Happy Monday everyone!!!
I hope you all had a good weekend! Mine was not nearly as productive as I had hoped.
As I mentioned last week, I am getting ready to re paint the entire upper level of my home. I have been living in the Land of Beige for the last 10 years, and I am so over it. I am now going with grey, but I had no idea what an ordeal it would be. I went all over last weekend, going from store to store, buying samples of grey paint. One was too blue, several too lilac, some too white, some too tan, and so on. My hallway looks like a preschooler’s version of an abstract art piece with all of these different shades of grey. I finally figured one out, but by then it was Sunday evening and too late to start painting.
So you can guess what I’ll be doing this week.
Last week I told you about all of the reasons I love the Haven Bloggers Conference that I just attended in Atlanta last week. Today I thought I would show you a little more of what we did there.
Myself, Our Southern Home, Artsy Chicks Rule, Confessions of a Serial DIYer
When we first got into town, the lovely ladies from Porch.com hosted a fun get together for all of the Porch bloggers. It was at a cute little pie shop where we took part in a calligraphy class. After the class, we were able to sample all of the yummy pies the shop had to offer … along with some champagne.
After we got settled into the hotel, there was a meet and greet where we were able to have cocktails on the terrace and meet some of the new bloggers along with catching up with old friends.
Cindy (GoodHaus Design) and myself
After the meet and greet, a group of my friends and I went out to dinner at Maggiano’s for some delicious Italian food.
I then went back to my room where my lovely roommate Susan, from Living Rich on Less, stayed up with my, talking for hours.
The next morning was a speech from our keynote speaker Jon Acuff who was fabulous and hilarious.
The first class I attended was one on making videos. While making videos is not something I feel entirely comfortable doing, it will be something you will be seeing from me in the near future.
We then had a wonderful lunch hosted by Rustoleum, and then I went around visiting with some of the sponsors, such as Kreg, Ryobi, Moen, GMC, GE, etc.
After lunch, I attended an affiliate advertising class as well as an Instagram class from Liz from Liz Marie Blog.
My friends and I then decided to have dinner at the bar in the hotel, and I had a fun visit with Robin from All Things Heart and Home — whom I share a great deal in common with. We both have a menagerie of dogs who make our lives crazy and comical. It was so nice to know that we aren’t the only crazy dog people out there.
After dinner, Susan and I went to an “after hours” from Dan Morris. While there, I met Laurie from Passionate Penny Pincher, who was so kind, and I’m so glad I got to meet her. She has an amazing coupon blog, and if you haven’t visited her site you really need to.
The next morning started with a yummy breakfast hosted by Home Depot and Home Decorators Collection. I then visited more sponsors from Rheem, Shaw, Kirklands, Thompson’s, La-Z-Boy, etc.
Next I took a painting class from Amy Howard with Amy Howard Paint.
I then moved onto a Branding class, and we ended the day with a closing session from Mandi Gubler from Vintage Revivals.
My girls and I then went out to dinner at Southern Arts, and then we went back to the hotel for a dessert and dance party.
Artsy Chicks Rule, Our Southern Home, Me, Confessions of a Serial DIYer, The Hankful House, Sand and Sisal
After the dance party, my roomie Susan and I spent serious time trying to get all of our Haven swag into our suitcases.
We really put the durability of our suitcases to the test!
It was about a million degrees in Atlanta, and the humidity was about 99%, and there was the fact that we didn’t sleep for three days.
Those things were a small price to pay for getting to see all of my blogging buddies, getting pampered the whole time, getting to interact with all of the fabulous sponsors, and take some wonderful classes.
Haven is something I look forward to every year, and I’m already counting down the days until next year!
It was so fun getting to hang out for real again!! You guys had a lot of fun with your pictures! 🙂