One of my favorite things at BlogHer was the personal connections I made or deepened with the many amazingly creative women there… (these two amazingly beautiful women standing with me at BlogHer, left, are fellow GiGis Nancy White and Tree Fitzgerald)

There were more relational revelations than I can do justice to in
just one post, but I experienced a bunch of them at a Birds of a Feather
break-out session, which the conference organizers arranged to bring together like-minded folks for a metaphoric ‘cup of tea’ around the pool.

We got to propose our own group topics so of course I proposed one on ‘Art
& Beauty’. As it happened, the beautiful woman standing in line next to me was Tracey Clark, and she was the first to sign up, saying
“I’m all about Beauty!”. Check out the stunning photographs of her children at WarmTone, and I think you’ll agree.

There was a poet there with an extraordinarily attractive business card (nice stock, white, with a simple photograph of a short, tooth-bitten pencil on it), Joan Gelfand, who wrote a gorgeous book of new poetry I had to buy, and has an equally zen blog offering sage nuggets of wisdom. She also blogs on the empty nest syndrome, which I think is a rich and under-utilized blogging subject. Or maybe she’s just more my age and I can relate to it a bit better than the younger ‘mommy blogs’.

Another of the lovely women in the group, Maria, keeps a sketchblog with glimpses into her colorful sketchbook. She says she wouldn’t paint if it wasn’t for the discipline of keeping up a daily blog. so that’s a ‘gold star’ for the world of blogging right there. Paula Kim takes startlingly fresh botanical photographs, and Megan McMillan collaborates with her husband Murray on a vast world of wild and crazy artwork. Yet another, Evelyn Rodriguez, writes a deeply juicy, long, rambling blog on art, beauty, fashion, God, and Everything.

One of my favorite workshops (on Digital Photography) was presented by an incredibly inspiring photographer, Heather Champ, who also posts her work on Flickr, where she works as community coordinator. I’m not surprised by her appointment as such because besides being extremely talented she was the most genuinely friendly, open and generous person I’ve met in a long time.

I also ran into the daughter of an old friend of mine there, Shuna Fish Lydon, who has a fabulously beautiful & quirky foodblog called Eggbeater. It’s one of those immediately addictive reads for a foodie like me, integrating poems and photographs along with recipes for the perfect pie crust and best marmalade this side of the Atlantic.

There was another fascinating woman presenting at BlogHer, Mecca Ibrahim, who blogs on the London Underground under the name of Annie Mole. Maybe I should have looked her up when I was in the UK last week, but I was too shy. Plus I wasn’t actually in London – more on this last to come.

These are just a few of the women I ran into who are seeding incredible beauty in the world through their blogs and poetry/artwork. Ah, the eternal inspiration of unbridled creativity! Long may we flourish and support each other.