So I spent this past weekend in Birmingham. I believe I’ve now mentioned that one or forty-eight times but apparently I felt like that wasn’t enough.
I flew out of San Antonio on Thursday morning and thankfully I was feeling significantly better than I’d felt earlier in the week. Which is to say I only felt like partial death instead of full-blown I’ll never breathe out of my nose again or take a breath without coughing death.
This is where I also have to mention that I managed to fit all my clothes for the entire weekend into one carry-on bag. I suffered from serious suitcase pride. Until the end of the weekend when I decided my bag had been like Mary Poppin’s magic bottomless carpet bag when I packed but had turned into a real suitcase with strict limits by the time I tried to repack everything.
Anyway, when I arrived on Thursday, Sophie picked me up at the airport and then we waited in the cell phone lot until Amanda and Kelly’s flight arrived. They texted that they had landed so we began to circle the airport which is when Sophie said, “Oh look! There they are!” and we both began waving maniacally to get their attention. Until we realized it wasn’t them. And then Sophie said, “I think that’s Korie Robertson from Duck Dynasty.”
Yes. Yes it was.
I’m sure she was probably terribly frightened of the overzealous women in the white car who were waving at her like idiots. And I’d wanted so badly to make a good first impression and not come across as a weird fan with stalker tendencies. Oh well. Good intentions and all that.
But eventually we found Amanda and Kelly. And we made it to the hotel where we had a few minutes to relax and unpack before Sophie and I had to do a run-through of our emcee duties. This is the point where we found out we had no script to follow, it was just up to us and our ability to engage in witty banter about absolutely nothing. This only caused a small amount of panic.
Later on we went to dinner with a group of bloggers and a few other people, including Korie Robertson and her mom. I’m happy to report that Korie is absolutely delightful and so beautiful and we even confessed that we were the people in the car waving furiously at her earlier that day. And I gushed for a few minutes about how much we love their show but stopped short of asking her to be my best friend. So that felt like a win.
On Friday morning I slept in until 9:30. And I don’t even feel bad about it. I was helped significantly by the dose of cough medicine I took that night. The only problem was that I awoke to discover that I had some sort of rash all over my arms. And my stomach. It started to fade after a few hours and I’m still not sure what caused it in the first place. It’s something I don’t want to examine too closely considering that I was sleeping in a hotel. I’ve watched enough 20/20 to have some concerns about hotel linens.
The conference actually started right after lunch on Friday and it was so good. Jen Hatmaker was the first speaker and I cannot express how much I love her. She is real and funny and just makes me want to live my life not being afraid and trusting God in all things. I’m not kidding when I say she’s one of my favorite people ever.
And that was the beginning of a great weekend. All the speakers were so good and offered such great wisdom about raising kids. Sophie and I had the chance to interview Korie Robertson about their show and a man named John Croyle who runs Big Oak Ranch in Alabama. He had some amazing stories and I really enjoyed him even though he told me the Aggies moving to the SEC was like a lamb going to the slaughter.
Yeah. We’ll see who’s laughing after A&M plays Alabama this year.
Oh wait.
He’s probably going to be the one laughing.
Best of all, I got to hang out with so many people that I love and respect and that just make me laugh hard. It was the best medicine in the world for a girl who started the weekend with a lingering case of bronchitis and a sty in her eye and a rash of unknown origin.
You know what would have been really great?
If I’d taken the time to take even one picture.
I’m an idiot.
But I’m excited because in February the DotMom Conference is moving to Texas. Frisco, Texas to be exact. You can find out more by clicking over to the event page. I’ve been to a lot of events over the last few years but this is one of my favorites.
After it was over on Saturday Sophie and I went to eat at Chuy’s and then crashed on her couch and watched the LSU vs. Auburn game until I mustered enough energy to drag myself to bed. And then I caught an early flight home on Sunday morning to return to my people.
And now I plan to spend the next few days catching up on my sleep.
And going to the grocery store because we ran out of food while I was gone.