The roomies were supposed to have breakfast all together. I was the last to shower & the first to be ready {I wasn’t shocked by this}. Miranda & I were too hungry to wait for Alena & Diana, so we went along & enjoyed eggs & fruit & muffins. 
It was so loud in the breakfast room that we decided to skip the welcome keynote & instead check out the Expo hall. My headache was quickly cured by a trip to the Advil/Chapstick booth. I’ve been loving the Philosophy lip gloss, enjoyed chatting with the Softcups reps as well as Yo Crunch, Paper Culture, ClickinMoms & tempur-pedic {thanks for the eye mask & pillow which have been used ever since}.
I met up with Suzanne at the Write Brain session. My favorite notes include: remembering to edit, edit, edit ~ your voice will still stand out, stick with the right tense, over-write personal feelings then pull back to where you’re comfortable, know who you’re writing to, & don’t repeat words.
My HTC Meet Up appointment was at noon, so I quickly left Suzanne & rushed over to the HTC suite. An hour of candid cell phone discussion later, I left hopeful to see what they’ll come up with next & with a HTC 4G Sensation.
Penny De Los Santo’ Food Photography session was one I’d been looking forward to before I even bought my pass. I loved seeing her magazine photos & the stories behind them. My favorite of her tips: that she added connection to the standard light/color/composition/subject list of what makes a great photo, never use a flash~ the dark can tell so much & be so romantic, use the photo to tell the story of the action & the place.
I sat enraptured by the Perfecting Product Reviews session with Amy, Stacie & Niri. While I haven’t done all that many product reviews, I enjoy them & took pages of notes on ways to improve. Hopefully you’ll see those notes in action in my After Flats post as well as future product reviews.
I downed a new Peanut Butter Dove bar with Miranda & Katie before we decided to skip the community keynote in favorite of going to the room to get ready for a night full of parties. First up was Softcups, so Diana, Rebecca, Erika, Miranda & I walked outside to await the free pedicab. While waiting Rebecca realized the one & only Kelle Hampton was walking by. I’m so glad she stopped her but am sad I was stuck in the pedicab & unable to hug her myself. 
Softcups party meant Uv vodka drinks {& shots for some}, eating more than a few caprese skewers, meeting Veronica, seeing Amanda Beard & yes, that’s me hugging on Mario Lopez aka you’ll-always-be-AC-Slater to me! Swag bag included 14 Softcups & carrying case, mini bottle of vodka, & some tea in a black with bright pink interior bag. 
Just down the street was the Cheap Sally Dance Party at Stingeree. We were able to get Rebecca & Diana in with the rest of us {yay!} & a enjoyed plate of pasta as well as a few more drinks {Suzanne shots!}. We weren’t there long, but I did come back with a swag bag that include a bottle of water & loaf of gluten free bread. 
Lucky for us {& our feet}, Hotel Salamar, the location for the Hostess with the Mostess Wonderlandia event was literally across the street. After some fun photos outside, we wandered upstairs for signature drinks as well as meeting up with old & new friends. 
As you can tell, they went pretty all out with lightning effects for this rooftop, pool-side party. Swag was a super cute lunch bag stuff with Opi nail polish & a party book among other things. 
We ended our night with Sparklecorn. So many photos from there that it requires it’s own post tonight!
