press & advertising

Altitude Summit this year was insane. There were nearly 500 in attendance! Nearly 500 insanely talented, gorgeous, fashionable, down-to-earth men and women all there to improve upon what they’re already awesome at. To be completely honest, I felt completely unworthy to be in the crowd. So unworthy, in fact, the first day felt like a giant kick in the pants.

(image by Uppercase Magazine)

I had a fantastic time socializing with friends and making new ones! The panels were all fantastic, but a big wake up call at the same time. To sum up my experience at Alt; here are a few things I learned, some good times that I had and the cool people I met.

• THINGS I LEARNED •

• Break out the good stuff (but not too much). Keep posts simple, unique & attention-grabbing.
• Include personal narrative & personality, but make and keep boundaries of what I’m willing to share.
• Be more aware of news (I should probably read drudge, but I never do) and current trends
• DON’T SIT ON IDEAS – I can always improve on them later
• Facebook is something I need to embrace, not avoid
• I need to figure out what I want to achieve from this blog (I’m a little aimless sometimes)
• I need to fix my about page
• Re-writing my media packet is a must
• I need to talk more with my brother (I don’t call him nearly enough & he’s a patent attorney)

While attending the various panels, I started a little to do list of the things I should change & improve on my blog & for you, my dear readers. The list is 3 miles long now. After the first day of sessions I felt completely broken: My blog sucks. My life is a mess. I’m not stylish enough. I’m not creative enough. I don’t have enough time to do any of this.

The second day was a whole new world. Each session was more inspiring than the last. That second day helped me build more confidence that I can do this, and many bloggers that I look up to are also in the same I’m-not-good-enough boat.

• GOOD TIMES I HAD •

Wednesday night I enjoyed some fantastic sushi with Pinhole Press. I had great conversations with Jensie & Melanie who I sat next to. It was a great & personal way to get the Alt Summit festivities started. Wednesday night I partied with fellow teachers and met designer pal, Angie, for the first time ever. I got to meet Natalie, Timothy and joke around with the reps of Mail Chimp. They gave out hand crocheted monkey hats at the social & you better believe I grabbed a handful & plan on using them for Felix’s 1st birthday. I do believe we will be going monkey-themed this year.

(image by Justin Hackworth)

Thursday night was the Winter Whites party. Since I taught a panel in the morning I was able to get my hair professionally done by She Lets Her Hair Down (Josphen was too adorable), so it didn’t take much to get all dolled up for the party.

I wore an off-white top (courtesy of ModBod, LOVE it!), necklace from H&M, earrings from the thrift store, belt from Grandma Newton, bracelets made by me (and one by my dad), floor-length skirt handmade by me, shoes from Amazon.

I had originally bought a white dress from Asos, but it failed miserably as it was practically see-through. Funny enough, I saw a girl wearing the exact dress that didn’t work on me, but it worked on her! I felt like too much of a dork to go up to her & tell her it looked fantastic on her. Oh well.

The Friday night parties were absolutely nuts. So many photo booths & fun treats. I believe I collapsed from a sugar rush at the end of the night. I wore a turquoise dress from Asos, pink belt from Asos, red patent pumps from Target, earrings from the thrift store & bracelets from Target. The Uppercase living party was a hoot where we made beaded necklaces. We finished the night at the Method + Smilebooth party where they had some classic hip hop jams & we got a little crazy with our dance moves. Super fun times.

(Image by Gala Darling)

Saturday was more of a restful day with sewing, printmaking & calligraphy. It even started to snow! I had a great time at Eva’s printmaking class & made some really fun prints that I plan on hanging around the house. I need to get on that! The calligraphy class went really well & both Jill & I were just floored at how quickly everyone picked up the pointed pen! Great times.

• THE PEOPLE I MET •

My roommies were fantastic. In previous years I’ve lived close enough to the Grand to just drive home at night. This time I had to drive 40+ miles each way, so I decided I’d rather spend that commuting time sleeping or socializing (it ended up being the latter). I had an absolute blast getting to know my roomies better. Nikki, Katie and Mica are so fantastically inspiring, beautiful and talented! What a fun group of women to be associated with!

It was an absolute thrill to meet Kathleen. She’s so real and witty! Jessica, Gala, and Jessie were all on the same fashion panel. I loved how passionate they were & how transparent they were willing to be at the Q&A section. There needs to be more of that in the blogging community! They’re all super adorable, too. At the Printmaking class I met my blog crush, Merilee, who turns out lives practically next door to me! We’re totally going to be BFFs now.

There were so many fantastic people that I met at Alt, I’m trying to sort through all of their cards/sites & add them to a Pinterest board for you all to see & visit. It’ll probably take a million years to add all of them on there, but I’ll try to get them on there.

Did you go to Alt? Tell me, what was your favorite moment of the weekend?