Wednesday, August 5, 2009

She Recaps

Most people rank their fear of Public Speaking higher than they rank their fear of death. As you probably already know, I'm not like most people... in many regards {insert your own joke here}... but specifically in this one. I to speak in front of people.

Go ahead. Call me crazy. I'll wait...

I love the prep, the practice and the rush of adrenaline that come with the whole event. With that in mind, I heard about a Christian women's conference called She Speaks put on by Proverbs 31 Ministries and knew I had to be there. It is specifically geared towards writers, speakers and bloggers- my own kind of peeps.

When I got there last Friday, I quickly realized that at least in one regard, all these amazing, talented women were so much like me: there was not a time or space when any of us could get a word in edgewise. But I was so happy to be among my own.

Here's the cool thing about God- He put some lessons in the weekend just for me. I was (in)couraged, inspired, uplifted and renewed. God is calling me to speak, to write, to blog, so I'm going along for the ride. I can't tell you how much it blesses my life that you would consider coming along with me.

There were pages and pages of notes full of insight from all the sessions and I'm sure I'll continue learning and sharing for months to come. It was like drinking water from a hydrant- holy water, of course. Oh, and there were also fun sessions like "Taking the Blah out of your Blog" by BooMama and Lysa TerKeurst that were a must. Hopefully this blog will be completely de-blah-ed soon. We {the blog and I} are a work in progress.

You wanna know another fun part? I got to meet SO MANY bloggy friends IRL! {That's In Real Life and I'm embarrassed that I know that. Please resume as if I'm not a goober or tween.} Here's where the name dropping begins.
Here we have a quick dinner with (L-R, top to bottom) Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife, me, Mary from Giving up on Perfect, Amy from A Woman Inspired, Lisa from Simply His (bottom) Laura Lee from Selah {it's a super long title; just click here}, Dawn from My Home Sweet Home, Nester from the Nesting Place and Heather from Especially Heather.

And here I am with my new new BBF {that's Bloggy Best Friend}, Mary . She is smart, witty, wonderful and just precious. Please pop on over to her blog and tell her I said so. One of my most favoritest of her qualities is that we have children who were born on the EXACT same day. That makes us friends forever since we will always be stressing over birthday parties together.

I had an awesome mountain top experience at She Speaks- one that makes it hard to come back to reality. But somehow the loads of laundry and dishes must get done, so I guess I'll do it with a cheerful heart, danggit. I hope to go back to She Speaks again next year and I'd love for you to come with me! Let me know if you're interested. I'll reserve you a seat at the ulta- de-lux 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. It's where the cool kids eat.
Check my new friend Jen's site- Balancing Beauty and Bedlam- for a linky list of all the She Speaks recaps and enjoy!

11 comments:

Rebekah said...

I'm so glad you had a good time! Now if they just had a conference for iVillage addicts I would be there.
You are such a positive person Hillary, gosh I wish I could be that way sometimes. :)

Allison at Anointed With Grace said...

Girl, you are unique--with your love to speak in front of people! As a writer, I prefer to hide behind my words :) Maybe I will take the speaking track next year (yikes!). SO glad that God--and Embassy Suites--put us together as roomies. You are so much fun!

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

Yes, yes...you are just too precious!! Have I told you I (heart) you lately? Yep, and so glad when I read this post I can hear you saying it. :)

amykat said...

Hillary - you just make me smile! I had never read your blog prior to She Speaks - and now it is one of my favorites!
And I totally love Five Guys....the BEST hamburgers and fries that God ever put on the planet.
Love ya chica!
amy

phillips phamily said...

Yes, but I'm the dork who just hovered her cursor over the names under the picture expecting the little identifying box to pop up on the picture (a la facebook)! If you are into public speaking, you should find a Toastmasters group near you. I've got a friend who loves and thrives on that same thrill you get. She has a great blog and loves to meet new people: http://emilyosburne.blogspot.com/

Glad you had fun and enjoyed the Five Guys-MAJOR splurge around here.

I love that feeling after a really good women's retreat or event. Since my exercise classes ended last week, I've had to jump into the reality place, too, but we're soaking in the last days of summer!

Thanks for your encouragement regarding being overwhelmed. You'll find out why soon...

The Writer Chic said...

Ooh! Instead of the zoo, let's go to SheSpeaks together next year. =) Deal? Deal!

LauraLee Shaw said...

It was an incredible joy to meet you. YOu were one of my favorite people, and I'm so glad I let the bloggers kidnap and drag me from place to place. Lord-willing, I'll be there next year, so...friendship to be continued. :D

Jenn McPherson said...

What an awesome time! Sounds like fun!!

Queen of Arbitrary Randomness said...

Girl! Thanks for the comments and the email! God has wonderful plans for you! He has already used you to bring tremendous joy to my life in just the last couple of days. I feel privileged to join the ride and watch as He uses you. On a lighter note I'm gonna put an email together tomorrow with the details of our pirate party!

Melissa, Multi-Tasking Mama said...

She Speaks was definitely one of the highlights of my year! Glad you had a great time too =)

Jennifer said...

How cool. I would love to attend a conference like that!

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