Last Friday at Alt.

Our second day of sessions and we start off with round tables. There were about 20 different tables all discussing different topics. Jess checked out the tax round table (FYI: I’m hiring an accountant this year) and I joined Kelly Keegan from Better Homes and Gardens. Some great info from that.

THEN we checked out our next session: Growing a Readership. I really enjoyed this as well. Plus, I loved everyone on that panel. Pretty much the key to growing a readership: good original content. Remember: it’s quality over quantity.

Next up was lunch where I shared a table with a lovely group of people. And, I was SO happy and excited to meet the adorable couple behind Ollibird. AND, Mike of Ollibird gave me a little artist trading card. I definitely plan on bringing a few of my own trading cards for next year.

Ok…. Following lunch was the keynote from Ben Silberman of Pinterest. He was by far the highlight of Alt. he is definitely one amazing guy. he was inspiring, humble, and a great speaker! He got a standing ovation. I will try and find the video of his keynote. It’s long…. But, oh man is it great. Pinterest has been a wonderful thing for the growth of my blog. I think it’s safe to say that 50% of my new readers find me through one of my items pinned on Pinterest. Still don’t know what Pinterest is? Then, you must be living under a rock… I kid. But, really. Hee hee. So, I nerded out when I was able to take a photo with Ben. See my totally geeked out smile? Yeeeah. Big moment for me. 🙂

And, our last session was about up and coming blogs. Picked by these ladies: (http://modernkiddo.com/, http://www.natthefatrat.com/, http://blackeiffel.blogspot.com/). There were a couple on that list I already read. Here’s the list if you want to check it out!

The final keynote for the summit was Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project. I had been to her session at BlogHer. She’s a pretty neat lady. I haven’t read her book, but, some people swear by it and find it so helpful.

This night was all about the mini-parties! All so much fun. Enjoy all our photobooth photos below… you know bloggers LOVE a good photobooth… (there were like 6 photobooths…. we only did 4… hee… BUT, some aren’t ready and I’ll share them next week).

We made it ‘home’ by 1… Asleep by 2. And, we wake up at 7! So tired…

I’ve gathered all of these photos from many different sources: my photos, SLC Photo Collective, Uppercase, Justin Hackworth, b.a.d. photography.

The next day at Alt: classes!

{Related posts: Day 1 Alt Design Summit, Alt Summit Begins!}

Wednesday at Alt with 2 of my roomies.

Wednesday morning was an early one. … Our little East coaster roomies are insane and woke up too early. 😉 so, we got up… Lazed around… AND: Sweet Shawntae from A Little King and I stopped by with her adorable babes. Plus, she was adorable too.

We titled the photo on the left  below, “Sister Wives”. Love those girls, Ms. Navy, and Mr. Kingston (FYI: her kiddos are even more adorable in person). How ’bout a random bit of trivia for you… Kingston and Ruari were born on the same day, only 2 hours apart and both were 4 weeks early.

So, we had originally planned on doing a photo walk with Nish… But, it was raining and it didn’t work out. 🙁 I think next year we will plan our photo walk for Tuesday so we don’t run short on time. Darn. I was really hoping to meet her!

We were not actually staying at the Grand America…. We were at the Comfort Inn 2 blocks away. This was totally fine, but it got more difficult as the days went on. Even though we were each saving about $300 by staying there… I almost wish we were at the Grand. Next year for sure. So, for lunch we ate at the Garden Cafe in the Grand and shared a bottle of wine… You know, because that’s what you do when you’re at a conference.

And, finally… Alt summit begins!!! Heck yeah! The moment I’ve been so excited for and planning for and saving for…. Was here. For the first night at Alt they had a million different restaurants that all the attendees were splitting up into groups of 10 for a more intimate dinner experience. Jess and I chose Spencer’s as our dinner of choice. Oh man. You don’t even know how long it’s been since I’ve had an amazing steak… And, this thing was amazing (and, free which makes it better. All thanks to our dinner sponsors, HP). Please see photo below for thee most amazing steak. You are looking at a $60 piece of meat…

After much wine and fabulous chatting (I loved the sweet dinner attendees that I chatted it up with.) we headed out to Squatter’s…. A local watering hole. This is where I finally got to meet the lovely Dayna from Gelaskins. She was neato. And, I also met and was pretty interested in the Brunch with Bloggers group.

Next up: passing out at the hotel around 1 am… And, our fabulous Alt sessions begin!

P.S. Most photos are from my phone and jess‘ phone. BUT, some are from the lovely photographer: b.a.d photography.

{Related posts: Day 1 Alt Design Summit, BlogHer ’11, What Did I Learn?}

 Wordless{ish} Wednesday link up: