Day 27 of Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge:“Social web moment. Did you meet someone you used to only know from her blog? Did you discover Twitter?”

BlogHer Chicago was overwhelmingly awesome in that it enabled me to meet so many fantastic people I was “e-friends” with — finally in real life. I adore all of these women and can’t wait to see many old friends and meet new ones at Blissdom and other meetings in 2010.

Day 26 (one day late) of Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge:“Insight or aha! moment. What was your epiphany of the year?”

I can’t pinpoint the exact moment, but my epiphany of the year has been to truly accept that the universe is driving the bus. This has not been an easy thing for me because the truth of the matter is that I want to be driving the bus. I’m used to being in charge; to setting goals and achieving them, but this year has tested me. The lesson has been two-fold; part of life involves letting go and the other part is putting faith in the universe - to either help you along to where you want to go…or not.

All of this probably sounds a bit abstract and woo-woo because I’m not quite ready to go public with some of the raw emotional things I’ve been dealing with this year, but trust me, I have learned that all I can do is set my intentions and do the best that I can, as well as I know how in this plane — but otherwise, to accept that I’m just a passenger on this ride; the universe clearly is driving the bus.

Day 25 (two days late) of Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge:“Gift. What’s a gift you gave yourself this year that has kept on giving?”

Self-care. It sounds utterly cliche, but taking care of myself this year has improved all aspects of my life.

I hope you will consider giving yourself this gift in 2010. Because you matter.