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.

My Bags Are Packed... Alt Summit Here I Come!

I'm soooooo excited to be leaving for Altitude Design Summit in a couple of hours.  It's my favorite blogging conference ever.  I attended last year and immediately fell in love.  The people are wicked smart and so inspirational on all things design and fashion.  I don't consider myself a fashion diva so being surrounded by all these amazing people can be a little intimidating.

I'm really looking forward to connecting with great friends that I haven't seen since last year and chatting it up until the wee hours of the morning.  I'm also looking forward to the hands on design camps on Saturday.  Crafting without the kids hasn't happened in a loooong time so it will be very refreshing.

On Friday morning, I've been invited to lead a round table on "selling yourself."  Which I realize sounds a little like I'll be helping people work the streets.  Boy, do I know how to work it!  But really, I'll be teaching fellow bloggers how to partner with quality brands matters.  I already have a few goodies to share after the conference about great companies I partnered with to make my weekend in SLC the best it could be.  If you have any blogging questions you want me to get the answers on at the conference, let me know.  I won't be blogging the rest of the week, but if you want to keep up with the buzz, follow me on twitter and instagram.

I hope you have a great rest of the week!

I'm Back! Altitude Summit Rocked Hard Core.

I'm still processing everything that happened at Altitude Summit this past weekend.  In a nutshell.... it was inspiring, incredible, and kind.  And, by far the best conference I've ever been to.

{Amy, me & Ez}

A few reasons why:

1.  The people.

I had the best roomies ever. And now I call them my besties.  Amy Turn Sharp has a heart of gold, and made me laugh all weekend long.  Her and her husband makes the best wooden toys eva' over at Little Alouette.  You should buy one for each of your kids and your neighbors.  They are so soft and gorgeous, I want to eat them.  Ez is the most genuine person I've ever met.  I feel like I've known her forever.  She runs a beautiful site called Creature Comforts which is full of inspiration daily.  Once you check out her site, you won't be able to live without her.

In addition to my roomies, I was able to reconnect with so many talented friends- like Alison, Marie, Laura & Gabrielle.  And I can't tell you how many inspiring women I met this weekend.  I now walk around saying, "What would Erin Loechner do?"  She is so freaking amazing.  She helped me (and so many others) this weekend by connecting us together, and being a sounding board.  I so wish I could carry her in my pocket.  There were so many more people I met that I loved.  Summer  and her husband, Kerry are a hoot and I could have talked to them all night long.  Jamie is hil-ar-ious and has beautiful hair.  I told her I wanted to eat it.  She seemed okay with that.  Jenny is drop dead gorgeous in person and so, so nice.  I'm pretty sure Brian Patrick is going to have his own show someday.  He's charming, and uber talented. 

I could go on and on.  Everywhere I turned, there was talent and enjoyable conversation.  And everyone was so, so kind.  I was a little nervous about going to this conference all by myself.  I was worried that everyone would have their own little circles and I'd be the lone ranger in the corner.  This was not true one bit.  Everyone was gracious and welcoming which was a huge relief! 

{from altsummit flickr stream}

2.  I learned good things.

My biggest complaint leaving conferences usually pertains to the content.  Not that I know it all, but I've been blogging long enough to know the basics.  This conference left me chewing on things.  Here are some of the things I'm thinking about:

-When working in a group, it's best to delegate all tasks (i.e. have one in charge of email, one in charge of accounting, one in charge of twitter, etc.) and have meetings consistently.  Since most of what I do is a collaborative work, it's good to remind myself of this. 

-There are many tools I need to check out: Skitch (easy to manipulate screenshots), Tineye (reverse image search), and Rescue Time (time management tool) to name just a few.

-"Brands are people too." ~Maggie Mason.  She also said that people that want to give you money are not the enemy.  Working with various brands can be diffi

-Tina Roth Eisenberg from Swiss Miss is the bomb-diggity.  She was candid in her keynote, and full of information.  Here are  few things she's learned along the way.

1. No one can tell you what is best.


2. Surrounding yourself with people is key.


3. Don't just talk.  Do it.


4. Be kind and generous.  It comes back to you.


5. Your enthusiasm and integrity are your biggest assets.


6. Think BIG.  It is possible.

3.  Big bathtubs are where it's at.

I had time to take a bubble bath in Grand America's deep tub.  It was dreamy, and I've added it to my dream house list.

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A huge thanks to the Kirtsy girls and their vision.  Thanks for hosting such a great conference, sparking so much inspiration and bringing all of us together! xo

Missing You All

I'm missing all of you.

{hugs}

So far, my day has been full of inspiring messages, chats with people I love, and a fabulous lunch with Mondo and Seth Aaron from Project Runway.

In other words, it's been awesome.

I promise I'll be back next week ready to share great things from ALT Summit.



P.S.  Salt Lake City is beautiful.

image via Cosmopolitician

Hello Friday

Wow!  Friday is already here!  I hope you're enjoying it wherever you are reading this.  We've been busy around these parts.

{my new boots}

Can you believe that Porter is already 3 months old?

He's gaining weight at rapid speeds these days.  I stepped on the scale with him this week and he weighs a whopping 17 lbs.  Let's just say he's serious about his milk.

I've also been busy planning for ALT Summit.  It's a conference for design, photography, fashion, and creative type bloggers and I can't wait for it to come!  I'm very excited, but also a little nervous.  Have you seen the great line up of people that are going to be there?  It's overwhelming!

I promise to keep you in the loop while I'm there. In the meantime, I'm off to plan my wardrobe.  I've been formulating outfits in my head all week, and now it's time to see if they look as good as I think I will.

While I'm off doing my own catwalk, enjoy some inspiration I've seen around the interwebs this week.

1. I made this Garlic Chicken Pizza this week and it's now my favorite meal.  {Bonus: it's pretty healthy too!}


2. Give me a paint brush now.  Superneutral decorating palettes.


3. Words to live by.


4. This color palette sums up how I feel right now.


5. DIY: make a lovely woven trivet.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  Thanks for reading, and we'll see you Monday.

xo