If you had asked me four years ago if I could share any part of my life or my thoughts and ideas or my art in a public forum, I would have thought you were crazy just for asking. Besides the necessity of vulnerability, who would even care to read what I put out there?
Yet, here I am, world. I share things here that I don’t share with my IRL people. Isn’t that funny? Blogging has become such a big and real part of my life.
I guess I shouldn’t find that surprising… I am a collector of moments and memories and always have been. I take pictures of things like dandelions and dirt roads and sunshine, and I scrapbooked for years. And before that, I kept ticket stubs and postcards and magazine ads, and I journaled. Blogging is the twenty-first century’s answer to memory-keeping.
And if you had asked me three years ago if I would ever spend a weekend ‘hold up’ in a hotel with a bunch of strangers, family and responsibilities and IRL left behind, I would have thought you were even crazier. I mean, the opportunity to meet women you’ve admired from afar (in some cases, WAY afar) is priceless, but really imagine yourself face to face with that person for the first time… It’s like a blind date. What do you say? And then what do you say after that? Doubt and insecurity and dizziness start to plague the mind.
Yet, there I went. My first year at Blissdom left me inspired with great ideas and motivation. It also left me with good friends and filled me with such good memories, I couldn’t wait to go back. Just like blogging, it’s the connections that make it all-the vulnerability, the risk, the effort-worthwhile. I got to spend quality time with IRL friends and bloggers Edie and Polly, and I met bloggers I stalked, like Emily, and bloggers I adored, like Jessica, Melissa, Ruthanne, and even folks I didn’t even know but now adore, like Ruth and Shannon and Deanna. This year, I’m going knowing only three people who will be there, Kelly and Deanna and Ruth, but I am so looking forward to meeting those who I have yet to stalk know.
There’s a tradition of handing out blogging business cards while at Blissdom so others can find your site after it’s all over. I kept those I received last year in a mini album
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These images are my cards for this year. On the flip side, they look like my blog, all white with gray and light blue lettering, with my logo {designed by Kelly} across the top.
I’ve had this idea for quite a few months now… I take senior and prom pictures and meet a lot of girls who don’t really know how beautiful they are… Maybe they don’t even know what real beauty is. But in my ever-loving need to nurture their self-esteem, I thought I would make cards that say these things and when I’m done taking their pictures, I will look them straight in the eye {so they know I’m telling the truth} and say, You are beautiful. And then, maybe, they’ll believe it, and then, maybe, they’ll say it to two girls they know. And then, maybe, those girls will do the same, and in one moment, I might have just touched the world.
I can’t wait to see how it affects the women I meet at Blissdom.
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*Beautiful colors and light found in nature. All photos taken previously by me. Edited only to crop and “clean” slightly.*
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