Blissed Out

As I mentioned last week, BlissDom Canada was held in Toronto this past weekend. It’s always hard to leave Matthew and the kids, but being away from everyone is easier when I’m away from home than when I’m home and they’re elsewhere. So, it kind of sucked to be Matthew, is what I’m saying.

I had a great time, missing my family aside. BlissDom 201o restored my faith in conferences after being overwhelmed in New York and it’s such a different (conference) beast. Only a couple of hundred people attend, the panels are especially relevant to Canadians and there is so much time to just sit and talk with your friends. It’s less rushed, less hectic, and less overwhelming than the other conference I attend annually.

I’m tired (three-hour time zone difference, inability to sleep well in a bed other than mine, and late-night chats and dance parties with friends make for a sleepy Angella), but I wanted to throw up (but not barf) some kind of recap to let those of you who aren’t Twitter/Facebook/Instagram friends (or those who are, but don’t spend every waking moment at your computer) have a chance to see a few of the highlights of my weekend. If you hover over the photos, you’ll see the Twitter handles where I’ve included them. I had so many great chats and moments with so many great women that if I tried to link to everyone I would miss someone (or ten someones) and then I would feel bad and have to quit the Internet.

(Miss Ali Martell gets a special shout-out because she’s one of my closest friends and was an honorary roommate and we spent a lot of time together, but didn’t get a photo of the two of us. This, despite the fact that we were both carrying iPhones and Canon 7D’s. We’re awesome.)

On Thursday I was invited to attend a luncheon hosted by GM Canada and afterward, Janice asked me to come with her to help her find a costume to rent for the costume party. We also walked over to the mall to hit up Sephora and had some great chats along the way (and all weekend). I’ve spent more time with her sister Susan in the past, so it was nice to get to know Janice better.

I would like Matthew to meet her because she speaks WAY faster than I do and he won’t believe it unless he hears it for himself.

Thursday night was the CBC live party and, as happened most of the weekend, I didn’t take a whole lot of photos of the event because I was to busy chatting/stuffing my mouth. I did get photos with these three friends.

A bunch of us went out for dinner after the event and it was beyond lovely.

On Friday I went to a session with these three people from my home base/good friend category and they knocked it out of the park.

(Tanis, Schmutzie, Bonnie)

My panel! Karen and Aiden (aka Palinode) are beyond awesome. As was our audience. We had way too much fun.

My roommate was the beautiful (and lovely) Kyran. She had to leave on Saturday but I managed to remember to get a photo of the two of us together.

On Saturday night, a group of us went for a dinner at Marche.

Then! It was time to get ready for the costume party! I dressed up as the same character I dressed up as in my Kindergarten year.

Janice got ready with me and we had to do the requisite bathroom photo shot.

Then there was a surprise (to the attendees). Mr. Jordan Night from New Kids On The Block arrived and we had our photos taken with him.

(Photo credit: Schmutzie)

Alli and I wore the exact same costume, so she asked me to be her “body double” and take her seat at our table so he wasn’t sitting alone. We got to talking and he’s a really nice guy – happily married with kids, a new album out, acting as a judge on a CBC show for bands trying to win a record contract and, you know, getting up to sing NKOTB songs on the karaoke machine with the BlissDom crowd. He’s so nice that I think he should be deemed an honorary Canadian.

Celebrities aside, it really was a great time to catch up with friends and with colleagues and to share thoughts and ideas and just connect, you know?

It was even better to come home, but that’s nothing new.