Being Transparent

This week has been amazing. I have received and accepted an invitation to be an official member of the Allume team.What is Allume?

"The Allume conference exists to offer a gathering place for kindred spirits to connect, learn, grow, and be refreshed so they can persevere in being a people who bring hope to the world through the social media medium. We want to reflect His Light in all our spheres of influence. Our goal is to go beyond the surface into intentional blogging and real life living, all to the glory of God. Allume is a one-of-a-kind conference that seeks to engage women by teaching blogging techniques and social media skill while also urging and encouraging women to live fully integrated lives with their faith and family." ~ Source taken from the Allume About Us page

Allume is being held October 24th-26th 2013 in Greenville, SC. A new location this year! If you are interested in attending, you can go here to check out tickets...beware they are usually sold out by the end of March early April. 

My role on the team is "Newbie Welcome Lady". Consider me your go to for making your first Allume experience an amazing one! We have a Facebook page set up for the newbies where we can chat about questions, work out feelings of fear or excitement. We are getting to know each other now instead of waiting until that first day of the conference. Consider the Facebook group your newbie refuge! There are plenty of veterans sprinkled in the group to help answer your questions and offer encouragement. If there is one thing we love...it is to love on you newbies! Afterall...I was just a newbie myself last year! Read my post Allume 2012 experience here.

One of the things you will read on my bio listed on the Allume "meet the team" (and seriously, it hasn't really sunk in that my name is listed on the website!) page...is this:

"Janelle enjoys helping other women peel layers of emotions and tear down walls which stand in the way of living their lives to the fullest potential. She strives to be transparent and real to her readers and friends. She even revealed her weight to the world!"

My first thought when all of this excitement was going on this week was that I need to hurry up and come clean up my blog. You know...tidy up before company...shove things in closets...throw stuff away...show your best side. And then I thought..I want to be real. What you get here is what you will get in real life. So..in an effort to be extremely transparent, vulnerable, and just plain crazy...I am going to show you this....

This knee high mess is my laundry room as of two weeks ago. I have had some other events going on that have caused me to be busier than the norm...and whenever I get overwhelmed laundry is the first thing for me to just give up on.  Although this is quite embarassing...it is also quite liberating to air my dirty laundry. pun intended...

 

And this is my laundry room as of this weekend. Yes folks..it took about two weeks to get through that pile. But through an entire family group effort it is caught up. 

 

 Great concept...but with a house full of boys it is a rare thing to see all of the clothes in their correct baskets. *Paint color Sherwin Williams Aqua*

 

 And just in case you are new to my little slice of the world wide web...sarcasm...and dry wry sense of humor...they are a gift of mine...they also get me in trouble sometimes.

 

Being perfect...or letting people believe you are perfect is for the birds. Takes way too much effort. Being real is where its at.

 *excerpt from Sandy Coughlin's Reluctant Entertainer book*

I can not wait to get to know all of the new Allume attendees!