blogging

Blissdom, Brandi Carlile and Better grab a cup-a-joe ’cause this post is long

February 13, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 45 Comments

My lovely daughter and I went to see Brandi Carlile at the historic Bijou Theatre in Knoxville

on Wednesday. We ate at Nama Sushi—which is todiefor—- and then

sat numbstruck at the raw talent of Ms. Brandi.

She claims country western roots and is a self-proclaimed super-fan

of Elton John. Her lyrics are timeless and her vocal performance

purposely leaves the listener feeling vulnerable and amazed.

I loved her already but when she covered Folsom Prison Blues by

Johnny Cash and then busted out Stand by Your Man by Tammy Wynette,

I seriously wasn’t sure if I could keep myself composed.

You must give her music a try. She’s phenomenal. Kinda reminds me of my sweet CAiti’s voice.

And now I have 267 photos from Blissdom to show you. Go get coffee, I’ll wait.

Friday night, the (in)courage folks threw a little party and it

was so much fun to meet Annie and many of the other

(in)courage team.

I also got to hug Sibi there. She’s the author of the wonderful blog, Pearl and Grace. And she’s about the sweetest thing

I’ve ever met. She’s beautiful and gracious and genuine and funny.

And um, love the necklace.

As we were walking to the (in)courage party, I snapped this photo of little miss sassy Nester girl

and her SHOES! Stop.The.World. Of course, I love

Kristi’s boots too so I asked her to show us a little, um —-boot. You should go

to Blissdom if for no other reason than to shoe-watch.

On Saturday, we had a lovely full service lunch and I was lucky enough to sit with Kim

and Kris from YouCanMakeThis. They’re launching a new website soon called

DIYdish which will be fantastic I’m sure. I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

They’re so cheerful and friendly and funny

and they look just like Marie Osmond. Only prettier and more interesting.

I love these girls and you will too.

I’ve loved Emily from Chatting at the Sky since I met her last year.

But let me reiterate; she is so sweet and

authentic and lovely and gifted. And she has a book deal. I can’t

wait to say ‘I knew her back when…’

Then there’s my new BFF Melissa from A Familiar Path. There are no words.

And there were almost no pictures–because everytime I was with her,

I was laughing so hard that I forgot I even had a camera.

She is HI-Larry-us. With a capital Larry. I miss you dearie.

Let me just say that I should have stood on someones’ suitcase for this picture.

I’m quite vertically challenged—and I had on boots with heels! And I’m 5’5″-ish. Sorta.

These are all bloggers that I have admired from afar and I’m so glad I finally got to meet them all.

Meet Lindsey from Living With Lindsay, Emily from Remodeling This Life and Kimm from Reinvented.

And Emily, we never did get to have that coffee? Promise me, next year!

This picture makes me giddy. I was overjoyed to meet Lisa Leonard. She and her twin sister Chrissy

are so wonderful. Lisa led one of the sessions on social media–which was

one of my favorite sessions of the conference. And since her beautiful necklaces are

by far my favorite accessory, I was so excited to win one of her ‘by grace alone’

necklaces at the (in)courage party! Aren’t they beautiful?

The Harry Connick Jr concert was Friday night and we swooned together with

this fun little clan of girls. I feel so stupid because I knew wanted to meet Mary from Giving Up On Perfect

before I left. She was with Hillary, from The Other Mama, at the concert and I

didn’t even realize it was her. I’m gonna go ahead and

blame it on Harry and on this tweet I got from my husband that night.

But I love all these girls. Hillary, you are so funny!

And Sara, it was such a joy to spend time with you!

Meet Mary, Hillary, Sara, Lindsay, and Kristi. It was such a pleasure

to meet you all and so inspiring to read/feast my eyes upon, your work.

Last year at Blissdom, I was privileged to meet both the Nester and Sandy.

And what a blessing to renew these friendships in person. I think of them

both as my mentors and admire them for

how they honor their families as they pursue their

own dreams. They are both incredible women, strong and talented, yet humble

with servants’ hearts.

I’m so mad at myself for not getting better pictures of this motley crew. Kristi, Lindsay and I

sat with these crazy girls for several sessions. I consider them my peeps.

And they are completely to blame for my lack of photos.

Who can operate a complicated camera while rolling on the floor laughing? Yeah, not me.

But go visit them and you’ll see why I love them so much.

Melissa, Ruthanne, Marsha and Karin. Thank you girls for the abdominal

workout. Laughter really is the best medicine!

And last but not least, let me introduce you to the wonderfully talented and brilliant woman

who keeps my blog from exploding every other day. I love you Darcy and let me just

say that those Audrey Hepburn eyes—-are AMAZING!

I send Darcy a lot of emails (because I’m a little slow) and I often put interesting titles in the

‘subject’ of the email. The last series of (100) emails I sent her, I put “Edie is Annoying” as the subject.

My girls, who are always peering over my shoulder when I’m on the computer,

said, “Mom, why does she say you’re annoying?”

Because I am. And she loves me anyway!

There were people I met that I didn’t get pictures of (or at least decent pictures of) and a few that I’ve started blog-stalking since I got home.
I love meeting Mishelle and Layla and Cate. It was so great to see Rhoda and Kimba and Melissa and Jen again. I’ve started blog-stalking Toni and Moosh-in-Indy and Heather and Meredith and Lizzie.
And I’m still completely wiped out. I think I need to paint something soon. I hope I haven’t completely lost my mo-jo in all this fun I’ve had.
Love to you all and thanks for reading this eclectic, often long-winded, sometimes opinionated blog. I have an awesome giveaway coming soon so stayed tuned. I will ask you to update your bookmarks to my new url address “lifeingraceblog.com” as a prerequisite to entering the giveaway, so go ahead and do it now and then you can enter right away. It’s gonna be a good one. Toodle-loo!

Blissdom Deconstructed: Live, Write, Connect

February 8, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 44 Comments

When I left Opryland Hotel on Saturday, I was full to the brim with emotion. I couldn’t speak and I fought back tears for forty miles. It was much harder to leave my friends than I thought. This online community that I find myself in is incredible and Blissdom is the perfect chance to blur the lines between our online and offline lives. I learned some valuable information but more than that, I strengthened invaluable relationships. And rumor has it they are not expanding Blissdom next year, so if you want to go, start saving and planning now. It’s unlike anything you’ll ever experience–it’s just…..bliss.

So, here’s the short list of things I learned.

1. Content is still king.

It’s so easy in blog world to get distracted by a million other things. Headers, sidebars, platforms, SEO, social media and on and on and on. It’s so easy to lose sight of the fact that we’re here to tell our stories. And how we tell those stories will always be the most important thing. You might tell your story with pictures or with poetry or with compelling original writing. But tell your story. Tell the truth and they will come. Let your readers hear your voice and be authentic to that. If they meet you in real life, you want them to say, “You’re exactly like you sound on your blog.” Emily from Chatting at the Sky, who spoke on this very topic—and who is an amazing truth-teller—gave this quote by Howard Thurman that has become my new mantra,

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do that.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

And that is so true with writing/blogging. It’s tempting to try to decipher what it is that people want to hear. But what they want to hear is a ‘you’ that is alive and passionate. So do your passion and it will be compelling. And the best way to get better at writing is just to write. The second most important thing is to read great authors that you’d like to emulate. I find that the more I read, the more I have to say. And when I’m ‘fresh out’ of words and ideas, it’s usually because I haven’t been reading as much.
Quick tip: Read great books and tell your story with truth and passion.

2. Live then write.

Striking a balance between your online and offline life is difficult. But you first must live your life to be able to write about it. I can only sit down on Monday morning and write about Blissdom if I’ve been to Blissdom. If you find yourself at a loss of things to write about, step away from blogging/writing and go live your life. Don’t be afraid to take blog breaks. I have always admired my sweet dear friend The Nester for this. Even though she has a jillion people who read her blog, she seldom posts on the weekend. I’ve cursed her through my screen and said things like, “Come on Nester girl, it’s been four days, get to it, post something!”

But I do admire the boundary she draws for her family. And Megan from Velveteen Mind took a four month blogging hiatus and didn’t really worry about what would happen to her blog in the interim. Develop of healthy detachment from your blog. Don’t let it take over your life. Blogs make perfect slaves but terrible masters.
Quick tip: Live a full, productive offline life and then tell us about it.

3. Find meaningful ways to connect with your readers.

I haven’t been very proactive with social media. I like interacting with my readers on my blog and their blogs but that can be very time consuming. It’s taken me awhile to figure out how to use Twitter and Facebook productively without them becoming complete time wasters. Ironically, my husband, who was very hesistant to all social media at first, has taught me the power of Twitter.

{Just read this post if you want the scoop!}

So here’s my advice to you, get a Twitter account and spend some time figuring it out. It’s such an easy, quick way to interact with people–kinda like group texting— and it’s fun to use. If you have a smart phone, you can download a twitter application. I use tweetdeck but there are others. There’s a function called @replies where you can talk to specific people by using their twitter name (handle) with the @ sign in front of it. There’s also the powerful hashtag (ie #blissdom) which makes it possible to search any topic you’re interested in and it will bring up all the people on twitter who are talking about that topic. The #blissdom hashtag was going crazy this weekend but it makes it easy to follow people who have similiar interests as you. Once you figure it out, I think you’ll agree that it can be much more helpful and intuitive than facebook. And there won’t be old pictures of you with big hair and blue eye shadow from high school. You’ll still need FB for that! I still use Facebook some but Twitter is becoming my social media of preference. Steve says it’s the communication of the future. Follow me on Twitter (click the ‘follow me’ button in my sidebar) if you don’t already and send me an @reply to follow you!
Quick tip: Use Twitter regularly to interact with people you love/stalk. Use @replies liberally.

I miss my Blissdom girls already and had a wonderful weekend meeting them all. Alli and Barbara did an amazing job putting this event together. We were treated like royalty and the Opryland staff is impeccable! The sponsors were so generous to us and lavished treats and swag on us like crazy. Add this event to your calendar next year. You won’t be sorry! I’ll be back with another post on all the amazing women I met. I’m still processing my photos!
Have a great Monday. See you on Twitter!

See other Blissdom recap posts at JoLynn’s blog Musings of a Housewife.

Oh when the saints….

February 7, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 19 Comments

I am exhaused from the weekend, thrilled to be home with my family and anxious to share my thoughts about Blissdom. I have so much to ‘show and tell’ that I think it’ll take more than one post. But since today is Super Bowl day, I just had to share my little video of Harry Connick Jr singing, “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In”. I’m not a Saints fan but when Harry sings for you, it makes you want to be. I’m still lamenting the fact that my Vikings–and their fearless leader, Favre—didn’t make it. Our good friend, Mike, who is a die-hard Saints fans, is in N’awlins as we speak; so even though we’ll be cheering for Peyton and the Colts, we dedicate this little video to Mike and all you Saints fans. Who ‘dat?!
And this is a cute little picture of my roomies at the concert!

Blissdom Bound Y’all

February 4, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 34 Comments

As I was putting the finishing touches on my little love gifts to pass out at Blissdom, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my very southern roots. I made the cutest little bookmarks and very heavily-iced mocha cupcakes for my friends {old, new and yet to be made}, all the while listening to Tim McGraw’s song from the movie The Blindside called Southern Voice. It reminded me of so many things that I love about ‘the Southland’. I grew up on old school country music and can recite many-a-line from Coal Miner’s Daughter. I regularly say y’all, monogram far too many personal and household items and often get a little happy with the eye-shadow. I hug everyone, use too much butter, make a killer pan of cornbread and love everything Elvis and Johnny Cash. And though I rarely listen to country music these days, I’ve always had a teeny little crush on Tim McGraw. I think it’s because he resembles my own hottie husband and seems to be a devoted family man. Are you following my stream of consciousness here?

I’m going to Nashville for Blissdom…
which reminds me of my country music raising…..
which reminds me of how strange we southerners must seem to outsiders….
which brings me to butter cream icing.

For you see, butter cream icing breaks down all barriers—-and all arteries for that matter—–and buttercream icing seemed to be the most perfect way to welcome you to the south. That and Tim McGraw singing about cicadas, sweet tea and Hank Williams. Something about heading to Nashville makes me wanna put on my boots, make buttercream icing and listen to a little Tim McGraw. I can hardly wait to get there.

I’ll see y’all tomorrow.

I made the bookmark as a pdf file so you can download it, print it off, laminate it and bedazzle it. Love to you all! And don’t worry, if you’re not going to Nashville, I’ll take good notes and share everything I learn. My partners in crime are Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy and Krist from Pink and Polka Dot.

The Lure of the “Inner Ring”

February 1, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 33 Comments

{one of my favorite inner rings, forged by time and trial and good fortune}

It can be intimidating to go to a meeting of five hundred smart, opinionated, quite successful women. Let alone women bloggers: that’s another category altogether. And when 500 women gather at Blissdom this week, there’ll inevitably be 100 little groups of 4 or 5 women huddling and laughing and talking about all manner of topics, as it should be. We seek out those with whom we have much in common and hope to make true connections. But lurking closely is temptation to what C.S. Lewis, in his book The Weight of Glory, calls the ‘inner ring’. And we often perceive that we are somehow just ‘outside’ it. You know the ‘inner ring’ well from high school; the group of girls that are inseparable and exist for the sole purpose of excluding everyone else from their circle. The group is usually not a natural, organic group that forges easily because of the like interests shared by the parties. It’s a group that has the appearance of including the ‘important people’ or the ‘people in the know’. And it’s sole existence is exclusion. The allure for the inner ring only works if there’s an imaginary line of admittance which is guarded tightly by those already inside. Lewis points out what many of us already know;

If all you want is to be in the know, your pleasure will be short-lived. The circle cannot have from within the charm it had from outside. By the very act of admitting you it has lost its magic. Once the first novelty is worn off, the members of this circle will be no more interesting than your old friends. Why should they be? You were not looking for virtue or kindness or loyalty or humour or learning or wit or any of the things that can be really enjoyed. You merely wanted to be “in”. And that is a pleasure that cannot last. As soon as your new associates have been staled to you by custom, you will be looking for another ring.

The quest for the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a suprising result will follow. If in your spare time, you consort simply with the people you like, you will again find that you have come unawares to a real inside, that you are indeed snug and safe at the centre of something which, seen from without, might look exactly like an Inner Ring. But the difference is that its secrecy is accidental, and its exclusiveness a by-product, and noone was led thither by the lure of the esoteric, for it is only four or five people who like one another meeting to do what they like to do. This is friendship.

What we seek to establish and strengthen are friendships. Inner rings are unavoidable, necessary, and often innocent wholesome groups. It’s our desire to be admitted for the sake of being “in” and our pleasure at others’ exclusion that ushers in evil.

So, remember that the people sitting with you are likely the most interesting, kind, passionate people at the conference. And when you find, perhaps unawares, that a cozy inner ring has formed, be thankful for the gift of true fellowship, which never has exclusion as its’ touchstone.

See you at Blissdom!

Thank you Ruthanne for introducing me to PW’s photoshop actions (used on the above photo). I see an ‘inner photography ring’ in our future. Anyone else wanna join?

So they loaded up the truck…….

January 11, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 34 Comments

Well, I decided to move to WordPress and it’s gonna be more of a Klampett-style move. Jed pulled up his truck and loaded me and all my posts up….but we seem to have lost Jethro and Granny in the chaos. Pardon the mess and the random things flying overboard and hopefully in a few days you’ll feel right at home. The links may not work, the comments may not migrate and we will all bump into things as we find our way around. I think when all is said and done, you’ll love the new site. Darcy has been holding my hand all day and we’re both gonna cross our fingers that nothing explodes when I push the button to import my blog to this new site. I feel like I’m in charge of secrets at the FAA or something. I’m like Jack Bauer meets Jed Klampett. People with my lack of computer skillz should not be allowed ‘under the hood’ like this. So, without further adieu………..{maybe I should say some magic words}

p.s. I’ve got Granny’s rifle in case anything goes wrong!

I’ll explain all about why I moved to wordpress later but Darcy recently wrote a post on it if you’re considering it. Here’s one big reason I moved. Big photos!