Sabrina of Defying My Closet was the organizing force behind the second annual Midwest Fashion Blogger Holiday Brunch. The event was held at Orange Contemporary Brunch in River North, which is a lovely restaurant with innovative casual fine dining cuisine.

Although most of the bloggers who attended are from Chicago and its suburbs, Kyla of Blue Collar Catwalk flew all the way in from State College, Pennsylvania! I was really impressed by all of the women I met. We drank champagne mimosas and talked fashion over “fruishi” and french toast.

People often ask me if streetstyle blogging is scary. Once I got over the first few stings of rejection from silly people who didn’t understand that I’m not trying to sell anything or pickpocket them, it becomes all about honing your photography skills. Many of the other fashion bloggers at brunch use their fashion blogs to express their personal sense of style, which seems really unnerving to me. I am much more comfortable behind the lens than in front of it!

Even after hearing them talk about how easy posting photos of yourself becomes, I am still intimidated! It was great to be around so many empowered and fascinating women who love fashion as much as I do. There is something special and intangible about people who put themselves out there in the world to follow their dreams. I have tremendous respect for people who have the wits, determination, and creative spirit to build such incredible fashion websites. In their honor, my New Year’s resolution for 2011 is to post at least one photo of myself a week on Chictopia!