Yesterday I spent the morning packing my little bag for 10 days, 2 cities, and 2 different climates. I went to bed before my 4 yr old (she’s a night owl) and woke up shortly after my regular bedtime. My shuttle to the airport arrived 30 minutes early and didn’t have any additional stops after me. By the time I arrived at the airport it was only 3am and I beat most of the airport employees in. After waiting for about an hour, I was finally able to drop off one bag and wait some more. Another hour before security was operational. Finally after 2 hours I finally opened my eyes, with the help of Starbucks and my iced chai latte.
Today I’m heading to Dallas, TX for the Blissdom blog conference. This will be my 3rd year attending Blissdom and I love that it’s in Dallas this year. I’ll be meeting old friends and making new friends. With me I have a brand new DSLR camera which I intend to learn how to use while in Dallas. I’m looking forward to learning the manual camera skills along with a few other gals I met in the Photowalk Facebook group.
Everyone is doing the “What I Packed for Blissdom” posts but my list isn’t all that exciting. I did pack my buisness cards that I received free from Moo last year to BlogHer. I also packed my brand new UnCommon personalized cell phone case (branded with The Eco Chic on the back). I’m typing away on my new Samsung Chromebook because I swore I was never going to bring along my huge laptop on a trip EVER AGAIN! I love this thing (and no one paid me to say that either!). I packed a small non-eco-friendly roomie gift. Roomie gift you ask? This is my first year with a roommate and from the looks of things on Instagram you are suppose to bring a gift for your roomie. I’m really creative when I have time but time was not on my side. I hope she likes her Target Dollar Store treats.
My roomie is my good friend Amanda from The Eco-Friendly Family. We’ve been friends since last Blissdom where we met. Wow, it just dawned on me that this will be an anniversary of our meeting! I’m relieved to be rooming with Amanda this year since our personalitites are so similar. Our wardrobe will look quite similar – tank tops and blue jeans! No, we didn’t plan it that way – just how we are.
What I looking forward to at Blissdom? Until last week I was planning on attending most of the business sessions but now that I have my DSLR I’m really excited about mastering the basics of the manual settings. Heck, I’d be happy to just know how to change the settings at this point. I’m looking forward to the opening session which is always so full of energy – except I forgot to pack the tissues! I’m looking forward to networking with other bloggers, making new friends, and hanging out with some friends I’ve known for a while.
I have to admit that I’m laughing a bit as I read posts, tweets, and see pictures of all the work moms have to do when they leave home. Many of them are trying to make their departure easy on their spouses and families by preparing meals in advance, setting clothing out for the week (for the kids), and even packing lunches for their kids. I love their organizational skills, that is something I lack. Thankfully for me I don’t have to worry about these things though. My husband and I share almost all of the household responsibilites as it is so he’d probably laugh at me if I did any of those things – to help him.
It gets even better, following my trip to Dallas I’m flying directly to Utah to meet up with him and the kids for Spring Break. Yes, he’s packing 3 suitcases and flying solo with both of the kids – without any help from me. I had mentioned that we were meeting up to a friend of mine and her first question was, “Did you pack for them already?” Me? Pack for them? They leave 3 days after me and it’s likely laundry will need to be done at least once before they leave. Laundry? Yep, he’ll probably do laundry while I’m away! Then he’ll pack 3 suitcases and we’ll all meet in Utah!
Don’t be jealous, I know that I’m incredibly lucky to have him in my life.
What I am stressing about is leaving work for 10 days. Social Media doesn’t sleep and I will probably end up working for at least one hour each day while I’m away. I attempted to schedule Facebook posts for work for one week and failed miserably! I did get one day scheduled and will hopefully stay one day ahead of work. I am thankful to have help while I’m away though and wish her success. I’m afraid to hear what she thinks of my job once the week is up because in all honesty, if anyone saw the list of things I do each day they wouldn’t envy my anymore.
So, in 45 minutes I’m boarding a plane to Dallas. I’m not going to nap this flight, instead I’ll be online scheduling a few more posts for tomorrow and probably tweeting with others who are traveling to Dallas.
Let’s get this party started! I’m ready for the break!
Updated: I’ve met my first Blissdom friend on the airplane along with her beautiful little girl. Go check out The Bake Cakery. I can tell this is going to be a good year!
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Are there regional blog conferences that don’t require hours of travel and days away from (nursing) kidlets? Who am I kidding? I rarely leave the house, but I love the idea of bonding and learning something useful!
Jill recently posted..Sneaking outside without the big kid