of for me. Now, I just need an extra hour or five a day to do all those wonderful things!!

-I also recently learned how to sew, so a lot of my blogs are tutorials of me bumbling my way through various patterns.

-I like to read smutty magazines, play with my new iPad, drink Cherry Coke and anything coffee related that has a little frou frou in the name (aka mocha, cappuccino, latte, etc.), eat cake pops, get pedicures, stress out over crossword puzzles, sleeeeeeeep, live vicariously through the Real Housewives (just kiddding…sorta), and try out new recipes. I also volunteer with a lot with a local charity that helps families of kids with cancer, and help out at my church.

Well, I hate to think that I’m such a simpleton, but I think that about wraps me up! I can’t express enough how excited I am for next week. The conference is at the Opryland Hotel….which, judging by their website-looks flipping AMAZING! I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures for you! Also, they are having a Handmade Marketplace on Thursday morning, which hopefully will satisfy a lot of my Christmas shopping….and then there’s the night-time lineup. In addition to screenings of Oprah’s new show and a celebration of The Lorax, I do believe there will be a little group called Rascal Flatts there! And for those of you who are or who have teens…Joe Jonas will also be there! (I’m excited for him too, as I have heard about him, but don’t know anything about him or his music). Also a bunch of other speakers and entertainment on the BlissDom website, but to be honest, I’m not sure who any of them are. But I’m sure it will be awesome, no matter what!

In other news….I have joined the world of Twitter. I still don’t really get it, but my fabulous Martha is walking me through it! So come “follow” me @PalmsandPigs and leave me some love! Have a great weekend!