AZ Blogger Meetup Recap

A few weeks ago, I attended a blogger meetup. The idea was to get to know other bloggers through bringing some our favorite things to share. This aspect was what sold me on going. I love putting together gift bags. Receiving bags was fun, too, especially when one included a succulent to add to the succulent garden on my fireplace.

The bags I put together contained:

-80s glasses
-print of one of my Polaroids
-Strawberry Lime Jones soda
-half pint of home canned Sweet and Sour Pickled Red Onions
-notebook
-Cd of 5 favorite Zumba songs

Lets talk a moment about the shirt I wore to this event. I've noticed that blogger meet-ups are pretty fashionable affairs, but as we seen before, I crack under the pressure. This time around my choice of attire was purely emotional.

Here is a little story:

Once upon a time, in August of 2006, I invited Husband (ex-boyfriend at the time) to attend a Death Cab for Cutie concert with me and some friends. It was an incredible concert, especially since it introduced us to Mates of State (opening band). Both Husband and I bought shirts. Shortly after the concert, I went home for a visit and took my shirt with me. Somewhere during that visit the shirt was misplaced and I thought I had lost it forever. Husband wore his shirt lots and lots in the years that followed. Every time he wore his, I felt a deep longing for my lost shirt. Fast forward to a few months ago when my parents were moving. As they were moving their washing and dryer, they found my t-shirt huddled in a corner covered in dust bunnies. I may have shrieked with joy.

It needed a good wash, but basically it is as pristine as the day I bought it (stark contrast to Husband's shirt which is now sporting a few holes). The day of the blogger meet-up was the first day I wore it. And I could not change out of it into something more trendy for the meet-up. And perhaps I wore it for 5 days straight before I washed it again. And wore it as many days as I could since. We had been apart for 6.5 years, and by the record of days warn in the past month, I have developed separation anxiety. But enough about my weird tendencies...

The meet-up was a lot of fun. I loved hearing from all the ladies about their blogs and eating the delicious food provided by Sweet Cakes. I cannot wait for another opportunity to hang out with these ladies and form lovely local blogger friendships. A big thank you to Camille and Katie for hosting, Sweet Cakes* for providing an after-hours location, Bonnie for taking photos (since I failed to take my camera out during the event), Megan for the succulent and over stuffed oreos, and most importantly, Jen and Brooke for coming with me to ease my awkwardness.

*Anyone else out there want to call that place Sweet Cupin' Cakes?

Bold Move

In the past two weeks I have been to two blogger meet-ups. One was hosted by Melissa Esplin from IS-LY. Unfortunately (super emphasis here) I never took out my camera, so there are not pictures to document the event. Basically we chatted and ate delicious food from Dilly's Deli. Did I mention it was at Melissa's in-laws' fantastic modern home? I was in architectural and interior design heaven. Talking with Melissa's mother-in-law sure did help me figure a few things out about how I want to transform my home (in time).

The other meet-up was hosted my Camberley and Keighley from Fancy House Road. It was a Christmas in July themed event with a few garland crafts. There were a lot of bloggers there and it was a little overwhelming. My lack of skills in the small talk department was very apparent as I could not think of a single thing to say to anyone the first 45 minutes or so, but once I did start chatting I got to know some pretty awesome ladies. It was a fun event and I'm glad I went.

some of the garland supplies

most of the ladies that came - photo from Kayla

Other than the hosts, I chatted with a few awesome bloggers. I met Kayla from Freckles in April, Jessica from Toujours C'est La Vie, Mandy from Dash It All, and Ashley from The Adventures of Bunny and Elephant. I also indirectly met Rosemary from Hello There! House who's latest project is extremely interesting to me. I hope they have a giveaway for tickets to their conference in October and that I win, because it sounds super fun.

Now to address the title of this post - Attending these meet-ups was a very bold move for me. The past few years have torn me down, but as I'm fighting to get stronger and more self-assured, I am putting myself out there more. And it isn't easy. Because I had access to the blogs of all the ladies attending, I was a little more at ease about going to the first meet-up. The second meet-up was a little more difficult because I was more or less going in blind because lots more bloggers than I expected showed up. But I pushed through it, survived, and made a few friends. For that, I feel like a champion. Hopefully I can attend more meet-ups and improve even more.

A big thanks to Melissa, Camberley, and Keighley for letting me participate is some great social experiences. You girls are awesome.