Business cards: Think outside the box.

Three day BlissDom conference requires three posts to recap. If you missed the other two (1), (2), go ahead and read them!

By day three I was all talked out. There’s only a so long an introvert can be outgoing around strangers. But I kept it goin’ and handing out my button business cards. I gotta say, it definitely helped having something other than a piece of paper to hand out. I received a lot of compliments on how unique it was, that I handed these out. nancy-button2

Finally! A photograph of the food I ate at the Delta Meadowvale. This breakfast was tremendous. Eggs, bacon, Tim Hortons tea, some juice.breakfast-day3

After breakfast I prettied myself up and put on some bold red lips from Annabelle Cosmetics. You know, since I’m doing the #24Day challenge and all. I told you the mirrors were flattering. HOLY why can’t this mirror be in every bathroom I enter? Flawless skin, if I do say so myself. Probably help from the philosophy skin care I used and foundation. Photo completely untouched. I think I may end up using it to update my headshot on my bio there, to the right.headshot-in-mirror

I changed my clothes and headed down to the Tim Hortons room to get more tea (I drank it constantly!). Earlier that weekend I noticed that two other bloggers who are also doing the #24Day challenge was at the conference. So of course we had to take a photo of us all together with the same lip colour: Monroe! Meet Michelle from Lipstick Rules, and Anjali from Rock That Look. Annabelle-24Challenge

The last day of the conference was all about learning, and listening at the sessions, and micro sessions. One of the three micro’s I attended was Kyla from Mommy’s Weird. I keep repeating myself. I was so happy to meet Kyla. She is hysterical, easy to chat to, down to earth, and dances up a storm at PJ parties ;)kyla-and-i

I walked around after my micro sessions, feeling so informed on how to grow my blog. Honestly, it’s so difficult to put into words on what I learned this weekend. The friends I met. The companies I can finally put a face-to-the-name to. The weekend flew by and I am sad that it’s over — but I will go back next year because I had such a blast.

Hallmark surprised us with a completely revamped set up. They were ready for Christmas and giving us all sorts of goodies in huge gift bags. Christmas-at-Hallmark

Lunch from Lentils. Spoiled with salmon, goodness. I’ve never had lentils before, and they didn’t disappoint! So good, you guys. lentils-lunch

After the last sessions, we had a closing keynote with guest speaker Drew that left everyone in tears (good tears) we had a three hour break. I was sitting on the couches in the hallway for most of it. Just relaxing. I got a tweet on my phone that I ended up winning a purse that I spotted at the Handmade Market Place earlier. I love it. It’s a small, yet practical passport explorer bag.  our-family-world-purse

Finally after about an hour of sitting on the couches after everything was over, my stomach got the best of me. I decided to listen to it, and feed the belly. Sliders and sweet potato are always a good choice.supper-at-delta-meadowvale

The PJ party was another highlight of the weekend.ready-for-the-pj-party

Sponsored by Cottonelle and PayPal Canada. Cottonelle had an amazing spa-like retreat for us where they set up manicure tables and gave massages all night long. I b-lined it to the massage table as soon as I walked in, and thankfully at that point there wasn’t any lineups. The massage was very welcomed after a blissful, long weekend. express-spa-at-blissdom

Brandy, Nicole and I. Brandy-Nicole-Nancy

Tatiana, myself and Shannon.pj-party

There was so much dancing, so much laughter and fun. I learned a ton this weekend. Not only about my blog, but about myself. BlissDom Canada and everyone involved has truly outdone themselves and I will be back again next year. I also want to give a special shout out to Chevrolet Canada once again for sponsoring me to go.

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1 Chevrolet Sponsor, 11 cups of Tim Horton’s tea and 9 white wines later…

BlissDom recap: One Chevrolet Sponsor, 11 cups of Tim Horton’s tea, and 9 white wines later…I’m back from my weekend at BlissDom Canada blogging conference. I’m not even exhausted. Especially surprising since my liquid intake this weekend literally consisted of just white wine and an assortment of Tim Hortons, and Tetley tea drinking this weekend. I’m currently hydrating with the cute Philosophy water bobbles as I write a recap here. I also took an extra goody bag from Philosophy to give to you guys in a later blog post. ;)

philosophy water bobble

Towards the middle of September I decided I wanted to go to the third annual BlissDom Canada conference and I made it happen. This weekend is will truly be hard to recap into a few blog posts just how great the weekend was. If you’ve been following my twitter for the past weekend, you’ve probably been bombarded by me tweeting pictures of everything with the #BlissDomCA hashtag. I’m not even going to apologize at how annoying that may have been for some of my followers because I LOVED BLISSDOM.

And can I be honest for a minute? I really didn’t think it was going to be THAT awesome. Sure I thought I’d meet a handful of people, and talk to my favourite companies that were sponsors there. But my expectations were completely blown out of the water. My eyes even watered up at some most of the sessions, and I wasn’t really expecting that. I’m not a crier/super emotional person. Unless you can classify super excited doing a pee-dance all the time, emotional. Whatevs I may have had a few fan girl moments (meeting Lena, Kim & Sarah from Philosophy & Coty, Jared from McDonalds, and Kaitlin from Chevrolet) on more than one occasion this weekend. Not embarrassing at all.

When I walked into the Delta Meadowvale hotel, I didn’t have a sickly feeling. I didn’t want to walk right out of the hotel feeling overwhelmed.lobby-at-delta-meadowvale

I just felt like I needed to be there and I was. I was completely myself, I wasn’t shy (which is strange), and I walked up to people who were standing by themselves so they wouldn’t feel out of place or lonely in this huge unknown place.

Once I spotted Kaitlin, I did a happy dance and gave her a huge hug. She’s from Chevrolet Canada who sponsored me to attend and hooked me up with this sweet hotel room for three nights. kaitlin-from-chevy-canadaOh, and provided me everyone with candy. candy-at-chevrolet-canada

It was very swanky, and fancy hotel room I had. I felt like a million bucks when I walked in.Delta-Meadowvale

Making myself at home.Delta-Meadowvale-Hotel-room

The bathroom mirrors must’ve been one of my favorite spots about the room. K, wait. That sounded far more vain than I intended it to. But look at the ring of light around the mirror itself. It gave off a perfect glow to the bathroom and I gotta say, made me look preeee-tee flattering. I took a few selfies in that mirror the past weekend ;) bathrooms-at-Delta-Meadowva

The first night was the newcomers welcoming party which was sponsored by 19 Crimes wine. Love the marketing. Ha ha.19crimes-mugshot

Free wine? Don’t mind if I do.
19-crimes-night

The place was beautifully decorated. I LOVE white everything (computers, accessories… COUCHES..) and it felt so incredibly fancy. It’s the only word that comes to mind, so I apologize. Everything was fancy to me, haha. Shannon and Jennifer gave an introductory speech and welcomed us all to the event. shannon-and-jennifer

The first person I met at BlissDom was Paula from Product Junkie. Funny that we were neighbours at the hotel the entire weekend and didn’t realize it until the very last night. product-junkie-and-i

From all the free white wine I was drinking, I obviously had to use the bathrooms at some point throughout the night. What I didn’t know was that Cottonelle was one of the main sponsors, and sure enough they pulled through and decorated the bathrooms appropriately so. #LetsTalkBums folks.cottonelle-sponsored-bathro

I ended up going to bed fairly early throughout the entire weekend. Never a night past midnight. Does that mean I’m getting old? I’d like to just think it’s because I was stoked to use all the Philosophy products provided in the hotel. Betcha can’t guess which is mine, and what the hotel provided. Do it. Dare you.philosophy-at-delta-meadowv

Makeup already out the first night. Had to photograph it, the shelves and the products alone were just photo-worthy.philosophy-products-in-the-

I’m going to get really cheesy here for a moment. But I really couldn’t have done it without you guys supporting my blog. Commenting on all of my posts, and growing with me — it gave me the confidence to actually go to a blogging conference. ALL BY MYSELF. I knew no one! And I’ll do it all over again in a heart beat.

Look at the blogging business cards I picked up from 3 days. I counted them. There’s 51 of them. That’s not just passing them out to anyone/everyone because who just passes a card to someone and walks away? I managed to talk to each and every one of these bloggers and sponsors. I don’t even know what overcame me. But I was feelin’ chatty and met a shiz-ton of new friends who I have grown to cherish over the weekend. What a time, BlissDom Canada. What a time.
business cardsCome back tomorrow for a recap of the second day!

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What to pack for BlissDom Canada

In just a few short long days (time is crawling by since I’m so excited to attend) I’ll be on my way to Mississauga for a blissful adventure attending the big Canadian blogging conference known as BlissDom Canada. All thanks to Chevrolet Canada for giving me the VIP treatment — hosting me at the Delta Meadowvale, along with the 2½ day BlissDom conference pass.

For the past few weeks I’ve been slowly putting together a packing list of what to bring. That way, I don’t stress out and forget anything, whether it be a small weekend getaway like BlissDom, or a week long trip to Newfoundland.

Since I blog about basically everything I do lately, why not also blog about what I’ll be packing for BlissDom? Seemed like the thing to do!

I scribbled out what I thought was necessary to pack.

packing-list-for-BlissDom

Then put it all on the bed to see if it’d all fit in my small carry on luggage. I don’t know why I decided on bringing a small carry on, I don’t plan on flying. I’m driving there myself. Basically I planned out my outfits and packed that way. I find that easier than packing shirts I like, or pants I enjoy wearing. Putting outfits together saves me luggage space so I can fit swag!what-to-pack-for-blissdom

Spot the Make Up For Ever bag?  I have a little something up my sleeve with this tote. I’ll be tweeting my whereabouts and carrying it around throughout the event. 11 lucky BlissDom attendees will receive a little treat from Make Up For Ever. :) I’m not allowed to tweet those two together since MUFE isn’t a paying attendee. So I’ll have to give you samples OFF the conference floor.

I know, it may seem lame but yes, that is a folder that I’m bringing with me. It’s all of my to-do lists! I can be organized you know.my-blissdom-folder

Also, my makeup and hair essentials are coming with me.makeup-bag-for-BlissDomHonestly, I don’t think it really matters at all, what you pack for a blogging conference. Bring your fun attitude, smile, and business cards, and you’ll be set. I know it may feel overwhelming but rest assured many many other people are feeling the exact same way. So if you see anyone lurking in the corner being shy, or someone by themselves — walk up and talk to them. Introduce yourself and you’ll meet new friends.

I will have SO much fun! I’m so excited to meet new friends, hang out with Shannon (my old coworker) and have a blast!

As for the clothing? Everyone will be wearing what they feel most comfortable in. I’m not the type of person who wears dresses or skirts often so I don’t know if I’ll be glamorous for the Great Canadian Outdoors Party – Glamping style, but we’ll see! I have an idea that I may follow through with :).

I hope to be able to blog during the evenings after each day. But I’m not sure how practical it is to blog on my iPad. I’ll be taking photos with my fancy camera. I may have to do recap posts when I get back. What do you think? Suggestions? I am warning you now, I am going to be very active on twitter during the event on Thursday through Saturday. Wee!

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