Category Archives: friends

Alt summit san francisco recap

July 23, 2013

Alt is the third blogger type event that I’ve attended in a little over a year and dare I say it was my favorite? Everyone was so warm and open. I never felt intimidated to talk to anyone and I felt well received by everyone I had the pleasure to talk with even if it were just a minute in an elevator (it’s how I met Court of lovecourt and found out she is a Michigander moving to Seattle!). I do think my wooden California pins helped break the ice for me many times. I didn’t regret a single moment I spend hand crafting those.

The event kicked off on Wednesday evening with sponsor dinners. I signed up for the dinner with Vivint. I like that they were about fostering a sense of community and getting everyone involved. The gifts we received from them were also local which I loved (local chocolates, tea, and a pretty bag from Samantha of noteify.com. The dinner was such a wonderful way to get to know a few people in a calmer atmosphere. From there we had dessert at the Fairmont hotel where all of the dinners joined and everyone attending the event was present. It was a bit hectic compared to the dinner but I still managed to meet a few lovely people.

The next day I was up early and back at the Fairmont for breakfast, roundtables (including hand massages and letterpressing-fun!), keynote speakers and panals. It was a full day but it was informative, fun, and interesting. The sponsors also had some pretty fun things going on between talks so we kept busy all day. Lunch was a fun treat because it was held in the Tonga room at the Fairmont. It was really cool, especially when it started to “rain” in the middle of the room.

The day ended strong with a closing keynote by Mike McCue the founder and CEO of Flipboard. After a short break we all headed to the PINTEREST headquarters for our closing party. I was super excited about this. It did not disappoint. I managed to squeeze in a few more conversations with some amazing people before the night was out. It all seemed to fly by (well I really think it did) and it was a little sad when the night was over.

Now onto the task of messaging everyone I made a connection with, surprisingly I made more than I thought. Maybe I’ll have another post about all the people I met.

First washington camping trip!

July 16, 2013

This past weekend Walker and I went camping in Washington for the first time. We had attempted to plan a trip but were overwhelmed with the choices, the information we didn’t have or know, and lack of time we had preplanned to plan. So our friend contacted her friend who already had a Saturday trip planned so we tagged along.

We headed out Saturday morning and since the trail head was only an hour away it didn’t take long to get there. Once everyone had arrived we hit the trail. We hiked over 4 miles (up almost all the way) through alpine-like wilderness to Pratt Lake and then another 1/2 mile past that lake to a second lake where we set up camp for the night.

Before it cooled down too much we took a dip in the lake. It was cold but refreshing in a way only a cold freshwater lake in the wilderness can be. Once everyone was in their warm clothes we sat down to have dinner. It was fun, except perhaps the persistent bugs trying to bite us. We played games into the evening and went to bed relatively late for a hiking trip.

We woke up the next morning, had breakfast, took down camp and packed up, and hiked out. It was another beautiful day but we were tired and going down hill the whole way back was hard on the knees. We were pretty excited to see the parking lot.

It was a pretty short trip but we learned a little about camping in the area and I think we’re ready to venture out on our own now. Also I got to turn my phone off for 24 hours and it was bliss not checking it once during that time. We’ve recovered from our soreness and are ready to head out again soon!

Sutra

July 15, 2013

It’s been a little while since I visited Sutra but I still wanted to share about my experience there. I absolutely love going to multi-course dinners but they tend to be a little expensive so we don’t really do it all that often. So when a friend of mine invited me to a multi-course vegan restaurant for dinner I insisted to Walker that we go, and so we did.

It’s one of those places where the food is seasonal and locally sourced. The menu is set for the evening but great care is taken to make sure everyone’s dietary needs are met so that nothing goes to waste. Everything was really inventive and delicious. They even had drink pairings to go with the meal but Walker and I skipped those because it was already on the pricey side.

While I really enjoyed both the atmosphere, the food, and the company I did leave feeling a bit hungry. I felt even worse for Walker because he needs to eat quite a bit more than me. It’s always kind of a bummer when you pay extra for a meal but then need to eat when you get home. Oh well. It was interesting and maybe I can try to recreate some of the menu items at home.

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