The Southern Bloggers Conference

Today I finally talk about the fabulous Southern Bloggers Conference! 

 I know you all have been anxiously awaiting my story.  HAHA!

When I first heard about the conference, I knew I wanted to go.  However, for those of you who are new to my blog, I have an issue with anxiety and going out of my comfort zone.  Going to a blog conference 500 miles away from home, to be with 100+ people that I've only met online sent my anxiety into high gear.

Thank goodness, my fantastic husband agreed to go with me.  Even though he wasn't actually IN the conference with me, just knowing he was a few yards away made me feel so much better.  I wouldn't have been able to do it without him!

I don't know why I get so anxious, because I always end up having an incredible time....and this time was no exception!  Not only did I get to meet Barb and B, I got to meet 100 other wonderful women (and men) that share the same interests and passions.  It's great to be in the same room with people who don't think it's weird when you break out your gigantor camera during the middle of a conversation.

Friday afternoon was check-in, where we got to meet the fabulous women who put so much time and effort making this conference happen.  We also get our incredible swag bags full of some seriously fantastic swag!

Then immediately after check-in,  about 20 of us headed across the street to The Container Store for a wonderful presentation.  

The presentation was great, but the highlight of that little trip was the sight of all 20 of us (in various styles of shoes) running across 4 lanes of rush-hour traffic.  I swear, we laughed so hard at ourselves.  It was literally like a real-life version of Frogger!  We joked about the potential headlines for the next day:  "Blogger killed while attempting to run across rush-hour traffic in heels."  Fortunately for the slower/less death wishers of the group, the hotel shuttle brought us back to the hotel.

After our exhilarating Container Store excursion, we had a meet-and-greet at the hotel.  It was a lot of fun, with great food.  It was a wonderful opportunity to try to meet as many people as possible, hand out business (blog) cards, and entice people with ring pops (not that I did that or anything).

Saturday started early, but time just flew by as speaker after speaker came up and taught us so much about the blog world.  It was incredible to hear these speakers stories and how much they had learned in a relatively short period of time!

1. Annie Omar from Maison Blanche Paint Company 2. Rhoda from Southern Hospitality  3. Kelly from Eclectically Vintage  4. Kari from Thistlewood Farm 5. Kristen from Sophia's Decor  6. Amy from Atta Girl Says

1. Annie Omar from Maison Blanche Paint Company who taught us several painting/finishing techniques.

 2. Rhoda from Southern Hospitality talked about her life and her blogging career.  And let me just say, Rhoda brought the room to tears telling about her life of the past couple of years.  It just proves that you never know what is really going on behind the scenes!

3. Kelly from Eclectically Vintage talked about what common mistakes bloggers make. 

4. Kari from Thistlewood Farm talked about tips for increasing your blog readership. (And girlfriend ROCKED her earrings!)

 5. Kristen from Sophia's Decor and 6. Amy from Atta Girl Says showed us milk-painting techniques using Miss Mustard Seeds fabulous new line of milk-paints.  I was especially interested in this demonstration because I won a 12-color sampler of Miss Mustard Seed's paints!  I can't wait to use them!

Heather from At the Picket Fence also did a fabulous presentation, but I didn't have any good pictures of her (for some strange reason) I did get shots of her fantastic tips, though! ;)

Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl did a fantastic presentation about making things for your home out of thrifted/re-purposed items.

I learned SO much from these wonderful ladies!  It was very overwhelming, but so informative!  I hope to make some big, and some not-so-big changes with the blog in the near future.

1. Michelle from The Adventures of Supermom and Amy from Atta Girl Says 2. A delicious spread provided by one of our wonderful sponsors, HomeTalk  3. A hysterical True/False game done by the HomeTalk bloggers  4. Krista from Need A Latte Mom who won the super-duper grand prize donated by Crystorama Lighting

Before we knew it, the weekend came to a close and it was time to say our goodbyes.

1. Me and Jennifer from Our Southern Table  2. Me and Barb from The Everyday Home 3. Barb and Suzy from Worthing Court  4. Amy, Melissa from Finding Out How the Pieces Fit and Jennifer.

Jennifer and I spent a lot of time together and I really enjoyed getting to know her better.  We found out that she knows several people from my area (and actually knows where my tiny little town is!)  Such a small world!

This was my first blog conference, but it will definitely not be my last!  The Southern Blogger ladies really set the bar high for any future conferences I attend! I just don't see how it could have gone any better!  So, for all of you bloggers and would-be bloggers out there, if you ever get the opportunity to attend one, DO IT!  You will be so thankful you did!  Not just for the learning opportunities, but for the life-long friendships you will make!

What a State Fair should be....and meeing another long-time friend.

Yesterday, I told you all about finally getting to meet Barb from The Everyday Home after knowing her for years online.

We had a blast and it was definitely worth the wait!

But Barb wasn't the only person I met, I also met B.  B. doesn't blog much anymore (her home remodel keeps her too busy), but girlfriend totally rocks it on Twitter!  We've kept in touch forever on Twitter and have become great friends over the years.  When B. found out we were coming to Raleigh, she made sure to make time for us to get together!

The timing for our meeting couldn't have been more perfect, because the North Carolina State Fair was in full swing.  She knows a lot about the fair, so she gave us the tour!

B. looking like her precious self and me looking like I had been in a conference all day.

Now after an extremely disappointing experience with the "Alabama State Fair" (and I use the term "State Fair" very loosely) last year, I was a little hesitant about going to the NC State Fair...but man o' man was I ever wrong!

The North Carolina State Fair is exactly what comes to mind when you think about State Fairs!  It was unbelievable!  Acres and acres of livestock, tractors, food, flowers, handmade items, anything you can imagine!  Words cannot even begin to explain, so I will show you with pictures!

Blankets and quilts galore!

 

Prize-winning "canned" foods.

Best in Show jellies.

Winners in the Junior cake decorating division

The most fantastic hushpuppies ever!

The entertainment, Jake Owen!

We caught the end of a couple of cow competitions.

This is a mobile cow milking station on loan from ALFA in Alabama!

Acres of prize winning apples!

Tomatoes, anyone?

The Oscar Mayer wiener mobile!

Ice cream!

Something you don't see much anymore...tobacco.

 Now TONS of gorgeous flower shots!

This arrangement would be perfect for a fall outside wedding!  The picture doesn't do it justice!

Bottom of the arrangement.

Dozens and dozens of roses.

Beth said they sell all these mums after the fair is over for a super-low price.

You could cut a yard in seconds with this bad boy!

With all the food there, Beth promised us this was the best, and boy was she right!

Roasted corn, dipped in butter, with salt, pepper and seasoning salt.

And a rib-eye sandwich made by the Cattlemen's Association.

Ironically, we ate them sitting in the stands where the cows were being shown.

 B's food and sample recommendations were the best!  Every single thing we ate and/or tasted was incredible!  The corn and steak sandwiches were 10x better than the meal we had at the Cheesecake Factory the night before!

Well hello there, Mr. Rooster!

HUGE decorated tree!

They deep fry anything and everything there!

 We enjoyed the fair so much that we have decided to try to plan a vacation next October so we can bring the kids with us!  I just know they would LOVE everything as much as we did!  We do wish we could have stayed a couple nights longer because Scotty McCreery was scheduled to be in concert on Tuesday.  Chelsea would have never let us live it down if we saw him and concert and she didn't, though.  HAHA!

Thanks to B., Saturday evening was perfect!  We got a meet a long-time friend, had a guided tour of the State Fair, perfect weather, great food, and even better company.  What more could we want?

(I promise I will write about the actual conference itself!  Just so much happened in the short time we were there, I had to break it down into small parts! LOL )

What do you do when you meet an Internet friend in person for the first time?

First, you scream, cry and HUG!

Then, you go out and have a fabulous time!

Barb from The Everyday Home blog and I have known each other online for YEARS.  We first "met" on the HGTV Home Decorating boards, long before blogs had become all the rage.  I was trying to find great ideas for our new home, and Barb had a lot of them.  Her design style is what attracted me to her, but her personality is what reeled me in!

Barb and I have somehow managed to keep in contact through the years via our blogs and Facebook. I owe her a lot for helping me get started blogging.  I've loved watching all the changes her home has gone through, as well as all the changes her family has gone through.  Multiple remodeling projects and three grandchildren later, we remain great friends!  The only problem was, we had never actually met each other in person.

Back in June, I found out that Barb was going to Haven (a fabulous home blog convention) in Atlanta, but it was too late to get tickets.  I was so upset that we were thisclose and still wouldn't have a chance to meet.  So, when I heard about the Southern Bloggers Convention, I just knew I HAD to attend.

The day tickets went on sale, I bought my ticket and reserved my room.  Then I got a message from Barb:

Yup, I WAS going to go and I WAS going to meet her!

Fast forward to this weekend, and my desire to meet Barb in person finally came true!

I walked into the registration room and there.she.was.  She yelled my name, jumped out from around the table and grabbed me in a hug!  We hugged and laughed and cried all at the same time!  I finally got to meet my long-lost sister!

We only got to talk for a few minutes because the conference registration was in full swing, but we had several other opportunities to talk and laugh and hug more over the weekend.  Even though she was slammed with conference responsibilities, she never failed to take the time to stop and talk to me (and Marty).

Before we knew it, it was Sunday and the conference was winding down.  We had to head out on our 8 1/2 hour journey home and Barb had to finish other conference duties.  So we said our goodbyes, but not before we made one last picture:

Barb looking all polished and put together and me wearing my frumpy travel clothes

But, it's not goodbye forever.  We've already made plans to attend future conferences together and I, for one, cannot wait!

Finally meeting Barb was totally worth the cost, the time, and the effort!

In my next blog posts, I will show you that not only did I get to meet Barb and attended a fabulous conference, I also got to meet another one of my long-time Internet friends, Beth.  Beth took us on an incredible adventure that deserves it's own blog post/posts!

I hope you all have a wonderful and fantastic week!