alt design summit!

Ooh, look at me blogging twice in a week!

It's because I'm inspired. And I'm keeping this up. Brownie promise.

Why this sudden surge of love for my blog (and a whole re-design, too)? Of course I've been missing it. A lot. Since making the very difficult decision to take a break from blogTO, I've been making less and less time for blogging. I'm terrible without externally-imposed deadlines. So, 2012 was earmarked for doing more "wannas" and fewer "shoulds".

Mostly, though, it's because I just spent 4 days with some of the most remarkable and stylish ladies around. GelaSkins sent me to the Altitude Design Summit, or "Alt", to glean some social media know-how and get our product into the hands of some super-influencers. And that I did. But I gained so much personally, too. A few tangible take-aways, for sure, but mostly an overall renewed creative spirit. Inspiration up the knish.

So if you were worried about my mental health after the last blog: no fear. My Sin City sins were cleansed in God's country. Luckily, I was not struck by divine lightning. I flew from LAS to SLC in time to meet hubby for a mini-vacay. There's not a ton going on in Utah unless you're a skier. Which I am not (don't let the header photo fool you). We were going to attempt the hills anyway, but I messed up my knee while being typically spastic. Bummer, but the nothingness turned out to be necessary. I dried out and detoxed with the Mister thanks to 12-hour sleeps, hot tub soaks, cable TV, and amazing food.

Alt began on Wednesday after hubby packed up for home. I met some incredible people - some internet-turned-real-life and brand-brand new friends. Big love to these awesome ladies: Jess, Chelsea, Robin, Nicole, Alyssa, Melissa, Amy, Megan, Michelle, and Jenean

Oh, and you know, I just...

• Stenciled napkins and hand-made picked shallots. 
• Rubbed elbows with some design superstars like Amy Butler (!!!)
• Sat front row for Pinterest founder Ben Silberman's standing-ovation-worthy keynote.
• Attended a blog design session (co-hosted by new real-life friend, Alyssa of welikewelove!) that was super-duper helpful for someone who only pretends to know her way around web design. It's not my medium. I try.
• Learned how to be press-ready. Something I could have used prior to botching some video interviews at CES... yikes.

The experiences were out of this world. Too many to describe. While Vegas may have changed me in one way (uh-oh), Utah did it in quite another. Balance is restored.

Life-planning is coming along...

I'm starting a Happiness Project.

I'm setting real goals.

I'm doing what I love. 

(I think there's still room for "DO EPIC SHIT", right? :)

[ photos: moi, moss + sage, irocksowhat ]

leaving las vegas... but not entirely

I popped my Vegas cherry this month.

And this wasn't a deflowering of the goin'-steady-promise-ring-back-of-your-Dad's-station-wagon variety. This was a hardcore-group-orgy-girl-on-girl-on-pizza-guy-porn de-virgination (not literally, mom, not literally). In my mind, I'm a jump-in-the-deep-end kinda girl. But, truthfully, these days, age and bruise-memory typically steer me towards wading in gradually. There was no room for wading. We went all-the-way Vegas (it was consensual).

Sure, yes, it was a work trip. CES, in fact. And we worked hard. Full days on our feet, smiling through the hangovers, shaking hands with shaky hands.

 

Proof.

I lost weight from replacing sleep and food with Red Bull (who AM I!?). Something I couldn't  manage to accomplish by eating salads and practicing yoga FOR A WHOLE YEAR. Is being healthy overrated?

(Full disclosure: my yoga/salad routine was intermittent and littered with burrito break-downs and way too much curry. Plus, I don't even like Red Bull.)

And... I gained back every pound in Utah a week later (next blog, peoples!). Back on salads.

So, well, here's the problem: this other facet of me was born (or better yet, re-born, born-again) in this strange, sleepless city. The dormant can't-stop-dancing party girl of my early 20s came alive again. Was I happy to see her? I'm still not sure. She's complicating my life back in the real world. She saw a poster on Pinterest this week that said "DO EPIC SHIT". She liked it. She adopted it as her mantra for 2012. Hubby reacted with a Marge Simpson-esque grunt. He is not amused. He prefers the adult me better, maybe. But will he ever understand unless he experiences it for himself? It's not really his bag. Yet, i didn't think it was mine either.

My overactive imagination has me wondering: was that the REAL me? Is the rest of this just pretending? Panic attack! It's true that I feel like an overgrown child most days. That I'm playing dress-up. I shared these concerns with Alex and he said, exasperatingly,  that I'm having a quarter-life crisis. That perked me up 'cause it means I'm living FOREVER!!! (Or, until I'm 132, to be precise.)

OK, so, it's like this dude I saw on Dr. Phil last week (I was at the gym, OK? Don't judge.). He had infantilism or a "baby fetish", as in he liked to wear diapers and be spoon fed and sleep in an over-sized crib (all "non-sexual" of course. riiiight...). But when the good Doctor asked him if it was hard to keep up the baby act, he said that sitting there in adult clothes sans diaper was the acting part. That the real him was the baby. OK, a severe comparison, maybe. But what if Vegas-me IS me??? Or at least a tiny part of me?

Melodrama. Obvi.

Really, maybe I just need more dancing in my life. And maybe "DO EPIC SHIT" doesn't have to mean base-jumping or quitting my job to pursue a career as an R&B back-up dancer (I WANT TO SOOOO BAD) or moving to Morocco or getting Nicki Minaj bum implants. Maybe it just means being that jump-in-the-deep-end girl that I imagine myself to be. Maybe it's just going out-out more. And wearing my purple sequined hat or my "fashion turban" no matter how many new nicknames I might acquire at work. And drinking extra dirty martinis past midnight on a Thursday. Check, check and check. "Epic 2012" is off to a good start. Getting the Mister on board is my next feat.

I'm committing a big Vegas no-no. I'm not leaving it all behind. What happens in Vegas... follows you home and moves into your house and stays a while? Epic.

Clearly my experience can't quite be explained in words or photos, but I'll give it the good Vegas try. Enjoy.

 

[ Gah. I need to go home. ]