Haven 2015 Recap

So, if you’ve been following us on Facebook or Instagram, you know that Amy and I just spent three days in Hotlanta at the Haven Conference for DIY/home bloggers.  It was our third year there, and just like last year, I wanted to show you a few photos of our weekend.

Haven is always a fun time–there’s a full schedule of classes to help us improve our blogging skills, plus lots of time to interact with our peers and the different vendors/brands who see the value in partnering with bloggers.

Amy headed from Virginia to my house in North Carolina on Wednesday night to break up her drive.  I fed her steak salad and wine (recipe for the steak salad to come soon–it was a keeper!).

Thursday night we hit the road for Atlanta.  We were supposed to arrive around 4pm, but after a leisurely stop in Charlotte for lunch and possibly a visit to Target (I’ll never tell!), we found ourselves trapped in rush hour traffic in Atlanta and didn’t arrive until 6pm.  Oops!

We had a great time at the opening reception, seeing old friends and meeting a few new ones.  Since we spent too much time talking and didn’t actually eat at said reception, we finished the night at Brick Top’s for drinks…

Photo Credit: The Pink Clutch Blog

…and dinner with sweet friends Paige (The Pink Clutch), Amanda (Dixie Delights), and new friend Rachael (This is Our Bliss).

After not enough sleep, we rolled out of bed for a 7:30am coffee date with our favorite brand representative, Laura from HomeRight.  We’ve been working with her for the past two years as HomeRight ambassadors and she is the best–well worth the early wake up (and the scary overhead lighting)!  PS You can enter our current HomeRight giveaway {here}.

I also had to visit my beach sprayer at their booth; HomeRight was giving one away as a door prize.  That project is {here}.  

After a full day of classes, we grabbed a quick photo with Samantha (Simply Organized) and Ginny (Organizing Homelife).  You’ve seen Sam guest post here before as part of our Operation: Organization, and we’re hoping Ginny might join us for the next series.

After a quick change in our room, we headed out for dinner with the PR team at Moen and a few other bloggers.  We ate at Ocean Prime and it was absolutely delicious…and we also got to try out the selfie stick that Moen put in our swag bags:

At dinner with Rachel (Maison de Pax), Abby (Just a Girl and Her Blog), Angie (Postcards From the Ridge),  Chelsea (Checking in With Chelsea) and the super-fun Moen team.

We managed to get a little more sleep on Friday night (phew!).  We found all of our Pretty Preppy Party co-hostesses for a photo op, with the exception of Julie from Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss.  She wasn’t attending this year (but we missed you, Julie!).

From left to right: Amy, Brett from Being Bianca, me, Sarah from Life on Virginia Street, and Heather from Southern State of Mind.   And you can check out this month’s party {here}.

It was such a treat to be together with Amy; that doesn’t happen as often as we’d like anymore.  We certainly missed Terry this year, but she is doing great with her event-planning business.

We headed our separate ways on Saturday evening; Amy and her family are taking a week at the beach and I spent the night at my cousin’s house in Atlanta.  On Sunday, I stopped in on my way home to visit my daughter who is at a two-week ballet camp and loving every minute of it.  I might have stopped at Kate Spade on the way home, too, but that’s a post for another day!

Thanks for stopping by–