Blissdom 2013.

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you’ll know that I spent the weekend in Dallas at Blissdom.  This was the first year I attended a conference even though I have been a blogger for five years.  It’s a bit of a dichotomy to come from a place of blog experience and still be a newbie, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. 

Blissdom is exactly what YOU make it.

There are women who come to Blissdom for a girls weekend, those who want to learn, those who want a ton of swag, those who want to dress up, those who wear jeans, those who are looking for inspiration, those who want to hang out with their bloggy superstars, those who want to meet people, those who want to expand their business, and those who are so new they want to learn HOW to blog. My point is, whatever you might want to take out of Blissdom, you can. It’s structured in a way where you make your own path.

I had specific goals in mind for what I wanted to take out of Blissdom.  I wanted to learn something new.  I wanted to say hello to a few people whom I have been reading and enjoying for years.  I wanted to expand beyond my current circle of blog friends and find new talented women to read.  I wanted to connect with brands I wanted to work with.  I wanted to introduce myself and talk about my blog so many times that I couldn’t help feeling more comfortable explaining my online home to a stranger.  I wanted to spend time with my friend Jess who I absolutely positively adore.

I accomplished all of those things and more.

 

You will spend a whole weekend with your “Internet Friends” and it will feel normal.  These are your people.

“You blog?  What exactly is that? Oh, you get paid to do that? How does that work?  People just read about your life and stuff?  What do you mean by fifty thousand page views a month?”  I get asked these questions a lot in my day to day conversations with people.  I loved walking into a room, sitting down, and everyone at the table having an understanding of what I do all day.

I also got to meet some awesome bloggers.

I am a big fan of Zakary’s writing at Raising Colorado.  She’s funny and down to earth and just about one of my favorite bloggers on the planet.  If you don’t read her, you need to.  Thursday night, I accosted her at the get together, believe it or not, she’s even better in person and her hair is as great as you’d think it would be.  <—Jealous.  Um, Z, we didn’t even take a pic? WTF.

If Alli were smart, she’d make Casey of Moosh in Indy the unofficial cheerleader for the Blissdom newbies forever.  She was tweeting first thing Thursday morning and was so consistently friendly and incredible all weekend.  Looooved her.

Poor Kate of The Small Things. I stopped her in the hall, said hello, and promptly told her about my friend Karri writing, “OMG you have to meet this girl, she is at Blissdom, I love her hair tutorials,” on my Facebook wall earlier that morning.  If you are on Pinterest, you know Kate’s work.  And Kate?  I’d like to know how many times someone asked you to do their hair this weekend AND how much pressure did you feel to have a good hair day four days straight?  

I also was so happy to meet: Gigi Ross of Kludgy Mom, she was working, but I was happy to say hello and chat for a few minutes on Thursday night.  I introduced myself to Edie of Life In Grace on Saturday night, she was wearing the cutest polka dot dress.  Sili of My Mamihood is someone I follow on Twitter, she’s incredibly talented.  I had never met Erica Mueller of Erica Says before Blissdom, she was super welcoming and warm and had some super cute clothes!

And Kristina.  I don’t care what Jon Acuff says, you complete me.  

You will learn a ridiculous amount of information.

Like I said, I have been around the blogging block quite a few times.  Five years is akin to old people time in blog years.  I {mostly} know what I am doing and I still took so much away from Blissdom.  For me, there was a great mix of  practical advice, things you could come home and put into practice for immediate results, and motivational advice for the bigger picture.  Stand out speakers for me were Scott Stratten, Shelly Kramer, and Lucrecer Braxton.  I also laughed my way through Jon Acuff’s closing keynote.