Phew! I don’t know why it has taken me so long to write this post. Well maybe I do. It was such a whirlwind trip and I came home so completely exhausted. Then I had my birthday on Tuesday. And we have been lucky enough to have a string of 80* days this week, so I’ve been outside. So basically I’ve just been living a “normal” life and not blogging. Sorry about that, y’all. I’m getting back into my groove and I will try to share as much as I can from my trip, the conference and all that jazz now…but it was such a blur that forgive me if I can’t remember it all! Oh and there are a lot of pictures…sorry about that ahead of time!
My trip started out on Thursday morning at 3:30am when I left for the airport. What I mean to say is that I left my mother in law’s house (she ended up watching my kids for two of the days because my hubby had to work) for the park and ride to catch the bus to the airport at 3:30. One would think that I would have been tired and cranky, but instead I was so amped up and nervous that I barely slept that night anyway! Fast forward to the airport where I meet Randi. Sowdering About is her blog and she is FANTASTIC, seriously love her. Open a new tab and read her blog after you’re done here. We have been talking online for what seems like forever and even though we only live a couple of hours apart we finally got to meet for this trip.
So we land in Salt Lake and take the Trax to the hotel. I will admit to you all now that I am a total control freak and I had downloaded the airport map, trax schedule and countless other things onto my phone before I left so that I would have an easy trip. The only thing I didn’t/couldn’t prepare for was how it would feel walking into a hotel conference room filled with 500+ other bloggers. No lie, I just about had a panic attack. I actually had to take a time-out to gather my thoughts and breathe before I could continue my day. The first thing we had on the schedule was an opening talk from Tauni who organized the whole event. I can’t even imagine how crazy she must have been feeling at that point! During that talk we were all gifted with these beautiful necklaces from Charmed Collections to remind us to keep moving forward.
So the day moves on and there are classes to take, sponsors to meet and fun to have.
The first night we had an 80’s PJ party sponsored by Cricut. Totally awesome and awful all in one. I am not too much for manufactured fun, but I have to say that they went all out and over the top amazing with this one! I ended the night finding an allusive martini in the hotel bar!
Day two was more of the same: amazing sponsors, amazing classes and another awesome party. That night’s party was an 80’s prom sponsored by Duck Tape Brand. It was even more ridiculous than the first, because some of these amazing ladies made their prom dresses entirely out of Duck Tape. Wowzers!
My PNW girls Randi and Steph (Crafting in the Rain)! My awesome roomies Nancy (Do Small Things With Love), Kim (733 Blog) and Shannah (Just Us Four)! They were so much fun and really helped make the trip even better!
There were some amazing keynote speakers too!!!
For the third day I was totally feeling it and all my nervousness was gone.
I was in my element surrounded by my people. People who speak SEO, hashtags, page views and content. People who always assume you made what you are wearing instead of buying it. People who are always up for a good selfie (check out #showmeyourweave on instagram for an idea of what I’m talking about) and people who genuinely care about one another.
All in all it was amazing and I can’t wait to go to my next conference! Until then I’ll have to make due with this…
Looks like you had a great time! Thank you so much for the recap!
I did have a really good time. Surprisingly it was good to come home!
Loved your recap! You were so good about taking pictures of you with other people! I completely failed at that. I think I was just so overwhelmed with all of it, I completely forgot that I would want photos when I got home! 🙂
Lol! It took me so long to write because I spent all week being bummed at all the pictures I didn’t take! I met so many amazing women (and Nick!) That I wished I’d snapped a pic with! Next year we’ll be better I’m sure!