What a week!

WOW!! I was so excited by your response to the giveaway! The winner of The Vintage Pearl’s giveaway is Laura from The Chenoweth Family. Laura, email me and I’ll get you in touch with Erin! Congrats!

Last week was one of those when I wondered if I could fit one more thing in – it started with my speaking engagements at the Indy Home Show…three days, two times a day. Whew! It was a new experience and I’m so glad I did it. I was so thrilled to meet so many of my readers there – I was honored you came out!

I had Thursday to pack both myself and the Bub for our weekends away, and by “I had Thursday” that meant I waited until 11:30 p.m.  on Thursday night to even start packing.

I started to get nervous about getting to Blissdom in Nashville earlier in the week – the weather was supposed to get downright nasty here by Friday morning. Watching the weather report Thursday night was NOT a good idea because it just sent me into a tizzy.

But we woke up Friday to no ice, decent temps, no snow. Huh. Then, just because someone up there thought it would be funny, the snow freakin’ blizzard started quite literally the minute I headed out to the airport.

My flight was delayed once, twice, three times, then four. The fourth time I called hubby and may or may not have cried. Just a little. Maybe.

I took off on my first flight at the exact time my connecting flight was heading to Nashville.  :) I got rebooked on a later flight, and after fastwalkingjoggingrunningsprinting to the gate, I was FINALLY on my way there!!!

I was so excited to meet the fellow “home” bloggers who were going to be at Blissdom and I have to tell you – it was like we had known each other for years. So completely comfortable, so easy. It was truly a joy and a blast to meet these lovely women (and one man named Kevin!)

Layla, me and AnNicole: 

(I swiped this one from Layla cause it’s way better than mine – they have some skills!)

We missed Harry Connick Jr.’s performance by minutes, because we had been gabbing so much.  :) But we found Beckie, Julia and Rhoda right away:

AnNicole and I got in line to get a pic with Harry at the very last second and were the last one’s in!!! I still can’t find out how to find the picture, but when I get it, I’ll show you fo sho!!

Then we spent hours 30 minutes trying to find the Incourage party. (Have I mentioned the Opryland Hotel is MASSIVE?? And stunning.) We made some photo op stops along the way, then the Kimba, Kate and AnNicole couldn’t help but fluff some drapes:

OK, they were just trying to figure out how to open the window, but you know us decorating girls. No window is safe!!

That first night I had the pleasure of just sitting down and talking with Kate, Rhoda, Kevin and Layla and AnNicole for HOURS. I learned SO much from them all, and had so much fun, especially seeing Rhoda (and Kevin!) laugh so hard they cried!  ;)

The next day I met more fantastic women – pictured here are AnNicole, Beckie, Julia and JJ:

 Traci is just absolutely lovely. I mean, just a doll. And you know what? I knew she would be!: I finally met the Nester (I think you know which one she is!):

My friend Beckie and I have known each other for a while now, but I always love a chance to catch up with her:

We have a FUN event planned for next month that we hope to tell you about in the next week or so!

I met so many more wonderful people but don’t have pictures yet. It was an honor to share that time with them.

The last night, Kate, AnNicole and I decided we HAD to go experience the city of Nashville. We took off for the Wildhorse Saloon and chowed down on fried pickles:

OH dear LORD they were good.

Speaking of fried, have I mentioned that every. single. woman. I met was gorgeous and skinny? Like, I’m not even kidding. Gorgeous and skinny, skinny and gorgeous. What the ?! My booty has grown with blogging!! ;)

To work off the fried pickles, we learned how to line dance:

Can I tell you how fun Kate is? F.U.N.

And we couldn’t resist these:

Our big group of home bloggers got a picture together, and I’ll be on the lookout for that to share with you soon. We were just a teensy bit annoying when we passed 15 cameras to every person taking a picture.  ;)

My roomie was AnNicole from Our Suburban Cottage and although we have known each other for years, we had never met. She was lovely, beautiful, such a blast to hang with and she didn’t snore. YES!

Layla and Kevin created a mad lib video with some of us that is pretty dang funny – check it out here.

I am so beyond thrilled with the friendships that were created, and the knowledge I took away with me. I know have 20 new forever friends, and that is a blessing.

Now, it’s time to keep decorating! The help with the stairs hit another road bump, but I think there may be some progress today. I will show you the progress this week, no matter what!