Alt Summit Recap 2012

I'm back and couldn't feel better about it!  I missed both you and my bed dearly.  Alt Summit was jam packed with great panels, keynote speakers such as Ben, the creator of Pinterest.  If that weren't great enough, there were parties every night that I ate more than my weight in chocolate.  It was exhausting and awesome all at the same time.

|Me with Allison Chapman and Amy Turn Sharp, picture by Janine Vangool of Uppercase|

Highlights from the conference:

1. I cut my bangs half way through the conference! I know.... whaaa?!  I got my hair done Friday morning for my speaking gig and the hairstylist told me I would look great with bangs.  Amy Turn Sharp was with me and she can make me do just about anything.  It was completely unexpected, but I love them!


2. I didn't have a plan at all. Usually when I go to a conference, I make a list of things I want to accomplish, or people I want to see.  I didn't do that this year.  My one and only goal was to have fun.  And it worked!  I had a blast and met great people along the way!


3. There's nothing quite like a late night Village Inn run. On a whim, I went out to eat with friends at midnight.  Alma Loveland was nearly falling asleep half the time so it's a good thing her husband, Mike was there to get her home.  I loved meeting new friends Jessica Jones and Angie Anderson and learning about waffles and chicken being eaten together.  We instantly connected and it was fun to talk about the gossip in the blogging world.  It's like we were reliving our college days.  Which is so awesome!
   

   |My first print at the print making class|

   
   


4. Being Creative. Saturday was full of workshops where we could be creative.  My favorite was printmaking taught by Eva Jorgensen from Sycamore Street Press.   It was so fun dreaming of things to create and actually being able to do it right there on the spot.  I'm great at being creative with my kids and I realize that I need to be better about being creative for myself.  It was so therapeutic to be able to create along side friends.


5. Wearing clothes I love. I was lucky enough to partner with an excellent brand, tea for most of the attire that I wore to the conference.  They actual specialize in children's clothes.... go look, they are wonderful!  They also make wonderful casual women's clothes that I felt myself and comfortable in the entire time.  My favorites were this shirt pictured above and the grey tunic dress in the top picture (which I can't find on their website anymore).  They just launched their spring line so go ahead and take a look. They are offering Dose of Happy readers 15% off until the end of the month.  Use the code DOSEOFHAPPY15 at checkout to redeem.


6. Coming home to my monkeys. Being away from my family for 3 days was really, really hard.  Harder than it's ever been before.  I usually welcome the break, but this time was different.  I was ready to go home by Friday.  When Saturday came, I was more than ready.  We actually hung around in Utah for a few days after the conference and took Caden skiing for the first time.  I'm going to leave that for another blog post.  I can't wait to tell you all about it! (Hat from Mail Chimp).

disclaimer: tea was kind enough to send me clothes to wear at alt summit.  Sadly, I ruined one of my favorite shirts before even wearing it by using the hotel iron.  I hate hotel irons.  I now use the steam shower method.