A note from Jamie: If you have not yet bought valentines for your kids to exchange this year, please head over to hear from Megan at Sorta Crunchy. She's raising funds for Love146, the anti-trafficking charity where my husband serves as CEO.
The valentines her readers have created are amazing, and I can personally vouch for the organization and cause they serve. Our family lives and breathes it each day.
I'm home from four days in Nashville--a record length of time away from my kids. Blissdom (the blogging conference I attended) was fabulous in every possible way.
I was certainly anticipating a little break from childcare and transforming some virtual friends into real life ones. But I completely underestimated how encouraging it would be to surround myself with almost 700 other bloggers--women who understand the blogosphere and how to use it to connect with others.
My top highlights:
- meeting my Simple Living Media girls face-to-face: (from left to right) Nicole, Mandi, Tsh, Aimee, Kara (& me!). Sitting down with them felt just like catching up with dear friends.
- hearing Brene Brown (above) and Scott Stratten deliver keynote presentations. Both left me nodding my head in agreement and laughter, too.
- winning this amazing stand mixer, donated by Breville, at a Simple Living Media party. Can you believe it? I'm so blessed.
- meeting a myriad of cool bloggers: like Emily of Chatting at the Sky (whose blog was one of the first I ever read), lunch with Nester, a brief chat with Ellen of Love That Max, laughing with the very gracious and welcoming Robin of Pensieve, and saying hi to many other (in)courage writers.
- Did I mention that I danced in front of 700 women? Oh, I left that out?
Jana of Sugar, Spice, and a Little Bit of Life spent two months working behind the scenes to create a surprise flashmob at the finale of Blissdom, and I was one of 90 ladies that got my groove on.
Want to watch? You can see me in the blue shirt, front row--enjoying myself immensely with an incredible group of fun ladies!
Now, on to a little giveaway for you:
This giveaway has ended and the winner has been contacted by email.
The Vintage Pearl, incredible sterling silver jewelry company, gave each Blissdom attendee this sweet necklace with a charm that says "follow your bliss."
I love it, but I also love the three other similar necklaces I have already--and just how many necklaces does a girl need?
So I thought it would be fun to pass this on to one of you!
To enter, just leave a comment here and tell me: What was the last conference you attended?
I'll close the comments and choose a winner tomorrow (Thurs, Feb 3rd) at 8 pm EST.
This giveaway has ended and the winner has been contacted by email.
Thanks for entering, and as always, for being a reader here.
