SO where do I start!? It’s been about two weeks since I left for the BlissDom Conference. I’m still feeling the BlissDom glow. It was such an amazing experience! Trying to think of how to recap this experience hasn’t been easy. How do you sum up a weekend full of awesome in one blog post? Why not do a top 5? I always love top 5′s. So here it goes, my top 5 things I learned at my first BlissDom:

1 –  ”Knowledge + Passion = Profit” and “Twitter is a conversation not a dictation” – Scott Stratten. {Okay so that was sort of two things but they are both from the same guy so I’m gonna just count it as one}  Scott had the most amazing “on stage personality”. As the opening key note speaker, he got me fired up, excited and ready to start BlissDom {as if I weren’t already excited enough}. I  was literally laughing so hard at his stories and had a huge smile plastered to my face during his entire speech. Full of knowledge, I just loved listening to him and can’t wait to dive into his two books I picked up. Follow him on twitter, he’s beyond awesome.

2. “Creativity is not just about Time Management, it’s Energy Management” – Jon Acuff. Jon was one of my favorite speakers at BlissDom. Not only did his session rock but his speech as the closing Keynote wrapped up the conference so perfectly. During his “3 Stages of an Awesome Idea” session, he talked about energy management. It hit so close to home that I can’t believe I didn’t think about it earlier. His newest book “Start” was given to us at the end of the conference – it’s like the road map to life, I can’t recommend it enough. He tackles fear and why it slows us down. My goal is to not let my fear slow me down.

Want another reason why he’s awesome? Check out this video where he describes how it feels like to wear man spanxs under his shirts, lol – might be kind of hard to hear over our laughter:

3. “The future of business is marketing with people not at people” – John Morgan. John’s session was amazing. Seriously, I say that about every session but it was so true. So many amazing speakers. I digress, back to Mr. Morgan. He layed out 6 keys to Branding. He challenged us with thinking about how we are viewed as a company and how that differs from our competitors. Seriously awesome stuff.

4. “Would you rather be famous or successful?” – Jeff Goins. Great question Jeff. In his writing workshop, Jeff discussed the definition of Craft: An activity involving skill in making things by hand. Writing is a skill. One that I hope to improve on. Ooo and I’d choose success vs fame any day of the week.

5. “You are here for the Magic. There is magic in face to face conversations, shared experiences and meeting people you normally see as avatars on the web” – Alli, Barbara, Paula & The Bliss Chicks. In my opinion this was “the” point of BlissDom. For me, it was about meeting & connecting with amazing people. Listening to their experiences and applying them to my own. It was about taking time for me to grow as a business woman, as a blogger and most importantly as a person. I found out a lot about myself during BlissDom:  going through the workshops, talking to sponsors and meeting new people. I was totally there for the “magic”.

In closing, it was just a wonderful experience. I have lots of resources to go back and do what I need to do, I got to meet some amazing gals {some of whom are pictured below}, and I came home to two happy beautiful children & a sweet hubby. So very thankful that Mr. Darling is so supportive and appreciates his “dude’s only weekends” with his boys when mama is away for the occasional conference. I came back feeling refreshed and ready.

Here are some pictures of my fabulous trip to BlissDom 2013. If you follow me on Instagram chances are good you’ve seen some of these pics. For those of you who don’t, start following me on Instagram @deliciouslydarling. Ooo and while your at it on twitter @ddarlingevents #shamelessplug. First up: Some of my Lovely Friends {Note: wishing I could have grabbed a pic of everyone so if you aren’t below, I’m sorry – I still got mad love for you} -

1st row|| pic 1: My BlissDom Roomie, Stacy from She’s {Kinda} Crafty. This chick is awesome, I seriously can’t say enough about how sweet, supportive & incredibly talented this lady is. If I can say one thing it is that I walked away from this conference with an amazing friend. || pic 2: Courtney from Pizzazzerie. Courtney is the sweetest. A brilliant businesswoman with the hugest heart. So glad I got a chance to see her again. || pic 3: My girl Alejandra from The Marshmallow Studio. Our personalities just clicked instantly. She is awesome and she has a new book about Marshmallows coming out {make sure you pre-order it today}.

2nd row || pic 1: The one and only Aimee Broussard. SO excited to meet Aimee. She was so sweet & welcoming. I’m totally looking forward to seeing her again at the “Southern Craft Academy” in August that she & Stacy are hosting. || pic2: Stacy & I again, she is awesome so there are a lot of pics of us. Giggle || pic 3: Courtney & I jammin’ at the “Girls Night Out” Event. She is the sweetest.

3rd row || pic 1: Me doing my thang at the “Girls Night Out” Event. Okay so there are a lot of pics of me. || pic 2: Some of the sweetest party girls ever. || pic 3:  Mariah from Giggles Galore. Incredibly talented, so awesome – I was so excited to get to meet Mariah. She’s amazing!

4th row|| pic 1: Amy Locurto from Living Locurto. Amy was so wonderful to talk to, we had an amazing chat over tex-mex. I just adore her & her new scrapbook line. || pic 2: Another pic of Alejandra & I. She’s awesome! || pic 3: a final picture of Stacy & I on the plane back home. Not only did we room together but we took both “to” and “from” flights together. Good times!

Just one more reason why I love these girls, here’s a quick video I captured on my phone of Stacy, Sandy {from Firefly Confections} and Aimee gettin’ down:

http://vimeo.com/63359198

So I have to share a few more pictures of the actual conference:

row 1 || pic 1:  Seattle’s Best Coffee sponsored breakfast for Day 1. Lots of yummy food and most importantly coffee!!! || pic 2: Photo booth fun with Stacy.  Check this, it was called “Mug Shot” and we stepped into a large mug with straws & whipped cream. Come on, tell me that’s not brilliant!? LOL, it made my morning. || pic 3: Ready to take notes. Organize my sessions with my “Day Designer” by Whitney English {Who was just one of the sweetest people ever. So happy I had a chance to meet her} and my sweet pink notebook that reminded me to leave a little sparkle where ever I go {from Target}.

row 2 || pic 1: Epic present from Stacy. A custom mason jar tumbler. Gotta stay hydrated at conferences and I did it in style. Thanks Stacy! || pic 2: Scott Stratten taking the stage the opening keynote. || pic 3: Scott, Stacy & I. So excited to have him sign a copy of his book.

row 3 || pic 1: Listening to Jon Acuff speak about Awesome Ideas. Amazeballs. || pic 2: Jon’s new book “Start”. I’m in chapter one and I have to say it is already awesome. Beyond pumped to get my official BlissDom copy. || pic 3:  John Morgan on stage doin’ his thing.

row 4 || pic 1 & 2: Fun with Johan. Gevalia Kaffe sponsored breakfast for day 2. Most importantly they brought their spokesman “Johan”. He was a good sport when Alejandra & I were posting for pic 1 but his “what is wrong with these chicks” expression cracks me up.  Yes, we are goofballs. || pic 3:  The view from our hotel room in the Gaylord Texas Resort. Such a beautiful resort and the perfect location to have a conference at. Loved it.

row 5 || pic 1: Checking out the Pier 1 Suite at the Exhibit sessions. It was wonderful to be able to chat with the designer that put together the room & I was so pumped to get a $25 gift card. || pic 2:  The “Promise” tree in the Johnson & Johnson suite. Epic. We all wrote down one promise, it could be to yourself, your family, whatever. I promised to spend more time laughing with my kiddos. || pic 3:  Lookin’ stylish for my last night at BlissDom.

row 6 || pic 1: I had to include one little picture of the French Macarons I brought to BlissDom. I stayed up late baking some yummies for some of my sweet friends, especially for Sandy from Firefly Confections {who brought us some of her famous caramels. You haven’t tasted heaven until you have had one of Sandy’s caramels. Not sure how you can taste heaven but you know what I mean!}. || pic 2: Got to meet Ana Gasteyer & Jeremy Sisto from Surburgatory. At this point Jeremy says “What’s your blog?”, I respond with “It’s an entertaining blog called Deliciously Darling”. Ana says “that sounds amazing”. To which I reply “sure is”. Yup. This happen in the few seconds I had to pose for this picture. LOL. Jeremy even did “rollin’ with the homies” for me. Throwback to Clueless. What a good sport. || pic 3: Came back to sweet, happy little boys that seemed to grow so much in the few days I was away from them. Could they be this big and mature sounding? Yup! They had a blast on “Dude’s only Weekend” with darlin’ daddy.

So I have to close out my recap with one more sweet tip from Jon Acuff. Wanna know how to “dominate” Instagram? Tilt your pics to the side. Regular picture = nice. Tilted picture = poem  So now I’m hashtag-ing everything #poem #dominate. Giggle:

Okay so I usually don’t write this much in my blog posts. Desserts, Crafts & Parties are all about images, so THANK YOU for reading this far. I really had a blast and I hope it shows!