influence: the introduction

i had spent two months with an ever increasing longing to go to a blog conference (and particularly, blissdom) when hayley, jessi, and casey announced the influence conference.

it's a conference all about Jesus, something i didn't realize i wanted so badly until i heard that that's what influence was all about.

& it's being held in indianapolis, something that was incredibly important to me because it was within driving distance of michigan. if it had been any further away and especially if it had been outside the midwest, i wouldn't have been able to go because i couldn't have afforded the plane ticket.

& if that weren't enough, i get to drive down with L & we're meeting up with erin and chelsea along the way.

that all being said, i'm excited for this link-up to get to know some of the other women who are going!

THREE

things about me

+ i'm an introvert, so the idea of three days packed with people-meeting and networking kind of scares the everything out of me. however, i love people, and as chelsea very kindly told me over skype, i might be the most ridiculous person she's ever met (although i like to think of it as energetic). so i might be the girl doing a lot of listening OR i might be the girl doing a lot of talking OR (more likely) i will be the girl doing a lot of both.

+ i have probably the strangest vocabulary of anyone i've ever met. i was raised by educators and have a B.A. in english, so i have a strong vocabulary. however, i was also born and raised in metro detroit. and sometimes, we be reppin' that D, ya feel me?

***an interruption***

i feel like so far all i've said is that i'm a constant contradiction of myself.

+ i love to travel. i have been to eight countries and eight states. i have never been to indiana before, so i'm super excited to add another state to that count! my mom has been to indianapolis once before and loved it, so i'm also super excited to be going to a city she's wanted us to see for years. 

TWO

things i'm looking forward to

+ meeting people! getting to dig deep into the community of blogging, but doing so in face-to-face conversations.

+ being grown, challenged, and stretched in my faith, particularly as part of a community. church has left a weird taste in my mouth for years now, and i'll be honest: i wasn't terribly consistent with attendance when i was in college. i didn't, and sometimes still don't, know how to connect to a system that had broken me (and not in a good way. not the way Jesus breaks us). i have learned since that church is something we take with us wherever we go, something we create where we are, and i'm really looking forward to being a part of that at influence.

ONE

thing i can't leave home without

+ meet tigger:

tigger is my lil stuffed tiger. my mom bought him for me from a local flower shop soon after we moved half an hour north of where we used to live when i was really little. maybe it comes from that small comfort i received from having tigger as a kid, but i take him everywhere. he has been squashed in more carry-ons and packed in more suitcases than i can count. i just don't leave him behind.

i don't carry him around with me during the day or sleep with him at night or even really think about him on the duration of the trip. most of the time he ends up at the bottom of my suitcase, covered with clothes and other miscellaneous items. i usually don't remember he's there unless i catch a glimpse of him while rearranging stuff or at the end of the trip when i'm repacking. but there's always that moment, before i've left for the trip, when i think, "oh! tigger!" then i pause and think, "do i really need him?" i pause again and decide, "well, i obviously can't leave him."

so there's that. i highly doubt you'll ever see or hear of tigger again, in person or on this blog, but i still feel ridiculous that i just shared that.

ps. thirty-seven days, y'all. THIRTY. SEVEN. DAYS.