My Haven Conference Recap {AKA the story of how I almost got left in Atlanta}

Some of you may know that I got the amazing opportunity to attend the Haven Conference in Atlanta last weekend.

If you are asking yourself what the heck Haven is, then here’s the scoop. The Haven Conference is geared towards all kinds of DIY bloggers and is jam-packed with great workshops that cover the gamet from blogging basics to DIY skills to blogging business sessions. So much awesome information in one place!

But I think the very best part is getting the opportunity to meet so many of your bloggy friends in ‘real’ life and to meet some of the ‘big blog’ celebs that you stalk follow and love.

I loved Haven!

And, I almost didn’t make it there. That part of the story involves a forgotten passport that was locked away…and which my husband was able to retrieve for me at the last minute.

The crazier part is of the story is about that time that I almost didn’t make it home again.

Like, because I forgot my passport in the hotel safe. And I didn’t even realize that I didn’t have it until I arrived at the Atlanta airport. Bags in tow. My poor travel-mate Tara having to deal with my stress.

Did you know that taxi-drivers double as superheroes? Well, I found two that do.

They did some serious magic, people. And that part of the story turned out alright. As in, the US government did not have to detain me for being an illegal immigrant.

Thank goodness. I’ve seen Orange is the New Black and it doesn’t look pretty.

Good thing I wasn’t on my own. I was lucky enough to fly down with two awesome and hysterically hilarious bloggers from the Vancouver area. I don’t know if there were two seconds of silence on the flight down. I think our neighbours really loved us {insert sarcasm}. If you don’t already know these amazing girls and their blogs, they are Jamie from So Much Better With Age and Tara from Suburble.

I thought that YVR (Vancouver airport) was pretty big.

Until we arrived in Atlanta. Seriously people. I think this airport is as big as my entire town. I bet it has it’s own zip code. Or three.

Since we were traveling ALLLLL the way from Vancouver we actually flew in on Wednesday night and met up with Jamie’s blogging BBFF, Jenna. This left us with a few spare hours on Thursday to do a little….you guessed it, lunch and shopping…. before the conference registration started that afternoon.

(Jamie, Me, Jenna, and Tara)

And who did I see first on Thursday, heading up to my room in the elevator…none other then Ashley and Jamin Mills from The Handmade Home. I have stalked their blog for sooooo long and absolutely love Ashley’s style. It was like Bono had walked into my elevator. And I love U2. I wish I had the guts to ask for a picture with them. Or perhaps an autograph tattoo.

I also got to meet up with my amazing DIY Challenge girls … Abby, Christy , April.

(Check out Christy’s recap post to see our friend Mandy added in…. we missed her!)

And my Work it Wednesday girls… Laura and Aniko, minus our dear Amy, of course. Bummer.

The big ballroom was set up as The Living Room during the day….how beautiful is this?? I could just take that whole thing home and plop it in my living room! That is literally my dream sofa. And coral chevron? You had me at coral.

Once the conference got underway we had tons of choices of sessions to attend, and in between there were times that we could mingle and chat and visit with company reps and vendors to check out their amazing products. There were even some opportunities to take some photos to enter draws for awesome goods to share with y’all (that’s my southern accent, in case you missed it)….

Check out how Mandy from Vintage Revivals and Brook from All Things Thrifty photo-bombed our Bright Ideas pose here- they ran in at the last minute. Um, excited much? How cool is that…

Plus, I won the contest on that one – a Go Pro Camera! Woot woot!! My boys can’t wait to try it out tubing behind the boat…. but I am thinking I could use it for a really good envelope pillow tutorial… you think??

I also got to meet and mingle with some others who are blog celebs to me… like Diane, from In My Own Style. She is one talented lady and I was crazy honoured to get to shoot the breeze with her. It was amazing how you would be wandering around and attending sessions and suddenly you would realize that you were standing next to an awesome blogger that you follow and admire, like Roeshel, or Gail… I even shook hands with KariAnne . It was unbelievable how much talent was in that one place! And when these professionals and bloggers led sessions…I was scribbling down notes as fast as I could to keep up with all the wisdom they had to share.

But it wasn’t all hard work… If you are my husband, stop reading here. It was really all hard work. Lots of hard work. 

There was definitely some fun ‘scheduled’ in too! We had amazing receptions and parties sponsored each night by companies like Ballard Designs, Rustoleum, and a fabulous party put on the last night by Ryobi. There was music, dancing, food, drinks, and lots of chances to pose for photos with your new and old friends…

Me (yes, I still have eyes), Christy (Confessions of a Serial DIY-er), Chelsea (Making Home Base), April (House by Hoff), Sarah (Life on Virginia Street), Abby (Just a Girl and Her Blog), Jenna (Rain on a Tin Roof), Jamie (So Much Better With Age), and Shayna (The Wood Grain Cottage)

Me, Sarah, and April

And there was also some time to chill behind the scenes…. Shayna, Jenna, Sarah, Me, Jamie, and April

I wish I had been better about bringing out my camera and taking more pictures!

Ironic, isn’t it…as a blogger you spend so much time photographing things for the blog and then you forget to actually photograph things in your real life.

I am trying to get better about that and am bringing out my “good” camera more often for regular fun family stuff.

It was a long trip home, even with the superhero-taxi-driver-passport-rescue-situation-not-going-to-women’s-prison ordeal out of the way.

And after all that fun and excitement I was tired, but also pretty excited to get home to these two little guys and this one big guy.

Don’t they look happy to have me home??

 Thanks for reading. And remember my housie friends, HOME isn’t built in a day. Enjoy the journey.