Flat Robyn's Blissdom Adventures

Robyn wanted really bad to go to Blissdom, but she had other family vacations to attend and the dates overlapped. How anyone could put NASCAR before blogging conferences, I'm not sure... but apparently some folks really are in to that sort of thing. Whatever floats their boats - er - boosts their engines, right?

Seeing as how I love Robyn and all, I offered to take her with me (a stow away in my luggage at the Opryland Hotel - if only they knew)... but she couldn't make it to Texas in time to travel with us by car. She mailed her flat self to Tennessee in an overnight package and waited on me to arrive for the conference. If you have never heard of Flat Stanley, it's a really fun way to 'virtual travel' by mail and get pen-pal packages back from your far-away friends with lots of information and photos about the places you 'saw' on your trip. Homeschool kids all over the globe use it as a geography tool. Robyn's 'flattie' got to travel with me all over the Gaylord Opryland and back to Texas.

This post is the tall tale of her flat travel adventures.

I'm sure it was lonely at that concierge desk for those first few days, because it wasn't until Friday morning that I picked her up. Poor thing. That hotel was so large and my feet were so tired, that I ended up having to get her delivered to my room with the paper. Needles to say, her first few days in Nashville were a dismal disappointment. Things quickly changed course once we got together, though.



I was so excited to meet the I Heart Faces gals. Robyn and I loved finding out that they use Canon cameras, too. Maybe Robyn can go with me some day to one of their Dallas, TX photo conferences to rub elbows with some of the most talented shutterbugs in the blog world? Of course she would have to come in 'person' and not in 'flattie'. I would feel pretty small at that sort of conference, but I would love to go to one... if I had a conference buddy, that is. I've got some great camera gear and my crazy-hectic homeschooling and baby-raising schedule doesn't give me much time to figure out how to outsmart my equipment.



Robyn, the twitter-aholic that she is, asked to borrow Sarasophia's Mac. Bloggers are good-natured folk that understand social media addiction. After a quick online fix, they became fast friends.



We hit the expo hall for some snacks and ran in to these gorgeous ConAgra ladies. They all look like they could be cousins. They are as nice as they are pretty, seriously. Robyn couldn't believe it when they told her that Poppycock came in a Chocolate-Lovers flavor.



Save some for me, Robyn! She's a snack-hog. You find these things out about your friends when you room together. I still love her... but next time I'll bring extra munchies in case ConAgra isn't there to bail us out.



One of my long-time bloggies, Shannon Entin, whom I adore, found me in the hallway. She was thrilled to meet Robyn, too. Us three homeschool mamas posed for the camera just before we slipped in to hear another session. Unfortunately I didn't run in to Shannon again. Blog conferences are just too short!



Robyn had just as hard a time getting enough rest at Blissdom as I did. The agenda and events ran non-stop in to the night. There was no way we were going to make it to that Weight Watcher's jog at 7AM. I even slept through the Prayer Breakfast with [In]Courage that I had planned to go to. At least Robyn didn't pull the blanket off when I was sleeping. She's a great roomie.



Robin Sampson is one of Robyn's Homeschool Heroes (as is she one of mine). The two Robyns exchanged a quick 'hello' before I asked to snap their picture.



Then another Robin stopped by to make three! Robin Sampson, Robin Dance and Robyn - all in one picture! I couldn't help but think that spring might come early this year in the south.



Robyn loved meeting Darcy, whom she had heard all about from ME, since Darcy designed my blog here - using the original artwork that my kids drew. Darcy and Robyn got a little fresh, actually. I figure it's because Darcy is a world-traveler and speaks Italian.



I introduced Robyn to Frelle, and they both talked about how great the blogging sessions were. They were like old friends even though they only knew each other through Twitter. Frelle is my fellow 'blog conference junkie'. I'm hoping to see her again at Relevant later this year.



Robyn helped me spin the One2One wheel during break time. She won me a CD. Sadly, it somehow got misplaced after we got home, so I couldn't even begin to tell you what recording artist it was for.



Erin and Tsh were speaking about getting published in their session. I wanted to meet Tsh since I think we may be twins separated at birth. Maybe not in image, but certainly in personality and brain-patterns. I'm like the world's largest list-making, organizing-addicted, hoping-to-make-things-more-simple mom out there besides her. And I adore Erin. I wish she lived next door so I could go grocery shopping with her. She makes me feel like a foodie-failure. I'm going to have to buy a copy of her "5 Dollar Dinners" to see if I can redeem myself in the kitchen budget area. You don't want to know how many times we ate out last week.



Even though Robyn didn't get a swaggy popcorn bowl of her own, Dawn was willing to share. That's what bloggin' pals do. It was so cool to see all these 'invisible' homeschool and blog friends in real life. The popcorn-movie night sponsored by Haynes was a blast.



Even more homeschoolers. Marshie and Ruthanne love Robyn. They were thrilled to 'meet' her.



At lunch, Robyn raved about the southern iced tea. I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't already sweet, though. You had to add your sweetener at the table... and every real southerner knows that it's not the same as sweetening the tea when it's hot with real sugar.

Photo Credit: Mishelle



Robyn ate all of her salad. She was watching her flat girlish figure - even while on a trip. I dove in to the potato salad instead. I can't resist comfort food... especially while on vacation.

Photo Credit: Mishelle



Robyn asked to get a picture with me and lovely Melissa of A Familiar Path. She said that Melissa was one of her favorite bloggers. I guess I can share a favorite blogger. She's one of mine, too.



Flat Tidy Mom and Flat Robyn were brave to get up and sing karaoke at the Saturday night bash before we headed back to the room to crash. Cathe Holden got their picture together for me. Robyn felt funny to have forgotten her pajamas. Oh, well, Robyn, maybe next year you can remember to bring them - and maybe you won't be so flat then?




QUICK LINKS:

Wanna see more pictures from my Blissdom Adventures? Check out my Blissdom Flickr set. You can see all the flatties that were at Blissdom at the Flat Blissdom set, too.

For the rest of my Blissdom story, check out these past posts:
A Blissdom Recap that Isn't a Recap
Part 1: Blissdom Recap, 'Why Go to a Blog Conference?'
A Thank You to my Sponsors
Tennessee Gaylord Opryland Memories of Blissdom
Blissdom Baby Carrier Give-Away
My Guest Post by Robyn herself - telling about my Flat traveling plans
The First Day at Blissdom
Guest Post by Autumn who wrote me a Blissdom Limerick
Springpad (My Sponsor) hosts a 100$ Container Store Gift Card Twitter Give-Away
My aunt's biz-card ditty bag and my sparkly business cards for Blissdom
An Early thanks to my Sponsors
What I'm Bringing to Blissdom
A Bloggers Bliss


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