of bliss, sis, and kindred spirits

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I am back and I am blessed. Not only did I get to spend time with my sister this weekend in Nashville, but I was given many beautiful and unexpected gifts in the form of conversations with women who blog.

These are my blurry roommates. They aren’t blurry in real life. In real life, they are all kinds of beautiful. My sister, The Nester is to the right of me with her hair and her beads and her unassuming ways. She is fabulous, but you already knew that. Next to her is Sandy of 4 Reluctant Entertainers who I want to be when I grow up. Finally on the far right is Melissa of The Inspired Room. She and The Nester shared the story of their blogs in the final session of the day. Listening to them was both encouraging and inspiring. All three of these women write about living simply and embracing a balanced, imperfect life.

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There was a lot of this happening, as you can imagine. From the left, this is Melissa, Tsh of Simple Mom, Nester and Jen of Balancing Beauty and Bedlam who is not only a friend in real life, but also kept Nester and I company on the long drive to and from Nashville.

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And then there is Amber of The Run a Muck. Two words: kindred spirit. Meeting her was one of those “Hello. I love you. Won’t you tell me your name?” moments. I connected with her instantly, and when I checked out her blog one sleepless night in Nashville, I knew why. This lovely soul was created to write. Read her. You will be blessed. A gift indeed.

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There was lots of eating, as seen here by Kim of Endless Possibilities.

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There were some crazy great panel talks, like this one with Megan, Mrs. FussyPants and Arianne.blissdom09-shoes

There were also some really great shoes. I took lots of photos of people’s shoes this weekend. Actually, I took lots of photos period. If you would like to have more of a peek into the weekend and see more fantastically talented people, feel free to check out my flickr stream, which I am still adding to so check back.

I’m so glad I went and so pleased to have met so many of you. If you are interested in seeing more posts about BlissDom ’09, visit Musings of  Housewife, a hub for all the action.