Blissdom: the recap

As you may have heard, there was a blogging conference this last weekend in Nashville.

Blissdom09 was amazing. I JUST LOVED IT. I heard wonderful speakers and was able to answer questions for a couple of new bloggers, which made me happy. :) As I mentioned in Saturday’s post, I got about 35 business cards. I promise I’ll get around to visit those folks in the upcoming days.

There were two session tracks, one for apprentices (new bloggers) and one for mavens (more experienced bloggers). I attended the apprentice sessions except for the VERY first session. Above are Stephanie Precourt, Catherine Connors, and Shannon Lowe at the session on writing with passion.

And this is Shannon and me. My husband has become a huge fan of Shannon’s “Lost” recaps, and I knew he’d get a kick out of a photo of the two of us. He did. :) (Shannon is one of the people who recognized my horns from Twitter. Blush…)

Saturday morning, we saw a preview of Yanni Voices, which debuts on PBS in the next few weeks. Folks, I didn’t think Yanni was my “thing,” but this music was AMAZING.

The REALLY big surprise was that two of the performers, Ender Thomas and Nathan Pacheco, were there to visit with us for awhile. The SQUEALING of all those girls! You wouldn’t believe it. :)

They also serenaded two birthday girls, Christi from Blah Blah Blog, and Beth from I Should Be Folding Laundry. They were VERY happy girls.

We also had a performance from Chris Mann, an upcoming artist who can SING. He’s also really cute. And really charming. Not as cute and as charming as Ed, of course, but who is, really?)

So learning stuff is good. And cool musical opportunities and cute boys are good. But, friends? One thing I always worry about when I’m on the road is what I’ll eat: where, what, and how much. (I don’t function well if I don’t eat.) Somehow I managed to not have to eat out ONE TIME while I was there, and the event’s sponsors are a big reason why. (I swear I’m not a pig,) The Little Debbie snack cakes at snack time on Friday? Yummy. The breakfast Saturday morning and lunch Saturday at noon? Substantial and delicious (and I was HUNGRY, so it hit the spot). The cocktail party Friday and Saturday? Fun (really loud, but fun), with awesome food — they even fed us SUSHI!

The sponsors were responsible for so many of the details, most of which we’re not aware of. Thanks SO much to you all. It wouldn’t have been the same (and I would have been much hungrier — or poorer — without you.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s event. It really was wonderful to meet so many wonderful women. Until next year…