Blissdom 2013

 

Somehow, BlissDom has come and gone already. It was a great weekend in Dallas at the beautiful Gaylord Texan. This was my second BlissDom conference and I was super honored to be chosen as a Community Leader.

Last year’s event totally rocked my world. It changed my whole perspective on blogging and real life. I truly made some relationships that turned into becoming some of the best friends I’ve ever had. And the weekend after last year, is when my little bitty blog (at the time) began exploding.

When Andrew surprised me with a ticket for Christmas I was stoked. Not only has my blog and business grown in leaps and bounds this past year, bus so has the support I have from my husband. Not that he wasn’t supportive before, but he didn’t really get it. Now, we are in this together. While it is still considered MY business, he helps as much as he can. He is one of my strategy guys. We now have almost monthly “date nights”, which are more or less strategy meetings. He helps me plan for things and is the “how” part of our marriage. I am more the “WOW”… He often has to talk me out of things that I think are superawesomeoutofthisworldgottadoitrightthisminute ideas… Because he is the realist and I’m the dreamer.

The best part of this weekend was definitely networking and meeting different folks. I don’t know if it’s because I am in a total different place in my life and business than I was last year, or what, but I honestly did not get a ton of information out of the sessions. They were more inspiring and motivational than the nitty-gritty details of how, that I would have liked, but it was still a fabulous event. I loved Jon Acuff’s closing keynote almost as much as I loved his opening keynote from last year. In fact, he calls for an entirely different post just to himself (be on the lookout for that soon).

I loved getting to see and have lunch with two of my writers, and hang out with the Mama and Baby Love team. I ran into my blog designer, too! And was stoked that several of my Shaklee teammates were there to party with.

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I will have a couple of giveaways coming your way soon, thanks to some of the awesome sponsors.

For now, I’m off to plan for tomorrow night’s big event. Seats are filling up fast, so be sure you get one if you are interested!

Hope y’all had just as great of a weekend than I did – it is snowing like crazy here in Nashville now, so bizarre!

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balance

Since my blog has grown so rapidly the past two weeks, I have been completely overwhelmed. I’m pretty sure I broke all kinds of records going from 140 followers to over 4500 in 12 days.

With all of the traffic comes lots of comments, emails, facebook messages, direct twitter messages, newsletters to send, lots of stats that I can’t quit refreshing, and so on…

Needless to say, in addition to everything else, it has been overwhelming. I am so, so, so JOYOUS for it though! It is an ever present confirmation that this is exactly what God has called me to do right now.

One of the most powerful things I heard at Blissdom was, “you’re gonna disappoint people. You cannot reply to everybody”. And that’s hard for me. I’m a people pleaser. I want to be as real with you as I can be. I want to tell each single person who comments or emails “thank you”. But I simply cannot.

Don’t think I didn’t try though. Remember back in August when I made my blog public and I wrote this post about being hot or cold? Well for a good while I kept up with the follow up challenge from that post.

But since I started blogging more (which actually has resulted in fewer posts per week) I have been almost glued to my iPhone and my laptop every day for the past 13 days. It has taken a negative toll on me and my family. And this is the part I don’t like.

I am trying to find balance. I have my schedule plastered to my fridge still, but I haven’t been keeping up with it. I’ve had my computer on “working” even when Elizabeth is up and needing my attention. I have fallen behind a chapter in one of my online classes, and most importantly, my one-on-one time with God has been spent publishing things to facebook and pinterest.

While I love all of you, please understand that my husband and daughter come first. They are WHY I do this. Why I choose to work from home. I cannot possibly reply to every single email and comment. I promise I read them all (sometimes over and over) though.

Another powerful thing I took away from Blissdom was the reminder that I am a writer. Writing has always been my way of coping and venting. And lately, I feel like I do a whole lot less of that and a whole lot more of “hey, here’s a recipe”! Though I lovelovelove helping other Mom’s find great healthy recipes and sharing ideas on how to live green, simple, balanced lives, that is not the only reason I started this blog.

(please don’t hit that unfollow button, please hear me out)

I wrote this blog to tell our story. His story. To document the day to day things. To share with you what He has shared with us, how He is blessing our lives through all of the tragedy we have faced, which is what The Pearl Event was all about today.

I will be posting more about Blissdom and The Pearl Event, but I just wanted to jot these things down tonight while they were on my heart and mind. Please bare with me as I find the balance I desire. It may mean commenting less on facebook, and it may mean more posts where I just write instead of posting a recipe or cleaning tip.

I love you all and I’m so glad you’re here. I know that God wrote this story for me to share with you.

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Bliss

If you haven’t already seen the little button on the sidebar, I’m prepping for my first ever blog conference! BlissDom! I am veryvery excited. I am also very nervous. But mostly excited.

I have wanted to go for years, just so I could meet my favorite bloggers! Like Lindsey, Gussy, Sarah, Sandra, Edie, RachelStephanie and the many others!

But this year, my big year of change, I am going for me. Don’t get me wrong – I am still very anxious and ecstatic to meet those ladies (and room with Sarah – eek)! But, I’m going for me!

(I hope that doesn’t sound selfish… Remember, this is the year I learn to quit putting myself last)

I am still so very new at this whole blogging gig. I am going to learn. And to be inspired. To find my “niche” (if I even have one). To network and learn some more ropes of Social Media. To grow my business. To have fun!

I am nervous about leaving Elizabeth for the first time, and I’m thankful that Andrew will be able to stay with her. Wait, I’m not sure, maybe that’s why I’m nervous about leaving her… No, he’s a great father. They need time together. And every Mama needs a break to decompress and refocus. It’s good for us and them!

For the past month, I’ve been fretting about fitting in, not having the right answers. Not having an “elevator script” or a “brand” (definition of what my blog is about), or a “niche”. Worried about the appearance of my blog not being exactly what I want it to be. And definitely worried about the appearance of myself. But I’m not so worried anymore. I’m going for me. I’m going to be me. I’m not going to pretend I’ve got it all together, because I clearly don’t. I don’t have a QR Code on my business cards, and my clothes don’t fit, but I am going. I’m going to be me, which is all I can be, and I may be completely winging it, but I will be there.

Pretty sure this is my motto:)
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If you are going too, please connect with me on facebook or twitter! I would love to meet up with you! I’ve never actually “met” anyone that’s going! Have I mentioned how excited I am though?

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