A Bushel and a Peck

Alt {The Recap}

I have a little time right now so I am taking advantage of it to tell you about Alt!

It was amazing.  Really.  Incredible.

Talented women/men everywhere.  Wonderful speakers and the perfect environment to have your mind blown away by all the talent out there.

Before we begin I have to tell you that I linked as much as I could..because I LOVE YOU!  It took me forever...but that is how deep my love is!

These girlies were my roomies.  I couldn't have asked for better roommates.  Two extremely talented women that anyone would be blessed to call friends (and lucky me...I get to)!!!

You can find Alexis HERE and Melissa HERE.

We all met up on Wednesday and I impressed Alexis that I only brought one carry on suitcase...that is right girls...I CAN pack light if I know my friends will make fun of me if I bring too much luggage.

The word on the street is that Alexis likes to tell people about all the luggage I brought to France..rude..so rude!!  A woman needs choices you know!!!

Wednesday night we went out to dinner {on Alt} with a group of women.  It was a perfect way to meet other women and meet in small groups..genius Alt!

Day One

We were up early Thursday for the first sessions at 9.  The only thing I would recommend to the Alt coordinators is that it would be awesome to have video of the sessions we can't make it to.

There are so many choices and none of them were repeats.  I was sad to miss a few.

My first session was Creative Collaborations with Ben Silbermann of Pinterest, Ez of Creature Comforts, Laura Mayes of Blog Con Queso and Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday as our panelists.

{Recap}

This session had wonderful advice on doing collaborations with other bloggers regarding blogs, books, e-magazines etc.  I have so many notes from this session about the things I want to add to my blog and the collaborations I want to do.

Be looking for some additions to my blog this year...I am excited!!

My next session was Advertising Beyond The Banner with Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind (sweetest EVER), Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks and Maggie Mason of Mighty Girl (totally crushin on her...amazing)

{Recap}

Fun that I was sitting next to Heather Armstrong from Dooce and her husband.

I think the most important thing I took away from this session is that "it is not about you".  If your readers don't like the ads..take them down.

Don't ever advertise for anything you don't use/love..your readers know.

Always disclose when you are being paid for a post.

There was sooo much good info in this session and I have a few pages of notes to prove it:-)

Keynote Lunch: The Intersection of Design and Technology.

This lunch was lead an HP Director talking with Mondo Guerra and Seth Aaron from Project Runway.  Mondo is doing a little fun event coming up here in Denver soon..I will share that soon because local girls will love it!

My afternoon session was Blogging Personal Stories with Karey Mackin of Mackin Ink (Amazing woman...BFF material:-)), Marta Dansie of Marta Writes (super sweet) and Stephanie Nielson of NieNie Dialogues (so fun to meet her in person).

{Recap}

I loved hearing from each of these women.  

I loved that they really stressed, "who are you writing for"?

Write for yourself...not what you think your readers want.  

I agree.  I have read blogs that are nothing like the writer and they are writing almost a false life...people can tell.  Be authentic.

I really loved this...Make your blog your own personal magazine.

That really steps it up.  Make it gorgeous.  Make it something you would stop to pick up and read.  

 

{I loved meeting her and telling her that every woman has a crush on her husband for all the love letters he writes her}

My last session of the day was Taking It Offline-Events and Social Media with Ashley Meaders, Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day, Victoria Hudgins of The City Cradle and Brittany Egbert of One Charming Party.

{Recap}

This panel was full over extremely talented women that know how to put a party together!

Best advice I heard at the session was to find inspiration beyond your industry.

I have a whole post coming to you next week about this.  I think their wise words will inspire you too.

We ended the day with cocktails and then everyone went to get ready for a fabulous party at Lamb's Grill.

Incredible first day.  We stayed up too late talking (shocker).

Day Two

The first thing on the books for Friday was Round Tables...so cool.

12 large tables with leaders and a really specific topic.

I sat down at a licensing discussion.

Sarah Jane of Sarah Jane Studios lead the group and I am anxious to stay in touch with all the women I met that are growing their business and right at the point I am .  Exciting to learn from others!!!

{so grateful for the time I had with my good friend Christy Tomlinson}

My next session was The Art of the Pitch with Heather Armstrong from Dooce.

{Recap}

A lot of good information in this session if you really want to make a living off your blog.

That is not me.  I use my blog to connect with other creative women and to promote my business. I am not against making money off my blog but I don't ever plan on being a professional blogger.  If you are interested in that email me and I will tell you the tips they shared.

Really enjoyed this session though.  Heather is hilarious!  

Keynote Lunch: Sound Unbound By DJ Spooky/ Paul Miller

"How music, art and literature have blurred the lines between what an artist can do and what a composer can create"

There are no words to truly express how MIND BLOWING his talk was.

Please, please, please go and checkout his work.

After being completely impressed {and a little in love} with Paul Miller one of the things I will never forget about the talk was actually a question asked from the audience.

He was asked what were his parents like and how did they encourage his curiosity.  He talked about how he grew up in DC in the 70s, his father was a lawyer for the Black Panthers and his mother was a professor.  He said there were a lot of discussions in his home and he was encouraged to state his beliefs and articulate his needs....even if they were different than his parents'.  I want to be that kind of parent!

OK...is this my longest post to date.  Are you even still reading???

My next session was Magazines: What's Happening Online & Off with Meg Mateo Ilasco of Anthology Magazine, Crystal Gentilello of Rue Magazine and Jess Chamberlain of Sunset Magazine.

{Recap}

I am a lover of magazines so I was anxious to hear from women in both the print and online magazine world.

I love Rue and Lonny and I  know more online magazines are popping up everyday.

If you haven't seen Rue you need to go RIGHT NOW.   Gorgeous!

Love the choices but I still LOVE print...that is how I relax. 

As much as I love online and find inspiration everyday from the gorgeous pages I see on my monitor...I love to relax with a good book or magazine on the couch.

One of my favorite finds at the conference was the new magazine Anthology...perfect!

Gorgeous in every way.  You will read it from cover to cover...when is the last time you did that??  The first issue is sold out but you can subscribe HERE and get the next issue at your doorsteps.  

Closing Keynote Speaker:Tina Eisenberg of Swiss Miss

{This is when I won the ski trip}

Wonderful closing of the conference.

I may be the only person that had never heard of her...but that is why conferences like this are good for me.  New places for inspiration.

Alt ended with mini parties and my favorite was Kate Spade...enjoy the view...

All I can say is that I am going again next year and I am already excited about it.

I have been getting emails from many of you that are planning not to miss it either!

You will not regret it!!

If you have specific questions about Alt feel free to ask them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.

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Winner of the vintage dresses from Decades is Sandi from Sew It Or Bead It!

Sandi, please email me your address and I will get these beauties out to you!

I Am Off

I am really excited to start the new year getting together with good friends and talking shop.

I leave tomorrow for the Altitude Design Summit.

It will be four days of dinners, sessions with amazing bloggers/shop owners, brainstorming, creating, parties and even a little thrifting on the last day.

It will be rooming with Melissa and Alexis.

Alexis was pretty much the highlight of France..except for the other things like flea markets, gorgeous chateau, incredible food, Paris...but she still ranks right up there:-)

Melissa I have only known online and I am thrilled to spend "real life" time together.

My good friend Christy will also be joining us.

I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve.

I am blessed to get together with creative women often but this will be a special trip for me to truly focus on my business and time for me to hopefully figure out some hard decisions I need to make.

I am having some growing pains with my business (and I do know that is a good thing) but I need to really think about where I want it all to go.

You all know how much I don't want to take away from my family...so...how do you grow and stay true to the things that are most important?

Maybe you don't grow..or you figure out something really creative and amazing:-)

I know that my house will go to pot, my kids will eat sugar for the next four days and no one will bath or even get out of pajamas....but...I will be wearing cute clothes, hanging out with creative people, drinking wine and eating food that I DID NOT HAVE TO A MAKE!!!

See you at the end of this week!

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Don't forget to enter HERE for The She Art Workshop!

I also wanted to remind you that the last of the Winter Collection is in the shop.

I will not be making anymore (time to focus on the spring line).

The bonus is that I am offering FREE SHIPPING for the rest of the week.

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I would also like to thank each one of you that have been praying for Joanne.

Yesterday seemed to be better..if you can say that right now..but they didn't have to make any hard decisions and that is good. 

Eyes Wide Open

Because I have been so busy getting the new line out I have not had a chance to share with you about Brave Girl Camp.

If you have been following my blog for awhile you know that I went to BGC a year ago and what an amazing impact it had on me.

You can read about last year here, here and here.

About six months ago two of my friends asked me if I would join them at BGC.  I agreed.  As the time was coming closer one of them had to back out.  When it was about a month away I was regretting signing up again.  I have had many trips this year and just didn't want to leave my family again...and the biggest reason was because I HAD DONE THIS ALREADY.  I was worried that an experience that had been so amazing could be tainted by doing it again. 

When I finally bought my plane ticket and I received the email full of all the other girls coming.....I cried.

I cried looking at their photos and hearing their stories.

I cried because many of the staff are people I love DEARLY and I couldn't wait to see.

I cried because I was so excited and happy for these new girls because of what they were about to experience.

When I came home after the first camp I was so full of ideas, dreams, resolutions that my sweet husband couldn't get a word in.

Camp for me last year was a time of quiet for me that I desperately needed to truly find my focus.

When I was quiet long enough my head and heart were able to hear and respect each other and I saw clearer than I had in a long time.

I believe you can only be brave when you know some kind of direction.

If you have a focus/direction you can be scared and uncertain but at least you can take that FIRST step into that new world.

For so many of us we can flounder for so long because we don't know our focus. 

We can even allow so many others to steal our focus and we allow them/situations/commitments to distract us.

Sometimes we can stay so busy with things that don't matter that we have no energy left for the things we were meant for!

When I came home this time I didn't need to talk and talk.

This camp has been just as powerful and heart changing...but in a completely different way.

I had such a deep quiet peace as I had watched miracles.

I watched women change before my eyes.

How last time I had found focus ...this time I heard so clearly to open my eyes.

Open my eyes because there is hurt everywhere.

EVERYWHERE.

On my street...in my town..in my little world..because we are all broken a little aren't we?

When I relived Melody's journey I was so aware of how much pain people can carry.

Melody has such a unique way of sharing her story that I will carry some of her experiences with me for the rest of my life.

I don't want to look at those around me the same way.

The Lord calls us to be his hands and feet and that is EXACTLY what I want to be.

What I have seen with my realtionships throughout my life is  that the heaviest burden, the most painful shame, the ugliest secrets, the most devastating acts can be lightened by another.

When women come together to support, uplift, encourage, love, listen, cry, laugh.....there is healing.

HUGE...undeniable....HEALING!

I am not saying that all their problems go away. 

What I am saying is that you give another person HOPE!!

Hope that life doesn't have to be what it has been.

Hope that what is in the past doesn't define you.

Hope that there are people in this world that love them and will stand by them.

That is the kind of women I want to be.

Women at their worst can be so destructive...but women at their best can be the most powerful force on earth.

Don't you want to use THAT power?

I want to  live with my eyes WIDE OPEN!

I can't tell you what you will come away with if you go to BGC or how that experience will change your heart.

I can only promise you that it will be GOOD...so good!

 {to all you brave girls that I met this time..you are precious, beautiful and brave...so, so brave}

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Don't forget that there is still time to enter my $200 shop giveaway.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your huge and beautiful response to my new line!