5 Reasons I am Happy I went Blissdom 11

Last week, I braved the latest snowstorm to head to my first Blissdom Conference in Nashville. The day started off great since my flight was at 8 and there was not a flake in the sky. When I checked in, I found that my flight was delayed by an hour. Ah no worries so I made myself comfortable in the Delta Sky Lounge (thank you American Express) and enjoyed my newspaper and coffee. When I came out 90 minutes later, the snow was coming down pretty hard but Delta boarded us on the plane. Don’t ask me why Delta or the airlines does this but they boarded us, read us our rights, closed the doors and then made us wait 30 minutes. Well in the 30 minutes, the snow literally was coming down so fast, the windows were covered in snow. And of course, the flight was canceled while we were sitting there and they deplaned us. The reason for the cancellation is that small planes do not fly in that kind of weather. Good Reason, right book me a on big plane.

Now it gets interesting. Delta, I must admit worked hard to get us out of there. First, I was going through Atlanta, Okay, big plane. Literally, I walked to the Atlanta gate, then the canceled announment came and I ran back to the Nashville gate. The gate agent was like yikes. Memphis flights canceled and then she says “do you wnat to go to Minneapolis?” I am like “is it  snowing there?” No she says and its a big plane, odds are you gettting out and it did all while the big planes to Atlanta were grounded.

Well, although I went to Minneapolis were it was clear as a bell and I had to sit in the lounge for 4 hours, I left with no problems to Nashville so I was only traveling for 12 hours but hey, I got there and I was happy I tried so damned hard to get to Nashville.

1. Key Note Speaker, Brene Brown, the author of  The Gifts of Imperfection, popular YouTube speaker and pretty renowned researcher. Maybe you have heard of her but not me. I was even discussing with another NYC blogger (who shall remain nameless) about sitting in the back of the room so we could escape due to our lack of of the “to be inspired” gene but I am glad I did sit closer There were so many themes that she talked about that really resonated with me but the major one is if we don’t know what is getting in our way before we truly understand our selves and that we need do to be brave about telling our stories because that is what’s going to resonate with our readers and what really hit me over the head, get paid for what we are worth. I  will leave with some of her  best quotes:

• • “Choose discomfort over resentment” – If you don’t want to do something or want to be treated in a different way, say no and thus avoid resenting that you said yes to something you did not want to do in the first place.
  • “Our stories matter because we matter” – Amen
  • “When you say you don’t care what people think and you mean it, then you have lost the capacity to connect” – Whoa!!!
  • “You are responsible for the energy you bring into the room” Amen again. Who wants to be with the bitch or the consistently negative person, not me.
  • “Find and be a friend that would move a body” – It’s not what you think. No,  a friend did not ask to her to move a dead body. Actually, a good friend asked her to help move her alcoholic mother who had passed out in her living room and needed to move her before her party guests arrived. She asked Brene because she knew she would ask no questions, not judge her mother or her  in a negative light but just come to help her. Don’t you want to be that person, I do and I certainly have friends I would call to move a body.

2. Networking with Twitter Friends – One of the best things about going to conferences or events is meeting other amazing women and at Blissdom, I met bloggers I have been following on Twitter or reading their blogs since I started writing. CecilyK, Esther Crawford from She Posts, Renee Ross from Cutie Booty Cakes, Heather Solos from Home-Ec 101, Meagon Francis from The Happiestmom.com and so many more.

3. Hanging with Holly from the Culture Mom – Holly and I run into each other at various NYC events and are both PBS Kids Club 13 ambassadors but when we see each other we superficially chat but not at Blissdom. We hung together really talking for more than five minutes. Really fun and certainly hope we get the opportunity again. She also introduced me to Ilana from mommyshorts.com/

4. Bliss Mitvah – Yes, a bliss mitvah at Blissdom. Holly invited me to a gathering of Jewish bloggers attending Blissdom. I, of course, said yes. Why not? An amazing group of women and really enjoyable end to a great day.

5. Flash Mob – Blissdom style – what a great end to the conference. Styling, funny and just plain entertaining.

There was so much more to the event, lots of workshops, hearing Scott Stratten from unmarketing (funny and smart) and great music from Michelle Branch, Mat Kearney and Crystal Bowersox. Of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention some of my favorite New York bloggers, Rebecca @beccarama.com, Amy @selfishmom..com and Nancy @hip2housewife.com

Will I go back to Blissdom 2012? YES!! Thanks to Barbara Jones and Alli Worthington for bring Blissdom into our lives.

Disclosure: There were lots of sponsors at Blissdom and I received a nice swag bag.