I feel like I’m coming down off the mountain high after the amazing experience that was Alt Summit.  Over this week I want to write a few posts about specific things related to  Alt, but today I at least want to get the ball rolling.

The bottom line is that going to Alt was the best money I have ever spent on anything for my career.  If you are a creative that blogs, or is even thinking about blogging, Alt is the place to be. I left Salt Lake City more pumped up about what it is that I do than I’ve been in years.

A few highlights:

Rooming with Susan! Here are the top 3 reasons that Susan makes the best roomie ever: (1) she played Robert Redford to my Meryl Streep in an Out of Africa moment as I washed my hair in the sink at our room (woefully lame waterpressure in the shower makes for an unhappy thick-haired camper).  (2) She believes in the power of ladies maids and brought me my coat, Downton-Abbey-style, when it started to pour snow unexpectedly. (3)She has a marvelously wicked sense of humor. We spent no less than three hours laughing at crazy.

Dressing up to the nines. Alt Summit was the perfect opportunity for me to dress more over-the-top than I feel able to in my everyday life. But it was inspirational and made me want to aspire to a little more glamour in my daily life.

Meeting “my people.” Everywhere I turned were fabulous, creative women, many of whom were moms. It reminded me that I do have an identity outside of being a mom and it encouraged me to keep pursuing creativity. Being in a group of 500+ like-minded women who were interested in design Plus it was fantastic to connect in real life with several people I already had online friendships with.

Building strategy. Where do I want to go next? How do I take my blog to the next level? What is it I want to do? Am I branding myself effectively? More than anything, Alt Summit was ridiculously educational with smart panels that encouraged you to keep pushing your creativity to the max.

Positive energy. I was truly pleased to see that Alt wasn’t going to be a snarky or competitive atmosphere. There was a positive, encouraging vibe to the whole event with the recurring theme that the internet is a big enough place for all of us. Each one of us is doing our own thing; we don’t need to feel stressed out or competitive over who’s getting to do what. Sometimes that’s hard with (large) groups of women.

BIG BIG thanks to my husband for helping me make it happen. He graciously took care of Jude on his own, which is hard to do when you’re running your business too.  I love you, honey.