Wow. That is one of the only words that I can think of to properly begin this post. I had the privilege of spending the last three days in Staunton, Virginia for the oh-so-wonderful Creative at Heart Conference, and I can’t quite put into words how amazing it was. For those of you that don’t know what CAH is, it is a conference for creatives (photographers, planners, designers, calligraphers and more!) to come together to grow, inspire, learn and love one another. 85 creative women came together for two days and I have never in my life felt so at home than I did in the last 48 hours.

Throughout high school, I was always the type of person who kept to myself. It wasn’t because I didn’t have friends or amazing people that I loved, it wasn’t because I was miserable, it wasn’t because I was shy, but it was because I never felt like I really “fit in”. That sounds so cliche and so trivial…but it is so true. I walked the halls of a high school with over 2,000 students, and I never felt as if I had a group of friends that I really “clicked” with. I was never a partier. I didn’t drink. I didn’t do drugs. It just wasn’t really “me”, and no one else seemed to understand that. On the weekends, instead of going out to parties, I preferred going on adventures and traveling and watching movies in pajamas. It wasn’t because I had nothing better to be doing…it’s because that is what made me HAPPY and that is what I WANTED to be doing. And most of the time, I ended up doing it alone. And I was completely okay with that, because I would have rather been happy, snuggled up in bed with my favorite homemade snack and yoga pants, then miserable out at a party with friends. So that was how my four years of high school went. And I figured that’s how life would go, because I genuinely loved doing the things that made me happy, even if that meant doing them alone. But this weekend, I walked into  a room full of 85 amazing women, all welcoming me with open arms, all with the same styles and passions and personalities and hearts…and I have finally found my people.

Some people are going to completely understand this post and have probably been in the same place…and other’s will read this and think that I am absolutely insane. And that’s okay! This post is for everyone at the conference who cried with me, prayed with me, shared stories and passions with me…I just wanted to say thank you. And I want to say an even bigger thank you to Kat and Taylor for hosting such an amazing event and bringing us all together. It was a crazy, crazy week in my life with tons of personal stress weighing me down…but eating cupcakes in pajamas at 10pm with almost a hundred other women who felt the same way…it seriously is life changing.

“A creative at heart believes in always showing compassion over competition, in building purposeful community right where you are, that sweet starts lead to joy-fillled journeys, in inspiring the hearts of like-minded women, that we are cherished, loved and worth it.”