February 10th, 2009
Bloggers.
There are a lot of us out there.
Sometimes we go to conferences so we can become better bloggers. I attended BlissDom09 last weekend and my brain is still reeling.
I was totally nervous to go even though I attended BlissDom08. ( My Bliss-tini was seriously the only picture I took last year)
If you know me in real life you know that I am not shy at all, but it was hard to step out of my safe little bubble and into a room FULL of virtual friends. However, I only live 30 minutes from where the conference was held so it would have been even harder for me to stay home. So I stuffed my giant purse with necessities, grabbed my bloggy business cards and got into my minivan.
When I arrived at the hip and unique Hotel Preston in Nashville my hands were super sweaty but I was excited to get inside.
Last year’s BlissDom was sort of a test run, so it was smaller and more intimate. I think there were about 75 people there and the whole conference was held in the Pink Slip bar inside the hotel. But this time was a different story. I am not sure how many people were there this year, but I think it was somewhere between 250 and 300.
Luckily my friend Rachel was checking people in and I recognized her right away. They had her in the right place because she was an awesome welcoming committee!
She handed me a Crocs lanyard with my name badge and an adorable Lands End bag full of really great swag.
In case you were wondering they were just a couple of the companies that made BlissDom possible. Just want to say a BIG thank you to Alli, Barbara, all the speakers, and the sponsors for an amazing conference.
And another one was Little Debbie….seriously ya’ll I ate quite a few snacks from them….but it’s ok because they are only 100 calories each! I guess that doesn’t matter if you eat 6 at a time. And I wonder why I have 2 chins in all of my pictures.
My brain is totally fried from all of the bloggy info I absorbed. So bullet points seem like a good direction to go
While I was at the conference I :
-took many many notes
-talked some people’s ears off ( sorry if that was you)
-met some new friends
-ate too many Little Debbie snacks
-sat at a table with Jen Lancaster…plus I got to hear her speak and she is hilarious!
-listened to Chris Mann sing…and he made me laugh out loud too
-went to 2 cocktail parties and had more Bliss-tini’s
-considered leaving the 2nd cocktail party early and driving home because I had a moment of insecurity where I didn’t see anyone I knew and I kind of panicked
-ended up staying and going to an after party thing where me and a group of grown women did our best VonTrapp family impression and sang a song we wrote to the tune of doe a deer a female deer. (Yeah we did.)
And that was pretty much it. I came away with A TON of really great information to use to improve Mrs.007.com.
But for me the best part was getting to hang out live and in person with these women that I read every day. I didn’t take as many pics as I wanted to. But I did manage to get a few. Although I seriously considered pulling a reverse Mrs.Fussypants and pasting Britney Spears’ head on my body because of my double chin.
Oh well…it’s me and even though I am in serious need of a diet I will share them with ya’ll.
Because obviously I am all too willing to humiliate myself for a good blog post. Your welcome.
Me and the lovely and talented Beth
Beth is the one who designed my beautiful blog and you can go here if you want to have a bloggy makeover too!
Me and Colleen…she is a buddy from BlissDom08 and I had such fun with her this time…she is so funny
Megan…she is brilliant ya’ll… and so sweet
Moriah is another BlissDom 08 friend…really enjoyed her company
Mrs.CPA and Mrs.007
Mrs.CPA made my business cards and they turned out sooo awesome!
me and Jessica who is just beautiful!
Wow if you stuck with me this long you deserve a prize! Well guess what? I have an extra Lands End bag to give away!
Leave me a comment on this post telling me something you would like to see changed or something you would like to read on my blog and you will be entered.
You can earn an extra entry too!
Tweet about the giveaway and leave me a seperate comment telling me you did!
I will announce a winner on Friday and I will email you if you win. Good LUCK and thank you for letting me tell you all about BlissDom09!
Actually, I would just like to hear about what you learned, since I didn’t get to go. I’ve been reading about it a lot of places. So what did you take away that you think will help you? Maybe I’ll learn something too!
I’m always in search of new recipes to try that are kid-friendly, too.
I’m also love reading about decorating and designs on a dime..flea market treasures and garage sale finds are some of my favorite things to read about. My mother-in-law once bought a box of rings at an estate sale and one of them she had appraised a year later. It was worth $800 at the time (many years ago). She got the whole box of jewelry for $5.
I tweeted:
http://twitter.com/auntiethesis/status/1198492278
This may be already possible and I just couldn’t figure it out, but I would love to click on a link that would take me to a page with all of the current parts to your series on how your family started so that I can read them all at one time. I still think there is one part I can’t find by digging through the archives : )
Anyway, if this comment were to actually be picked I’d gift the prize to a super wonderful friend who doesn’t live far from you.
I am so glad you got to go to this conference! I think I’ll try to find some bloggy books to help me make the most of my blog. I do my best of course, but it’s hard to attract readers that don’t already know me… and I think my trials and tribulations could be very helpful to other crazy re-locators, international students and a few tourists : )
Love you!
I like reading reviews and about new products.
I also love posts about food and recipes and different foods from all over.
I tweeted:
http://twitter.com/carogonza/status/1199485491
Loved seeing you again, sweetheart! I have a great picture or two of you.. Stay tuned to the flickr group! <3
I’m gonna have to agree here with some of the others. I would like to hear about some of the specific topics discussed at blissdom. Maybe something that would help all of us. Of course, some of us are hopeless!
I retweeted ya’
http://twitter.com/GreekGRITS/status/1201298580
No ma’am of course your blog does not smell!!
Hey give us a tutorial on tweeting b/c I tried it and I’m lost
Loved meeting you at Blissdom ‘09. How about a top 10 list of things you learned at the conference? Or, great new blogs or bloggers you’ve discovered?
LOVE IT!
I’m so glad that you went and had a great time!!
Hi! I would love to read about all the things your kidlets hide in your couch cushions.
No, really, I would.
Hey Chick! I love reading anything you post, and I’m soooo happy to find you. Whatever you write just cracks me up, so keep it coming!
Since I’m new to this, I am lost when it comes to “tweeting”. Help!
http://twitter.com/jenhuddleston/status/1202278189
Whew, that was a little tough… I might be getting old.
your blog is so much fun to read! you are so blessed with such a great family…… how great is it that you get to go to a blogging conference, find time to share it the experience on your blog, and live the life of being a mom, wife, daughter, and friend!? i missed you at the super bowl party. so sorry to hear you were down…
i love reading about your sweet girls. you are a great writer and i love that you are sharing your life with us.
i love it that your family returns to homes that have been lived in before and that you all live on the same street. how many families are so blessed?
keep up the fun topics of mommyhood and blogging! i wish someone would submit info on ‘green’ services in the boro! do we have any ’shout outs’ on that?
I loved that you shared with us the photos and how the Blissdom went. I would like to see more pictures of the other bloggers added to your site from time to time and tips on how to get your blog moving and organized. Love reading your blog.
I love reading your blog and I really can’t think of anything…. sorry for having no feedback.
I’d like to hear what topics they discussed at the conferences and maybe see some examples of the stuff you learned.
You are so fun. I enjoy dropping by for a visit.
I’d love more stories about how your kids interact. Do they play nice all the time or only when your looking? Do they like each other or just tolerate???
how did you get started? What motivates you? …..besides wine…….
how do you come up with all the crazy ideas…..never mind, you are an ATKIN!
it’s a blessing to giggle so much. Makes me miss you more!!
Donna
[...] Donna:how did you get started? What [...]
What a great recap of Blissdom ‘09! How I wish I had been able to come this year. Your pictures are great and I can practically taste the Blisstinis. By the way, you look adorable, silly. Now how yummy is that Land’s End bag? Fab. One thing I would like on your site is a search widget. Sometimes I’ll come back to re-read something, but only remember a word or phrase (I’ve got a mind like a sieve)and that word isn’t in your categories, so I’ll end up scrolling through old posts and get caught up in reading all the good stuff and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over your Wordless Wednesdays pics and… well, you see where this is going. Did I mentions gals with sieve brains like run-on sentences? lol
I would love to hear more about BlissDom…what you learned and things like that.
Thanks for the chance!
YOU are too adorable! Thank yo for your sweetness.
I have the most adorable pic of you and me in my flickr stream, it’s in the BlissDom flickr stream too. and I have the video of the vontrapp rendition GNO style up on youtube.
love the bag! would be so great to carry oh-so-much stuff in!
I just found your Blog and I like it, I don’t think you need to change a thing. I kinda like your spunk!
Leslie
LeslieVeg@msn.com
LeslieVeg Just left you a Tweet on Twitter,
here’s the link
http://tinyurl.com/cdgbg8
Leslie
LeslieVeg@msn.com
I would love to hear about the things you learned at Blissdom. I so love this bag and would put it to good use
Thanks!
Toni-Lynn
Holly_GPB
Tweeted!
Thanks!
Toni-Lynn
Holly_GPB
I totally am glad you extended bc I don’t remember if I came back to enter= after reading on my ipod. But I did rt it twice for ya on twitter! Cute pics from yesterday too!
I haven’t been reading your blog for very long and enjoy it – maybe you have already done this but I thought it would be interesting to tell about yourself when you were a young child.
I would like to see you inside that bag. You’re all little right? Get on in there.
I want a pic.
xoxoo
d
p.s. I love to see you happy but I also love reading about your difficult moments. Your family tragedy is beyond my comprehension and I love to see you bloggin your way through all of those emotions on days when you feel like sharing such a delicate and fragile part of your emotional and physical life. Thank you for sharing her, thank you for sharing you. I likes you because you is real.
xxooxo
d
NOW GIVE ME THAT DAMN BAG.
LOLLLLL
Um can I win? I think you should write more about me and how wonderful I am ….. hahaha just kidding!
Love you! xoxo
oh yea. one more thing—addie gets a double dose of drama….i know her father…and her yaya… and her bubba!
xoxo
she never had a chance…poor thing