Hello! I’m back from a whirlwind weekend.
What happens when you get 250 women together in one place for a blogging conference? Pandemonium, excitement, LOTS of talking and not a whole lot of sleep, that’s what. I was absolutely thrilled to be able to meet some of my favorite bloggers in real life. Those ladies that I’ve admired and enjoyed over the last year or so came alive in person as we met up, hugged, talked and shared about our lives and blogging experiences together. You can just imagine how much fun it was and it definitely didn’t disappoint. I think that blogging has changed all our lives in some pretty big ways, bringing people together who would normally never meet or interact. What miles separate, blogging brings together and that’s what we all had in common. A love of blogging! These girls all ‘get’ the blog world, unlike many of our real life friends.
After arriving on Friday morning, I immediately began spotting those familiar faces that I’ve met online through blogging and those kindred spirits that have drawn me into friendship. Two of the first ladies that I met were Melissa from The Inspired Room and Sandy from 4 Reluctant Entertainers. Both of these ladies have been a huge inspiration to me since I started blogging and it was so much fun to meet them both in person. Wonderful, friendly and exactly as I thought they would be, it’s a joy to now consider them real life friends.
Another special friend that I’ve met this past year is Susie, from Bienvenue. She’s such a petite little thing, so sweet and we had so much fun chatting and getting to know each other. She brought her sister along too.
Two more wonderful friends that I’ve wanted to meet, Jen from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and the infamous Nester. I’m sure most of your have been to see The Nester and she is just as delightful in person and we enjoyed talking decorating and blogging. Jen was one of my roommates and such a positive and joyful person. It’s amazing when you read someone’s blog that you get a mental picture of how that person will be and I have to say, everyone of these ladies was exactly as I imagined them to be. In all the years that I’ve been meeting online friends, it’s such a surreal feeling of all being in the same room together and not just looking at a computer screen. That camaraderie really bridges the gap.
Me, Kimba, and The Nester. Another one of my 2 roomies, Kimba of A Soft Place to Land. Kimba is just a super sweet soul and I just adore her perkiness.
We were set up in a conference room in Nashville, so didn’t have to leave the hotel if we didn’t want to. There were panels, discussions, questions and answers…all about blogging. Blogging, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, is VERY hot and very big business these days. I think most of us who attended are serious about our blogs and were looking for tips on improving our blogs, as well as growing them to their full potential. There were lots of panel discussions about being true to ourselves when blogging, how to monetize blogs for profit, making blogs pretty, and much more. So much to take in and absorb, but it truly was a fun and creative experience and I’m so glad I went. If you want to read more about this conference, go here and take a look at the Schedule of panel discussions. If you’re serious about blogging, you may want to consider going next year. It was small enough not to get lost in the crowd and some valuable information from seasoned bloggers was shared.
Julia, from Hooked on Houses and me. Julia was a lot of fun, very friendly and I enjoyed catching up with her. I only wish I’d had more time with all of them.
Julia and Susie. 
Susie’s sister, Missy (Southern Queen Bee), Julia, Susie, and me.
Me and Melissa, a friend from Atlanta, I met while shopping with Eddie Ross. She’s a sweetheart and I loved getting to know her better too.
New mom, Meredith, from Like Merchant Ships. She was one of the panelists and I love her frugal blog. Been following her for awhile now.
Me, Kimba, and The Nester. What fun to just hang out with these ladies. The decorating girls all have a lot in common.
Angie and Amy just started a new blog, called I Heart Faces, a photography website. Check out their cute PJ’s!
Kimba, me and another sweetie that I loved meeting, Pink and Polka Dot. Love her! And she gave us the cutest little personalized key chains, mine was zebra with my name on it.
We had a special DVD screening of a new Yanni album produced by Disney that is coming out soon and it was really fun to watch. These 2 guys were the lead vocalists on the DVD and after we saw them on the screen, they appeared right in front of our eyes. I didn’t catch their names, but WOW, could they sing!
Another new friend right here in Decatur, AL, that I’ve visited before but now will visit regularly, this is Christy from Southern Plate. She has a beautiful food blog and she and I are going to get some bloggy things cookin’ together!
A big group of us went out to dinner on Saturday night to The Aquarium, a seafood restaurant right in the local mall. It was quite the sight, a huge aquarium built right into the middle of the restaurant, so fish were swimming by as we ate. How funny is seeing a real life scuba diver from your table!
And fish swimming by.
A large stingray, anyone?
Or a shark, oh yeah!
The three roomies, Kimba, Jen, and me. What fun we had. Not much sleep, but a whole bunch of fun.
And the whole dinner group, Emily (Nester’s sister) Chatting at the Sky, me, Jen, Sandy, Melissa, Kimba and The Nester.
Also, check out Edie’s blog, Life on Grace, for a great recap of the conference!
Bye for now, ladies…I count all of you as my real life friends now. We’ll have to do it all again next year!
This looks like a whole lot of fun!
Seriously!
How fun that you could do this.
Oh how FUN AND AWESOME that must have been for all of you GORGEOUS GIRLS!!
Great photos and I know that they all LOVED YOU girlfriend! You are so sweet to share this special time with us…
xo,
Kim
Painter Guy will be here, early this morning, but I just had to take time to come on over and see your Blissdom post!
Wonderful to see all the photos and hear about the event. I’d love to be there next year! Great seeing lots of folks, I’ve grown to know, together, in one place.
It’s difficult for those who don’t have a blog or read blogs, to understand the whole blog concept. J and I took our little day trip last Friday. Of course the camera was at the ready. The shopkeepers and restaurant owner and staff were delighted to see us and loved all the photo taking. I didn’t tell them I have a blog, but I did tell our server at the restaurant. She smiled as if she understood. Perhaps she has a blog or reads them. Sometimes I think I should have a button that reads blogger. You know the kind the “press” used to have.
Great post! I enjoyed!
Wow! What a fun time! So nice to meet fellow bloggers! One day, I hope to do the same.
Enjoyed seeing the pics and hearing all about it.
Have a great week!
Oh Rhoda, Looks and sounds like a wonderful weekend…maybe next year for me. I am so glad you had the opportuntity to go and meet ladies you were looking for. I will click on schedule and see somethings you learned, I hope.
See you soon.
Oh Rhoda, how fun! I would be honored to meet any of those wonderful ladies and you met them all at once! I bet it was like meeting a bunch of rock stars 😉
Thanks for sharing the pictures, especially for those of us who couldn’t make it…I really enjoyed seeing them!!!
Yea – clapping and waving from a far. It was such a joy to be your roomie…makes coming to “visit” you every day that much more special. You were so fast to get these up this morning. I will try to do it today. 🙂
Rhoda, I just have to tell you how much I enjoyed getting to meet you in the “real”. I knew we would just click the second I met you. I have not stopped talking about our trip for a second. I only wish we could do it all over again soon. We are just going to have to plan a big shopping trip with all of us girls soon. I better start saving now. Thank you for making my trip so extra special. ((hugs)) Susie
Rhoda, it’s like looking at all my favorite bloggers in one spot! I’m so jealous and would love to go next year.
You got some great pictures, Rhoda! It was so much fun hanging out with you over the weekend. Thrilled I got to meet you in person! Sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye–couldn’t find you guys Saturday night. Looks like you had a great time at dinner! Hope to see you again next year. 🙂
Oh, what fun! To see the people you’ve already “met” and to get to meet so many more! Glad you got to go. Thanks for sharing.
While you were toddling around my town, hubby and I were busy redecorating our living room. Pics of finished room are posted.
Looks like you met lots of fun people!
What a great report! Funny how many of these faces I KNEW before I even read your captions!! I wanna be there next year!! Sure hope I can….and this makes me realize I need my pic on my blog!!! Thanks!
Suzanne
How fun! I would love to meet all “my girls” in person. You really do feel like you know someone after following their blog for so long! It looks like it was a fabulous time!
http://www.lazymoms.com
Looks like everyone had a blast!!!!
Rhoda~ I thought about you all weekend. I know you had a fantastic time.
Now we need to do lunch so you can catch me up!
Looks like it was an incredible weekend. Thanks for sharing your photos – it’s nice to see the sweet faces behind our favorite blogs. ~Adrienne~
It looks like SO much fun!!!! I would love to do that next year! I can’t wait to visit all the sites!
Hi friend! It was such a thrill to meet you. I loved getting to spend so much time with you.
For any of your readers who might wonder…Rhoda is the real deal. She’s sweet, gracious and oh-so-southern. And beautiful! Don’t forget beautiful!
Kimba
I second what Kimba said:
Rhoda always looks elegant in her photos, but she is equally put-together and gracious in person.
And has fabulous hair, I might add!!!
I wish I hadn’t been so busy speaking/holding the baby to hang out more.
Next time I’m saving up for a hotel room!