blissdom – thursday

As I got ready to go to Blissdom on Thursday, I really didn’t want to go.  All my quirks and hangups about in person talking and in person meeting were coming up.  I wrote a BlogHer Disclaimer last year, and I think I should have reposted it.  It’s like…  I LOVE these things, and I HATE these things.  I love seeing my friends.  I love making new contacts and new friends.  I need to network for my business.  But I’m not the most secure person in the world and meeting new people brings all those insecurities out in force.

I was rather organized in getting ready to go.  Had a last minute hiccup in that Joseph had a field trip I forgot about.  Wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it meant him getting out of school a full hour later than normal.  Which meant no ride to the airport, so I just made a quick Super Shuttle call.  I was apprehensive, as they’ve never really been really swell in my book.  BUT!  Dude was there 5 minutes early – AND had no pickups other than me, so we went straight to Burbank.  I hate LAX, so I opted to go from Burbank to Dallas, and then on to Nashville.  At least I wasn’t going to have a huge layover in Dallas – just enough to get a bite to eat.

The first flight was a little scary.  We were having some rain in Southern California, and we spent a bit of time getting bounced around.  Enough to make me grab the armrests.  We had a couple of those roller coaster dips that put your stomach in your throat, which was…  an adventure.

Does anyone else pray before they take off?  I always do.  I start (in my head) to say I love you to each of my family.  Then I pray for their safety in my absence, and my safety on the trip.  I then pray for guidance of the pilot.  I then reiterate my relationship to God (aka hedging my bets to make sure He knows I believe) and finish with the Lord’s prayer.  Sounds a little silly when I write it out, but I do it every.single.flight.

When I actually landed in Nashville I was a little wiped out.  By the way, various country stars do the airport announcements there.  It was kind of hitting me that I just traveled 1800 miles one way for a blogging conference.

I arrived at the hotel around midnight.  It’s lovely.  Modern, but in a warm way, not a chrome/sharp edges sort of way.  And the chick behind the counter knew that it was me (I had called for the airport shuttle to come get me.)  So, as I’m walking in the door, “Hello, Mrs. Wilcox, it’s lovely to have you here.”  How nice to be treated that way.  The room is great.  Free wireless – yay!

Too tired to take any pictures so far.

Cold too – for me anyway.  I took a hat, scarf and gloves in my carryon just in case, and I was right to do so.  It was in the 30’s when I landed.  Positively balmy for some – but I live near L.A. so cut me some slack.

So, I arrived…  Tired, aprehensive, and excited all at the same time.