Conference Archives - Palmettos and Pigtails

Coffee With A Side of Bloggy Boot Camp

May 20, 2013 posted by Shara

Blog Conference, take two!

Remember when I went to Blissdom last year? Well, since they moved it all the way out to Texas this year, I was stuck looking for another {closer} conference to at which to hone my blogging skills. Enter, Bloggy Boot Camp Blog Conference, put on by the SITS Girls in Charlotte, NC.

When I first arrived at the Doubletree in Charlotte, I just took a minute {or an hour} to appreciate. In general. I appreciate my husband for being Mr. Mom this weekend. I appreciate the not-as-long-as-I-thought-it’d-be drive from Charleston, in which I listened to anything but Raffi. I appreciated my humungous hotel room and the ability to pee by myself. And I appreciated the SITS girls for giving me an excuse to hang out with 100 of my newest Bloggy Boot Camp friends.

Friday night, there was a cocktail hour sponsored by Collective Bias. Now, if you know me at all, you know that walking into a room full of women I don’t know is, well…pretty much my worst nightmare. But {after a big gulp of wine}, I got up the courage to introduce myself to a few of the ladies, and we ended up having a fabulous time getting to know each other! We even drove into the town for some late night snacks and cocktails!

Saturday morning started AWESOME. And that would be because of our Keurig Brew Over Ice sponsor. They had this amazing iced coffee set-up and provided all the mid-morning caffeine I could drink (including a few non-coffee drinks like Snapple flavors!). It was delish. And it gave me {many} chances to pee all by myself.And I just may have to get one of these puppies since they sent us home with reusable Keurig mugs and K-cups!And because of the coffee, I did actually learn a lot at Bloggy Boot Camp. Tiffany Romero, one of the SITS girls, was our host….or should I say MC? She cracked us all up while inspiring us to be creative, original, and ambitious. All while literally spewing out inspirational quotes left and right. Here are a few of my favorites! Feel free to pin!There were also workshops on blog design, SEO, Google+, Social Media, and taking photos. It was exactly what I needed….a little bit of the basics regarding everything technical. I HIGHLY recommend this conference for newbie bloggers, or for any ‘ole blogger who doesn’t know her SEO from her meta data {I know what both of those things are now!!!}.

And we learned not to even bother using grainy cell phone photos on blog posts…terrible for SEO and pinnability. {is that a word?}

Ooops.I remember being so stressed about what I should wear to Blissdom…it was my first conference and I had no idea what to expect from the 400 odd women there. Bloggy Boot Camp was different. There were only about 100 people there, and all of them were relatively new to the field…and extremely approachable. I didn’t even blink about attire….I didn’t even pack any extra in-case-that-shirt-wasn’t-cool-enough clothes.

Maybe I’m growing as a person and a {semi} confident blogger?

Either way, I made some great friends this weekend. I had a ton in common with these girls…and because they were all bitty-blogs too, we were ALL looking for some new networking and friends. In fact, I learned that close-knit groups of bloggers are called Tribes. Do you think all Tribes are a goofy as we are?

Collective Bias had us stretching awkwardly at Bloggy Boot Camp

Laurel from heartofwander.com and I hung out most of the weekend. Future Tribe member perhaps?

Who snuck that terrible awkward picture on my blog??!?!?! Collective Bias had us taking photos of “awkward” stretches with their pillow. And apparently I was the most awkward stretcher at the conference, because I won a $200 gift card for my pose! I think that deserves a badge for my sidebar, what do you think?

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Filed Under: Blogging Basics

Montreat 2012

July 24, 2012 posted by Shara

Well, we are finally back from Montreat, NC and slowly getting back into the swing of things. It’s amazing how even four days away can mess with your household! Unlike last year, it was a beautiful week in the mountains….not too hot and no rain! We shared my last post with the scrapbook photos with the high schoolers that Bets and Jay brought this year, and they loved it! They were completely amazed at how I used a disposable camera (no retaking those blurry shots!), and at how cool the three of us were back then! =)

So, to recap…Bets and Jay are our best friends from Maryland. They are our kids’ godparents, and their little Lulabelle is like our third daughter. Betsy, Jay and I grew up together in our church, which they are still members of, and now the youth counselors at. So they are continuing our church’s tradition of taking the youth group to Montreat each summer. And since Montreat is just a couple of hours from us, the girls and I try to meet up with them for a couple of days while they are up there. While the youth group stays in the lovely dorms at the college, the girls and I prefer the local Marriott!

And although Jayna did sleep in her own bed at night, this is what I awoke to each morning!

And since this trip was a first for Millie….I decided to bring and break in my brand new stroller. Can I just say that it is awesome! It has like 12 different sitting combinations, but the one we used was Millie in the front seat, Lulabelle sitting on the jump seat, and Jayna standing.

And Betsy pushing. Did I mention we were in the mountains?

We finally gave up on pushing all three girls, and put Millie in the front pack and made the big girls walk!

Jayna and Lulabelle were so stinkin’ cute together. Jayna was all about playing the cool big sister….and although she is great with Amelia, I think she truely enjoyed ~~manipulating~~ helping Lulabelle…from buckling seatbelts for her, to convincing her that she liked pickles, to teaching her how to hula hoop!

And every year, the scenery just takes my breath away. Lake Susan is like glass, framed by a baby blue sky and mountains.

Jay and some of the boys noticed huge fish sitting on some of the rocks at the bottom of the lake….tadpoles? Man, they are gonna be some HUGE frogs!

But even the small details had me appreciating the scenery. All of the buildings are stone, and they have gorgeous hydrangias around every corner.

I even caught this little inchworm hanging {literally} by a thread!

While the big kids were in small groups, we took the opportunity to spend some time with Betsy and Jay. There is this cute little park at Montreat that has great playground equipment, and then several creeks running through for the kids to play in.

And although they tried hard not to get wet…both girls ended up soaking wet and laughing!

It’s a good thing Jay was willing to get wet too…that mountain water was COLD!

Now we just need to get Dave up here!!

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Filed Under: Faith, Life, Travel

I’m Here!

February 22, 2012 posted by Shara

I’ve arrived! After an 8 hour drive, a mocha frappe, and a quick stop in Asheville for lunch at Sunny Point Cafe, I finally made it to Nashville. I bumbled my way through the hotel (holy cow it’s cool…pics to come tomorrow!) and found my room and got settled. I figured since I am going to be here for 5 days, I might as well unpack a little. And yes, I know I brought a lot of shoes!

I brought many more clothes…an outfit for every occasion….and my wardrobe is proudly sponsored by my favorite place to shop, Loo Loo’s Closet. Thanks Loo, for letting me borrow so many things! Especially all the scarves!

I also organized my doo-dads to get ready for tomorrow. Here’s what I plan on bringing to all of my sessions, along with my camera.

Unfortunately, my pink eye is still pretty ridiculous. So I spent the evening perusing the aisles of CVS looking for some relief and then wandered around the hotel a bit trying to get my bearing. I’ll take some pictures tomorrow so you can see. Goodnight!