BlogPodium Recap!

Good morning!

Are you ready for one of my longest posts ever?? Here goes!

On Saturday, I attended BlogPodium, the brainchild of Jennifer & Lindsay, and what a fantastic day!! I met so many of the fabulous ladies whose blogs I read and who I chat with on Twitter. They were all even lovelier than I expected! And I met tons of people I didn't know before who were totally awesome! It's only been two days, but I can't wait for the next event to see them all again! :)

Several people have already posted their recaps, and I'm not even going to try and cover everything I learned because Britt of My Daily Randomness did it SO well. (She was tweeting all the gems we learned as we learned them and had her recap up within hours of the event.) My recap is going to be more about my whole experience of the day.

I won't lie, I was more than a little nervous when I boarded the train that day. Meeting so many new people and introducing myself to even more is not a skill I excel at. (major introvert alert haha) But I know how important it is for my little business and I really wanted to finally meet these people!

I got into the city a few hours before the event started, so as I walked up from Union Station, I did a bit of shopping. What?! haha It was 'gift with purchase' time at The Bay and the lady at Estée Lauder was really nice. (total sucker over here I know) Then I met up with the superbly lovely Barbara of hodge:podge/Markova Design, who I was so excited to meet ever since I found out she won the Aya Kitchens contest to be flown out to BlogPodium! I worked with her last Jan/Feb to redesign her blog and we've stayed in touch ever since. (she's a fellow design & font-lover :) ) We met up and grabbed some lunch and I grabbed a tea from the Balzac's at Ryerson. (that opened after I graduated of course) She was so kind and so lovely and I was so glad we got to meet! Barbara is one of those people I can see myself being friends with for a long time :)

Balzac's at Ryerson. Aren't those floors gorgeous??

Next up was BlogPodium itself!! I walked over to the event with Barbara and Nancy from Marcus Design (who is SO sweet by the way!!). We got to the Arcadian Loft (which was beautiful!) and were greeted by Lindsay!

via Mango Studios

We walked into the space (which was beautifully styled! The centerpieces were gorgeous!) and set our bags down. I met Christine, Vanessa, and Jen all within a matter of minutes (and they were all SO fabulous!) and then we sat down and I met Sheryl and Anum along with several other lovely ladies for the first time at our table.

via BlogPodium

I learned SO much from Nicole's talk and the panel discussion. Took pages of notes that I have to sort through for another post :)

via Mango Studios

via Mango Studios

And then it was time for food, drink, and fabulous vendors! Could not believe the beautiful things they were handing us (wine glasses! gift cards! paint decks!) and I met even more lovely people! Met Lindsey and Heather (who I've chatted with on Twitter for months now so it was great to finally meet them!) and Meagan and Jeanette and Michelle all for the first time (along with several other lovelies!) and they could not have been more fabulous!

And then the vendors!! Para Paints, Gluckstein Home, West Elm, Homesense, Decor-rest, Benjamin Moore, Indigo, & several more fantastic companies! So great to see so many big and small companies involved and willing to work with bloggers! The future of blogging in Canada has a bright future indeed.

via BlogPodium

Few memorable moments from the day:

1) When I went up to the Gluckstein Home booth, the woman behind the table said she read my blog! Mine is on the smaller side, and I know people other than my mom read it, but it was still neat to hear :)

2) There was a girl wearing a fabulous pink pleated skirt and in an attempt to not give in to my inner introvert, I went up to complement her on it. We chatted for a minute and then her friends came over and I got nervous and then left without even properly introducing myself!! Kicked myself for being SO ridiculously awkward. If you are reading this, I apologize for my total awkward lame-ness. You were totally awesome and I wish we'd exchanged business cards so I would actually know your name! Oh goodness that was a fail.

3) BUT, in my second attempt to not give in to my inner introvert, I walked up to and met Jeanette and we walked around a few of the vendor tables together. (I admitted my deep love for gorgeous paper at the blurb booth and she still hung around and didn't think I was a total weird-o haha) :D

4) Apparently the photographers thought I was very 'studious' as there are THREE pictures of me taking notes! Such a serious face going on! I think this is quite amusing :) (ps, I already loved my nail polish for the day - China Glaze's Aquadelic - but how gorg does it look in the first photo?? Never taking this colour off!)

via Mango Studios

via BlogPodium

via Mango Studios

I had an absolutely fantastic time! Thankyou to Jennifer & Lindsay for creating such a fabulous event! Thankyou to Nicole, Christine, Leigh-Ann, Lindsay, Laura and Cheryl for providing such fantastic information!

I feel like I've used so many exclamation points in this post, but it was just such an awesome day. SO glad I went and met so many beautiful and wonderful people. Could not have asked for a better day :)

Me & Barbara! via Barbara's Instagram

Hope your week is off to a great start!!

xo,
B