Happy Friday sweet friends!!!!!  What are your plans for the last weekend of September?  I’m sitting here catching up on the season premier of Grey’s Anatomy sipping on my coffee.  I’m heading to Starkville for the weekend.  I have an 8 mile run this weekend for my training.

Seriously… can you believe this?? It’s the end of September already.  Am I the only one that feels like 2013 is flying by… that each month goes by quicker and quicker!?  Before we know it, I’ll be on my way to Disney for the first time since leaving {from working there}.  Before we know it, We’ll be watching football over Thanksgiving.  Before we know it, We’ll be exchanging presents with friends & family.

So before the rest of this year passes me by and moves on to 2014, I’d like to start setting monthly goals.  I love this time of year, I think every single year I start loving it more and more.  I don’t want this fall/winter to pass by without doing some of my favorite things!

I had a really great time at Blog Elevated and since it was my very first conference, I went in with some “expectations” you could say.  I wanted to share some things that surprised me about the conference because honestly… I felt like there were quite a few – which was surprising! HA.

{1} My age is intimidating – or at least it is to me.
I had a really hard time talking with girls around my age.  I tend to think of myself as a nice person to converse with and I can usually connect with a variety of people.  What surprised me was how intimidated I was to go up to a group of girls around my age and chat.  I arrived to the Welcome Event hosted by Kroger a little late (that will be in another post) so a lot of these girls had already cliqued into their groups.  Everyone stood around tiny tables and chatted while I was trying to catch my breath
from being so overwhelmed.  I didn’t expect to be so nervous, but I was.  I ended up feeling a lot more comfortable on the first night with a few women who were moms because I didn’t feel like they were judging me (and I’m sure the girls my age weren’t either, but it was nerve-racking!)

{2} I didn’t use my computer at all.
I really did expect to pull out my tablet between sessions, but I didn’t.  I thought I may regret choosing to not take my actual laptop to the conference, but I didn’t.  I thought I would want to work on things between sessions as I received information, but I ended up preferring to let it all sink in and work on it later when I got home.  I took excellent notes (with my pen and notepad, I prefer writing) and I continued to make a list of things I thought about when it came to my blog.  Now I’m left with a large to-do list, but I feel refreshed from the conference and I’m excited about working through the list.

{3} A Blog Conference is the only place a speaker doesn’t feel ignored by people when they’re on their phone/computer.
This isn’t so much a surprise as it is a realization.  It hit me as I was sitting in on the Keynote speaker.  People were on their phones and laptops all over the room.  There were times that I even glanced at my phone.  I’m pretty big on being respectful when people are presenting/speaking or if you’re in a meeting that you don’t use your phone or computer, but while sitting their I didn’t feel uncomfortable doing it myself, the speaker didn’t particularly care or notice… it was…. natural.  normal.  no big deal.

{4} People who don’t even have a blog… attend a blog conference.
I went in expecting to meet a ton of people who have an established blog and blog every day, but I met an extremely surprising number of people who had never even blogged before, but they wanted to.  They had NO idea what they were stepping in to, how to start, or what blogging could be… but they were interested.

{5} This doesn’t have to just be blog networking.
I went in thinking about how to promote and grow my blog.  I didn’t expect to meet Denise who happens to have a sales job where she also has a lot of contacts.  She also invested in me throughout the conference constantly checking to see if I made it into downtown ok (from where I was staying at my cousins) and if she thought of a possible connection she had to help me with my job search, she mentioned it.  I sent her my resume this week and she has the potential to plug me in with people that may have job opportunities.  I was surprised to walk away with a new lead in the dreaded job search!

{6} I didn’t get pictures with other bloggers…
I somewhat regret this, but I also know that I wasn’t comfortable enough to do so.  I wish I had connected with more bloggers on a more personal level, but I also think that a lot of these bloggers had already known each other or were rooming together and my circumstance was a little different.  I wish I had some fabulous pictures to show y’all from my trip with all these other amazing bloggers (because they were all there!) but I just don’t have any pictures… I know… #bloggerfail big time!

All in all… there were some surprising things about attending a blog conference.  I had a great time, but I didn’t be as social as I could have been… I was also overwhelmed and that’s how I respond in situations like that.

My sweet friend, Meg, nominated me for the Sunshine Award!  I haven’t heard about this award, but I was excited to get nominated for it!  Meg had a few questions for me to answer and you can view those below!

I learned a few things about myself while filming this vlog…
1. I use a lot of words… mostly because I can’t think of the right word.  So apologize in advance for the 7 minute video below!
2. I use the words um and so A WHOLE LOT! ugh!
3. I feel awkward on video, but I’m learning to like it because I want too!

I mention in the video that I went to a ‘vlogging session’ at Blog Elevated, so this is my attempt at editing my very first video.  Don’t laugh, because I know it’s awful!  Sweet Jenny would probably wonder if I actually even sat in on her session lol.

My favorite blog post (as promised): I really LOVE this recipe!

The bloggers who I would be honored to give this award to:
Angela @ Simply Shepards
Brittany @ Where My Soul Belongs
Hillary @ A Whole Awful Lot
Sarah @ Fueled and Aflamed
Rachel @ The Random Writings
*Sorry, I don’t have 10 total.

Questions for you ladies:
1. Do you already have your plans scheduled for Thanksgiving?  If so, what?
2. How many times have you been to DisneyWorld?
3. What’s your favorite hot drink during the winter months?
4. What’s your favorite chore at home?
5. What’s your least favorite chore at home?
6. How many pets do you have?  And what kind?
7. What type of planner do you use?  If you use one…
8. Introverted or Extroverted?
9. How many blates have you been on?
10. Have you ever been snow skiing?

Looking forward to reading y’all’s answers if you choose to participate! 🙂
Thanks for choosing me for this award, it gave me a great excuse to begin to practice editing videos for my future in the vlogging world!