Ree Drummand, the Pioneer Woman

After arriving in Chicago on Thursday, I was ready and excited for the first full conference day. My roommate Virginia and I thankfully learned that we are both low maintenance women when it comes to sharing a room and bathroom because the day started early. By the time we got to the kickoff keynote, Ree Drummand, the Pioneer Woman, we felt like we had known each other for years. Over three days we shared conversations about difficult first marriages, happy second marriages (OK, Steve and I aren’t technically married).  We learned when either of us got quiet it meant that we were tired or hungry—this was the only time we were quiet.

Queen Latifah was the emcee for the Voices of the Year presentation

We both want our blogs as well as our lives to grow and evolve. Each speaker and breakout session taught us something that will help us meet our goals.  My favorite event was the Voices of the Year (VOTY) presentation. Queen Latifah  may have been the emcee, but the real queens were the powerful words of the women who read their stories.  They were funny, powerful, tragic, and heartfelt. They were all real life experiences that the writers had a very understandable need to share on their blogs. It was a good thing I brought Kleenex, my Indian name is She Who Weeps and I cried as much as I laughed.

Shannon Bradley Colleary, a GenFab woman presented her hilarious story.

Shannon Bradley Colleary is a GenFabber who presented a hilariously funny story, What I Know About Sex Now That I’m in my 40s. She has the links on her post to the other women who read. There were a dozen women who read their stories, but 100 VOTY bloggers were selected and honored for their outstanding stories. Several honorees were friends from the GenFab crew. Each winning blog had a huge 4′ x 8′ foot poster for everyone to read.

After this heartfelt event, the tears of laughter continued with some of my new best friends. There were about a dozen of us, having a drink and getting to know each other in a quiet place with comfortable couches and a great night view of Chicago. All of a sudden I saw my roomie and one of the honorees lugging her 4′ x 8′ foot poster to where we were seated. The honoree thought this was a great thing to bring home. Two others honorees also thought this was a great idea, so up the escalator they went and back down the escalator with their ginormous posters to where we were gathered. We were all rather proud of the chutzpah of this heist…and then it slowly…very slowly began to dawn on all of us …how does one get a 4 ‘x 8’ foot poster home? The realization of the probable $400 shipping costs started to sink in as well as where does one discreetly display a  poster of this size in one’s home or office cubby? So I was part of the crew that helped return the “borrowed” posters back up the escalator to the scene of the crime. When someone asked us what we were doing when we were discreetly putting them back in place, I looked him in the eye and said, “Don’t ask.”

The last I saw of the one that wasn’t returned…was of it quietly being shoved into an elevator.

Click here for Adventures From BlogHer; Chapter 3 .
Hi, I’m Connie McLeod of My Creative Journey, I write about my creative life.  If you like my adventures I’d love for you to follow me. I promise no spam. Here’s my card (imagine I’m shaking your hand). 

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