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She Came, She Saw, She Laughed, She Cried, She Spoke…

And she did it all in a great pair of shoes.

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That’s Lysa and me, photography and fabulous artsy-fartsy photo editing compliments of my brilliant photoshopping roomie, Dawn Camp.  ‘Cause She Speaks all about the important things.  Like shoes.  Seriously, though, I have never been in the presence of such lovely, supportive, encouraging women.  She Speaks is REALLY about equipping women to minister in the way God has gifted them, be it speaking or writing or women’s ministry or blogging.

I made it through my presentation with only one brain freeze.  Although that was the longest 30 seconds of my life. I can tell you this, I much preferred being a part of a panel for the Ultimate Blogging Q&A to being all by my lonesome behind a podium with a miniature microphone attached to my person and an hour of air time to fill.

But I did it!

It may have been a tad on the dry side; at times I felt like I was D-R-O-N-I-N-G, but I managed to fill the hour and get through all of my notes just in the nick of time.  I only wish I’d had a little more time for questions, but it was a small group, and they asked questions throughout, so I guess it worked out just about right.

Air travel, as always, was unpredictable.  In spite of the Charlotte airport closing two concourses due to a terrorism scare on Thursday, I made it to the conference without a hitch.  But on the way home today I wasn’t so fortunate.  We sat on the tarmac in Charlotte for two hours, waiting for clearance to fly due to thunder storms in Philadelphia, and then we found ourselves circling for 30 minutes before we could land.

I found myself wishing more than once that I’d taken the opportunity to give up my seat in exchange for a $350 USAirways voucher.  But all’s well that ends well, and I’m home again safe and sound and getting ready to leave in the wee hours of the morning for a family vacation to my parents’ home in Virginia where I plan to rest up and reconnect with my family over fried chicken and homemade biscuits.

So!  I’m sure you will forgive me if I forego the full recap and go hug up on my kids.  Which may or may not include a viewing of the season finale of The Next Food Network Star.  Any Food Network fans in the house?  I’m voting for Melissa, the home cook.

I hope to post some photos later in the week, after I have time to peruse the blogs of the other attendees and hijack some pictures, preferably the ones with fancy cameras.  In the meantime, I do have a few I took with my own piddling camera.

A casual blogger lunch on Thursday (too many links, sorry gals).

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Me with Jen and Hillary at the Blogger Meet & Greet on Friday Night.

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There were so many fabulous women there, some that I’d met already and many others that I’m happy to say I know now.  (And several more that I’m sure I forgot to link to.  My sincerest apologies.)

Here I am waxing eloquent on the Ultimate Blogging Q&A Panel (photo credit: my friend Annie from Annie Blogs).

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And a group of us at Five Guys for dinner on Saturday night.  Photo credit: Dawn Camp

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And finally, Lysa and me at the end of a draining but fabulous Saturday at She Speaks.

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There are not enough adjectives to describe Lysa, but I’m not one to back down from a challenge.  She is humble, down-to-earth, approachable, and encouraging.  She inspires me to want to be a better listener and a woman of prayer.  She truly lives her message.  And she can rock the black and white stripes like no one else can.  If I find a picture, I’ll show you what I mean.

Thank you, Lysa, for asking me to be a part of She Speaks this year.  It was an honor and a privilege to be on your team for a weekend.

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34 Responses

  1. Food Network Star Groupie. You should have done a weekly feature on it. Maybe next year? Looks like the conference was lovely. Glad your speech went well. Great SHOES!

  2. Was totally rooting for Melissa. We mommies of lots of little people have to stick together.

    Hated to miss SheSpeaks. You all speak so fondly of it, and without as much drama as other conferences, that I will have to add it to my list of “must attends” soon.

  3. Loved getting to hang out! Thanks so much for the shout out! I’m just going to put out there for the world that my hair called in sick that day. It was up at 4am and had an excuse from the doctor.
    Hugs! So glad you got home safely and hope you have a wonderful trip with family!

  4. Thank you for your tweets during the conference. It was the next best thing to being there! P.S. I was wondering if you ate the Snickers.

  5. Glad to hear it went well!! Can’t wait to hear more as you process it all.

    (I have found internet at a small cafe near the campground! Woohoo!!!! I’ll be going on small “errands” the whole week.)

    Again, so glad you had a great time both inspiring others and being inspired!

  6. Was there a memo about wearing green on the first day?

    Wish I had been there – I keep dreaming/planning our trip next year – wondering if I could fit in some blogging meetups.

    So glad it went well, airplanes included.

    Hugs

  7. OK, I’m an admitted lurker who never comments. But I have to comment now…I LOVE your necklace and wonder if you’d mind sharing where it’s from. I’m looking for a necklace for an outfit, and yours would be perfect. Feel free to reply on comments or by email. Thank you!

  8. Hey girl! I was the brunette who sat in front of you during the photo-blogging class and then had to leave because of her back and couldn’t stay for your next session. I am really bummed that I didn’t get to hear what you had to share because I think it was a lot of what I have questions about. If I didn’t have those two blasted torn disks … I would have stayed in the front row with a smile on! Thanks for the little things you did add during that photo class that helped me … such as blogging101.com and that sort of thing. I am really going to try and get more serious about my blogging and I so thankful to have met gals like you and I look forward to reading all your blogs from now on. Wasn’t that conference the greatest for connecting all of us?? Great to meet you and a big cyber hug from my heart to yours. God bless.
    xoxo
    Marlo Francis

  9. I had no idea your shoes were so snazzy! Sorry I didn’t stop and notice those and glad I saw the picture here! 🙂 How fun was the whole deal??? I loved all of it and am thankful I got to meet so many rockin’ bloggers like yourself!

    Thanks for the linky love!

  10. I’m so glad it went well for you. I knew you could do it. I’m looking forward to a fun time with you in Virginia. What night is Aunt C. making fried chicken and biscuits?:)

  11. Sounds like a great time! I’m sure you did a fantastic job:) 9 days and counting til baby is to be induced. I finally put something up on that new blog I want to do. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep up with some other moms after baby is born…

  12. So glad to hear it went well!!! I knew you would do awesome. You look smashing.

    PS. Snif Snif. I want to never miss this again.

  13. Those are fabulous shoes, and it looks like it was such a fun time!! =)

    I was curious if your iPod was save-able?! Is it working now? I hope so!!

  14. I visited your blog for the first time today, having found you through Encouraging Words for Writers. I read this post and the one before it.

    I really like the idea of radio being a forerunner of blogging. I think that’s very true. But anyone who blogs for long begins to realize that there are other reasons why they do it.

    Writing about ourselves makes us more self-aware, and that leads to a richer, more meaningful life. There are many discoveries which never make their way into a blog post. These are the hidden gifts of reflective writing.

    From Annie Dillard, on her book An American Childhood:
    ” In the course of writing this memoir, I’ve learned all sorts of things, quite inadvertently, about myself and about various relationships. but these things are not important to the book, and I easily leave them out. ” (quoted in Writing about Your Life by William Zinsser)

    Blogs are living memoirs.

    Blog posts are only part of the story, don’t you think?

  15. Glad to hear that all went well and you enjoyed yourself. I would like to attend next year.

    Yes, I am so glad Melissa won.

    I am wondering when her new show will start. Got to check it out.

  16. This is my first visit and I enjoyed it. I loved lots about this post – hope to make it to sHe Speaks sometime. I love the photo of the shoes!! Go Dawn!

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