Blissdom Teachers

Today's Blissdom friends are a few of my favorite teachers. Click on the picture to be taken to their blogs!

The first is Saving For Someday. I have adored her for a long time and when getting ready for the first day of Blissdom and rocking out to "Beautiful" by way of a hairspray microphone (Don't judge...I always play Amercian Idol in my bathroom) she was one of the people I was chanting..."I get to meet her today...I get to meet her today"
I knew I liked her a lot, but when we got to really chat, I decided that I loved her. She's one of those people who is gentle, authentic and makes no apologies for it. (Oh and she laughs at all my jokes which makes her the ideal friend in my book) She spoke at Blissdom about the legal aspects of the blog world and I twisted a ton of arms to make sure I got to be there for that. I just HAD to be in the audience and I had a great time hearing my friend. I do have to work on my basic alphabet dancing as every time I tried to do the "YMCA" I kept getting my "C" backwards and hitting my friends.
The best part of her...she saw ME (read this post) and encouraged, loved me and was just who she is.

Next up is Belle Bean Dog. Who will forever be known to me as "Stinky Bean Dip" This is not an inside joke you aren't intended to get to make you feel out of the loop, but rather a nice mistake by my husband. He knows about all of you. He knew who I was excited to meet and as is common practice, I tend to call my friends by the Twitter handles rather than their real names. It goes both ways..most people call me "Crayon" He has heard me for months talk about Belle Bean Dog. Just like I can't do the "YMCA", he can't keep Twitter handles straight. He tweeted me to ask me if I got to meet "Stinky Bean Dip" yet. It was too good of a name slaughter to keep to myself.
This girl is an amazing writer and an even more amazing woman in real life. Best part...she doesn't live far from me so I am starting to see our halfway point as a beam of hopeful light. She's the kind of person that everyone wants to sit next to. Thankfully I got the opportunity many times!
She didn't speak at Blissdom, but she is an amazing teacher. From the way she handles herself in communities, her writing and her authentic voice...there is much to learn from "Stinky Bean Dip"

The last "teacher" for today is Shell from Things I can't say. We started off the conference meeting each other thing with a BANG. She tweeted something about her outfit (which was always fab!) and since I saw her I said "Boo". If you followed the stream it looked like I was "Boo"ing her outfit choice. FACEPLANT. I quickly followed it up with an explanation but there is nothing like insulting someone right before you meet them. (Sigh...I do this a lot!)
Shell is one of those power women. When she walks in a room, you notice. When she writes, you notice. When she speaks...you feel like you are chatting with an old friend. Don't let her good looks scare you. You may want to hide in a paper bag when you see her, but this lady is down-to-earth, welcoming and humble. I've been following her advocating (is that the right word?) for a while and she has taught me that when you are affected by something to let it move you and affect others. Use it. Own it.