I’m back from Salt Lake City for my big trip to Alt Design Summit, and I can honestly say that I’m swirling with emotions: happy, sad, excited, inspired, motivated, overwhelmed, and mostly thankful for such an amazing opportunity. I don’t think that I could ever put into words all of the fantastic things that I experienced, but here’s to giving it a try.

First, let me tell you about my sweet roomie. Being friends with Emily since we opened our Etsy shops in early 2009, it was great to finally meet and spend our days at Alt together. We laughed a lot, got along fab, and brought each other some sweet gifts. She crocheted me a beautiful purple scarf and brought me some Violet Tea from Paris (how perfect, right?), and I gave her a handy book of New Orleans cocktail recipes.

Speaking of gifts, WHOA. I’m still in a bit of shock over all of the ah-MA-zing things I brought home with me. I had to buy a second carry on bag for my goodies, and my suitcase was still busting at the seams and 5 lbs over weight. Here are a few of my favorite things:

One of the best things was picking up my magnet at the Friday night Paris Party, because I was really missing my two guys at this point- and I smiled and teared up a bit when I finally found it
1- Magnet from Pinhole Press | 2- Necklace from Ritzy Misfit & Journal from Paper Coterie | 3- Bamboo Connect (Gift from Cottonelle) | 4-Baby Gear & Music from Superfly Lullabies

Everything looked so spot-on, let me just show you. From the gifts, packaging, ribbons & bows, sparkle, cupcake displays, mini parties, food, and our night in winter wonderland- the details paid attention to at Alt were pretty much flawless.

Among all of the beautiful and creative ladies I met, I also had the pleasure of meeting Anya from Project Runway (I am a pretty huge fan of hers!), Ben from Pinterest, and the oh-so-fabulous Amy Butler. I’m also very excited about the possibility of working with Anya on a web project in the near future. I felt a little starstruck,  I must be honest. These are some of the most inspirational people you could possibly meet- you can literally feel the positive energy surrounding them. And I’m convinced that every girl at the conference secretly went home with a crush on darling Ben after hearing his keynote speech, hehe.

I’m going to have to take a moment here and tell you about how much fun I had in the snow… before I hurt my wrist snowboarding, OMG! You do remember that I’m from Louisiana, right? And let me remind you that I’ve never seen more than about 4 inches of snow. On Saturday we headed up to the Solitude Ski Resort and when I finally saw REAL SNOW and a snowboard attached to my feet, you can probably imagine my excitement…

I took a bit of a super-fast-whiplash-fall-on-my-butt at the bottom of the slope and bruised my wrist (boo!), but I absolutely love snowboarding and will be doing it again next year.. My ski group seemed to love it when a cute ski-patroller came to my wrist-rescue and wrapped me up- ha! And wasn’t my new friend, B, from Truly Aesthetic, lookin’ chic in her ski gear?

The panels, roundtable discussions, and keynotes are still swimming through my mind- I’ve learned so much about myself and my business on my trip. Although it was sad to leave the snow and so many new friends behind, I was happy to get home to see my son and best friend-of-a-hubby. I still have a LOT of unpacking & mind-downloading to do, but I enjoyed adding a few new things to my inspiration board and studio shelves. (P.S. I read Deborah Needleman’s The Perfectly Imperfect Home on the airplane, and LOVED it- Another wonderful gift! Planning to do a review soon

Did you attend Alt? If you’re thinking about giving your blog a facelift or makeover, check out my portfolio and maybe we can work together

Is it weird that I’m already excited about ALT 2013? Woo Hoo!!