All my new BFFs from SheSpeaks

Have you ever been so stinkin' excited about something that you hop out of bed early, rush through your morning routine, and discover that it's way too early to leave yet? Then you decide to go ahead and leave anyway?

Friday morning, I got to the hotel very, very early for SheSpeaks. So I wandered upstairs where I met Carrie McGinty of P31 and had a great conversation about publisher appointments (she was headed to one).

I then wandered downstairs to the lobby and happened upon a conversation *about me* where I met Emily and Amy Jo talking about Chinese adoption. We started a great conversation, then took it over to Chick-Fil-A to keep it going. Why Chick-Fil-A? Because Amy Jo had never had Chick-Fil-A. And get this.

You will gasp in horror when you read it.

Amy Jo had never tasted sweet tea.

Heavens!!

But she is from the northwest, so it's understandable. Thankfully she liked it.

I had to race out of CFA to head to Chili's for lunch with some of the bloggers. And I met...

Robin - who is tiny as a toothpick with a personality that will fill up a room. She is a blast!

LisaB - who is totally comfortable in her skin and I love that she rides a Harley. I'm also supremely jealous of her shopping trip with Sheri, another new BFF.

Dawn - the ultra-talented web designer of some of my favorite blog looks. BTW, Dawn, after Mr. at Home worked on my blog, he said you don't charge nearly enough!

Back at the actual, you know, conference, we stood around watching people coming in, trying to identify people from their blog pictures. As Robin said, it was like Hollywood for bloggers.

At the bloggers' reception, I met Big Mama and BooMama because I caught them standing alone for a moment and pounced. I will tell you they are exactly like they write. Melanie is tall, model-thin with great hair and fabulous fashion sense and I absolutely *loved* Sophie's southern accent! A few minutes later, I met Shannon from Rocks in My Dryer, but I didn't recognize her even though I've seen pictures. She is tiny and cheerleader cute and a blast to talk to and shop with, trotting through the mall in search of flip-flops.

As I was talking to Marybeth, she introduced me to Megan, who was my editor for my story in I'm Glad I'm a Mom! I almost started singing "You are the wind beneath my wings", but I decided to just talk to her instead. I'm sure she's thanking her lucky stars.

At a table in the hall, I met Emily who has the most fabulous haircut ever and she was such fun to spend time with. She was in my peer critique group and is a wonderful writer.

At dinner, I met Fawn, who had great hair and the gumption to rent an RV and drive halfway across the US with her mom and 5 kids (only 3 were hers) for the conference, and Christie who is such a practical, encouraging person. I loved them!

There was Jo-Lynne who helped me get tickets to Sheri's "fashion show" by telling Sheri we wanted to go, which prompted Sheri to stop me in the hall and tell me that there were 3 tickets waiting for us at the desk - woohoo! Then I had to track Jo-Lynne all the way around the hotel to give her her ticket.

I spent Saturday night's bloggy buddies dinner across from Sarah and enjoyed just talking about cooking and acting and blogging. She gave me a yummy looking recipe that I think I may be cooking tomorrow night.

One of my most exciting moments was when I headed to Lisa's car to go to dinner Saturday night and I caught a glimpse of a name tag that read "It Coulda Been Worse". I almost fell over, "You're DEEDEE!?!?" I think I scared her. But hers was the second blog I ever read and I totally heart her blog. Trust me, she is just as fun in person.

Since this is getting long and Mr. at Home will be "at Home" soon and wanting dinner, I am cutting it off. There are a ton more people that I met and loved and drew encouragement from and I miss you all already!