Blissdom 2013

I came, I saw/heard, and conquered.

 

Blissdom 2013

 

I’ve always wanted to go to a blogging conference.  They always seem to be on the East or West coast, so I was thrilled to find out Blissdom was going to be here in DFW this year!  Of course I had to go because it was so close.  I got to meet so many fabulous gals I talk to online in person.  It was awesome!  Everyone was so nice and I had a great time.
 
Here are my roomies Lindsey, Leah, and Heidi

These girls were so much fun!  We stayed at the fabulous Gaylord Texan.  I’ve always enjoyed staying there and it’s a great place for conferences and events.  The rooms and service are wonderful.

 Our room
 View from our balcony into the atrium
 Goodies from my wonderful sponsor Milo Paper!

(If you didn’t get some of these pretties from me at Blissdom you can still use coupon code “BLISSDOM” for 40% off & go like their Facebook site!)  Thank you Milo Paper & Picture Keeper for sponsoring me.  If I got your blog card I’ll be drawing a few winners for a PK4 Picture Keeper too!

 Meeting some of my favorite bloggers 🙂

Heading to the handmade marketplace.  Very cute stuff in there.  Megan and I got sparkly bracelets from The Shine Project.

 Registering for the weekend
 One of my fave DFW bloggers Meagan

We then headed out to dinner for some yummy Mexican at the Gaylord.  Thank you so much Polka Dot Posies for dinner and wonderful conversation and laughs.  You.are.awesome.

 Night in sponsored by Bissell

 Sweet ladies with their Milo Paper notepads 🙂
After the Bissell event all the sponsor booths opened & that was a lot of fun!
 
 Duck Tape dress and shirt/jacket like on Project Runway
 Famous Footwear and yummy cupcakes
 Johnson & Johnson gave us lots of goodies for our babies back home.
 We got lots of goodies from all the sponsors at Blissdom
 Hair and makeup lounge in the One2One suite
 Mandy getting her makeup done.

Me after my makeup & eyelashes.  I have never had eyelashes put on and I forgot about them until I thought I was losing hair in the shower the next day!

 Blissdom had some great motivational speakers
 The Gaylord atrium

 I cannot wait until Despicable Me 2 comes out!  Can’t wait to take Connor!

 I won some Coach perfume at the Ebates booth woohoo!

My favorite breakfast was sponsored by Seattle’s Best Coffee.  This giant coffee mug was so much fun!  Their new blended iced coffee was amazing!

 Whip it!

I picked up Megan at the airport.  She is so precious….and not to mention she is Mama to the cutest twinsies ever.  Her plane got struck by lightening and then I think I may have freaked her out a little bit driving in Dallas….but it was fun spending time with you Megan!!!  I’m sad I didn’t get to say goodbye, but glad we got to have a fun weekend together 🙂

 Yummy Sbarro pizza
Thank you Blissdom gals for a great weekend and fun memories.  ALWAYS a good time and I think I just about saw everything besides having to leave early due to a sick kiddo and hubby with food poisoning….yeah he hasn’t been out of bed all day.  Fun times. 
 
It’s been real….until next time!
 
DFW loves you come back soon!

The 3 Birthday Race Car Party {That Didn’t Happen}

Sometimes you have the best intentions and then life happens.  I had all the party supplies, cupcakes, and everything else needed for the perfect race car birthday ready to go…..then Friday night happened.  Connor was up all night with a croupy cough.  My sister, Vinny, and Jarrett were in town already and my Mom and Dad got in late Friday.
 
Everyone was here!  Terence, Connor, and I got about 3 hours of sleep Friday night.  Needless to say Saturday wasn’t going much better and you could just tell Connor boy wasn’t feeling good.  I made the decision to cancel the party.  I know a party is not what’s important, it’s being surrounded by the people you love and having fun!  And we had just that.
 
Later in the weekend Jarrett got sick and my Mom started feeling bad :-/  What is going on with the allergies already TX???  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
 
Here is my big 3 year old….
 solid chocolate suckers from Hot Chocolates

 Here are the race car cupcakes I made.  They were really easy.  I just dipped them in melted chocolate chips and then rolled them in crushed mint oreos.  I wanted it to look like a race track 🙂

 Opening presents from Nana & Poppy

 Poppy let Connor have all his loose change to fill his piggy!
 Jarrett & Connor eating Cheerios

 They love each other so much.  Connor keeps asking where everyone went….waaaah!

 My sister found these shirts at Old Navy.  Aren’t they so cute???

Later that day we headed out to the park with my family and T’s family came over too, along with cousins Alicia & Ellie.  I got some confetti eggs for the kids to play with.  They sell them in grocery stores now.

 Our boys
 Vinny & Bonnie
 Mom is used to having two kiddos to entertain 😉
 Me & Bon

Ugh….it was sooooo windy.  Just so you know I didn’t get the Miley Cyrus haircut….that would be the wind. Thank.You.

 Big boy and his 3rd cupcake….the candle wouldn’t light!
 Me and Bonnie
 My sweet niece Alicia
 Flying kites

 Poppy!!!

We had a great time!  I miss my family already, and although everything didn’t go according to plan we got to visit and make memories we’ll never forget.

I Need Your Help!

Hey Ya’ll!
 
I need your help!  I entered a contest for our local mall to be a Style Setter Blogger and I made it to the top 3 finalists!!!  Yay! 
 
Can you help a sista out by voting for me? 
 
It just takes a second and I would REALLY appreciate it 🙂
 

 

Voting ends March 29th.

 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

In other news:  I had a great time with my fam this weekend…..catch up posts to come later.  I miss my Mommy and Daddy already!  Waaaaahhhh!!!!  If you live close to your family don’t ever take it for granted. 

Blogger Biggest Loser Winner!!!

I had the hardest time choosing a winner for this challenge.  You all did great and far exceeded my own progress.  I look forward to watching your continued success too!  Maybe we’ll do a 6 month progress report???
 
In the mean time anyone is more than welcome to use the Blogger Biggest Loser button and continue to carry the torch.  Obviously I’ve had a lot going on and (honestly) am not the best person to be heading this up! 
 
Congratulations to….
 
 
I chose Heather because not only has she lost over 12 pounds but she’s been super inspiring to myself and all the other people in the challenge.  She’s a wife and mom to 2 beautiful girls.  She’s motivated and I can tell she’s going to be one FOXY mama!!!! (No pun intended).
 
Heather you did great and I think you truly deserve this win!  Good luck to you and all who participated and stuck with it thus far…we had a lot of people drop out, but so happy for those who stuck with it!
 
Check out my friend Ashley.  She has a very inspiring weight loss story too!  So proud of her!
 
Thanks again to all our sponsors and I wish you well and many blessings as we all continue this journey to get fit and feel good!