Tag: Mel Bugaj

Well it has been over a month now since I attended BlogHer13 and this post is ohhhhh about a week late and I missed one of my four blog posts I had planned…but oh man life just took off and I was treading water…akaNoTimeToWrite.  Things have settled down now and I am not exactly floating along with a mini umbrella, fruit embellished drink in hand but I’m not gasping for air as my arms flail like a mad women just trying to keep from sinking.

So lets do this!

The last of my Talking to Strangers BlogHer 13 posts number three in a four three part series!

I had no expectations and no real goals for what I was going to accomplish when I headed to BlogHer13.  I was happy that way.  Going into a hugmongous conference I didn’t want any pressure on myself.  I knew the size of the conference, the number of bloggers there and the experience would be enough pressure.   As usual, I had no idea how much I would learn about myself!

Besides being knocked over the head by life with amazing lessons about myself and even with those two very moving experiences…Talking to Strangers: BlogHer13 A New Inner Beauty and Talking to Strangers: BlogHer13 Table of One (one would think that those would be enough) I found my days…and nights (BlogHer seriously is NON-stop) filled with fantastic random lessons from old friends and new ones too.

I give you…

I learned that now that I have met Kirsten from the Kir Corner and Mel from According to Mags I can not longer read their blog posts without  reading them in a strong Boston / New York accent.  Also, Mel texts with an accent too!

I learned I could just sit on a couch, on a beach, on a park bench and just…be with Kirsten.  Her warmth and genuineness and heart is as wonderful as you would expect!  Just being with her makes you happy!

I learned you never know who you are going to meet or what they are going to teach you.  Joanne from Tiniest Tiger  and Rachel from Preston Speaks  taught me that no matter how much you know or how successful you are people are willing to take time to talk to you,  get to know you and share what they know with you.

I learned to never underestimate where your greatest lessons are going to come from… one of my BIGGEST lessons came from Joanne  and Rachel.  I never in a gazillion years would have guessed or predicted that I would learn so very much from two amazingly fantastic bloggers who share their stories about their pets.

I learned that lessons can come from girl talk and a couch in the middle of the Verizon section at the Expo.  Jackie from a With Just a Little Bit of Magic laid back style and years of motherhood experience taught me that I need to keep embracing Olivia for exactly who she is and there are many different ways and activities that our children can do to teach them what we want them to learn.  Sometimes our way is not the only way…just go with it!

I learned that I can run farther then I thought I could.  Running the 5k along the Chicago lake front gave me a pace I never knew I had.  The pace to take me farther then just a 5k.  A pace that didn’t leave me sucking wind or doubled over with wobbly legs.  A pace that would take me on more and more runs, farther and farther, that would make running…fun!

I learned that friends I have met through blogging are just as amazing  as a I thought they would be.  The journeys I have taken with many of these woman on their blogs has all been worth it.  That the relationships we have built in this space are just as important to them as they are to me.  That the connections in this space can become in real life friendships.

I learned that I am a vault of Random SHtuff… from facts and tidbits (TONS of facts and tidbits) about people I have chatted with on twitter to random bits of information about bloggers to ooohhh she writes “this or that” blog  to ooo ooo ooo have you seen this new app or this new piece of technology that will do this or this or that on social media. Kim was never left moment that wasn’t filled with random information awesomeness overload (Think Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada when she is at the big event dishing facts about people Meryl Streep is meeting….yeah!)

FFFWWWEEEFFFF!!! I learned a lot!

BlogHer13 was an amazing event full of amazing strangers.  Some of them were strangers I had met through blogging that were friends.   Some of them were strangers I knew through twitter that I now got to meet in real life and some of them were strangers I had never known before.  Each moment of this event filled me with lessons and reminders about myself and this amazing place we call the blogosphere!