hey, i made it!

Of all the Alt Summit videos that have been circulating I have not been in a single one...that is what I get for being an introvert. HOWEVER one that I received in my email box today has a lovely few second segment of myself and the fabulous Michael Doxey at the Girls With Glasses Parisian party! We show up about 1:58. Enjoy.

What Alt Summit feels like. from ALT Summit on Vimeo.

(me) guest posting - yuppie love

OH EM GEE, spontaneous guest post, Batman! I am so bummed I missed seeing the fabulous Kait post this, so it's sliiiightly late, but alas, here is where she posted some of my essentials for Alt Summit this week.


The amazing KAIT.

Head on over here and see what's up.

I will probably have a lot of "alt" in my posts for at least the next few days. It was just such a thrilling experience that I have to document it. And in light of meeting fun people and gaining awesome inspiration, I rubbed off on my bff forever Michael Doxey and HE started a blog. He plays a huge part in my 2012 plans so head over to his awesome, glittery blog and show him love.

Have a fantastic Monday night, y'all.

alt design summit: night party i forced michael doxey to attend with me

Okay so I'll admit, I was pretty nervous to go to these parties. I don't know anyone here. I've made an ass out of myself virtually stalking bloggers I love only to creep them out. BUT, my husband Zack and our friend Kramer told me I NEEDED to go to these parties, mainly because they knew I'd regret not going. So I went.

As for the preview last night, I forced my dear Michael Doxey to attend with me. Why? Because he is fabulous. I hung around a bit with Jess, Chelsey and Robin and Jensie which ruled, I've admired them and they're blogs for quite a while. It was nice to see how rad they were in person.



We wandered around to several parties, got some S.W.A.G. I got to stalk Bri Emery amd Erin Lochner a few more times. Michael and I grabbed some ice cream, made some necklaces and partied the night away.




Last day today, OMG. So stoked!

alt design summit: day two

Wow, yet another day under my belt at Alt Summit and I have to say I have learned so much from today's session. Again, I skipped out a bit early due to the fact that one: I was beat and two: I'd gained so much information that I have to rejuvenate myself for tonight.

The day began with a round table on Journalism for Bloggers, hosted by the FANTASTIC Jaimee Rose of The Arizona Republic and USA Today. She gave some amazing tips, most of which I will hopefully be incorporating into my blog going forward. Mostly, more of a structured posting style. I will probably not be implementing this until Monday. Oy with the vey.

After that I attended a panel of very talented bloggers on Growing Your Readership. I feel a lot of collaborations coming up in the future so if anyone would like to do a guest post feel FREE to ask! I can be reached at thatjordangirl@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @thatjordangirl. It would be so fun to work with some of the amazing bloggers I've met so far.




During lunch I sat with some fabulous ladies. Taylor Kalander, Lili Zarghami of HGTV, and Valerie Rasmussen of Utah Bride & Groom to name a few. The Keynote speaker of today was Ben Silbermann, the founder of Pinterest who was absolutely amazing. He gave quite an inspirational speech I must say.



The final highlight I have of today is meeting one of my blogging idols, Bri Emery. We talked for a few and she was kind enough to snap a photo with me. Oh how I will treasure it forever!



On tonight's agenda I will be attending several of the mini parties being held in hotel suites. This should make for an interesting evening.

what is to come

Michael Doxey and I had a fantastic evening at the Alt Summit night parties. SO much to post about tomorrow I cannot stand it. I will leave you with the funnest photo EVER.

alt design summit: day one

Ah, here we are, day one of the festivities. I got up at seven this morning, about an hour later than I'd planned. I got my coffee in my to go mug and Zack drove me the 15ish miles to the lovely Grand America Hotel. One thing really nice about Alt Summit is that it isn't a huge commute for me. This makes me very happy.

Once there I received my fancy name badge and my S.W.A.G. (for you that aren't aware, this stands for Stuff We All Get, duh). I'll probably end up doing a separate post on the S.W.A.G. once Ive had a chance to actually look/use/play with it all. I was still pretty stoked to have my own name badge, I honestly felt pretty important.



Then I was on my way to my first panel of the day. It was on Successful Collaborations, and the fantastic, amazing and wonderful BRI EMERY was one of the panelists, along with Josyln Taylor, Victoria Smith and Danielle Krysa. It was highly informative and really makes me excited to incorporate some more guest posts into my blog for 2012. Plus, I got a little re-tweet from Bri herself, which may have been one of the biggest thrills of my life. No, seriously.



After that panel I went to another on how to incorporate ads and build relationships with sponsors. I'll be honest, I've never really wanted to have sponsors on my blog, but I would be open to the idea if it came about. I just have been to so many blogs where I'm overwhelmed with sponsors and giveaways and things like that and I'll be honest, I'm not a fan. Once in a while it's okay but the reason I read your blog is to read about YOU not about who you sponsor. Meh, I may be alone in that.

Then there was lunch and I have to say, the (what I think was a) pot pie was entirely toooooo good. Toooooo good to be a pot pie, yet, it was.



Third panel was something that I have been looking forward to since it went up on the schedule. From Blog To Book. Oh man, all I want to do is write and I figured I could gain a lot of perspective from this. There were many amazing panelists but the lovely Grace Bonney from Design*Sponge was the moderator. She gave a lot of good advice on how to work with publishers and agents should they tickle your fancy. It was my favorite part of the day. So much, in fact, that I took notes.





After that I was shot. None of the final panels really appealed to what I needed so I had Zack pick me up early. And I'm being a bad blogger gal by not attending the Winter Wonderland party. I'm so drained and shy, I know that's not excuse but I will be attending the sparkly parties tomorrow. Oh two more days of this. I wish I could do this every day. I've met a few very fun people, there are some I still haven't met and some I feel like are going to get creeped out I'm such a fangirl for them. I really wish I could do this every day (yep, that's twice now).

Thanks again to those who support!!

alt dinner where we got crafty

So I must say I was extremely nervous to attend my ALT Design Summit dinner. I get very anxious when I am in a group with people I don't know, but I was encouraged to go by my husband and some friends so alas, I made the trek to Roth Distributing to meet up with some fantastic ladies. It was hosted by Kelly Wilkinson of Make Grow Gather and Sarah Flotard an amazing food photographer.

I was the first to arrive and it was such a relief considering I thought I'd be late. The first thing they offered me was a sparkling wine and grapefruit cocktail. Oh the joys of that. Usually I don't believe sparkling and wine mix, but I was proven very wrong with this concoction. Add a little blood orange and you're there.

I got a chance to mingle with Sarah and Kelly as others arrived and once we'd all made ourselves acquainted we went into a distribution showroom to make napkins! This is where I got to show off my less than artistic skills. Seriously I would love to point out that I failed first grade paint 101 and my sad little napkin will probably never see the light of day after this post.




Afterward we headed to the dining area and had a meal so fantastic I can't even describe it. A white salad, duck, squash. It was oh so yummy, and the girls were kind enough to give us some of the recipes in our gift bags.



The highlights? I did some networking, passed out my business cards (ooh aren't I fancy) and received some as well.

The lowlights? I fell on my ass. I seriously cannot wear heels. And I know what you're thinking...whoa how many of those sparkly cocktails did you have? I HAD ONE. And then a half a glass of dry reisling. Seriously, not enough to warrant a fall, I assure you. I wish I could have at least blamed the cocktails.

Next post? Day 1! Oy with the poodles already.

alt design summit

Image courtesy of the site.

I have officially purchased my space at Alt Design Summit. I'm slightly nervous I can't lie, but I think it'll be a very good experience and it will give me a chance to meet other people who love to do what I do and develop my blog into something more. I can't work in a cubicle my entire life, I just can't. It's not me. Even if this doesn't become something I can do full time, even if it is just a productive hobby, that will be amazing. I really don't do it for anyone else besides me, but I do like when others share the same interests. That is why I read the blogs I do, I like and appreciate what they say and am happy the blogger chose to share it with me. It's kind of a fun little group to be in. If you are attending the summit let me know! And since I'm from Utah I can also show you the 3 awesome places we have here in Salt Lake City!!

Oh yeah, Bri Emery is one of the speakers. That makes me totally giddy.

i'm going to start selling my snow globes

I will figure out a way to afford this. I swear I will. I'm kind of bummed miss Joy won't be there, but it seems like there are other pretty awesome people.

Ideas on how I can do this are much appreciated. Anyone else going to attend?