My second-ever visit to the state of Texas was a whirlwind.
The main purpose of my time in Dallas was the Blissdom Social Media Conference which was held at the gorgeous Gaylord Texan resort. And I mean gorgeous as in restuarants under enormous glass atriums with water fountains.
My 4 (FOUR!) days and nights there were filled with ridiculous amounts of uninterrupted sleep and a dubious amount of calories. O and also holding random babies. Literal sat-down-at-the-table-next-to-us-and-we-stole-her-baby random babies.
Elbow chub!!
The adorable Dear Abby Leigh and the even adorabler daughter of Lindsey of Two Bobbins Later
The exception in the sleep department came Friday morning when I got up at 4:30am to hear Jon Acuff speak about what he has learned from his experience in social media. It was an interesting and engaging talk, although it was not exactly what I was expecting. When I signed up for it, I understood the description as being a vision-casting kind of gathering that would be a mix of Jon addressing the group and time for us to work and write in an encouraging environment. It wasn’t that – Jon spoke the whole time – but it was fun and enjoyable. Dude’s hilarious.
I have mixed feelings about the sessions I attended at Blissdom. I liked all of them. The speakers were all very professional, polished and engaging. I left each one encouraged and motivated but I was also hoping for more tangible nuggets and action items for the bettering of my blog and social media presence. I did hear from several attendees that in this session or that one there were some great take-aways, so I will definitely be going back and watching the videos of a few of those. My favorites were Sheila Marcelo’s session Redefining Success and Jon Acuff’s closing keynote.
And then I got down with my bad self at the Girls’ Night Out Blissdom event. I haven’t danced like that since… my wedding, maybe? It felt so good to be out on the floor with girlfriends just having a hilariously awesome and care-free time. Only downside is that I’ve had LMFAO Sexy and I Know It stuck in my head for almost a week.
I work out!
After the after party I got to watch the premier of an episode of Animal Planet’s Tanked featuring my friend Laura of Hollywood Housewife. I don’t know which was more fun, watching the episode or watching her watch the episode. Yea no, I know. It was the latter.
At the party viewing I had fried pickles for the first time in my life. You guys. Why did you not tell me about fried pickles before? They were so life changing that I took a picture. You’re welcome.
The food and sleep were epic, but to me BlissDom has always been about the face-to-face time with my friends from around the country. It dawned on me while I was dancing under a disco ball with girls that I love with my whole heart and with whom I am humbled to share my life through friendship online and off that I am absolutely blessed beyond reason to be part of this online community.
This crazy, eccentric, hilarious community.
[[from left: Sharone of Zizzavivizz, Me, JJ the BlahBlahBlahger, Chris Mann from The Voice, (a very confused) Amber Riley from Glee, Abby of Dear Abby Leigh, and Ruthanne of Eclectic Whatnot]]
I am here to attest that yes, fried pickles can change your life. So glad you found this out while you were in my awesome home state! ;) SO wonderful to finally meet you in person, hopefully next time we can spend some time chatting! And the look on Amber Riley’s face is hilarious!!
CAPRICE! i miss her so. and you.
I love love love the random baby holding snuggle time thing. I’ve set Blissdom as my goal for next year and this really makes it sound fun, without the 4:30am though and I could definitely do without fried pickles but have you heard of fried mars bars? Leave it to the Brits to come up with something that fabulous. Thanks for this report.
So glad to share a meal with you and just get to know you a little bit better. I will also be watching videos of sessions I missed—I think I should have chosen differently. Oh well. I love fried pickles, although I prefer the slices to the spears.
love that last shot!
I’m so happy I got to hang out and booty pop and sweat/cry/laugh through 13.1 crazy-cold miles with you. And oh gosh, I just remembered the biscuits at Cracker Barrel. So much good stuff. We’re all hanging out again this weekend, right??
Fried pickles are the most amazing food, right?! The best ones I’ve ever had are (no joke) from Hooters. Luckily, I’ve perfected my own recipe at home, so no need to take the toddler to Hooters. Win/win!
Sounds and looks like it was an awesome weekend. Can I ask you how you get your instagram pictures so big/clear and with rounded corners like that into your blog posts? I’m sure there’s a very simple way, but mine always look like crud in a post. Thanks!
My booty is HUGE…but man, was I happy we decided to be silly!
Pickle chips are ‘da bomb!
And Oh how much I love Amber Riley!!! I’m so jealous of that alone. :> Glad you enjoyed and sorry you didn’t get 100% of what you had hoped for from the sessions. I suppose it is always that way for conferences, some good, some not so much, but looks like you had a blast either way!
Oh… those pickles were YUM! Great meeting you, that was so much fun!
Not really sure about the fried pickles, but it looks like you had a ball. Great post
Yummmmm fried pickles!