Haven Recap; Kitchen sneaks

I was eager to post my Haven Conference recap early this week, but then I got caught up in trying to install the tile backsplash in the kitchen. Not to mention attempting to get us Alabama driver’s licenses.  I’ve never lived in a place where getting anything done at the DMV was such nightmare.  Welcome to big city living!

So what was Haven like?

It was a fantastic experience. From meeting other bloggers, to taking classes and creating relationships with vendors who want to help bloggers share information about and review their products. I just know all of this will prove to be invaluable to my blog and hopefully to you!

And then there were the goodies!! We came home with literally two bags of swag, y’all.

So I guess you are wondering who the “we” is?  If you met us at Haven then you know who I’m talking about, my best friend and “collaborator,” Dana.  (We call her the “collaborator” because she kindly edits my many typos and is the person I bounce all my crazy ideas off of.) I’m so thankful she loves the whole blogging world enough to come with me to the conference.  Since she lives in Louisiana, it was a luxury to have this time together.

I’ll confess quite frankly here that I’m not the most outgoing person in the world. So having a friend with me in this sea of strangers was very comforting.

Yes, I pushed myself to just reach out and say, “Hi, I’m Leslie from Paper Daisy Designs” and give out my business cards, but honestly that only happened if you came within 5 feet of me.

Upon reflection, it inspired me to coin a new type of personality profile.

I’m calling it the “proximity overcomer”– a person who can overcome shy tendencies to approach a new person when the distance between them is equal to or less than their height.

I realized when I got home, I only met people when they happened to come into my comfort circle.  The only exception with that rule was the vendors.  I found it was easier to introduce myself to them as they were all very open and ready to have a conversation.  I think that went well, because it’s easy to talk about anything you are passionate about.

Ok, so what else happened?

We took a lot of classes.  So much so that I had an information hangover when I got home that took me a day or two to recover from.  I even completly filled a small moleskin notebook!

Most of the classes I took were blogger business type classes, but Dana and I took this class on Building Basics: Furniture 101 with Jen Woodhouse of The House of Wood and Jaime Costiglio with That’s my Letter.

In the class, we used Kreg jigs to build a bench quickly and easily.  Richard, my gadget loving husband, just bought several of their products and we are still learning all the ways it can be used.  So it was helpful to me to see them in action. Dana even won the door prize, the whole Kregg jig starter kit!! Lucky girl!

In between classes we visited with vendors and sometimes took photos. 😉

The keynote speaker on the first day was, Chip Wade from HGTV’s show, Elbow Room.  My husband and I have long been fans of his show.  (It was probably the first HGTV show he actually enjoyed. )  Chip was very cordial and is as warm and friendly as he appears on screen.  Fun!

And in keeping with my proximity overcomer tendencies, who should set their things down on my row for Chip Wade’s talk other than Mandi of Vintage Revivals.

She totally rocks the whole Mid-centry modern, decorating your home doesn’t have to be expensive thing! She shared her blogging experiences in a class about working with brands with a few other bloggers.  It was an extremely insightful class.

So that about covers it I think.  I better get back to work on my tile job or this kitchen will never be done!

Oh, wait one more thing. If I met you and I talked craziely about leaving my dream kitchen at home.  I was just delirious with happiness!

Less than 24 hours before I left, this happened. Please forgive me.

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