Adventures

A retreat is exactly what this girl needed.  And Preserve Retreat, by the BlogJam Atlantic team, was bang on.  Scenic setting at Oak Island Resort, blogging friends galore and stimulating discussions on all fronts made for an amazing weekend.

Since the first ever Blogjam, back 5 years ago, I’ve been a huge fan and do my best to be there.  This year, I didn’t think I was going to be able to swing it, but knew me AND my blog needed it more than ever.  I also have FOMO and the thought of so many of my blogging buddies hanging out for an entire weekend without me, well, the FOMO was strong!  But a special thanks goes out to a few people who ensured I was there, you know who you are and I truly appreciate your understanding and generosity!!!

So, what did I gain from being at Preserve Retreat?  Well, through so many of the incredible speakers, I took a long, hard look at myself, my blog and who my audience is and how I am serving them.  The deep questions were asked, the hard topics handled so expertly well and the environment was a safe and welcoming one. During the breaks, so much more discussion happened, and different perspectives shared.   It always amazes me how you can put a group of people in a room, the speaker gets up, does their thing and everyone’s take-away is different.  We hear what we need to hear, to force us out of our own box, the ruts we’ve been stuck in or to get that kick in the butt we need.

Of course, like always, these bloggers fill my cup.  They support and inspire me, they challenge me and are there for me.  Being surrounded by the fierce bloggers I am privileged enough to call friends, I am safe to ask myself why am I doing this?  Is it still relevant? What am I offering?  What do I want to be known for?  What is working, what isn’t?  What do I want from this blog? Do I still even want to blog? All the things.  I have some answers.  And I am still seeking other answers.

It’s common to hear the question being asked, ‘What is your WHY?’ In fact, in our conference room, there was even a large poster we could add our WHY to.  I didn’t.  I have discovered I lost my WHY.  Or maybe I never knew it in the first place.  So, I’ve been doing some soul searching and looking at Farm Fresh and wondering why it still exists.  You may notice that I took a blogging break.  All I’ll say about it is that it is complicated.  But what I learned from that was that my soul does crave to write and to share and to connect.  What that means for the future, I can’t say I know yet.  But know that I will be writing more posts and sharing more pictures because that’s what I love to do.

Preserve was so much of what I needed and on the level I needed, I wasn’t looking for information on SEO or how to grow my Insta following.  I needed to look at my blog and myself and figure shit out.  I still don’t have it all figured out but I think I’m on the right track.  I’m not typically a note taker at these events.  But I left with pages of notes, things I want to remember, things I want to share and explore more.

Thank you for sticking around even when I couldn’t.  Thanks for checking in when you saw the long pause.  Thank you for letting me share bits and pieces of life through this itty bitty corner of the world.

Warmly,

Lori

PS Photos by the talented Michelle Doucette, logo by the Preserve team

I know I’ve been going on and on about the reFRESH Retreat, but it was a big part of my plan for 2019.  One of my goals for the retreat was to make sure the bloggers who attended felt like they were pampered and spoiled.  And, thanks to the sponsors who came on board with me, I think we achieved that.

Well, in fact I know the gals felt spoiled.  They were digging into their bags filled with goodies and they kept saying it felt like opening a stocking on Christmas.  Goal acheived!!

The bags that I packed up for each gal came from At Home! They are big and so very handy, I use mine everyday, in fact!  And thankfully we had bags that size, they held ALL the goodies perfectly!!  And since they are a nice heavy canvas, they aren’t just another gift bag to add to the stash or trash.

Colleen of Curtains are Open, one of the bloggers who hung out with us over the weekend, is also a graphic designer!   { You can check out her Esty account HERE } She made us these adorable prints that matched the cuffs I made for each gal.  I hung mine up in the kitchen right away!!  Be full of colour, be colourful – enjoy the colour!!

Our sponsors wanted to make sure we looked good so My Home Apparel sent us shirts!!!  I wish you all couldv’e been along for the taking of these selfies….it involved me climbing through a sun roof, scrambling back out with the 10 second timer set….thankfully there is the edit option on phones….

Another fabulous sponsor was Head Mermaid over at Sandy Toes, Crystal, and she sent us Professional Beach Bum trucker hats!!  Let me tell you, I was so happy the sun came out on Sunday afternoon and we were able to hit the road, find a quiet beach and have some fun capturing just how cute we all are in our hats!!

When you’ve got super creative friends, you want to do all you can to share their awesome-ness.  My Cape Breton friend, Shelley, started making earrings out of leather or walnut and now her works of art are my go-to earrings.  I was so happy she came on board to provide a pair of earrings for each of the gals.  Check out her Facebook page HERE and her newly opened Instagram account HERE.  And this picture that Colleen took of her earrings against some of Paula‘s beach treasure is pure perfection!

And what’s a pair of earrings without a pretty new necklace to go with it??  Beck and Boosh provided each gal with a pendant necklace.  It was fun to see each one and read about what each stone represented.  HERE is the Beck & Boosh website – they have so many great styles of accessories to pick from, I know you’ll have a hard time deciding!

Sylvie from Eclair Lips made sure our lips were well hydrated for the weekend.  And Strawberry Rhubarb flavour? Could you get a better flavour for a May long weekend in Cape Breton?  I think not!  After Blogjam last year, when I opened my first tube of Hippo Hugs, Eclair Lips has become my go-to lip balm.  And I’m a huge lover of lip-balms so I may have a collection of fun flavours from Eclair Lips.  You need to go check them out HERE and HERE.

One of my local friends, who I do life with, is a kick-butt Tupperware gal.  Like, big-time….I call her the Queen of Tupperware! Angela gave us all giant waterbottles to make sure we didn’t drink all the coffee and did actually hydrate with water every now and then. Plus – a bright pink orange peeler so it’s easy to find in the utensils drawer!! If you need anything Tupperware related, she’s your girl – check out her website HERE.

And what’s a swag bag without a tasty treat??  LURE Caramel Co. sent us packages of their salted caramels and I debated keeping them ALL for myself….I love them that much.  But sharing is caring so I did end up sharing them with the blogger friends who joined me at the retreat.  And I’m pretty sure they loved them as much as I did!  I’ve probably created more addicts now.  { Sidenote: when I stop for gas at the Earltown General Store, I always treat myself to 2 caramels! }

When you are on a writers retreat, you need a good notebook.  I was so excited when Angela of Angela’s Home Decor offered us the prettiest, most inspiring notebooks!  There were lots of pretty designs and each one was filled with pretty pictures and quotes interspersed.  There’s nothing like a new, fresh, crisp notebook!  I also added a pen that writes beautifully { I hate crappy pens, nothing drives me crazier than a pen that writes like crap!!! } a couple motivational pencils and washi tape to round out the writing theme.

Taylor from Country Roads Rustic Decor made us the perfect stemless glasses  – I love the saying on them – Bloggers gonna Blog – because we sure will!!!  The blogger gals were pretty stoked about these!!  I have no doubt they will be put to use 😉  Watch our fun little toast HERE!

A huge THANK YOU to all the sponsors who helped me with my goal to spoil the girls!!  I so enjoyed being able to gift so many products from amazing east coast businesses and help spread the world about just how awesome they are!

I promise I only have one more post to share about the retreat and it will be about all the tasty food we had over the course of the weekend.  But in case you are missing the little turquoise house by the sea, you can check out Colleen’s post HERE and Laura’s post HERE.  And mine is HERE.

Colourfully yours,

Lori