Category Archives: Illinois

WW: Compliments From a Celebrity

It’s been pretty apparent that I attended BlogHer in Chicago last weekend. In a nutshell, it was an amazing experience and I will be getting into the details of the entire event later on. Since it is “Wordless Wednesday”, I did have a moment where I walked away saying “Did that just happen?”.
Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, maybe you’ve heard of her (if you haven’t – you’ve been missing out). She’s a wife to a cowboy, mama to four children, blogger, NY Times Best Selling Author and currently has her own TV show on the Food Network. I’ve been a fan of hers for quite some time. A couple years ago, I even stood in line for a couple hours waiting to meet her and for her to sign my book.
On Saturday, Heather and I found ourselves at the perfect place at the perfect time. We literally spent maybe five minutes waiting in line to talk to her and I’m pretty sure she talked to us for the same amount of time that we waited. So incredibly nice and sweet.
Then it happened.
She complimented my shirt.
A NY Times Best Selling Author and Food Network Star, complimented me.
Shouldn’t I have been complimenting her?
(Yes, I realize we’re all people, but come on now – it’s exciting.)
Compliments From a Celebrity

Compliments From a Celebrity

So much excitement, I just realized I could’ve asked her what I’ve been wondering for months – what are you doing with that building in town?!

Until next time!

Today I’m linking up with The Paper Mama, Jenni From the Blog, Seven Clown Circus and Communal Global for{Wordless Wednesday}.

Diana and Heather’s Awesome Adventure

(Writer’s Note: When better to write a post than when you’ve reached the “crash and burn” feeling after a long, eventful and absolutely amazing weekend… here we go.)
Earlier today, Heather and I returned home from attending BlogHer ’13 in Chicago. Returned, is the choice word because I think I speak for both of us when I say, it feels like we hit the Twilight Zone earlier. Let’s have a recap of the day.
BlogHer is amazing but let’s all face the facts… when it’s time to go, the swag takes up a lot of room. Our morning thoughts pretty much consisted of “I’m amazed this all fit in our bags!” and “This better be under 50 lbs.”
We dragged our bags out of the hotel (so thankful for wheels – best invention EVER) and grabbed a cab. Cab driver delivers girls, four suitcases, two large duffel bags and a purse to the train.
Yes, we did the cab to train route.
Yes, we had ALL.THAT.LUGGAGE.
Here, we came across realization
#1: We appreciate Southern gentlemen and they don’t exist in Chicago.
It only took the 6th out of 7th high school young man to hold the train door for us while we and the small pharmacy in our bags (among other things) moved onto the train. (Props to you young man… you’ll be winning over the ladies later on.) Had we been in the South, this would’ve been done by the first (or second) man we ran into.
See you later Chicago! We will miss you.
Heather and Diana meet Midway Airport. (below)
This was just the line to have our ID’s and tickets checked.
It went by quicker than expected.
I can’t say the same about the security line…
We left the hotel three hours before our flight – and made it to flight while boarding.
We were the last two on the plane.

Our flight had a layover in Wichita, Kansas.
“Cool, we’ve never been to Kansas!”
Wrong….
We’re not going back to the Wichita Airport. (by choice)

We both fell asleep on route to our layover destination.
This is when I believe, we fell into the Twilight Zone.
Low and behold, I seriously thought I was going to see Michael J Fox or MC Hammer inspired outfits just start walking thru the airport.
Nervous? Very.
We saw the sign and this was said…
“Wichita is the ‘Air Capital of the World’ because no one wants to be ON THE GROUND.”
The Wichita airport is tiny.
There’s not a lot to eat.
We had to leave security to eat at Burger King.
Yes, we literally had to leave the secure area.
When we went back thru security, no line.
The carpet was from 1979 (if not earlier… probably earlier).
(Writer’s Note: We were told they are building a new airport and it should be opened next year. We’re cheering for a Auntie Annie’s Pretzels.)
 Our layover was 2.5 hours. Obviously too long when mixed with exhaustion.
Finally, we board our second flight headed to the big D.
One hour flight and we land.
I check into Four Square and I’m not even kidding… this happens.
like DALLAS! WE ARE HOME!
(Well, close to it.)
Realization #3: There’s no place like home (even if it happens to be Love field).
Think we were happy?
Big hats, big belt buckles, big hair, tight jeans, boots and too much makeup means we’re back in Texas y’all! (And the airport décor also proves we’re back in 2013!)
Almost home…
We had to leave the airport.
We parked in airport parking which meant we needed to take a bus to get to the car.
Realization #4: Remember that issue with lacking Southern gentlemen in Chicago? Well, we have just the opposite problem in the South… Southern women. (Writer’s Note: Not all Southern women but be honest… you know which one’s I’m taking about.)
To the Southern men… Northern women is where it’s at!
The only thing that stood between us and getting on the bus was this Southern lady.
She tried to cut in front of us to get on the bus not once, but TWICE. The only reason it took TWO times was because the bus was full the first go around.
The bus actually went to her car first and I wish I was kidding when I say this happened…
The bus stops next to her car and opens the bus door.
She stands and as she is walking off the bus points her finger with the upmost arrogance towards the bags and says “The purple bag and the pink bag” and off she goes.
As they say in the South, “Bless her heart.”
We made it to our car. So did all our luggage.

Even the Minion came out of the bag and was happy to be home and in the car.

We’ve never been so happy to see you Dallas!

Stay tuned for the rest of the recap from the last few days. It was an amazing experience and we can’t wait to share it with y’all!

G’night and we’re glad to be home in Texas!

BlogHer 2013 – Here We Come!

The time has finally come and I’m on my way (with my good friend, Heather) to Chicago for BlogHer 2013 (heck, maybe I’m already there). BlogHer is an annual conference where bloggers from around the world join together to connect, learn, discuss and inspire each other. (5,000 of us!) We all come from different and diverse backgrounds and hope to make long lasting connections.

In addition to meeting fellow bloggers, there will be workshops to help expand our knowledge on blogging(and hopefully help me with technical aspects of running this show). We will have a chance to listen to various speakers and hear their advice on the blogging world (such as Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman). If all that wasn’t enough, we will also have networking opportunities with various companies who have helped to sponsor this exciting event. This includes attending parties and some private parties!

I’m sure we will be blasting social media over the next couple days. Be sure to follow me to stay up to date on the happenings in Chicago. I’ll be running my first 5k tomorrow morning, so I’m pretty excited about all that!

Hopefully, I will take away new friendship, knowledge on the blogging world and new relationships with some sponsors. Most of all, I hope to take away some incredible memories that I can hold onto! I can’t wait to catch up with y’all next week to let you know how it all went!