Taking a bit of a leap of faith...

I'm so excited tonight because I finally made a decision I've been weighing for over a month now. To make a long story short, I booked a flight to San Antonio during the first week in August, reserved a room at the Marriott for three nights and bought my ticket to the first ever Digi-Crop hosted by my favorite digital scrapbooking store, Designer Digitals.
Now this may not seem like a big deal to some people, but this was a big decision for me - for several reasons. First, I will be traveling alone with Danica, who will be just over 13 months old at that time and just recently learned how to walk. This means dealing single-handedly with a toddler in an airport, including switching planes on both legs of the trip, as well as juggling luggage, a carseat for use once we get there, a camera (a definite MUST!) and quite possibly my laptop computer. Not sure how I'm going to do it, so it's a good thing I have several weeks to figure it out. (Any tips on flying alone with a little one would be very much appreciated!!!) Fortunately, my new DD friends have already offered to lend a hand with Dani once I get there ... otherwise I don't know that I'd have the guts to give this a try.
Next, this isn't the cheapest way to spend a weekend, once you add up the cost of the flight, motel, food, transportation, etc., etc. I could find a million other ways to spend that money - including a lot of scrapbook-related items - but the idea of actually meeting all of these wonderful people I've been getting to know the last few months who share the same interests as I do was more than I could pass up. I know I would regret it if I there was a way I could go and I didn't follow through. It does feel a little odd (and guilt-inducing) to spend that money entirely on myself, though...
Finally, I've never really taken a purely recreational trip just for me, especially one where I will be hanging out with people I've yet to actually meet in person. Of all the things that make this trip feel a little risky, however, that's not really one of them ... through our sharing of scrapbook pages, comments, posts on Facebook, Thursday evening chats, and other messaging, I feel like I know many of these people better than a lot of others who I HAVE met face-to-face. There's something really special about the DD community that's hard to explain unless you are a part of it. For that, I'm very thankful ... and anticipate this will truly be a weekend to remember. Hopefully, it will simply cement the beginning of many wonderful friendships... :)
For now, it's time to pinch my remaining pennies to make sure I don't end up stranded and hungry somewhere in the middle of Texas in the August heat!!!