my octoberfest

I declared last week my own personal Octoberfest. It was a crazy-busy week that left me exhausted, but heartfull. (That should be a word.) Some highlights:

My sweet friend Tracee spent the week with me. We did a whole lot of everything and nothing. Just the way we like it.

My Nashville friends Kimberly and Shawn took us with them to see U2. You guys know I love me some music, and seeing U2 live was absolutely incredible. Better still was my friends' connections: We ate pop-tarts on one of the band's tour buses, stood on stage, and had the best seats in the house---on top of tech cases with no one between us and the stage runway! Un-be-frickin-lievable.

I finally posted some pics last night. Here's an appetizer...

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I walked right by Michael W. Smith at the U2 concert. I had to chuckle at the irony, since I just blogged about taking him off my iPod! And my Sweet Friend was all chuckles that I recognized him!

I rubbed shoulders with some blog-stars at the Bloggers Meet-Up. Like Jon Acuff, Michael Hyatt, Anne Jackson, and Los Whittaker. But I was more excited to finally meet some of my online friends. Like Brad Ruggles, Lisa Ruggles, and Pete Wilson.

I also met some great people who've already been added to my reading list. Like Tripp, Tyler, and The Davises. And I got to see a guy who did our summer internship 7 years ago. But more on Greg Darley another time...

I showed up at Catalyst with high expectations, and I didn't leave disappointed. It's gonna take me a while to process everything I soaked in---shoot, it's gonna take me a while just to sort through all the books, cds, and materials I came home with! (I love free!) But a few initial thoughts on my catalytic week---

  • I loved worshiping alongside 13,000 other Christian leaders.
  • Francis Chan led us in communion. What a beautiful moment with so many thousands of Believers together in worshipful gratefulness...
  • I watched a grown man in a leotard belly-flop into a kiddie pool from 3 stories up. I kid you not. See for yourself.
  • Guys in skinny jeans. Everywhere. 'Nuff said.

So... tell me something about you!