Tuesday, July 26, 2011

She Speaks 2011

I'm back from the 2011 She Speaks conference where I spent most of last week. Thought I'd share some of my memories, lessons and experiences from the week.


1. Upon arrival at the hotel Tuesday, I ironed my white pants and managed to burn my left hand on the iron. I sat through dinner with Lysa TerKeurst, Holly Good, Marybeth Whalen and Ariel Lawhon with my fingers in a cup of ice. When all my ice melted, Holly gave me her ice water. That's a good friend.


2. Wednesday was my birthday. I spent all day in She Speaks meetings.  My girlfriends, however, lavished me with gifts.  Scented soy candles. A cute teal leather purse. Beautiful stationary gifts from Rose Lane Cottage. The coolest travel kit ever. Books, dinner and more. I turned 29 in case you were wondering. I turn 29 every year - it's tradition.

3. I picked up a copy of Logos Bible software.  Now I just have to carve out the time to learn to use it. I may get my pastor to help me with that. I showed him around TweetDeck this year, so maybe he'll show me around Logos. Do you use a Bible software program?

4. Led an intermediate-level speakers evaluation group.  I loved my group this year! I'm thinking I say that every year. PS. Between you and me, it's not exactly fun to have to critique someone's presentation skills when they've just poured out their heart in a message, or taught passionately from the Bible. I wanted to give them all A's.



5. I discovered it's possible to get by on 6 or less hours of sleep for several nights in a row, but it does nothing for your complexion.

6. I loved meeting women at the P31 authors book signing. Note to Self: It is hard to sign 50 books in a row while wearing a chunky bracelet on your writing arm. You can't get your arm on the table to hold the pen normal. And then your writing looks sloppy.





7. The prayer room. It's the best place in the whole conference center. I should have gone in there earlier than I did this year.

8. Met Ann Voscamp and heard her speak.  If you've ever read Ann, 'nough said.

9. I want a breakfast buffet like that every morning. Today at home I had just a protein shake.

10. I came down to the conference center on Sunday morning all chirpy-happy. I was chatting with  Zoe Elmore and Carol Davis. Life was good. AND, I was going home in just a few hours. Couldn't wait to see my husband and kids.



Then Wendy Pope came over and said she noticed in the parking lot that my back tire was flat. My mood went flat too. (Did I mention I'd already spent $1600 on car repairs this summer?). But the two bell hops took off their white button downs and went to work putting the spare tire on my car. Embassy Suites Concord has excellent customer service. 

Which is good, because I'll be spending my birthday with them again next year at She Speaks 2012.

Maybe you can join me - bring a chocolate cake that says, "Happy 29th, Rachel." And some Downy Wrinkle Releaser, please.

16 comments:

  1. Loved it, as usual. Maybe I should try to find more creative words. Anyway, it was my pleasure to meet you in person.

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  2. Rachel, it was truly a pleasure to say hello to you (I'm the librarian from Texas/Trixie Belden fan). Can't wait to dig into your book! It was a life-changing weekend for me in every way--the presence of the Lord was just incredible. Oh, another thing you and I have in common ... we're both 29! :)

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  3. Happy belated birthday, Rachel! I really enjoyed your class on writing devotions. It was so nice to meet you at She Speaks this year. Hopefully I'll come back next year! Also, thank you for the signed copy of your book (your handwriting looked fine by the way.) I can't wait to read through it! :)

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  4. It was great to see you again Rachel. Glad you got the tire taken care of! Happy belated birthday. oh, and, I burnt my hand on my hair straightener. I grabbed it to make sure it was cooled down. It wasn't. Why did i do that? wasn't very wise. :)

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  5. Loved this post Rachel! The good, the bad, the ugly, so to speak! I so enjoyed being at She Speaks. I was in Zoe's group.

    Happy belated birthday!

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  6. Oh, my heart hurt all weekend because I really, really, really wanted to be there... like REALLY wanted to be there. Just wasn't time for me, though. Maybe next year? Anywho ~ glad y'all had a great experience, and I just look forward to experiencing it myself!!!

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  7. Happy Birthday to you,
    Happy Birthday to you,
    Happy Birthday dear Rachel,
    Happy Birthday to you.
    May you have many more.................

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  8. It just hit me. You were in Concord, NC? That's where I live.

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  9. She Speaks was an awesome time and I'm thankful to have gotten one of those autographed 'free' books! Thanks Rachel...I learned a lot at the Devo Writing breakout also!

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  10. Sounds like a very fun and informative time at She Speaks this year. I'm going to get there one of these years ~ I really am! Happy Belated Birthday to you, Rachel : )

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  11. Hi Girls. Thanks for the comments.

    Alice, I had no idea you were in Concord! So sorry I missed you.

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  12. Ummm, you forgot to mention that you had the BEST roomie in the whole wide world. I bet you're just making that a whole separate post, right? That would make sense.

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  13. I meant "roomies" not "roomie." That would be uber selfish to not include Ariel.

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  14. MB, yes, I was thinking you and Ariel would each get your own post. Heaven knows I could fill a whole post on you two!

    Best roomies for sure.

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  15. Love it! Thanks for sharing the inside scoop of your weekend.

    Cheers to you turning 29!!

    Love you~ Sam

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  16. If you come to Concord again next year let me know and I will try to get my husband to bring me to meet you at a time you pick. I know you are busy during these meetings. You were the one who got me started blogging when you did the Bible study on line about the Women of the Bible. That was in 2008. We've come a long way since then. I know I have.

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