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100 Blissful Memories {Part II} »

100 Blissful Memories {Part I}

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Mishi | 28 Comments

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1) Back Seat Driver: I never know how I am going to feel being a passenger in a car.  I mean, after all, I do usually prefer to do the driving.  This time was different, though. The car trip with these women was just perfect. Dawn did the driving, while Sara sat in the front (wrestling with a wonky seat-belt), and I sat in the back.   I was free to daydream, free to talk as much as I wanted, free to close my eyes and get myself ready for the upcoming BlissDom experience.

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2) All Things Happen for a Reason:  A phone call came.  A mistake was made.  A promise was made to rub my feet.  None of it mattered, though, because the time that I spent as a result of “the mistake” was probably one of my best memories of the trip.  I got to sit and laugh and talk and listen to a woman that has been through so much lately.  A woman that I feel I know–deep down–and who knows me just as thoroughly.

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3) Gathering of Butterflies: Everything ready to go, Alli had a bunch of us all come to her room. There we talked about anything and everything, and I’m sure everyone had some level of butterflies in their bellies. Some more than others, I would say. We listened. We laughed. We loved.

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4) High Five: Some friends couldn’t physically be there. But that didn’t mean they weren’t there with us. Amber had a moment with Lisa on one of the beds in our hotel room.  Some other “flat friends” even got kisses from the likes of crooner Harry Connick Jr. and Food TV star George Duran.

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5) You Are Here: The Gaylord Opryland Hotel is nothing if it isn’t vast. In spaciousness. In beauty. In grandeur. At first I cussed my head off about the amount of walking we’d have to do on a daily basis, but in the end I was thankful for it. I actually think they made it gorgeous on purpose, as to detract from the walking factor.

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6) 8:15: The day started early, and I knew it would be filled with busy-busy-go-go-go. A meeting in one of the smaller conference rooms, after some good coffee and breakfast, and we were off.

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7) My Friends Have Style: Coming to BlissDom I knew so many of my friends would be there. I also knew that new friends were waiting to be made. Angie was one of them. We’d Skyped and emailed, as we were doing the Photography Workshop together, but other than that I didn’t know her. We hit it off, for sure, and once I saw her shoes, I knew that I’d love her forever.

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8) My Friends Have Smile: This is the part of BlissDom that you can not ever put a price on. It’s the love of friends who love you unconditionally and fully. It’s the love that is exuded through their brilliant smiles. And it’s the knowing that you belong and have a tribe.

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9) Your Attention, Please: There is nothing–I mean NOTHING–like people coming to a workshop that you are a part of, and paying attention intently to all that is being said. It’s a shared passion; one that feeds the creative soul. Looking out into the see of Photography Workshop attendees, my heart filled.

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10) We of the Writer’s Craft: Four women I respect wholeheartedly. One topic that is dear to my heart. Over an hour of Bliss. This workshop will go down–in my books– as the best ever. Megan, Arianne, Deb, and Amber. Four women whose voices are rich, and lovely, and everything profound. I thank them for their words.  My sisters…

[This will be a ten part series that I will string through my blog for a while; I just want to keep reliving the bliss. My entire collection of photos from the conference can be seen on Flickr, but you should definitely come back to relive the bliss with me.]

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Blissdom10, Sisterhood. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

28 Comments to “100 Blissful Memories {Part I}”

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