My life is a whirlwind right now. Between my design clients, family and blogging, sometimes I don’t know which way is up. I am sure most of you have days and or weeks like this. Tomorrow I am off to Atlanta to the Design Bloggers Conference. It was this same conference last year where this blog won Best New Design Blog of 2013. I sort of feel like Miss America wanting to thank everyone for such a fabulous year. This past year has been chocked full of blessings beyond measure. I will be forever grateful for winning this award.

I thought I might share with you a little more about what winning Best New Design Blog has meant to me. First and foremost, we can never stop dreaming and setting goals. Who knew that age 50, I could win such a fabulous award. Not to mention that I didn’t even know what a blog was until 2 years ago. Without being overly gushy or sentimental, I felt called by God to start a blog. It was a burning passion I had to fill, actually totally beyond my understanding. I followed God’s call and since that time, the blog and myself have been showered with blessings. I am still not quite sure what God’s purpose in all of this is, but I am certainly enjoying watching it unfold.

The quote above may seem a little out of place in this post. Let me explain. Along with starting my blog at age 50, I also starting working as a full-time decorator. I have always had a passion for design and have dabbled in design for the last 20 years. I am not a formally trained designer. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Business and a Master’s degree in Business. My family owns an Oil and Gas company and I was raised by father that I would take over the business someday. In my father’s eyes, a business degree was a worthwhile and valuable degree. He views careers like Interior Design as frivolous. Needless to say, I have spent most of my life squelching my creative side. My life has been thrown a few curve balls. My parents divorced 10 years ago and my father has remarried and has little interest in having a business or personal relationship with me or my siblings. About 2 years ago, I had the epiphany that God has given me an incredible gift of creativity and a great eye for design and I have snubbed him by believing the gift was unworthy. I finally allowed myself to pursue design and be fruitful with the gift God has given me. Wow, what a liberating feeling.

So now, at age 50, I realize that I have the power to be whatever I choose to be. I don’t have to live my life in the shadows of what my father wanted me to be. True happiness comes from following your passion, regardless of how much money you will make or how prestigious you will look.

This being said, I look forward to seeing old and new friends at the Design Bloggers Conference who have chosen to follow their passion for design. I have learned that when people share a common passion, there seems to be an instant bonding. Perhaps it allows you to see a little deeper into one’s soul. So I am clicking my heels three times and headed to the Land of Design Bloggers.

An Update:

I’ve just returned from the Design Bloggers Conference and once again had a great time and will be writing a recap post, sharing my highlights, when I return from spring break vacation with my family to Cozumel. I leave tomorrow.

Before I leave though, my special thanks to Adam Japko, the founder of the Design Bloggers Conference who is the CEO of http://digitalsherpa.com and who also writes http://winezag.com, I learned useful information about meta tags when I signed up for his company’s blogger workshop, readers.

Have a blessed weekend ahead ~

Leslie Hendrix Wood
Founder

http://hadleycourt.com

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