becoming bright

One thing I loved about packing for Austin was that I didn't have to pack any kind of jacket.  Not even a cardigan.  It left a lot of room for shoes and fun dresses!  I decided to check a bag, which I never do, simply because I wanted to be able to bring anything I wanted and not worry about stuffing it all in a carry-on.  I usually don't bring a checked bag, mostly because I don't like waiting at the carousel after the flight for my bag to arrive, and I'm always afraid my bag will get lost and cause more stress than anything else.  But this time I figured I was getting in early enough that even if it was lost, it could probably make it by the time I needed my stuff, and if not, well, I was going to a conference full of amazing ladies who would probably lend me something to wear in an emergency.

I wore this little sundress to walk across the bridge to the 2nd Street district to help Lulu's set up the swap.  When I got there they didn't really need much help, but it was fun to see people trickling in to drop off their swap items and get a little sneak peek of all the fun stuff that would be available later that night.  This year I decided to have a lot of fun with super colorful outfits.  I tend towards more muted colors, but this summer has been all about brights, which is kind of out of character for me, but I'm really loving it.  Sometimes it seems like we wear colors that reflect how we feel and I wanted to feel bright and shiny and excited at TxSC especially so I purposefully picked out super fun, bold colors to wear.  

 

dress/courtesy of ruche :: shoes(similar)/courtesy of modcloth   necklace(similar)/francesca's collections belt/thrifted :: shades/vintage :: bag/courtesy of bali ELF

I was pretty proud of how outgoing I was this year at TxSC.  I tried really hard to say hi to people I didn't know and to smile a lot to avoid the Chronic Bitchface misunderstandings that happen when you look like you hate everyone but really you just have Chronic Bitchface.  I still didn't meet a ton of new people, but I met quite a few and I was happy that I didn't burn myself out to the point of exhaustion trying to stretch my introverted self into an extroverted place.  There were a couple times when I really wanted to go out with people but I forced myself to stay in and recuperate and I think it made all the difference.  I handed out way more business cards than I probably have in the past year, and the whole conference was such a positive experience, especially in comparison with how I felt last year.

Any of you introverts attend TxSC?  How did you feel about it?  Better/worse than expected?