WHAT I KNOW FOR SURE….

This past Saturday, I attended the O, You! 2011 conference that took place here in Atlanta.  To say that I was excited would be an understatement.  Seeing Oprah live has been one of those “bucket list” things to do for me and when her show ended, I just KNEW that I wasn’t going to be able to do it.  Well… I guess you can say that my thrift store shopping actually paid off!

I often check out the book and magazine section of the thrift stores and in one particular O magazine, there was an article on weight loss so I grabbed it.  After coming home and finally having the chance to read it, guess what the first page was that I came to?

WHAT?!?!?!?! Join Oprah Winfrey and our experts for a day you’ll never forget.  I ordered my ticket so fast!!!!

I arrived at the Georgia World Congress Center at 6:45am and it was CRAZY out there (in a good way!).

Imagine 5000 women all ready to see Oprah and her team of experts (well, 4995 women and about 5 men!)

Gayle King was the first one to come out and speak to welcome us to the conference.  She is so funny and pretty! I loved her purple dress!

 

After Gayle, Lisa Ling came out on the stage

Let me tell you, this woman is GORGEOUS! So pretty! If you watch any of Lisa Lings’ documentaries then it wouldn’t surprise you to know that she spoke about things like child prostitution and mothers in jail and what not.  What moved me about her speech was when she admitted that sometimes she questions her faith after many of her experiences.  She also said that thankfully she has a husband that is very deep in his faith which keeps her going.  She shared what she called a poem that her husband shared with her that had almost all of us in tears…

This guy was walking through the town and passed a young boy on the streets. He was hungry and begging for food and money.  The guy asked God, “God, why would you let something like this happen to him?  Why don’t you do something about this in the world?” 

God didn’t respond immediately. 

After the guy made it home and settled and all was quiet.  God then answered “I did do something about it.  I created you.”

**I’m crying now**

After Lisa, the rock star himself made it out! Dr. Oz!!!!!

 

Along with Martha Beck and Susie Orman (another rock star!)

(terrible picture)

For those of you that don’t know, Susie Orman is the business! This lady gave the best advice (as always).  One thing that she stuck in my head was

“There is nothing wrong with accepting money for energy” 

This came about because a lady told her that it’s hard for her to accept payment for things that she like to do.  I do the exact same thing.  I turn down money all the time…

“Keep stepping and your passion will find you”

“If you turn your back on money, you turn your back on yourself” –Susie Orman

Martha Beck was brilliant as always

“Fear nothing, the darkness is gentler than you think” –Martha Beck

Oh and Sarah Blakely (the creator of Spanx) was there too!

Before Sarah started Spanx, she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her self.  All she knew was that she wanted a better life. She said she had no clue what her passion was.

Donna Brazille was there

She and Susie together was a hoot!

(I wonder how Susie would feel about this picture!)

Donna spoke on Joy.  And always having joy and being ok with sharing your joy, but not giving it away and letting people steal it.

And of course there were makeovers with Adam Glassman and Val Monro!

Their tip: EVERY WOMAN NEED A NUDE PUMP!

After all of that, it was time for O herself!!!!!!!!

 

When Oprah stepped out on that stage, my heart was so heavy! Oprah.  I was in the room with Oprah!!!

Here are a few of speech that I remember:

*We are all looking for the same thing in life

*Strength x strength x strength x strength x strength = POWER

*Don’t care about what anyone say about you and what you do.  As long as you know who you are, that’s all that matters

*The knowing of who you are is the difference between progressing and not

*What you are afraid of does not exist anyway

*When you constantly ask others what they think about something, you are asking the wrong the source.

*If you don’t ever have the time to be still, you don’t have the time to live fully.

*When over coming the fear of failure, ask yourself : What am I afraid of?

What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?

What she knows for sure?

Your life and what you do with it matters…

After the show, I cried and cried and cried… I cried because there was so much to take in.  I cried because I was surrounded lots of great people.  I cried because I attended this event alone and I wish every woman I knew could have been there.  I cried because I SAW OPRAH! I cried because I realized even more that I need to be still for a moment.

What do I know for sure?

I know that I have A LOT to work on

I also know that I will be at the next O, You event in 2012!