Alt Summit (Cont.).

{The Grand America Hotel}

Day 2, 10:45 am MWT

Alt is turning out even better than I imagined, if that’s even possible

The early bird panel yesterday – How to Find the Best Design Sites – with Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely, Allison Czarnecki of Petit Elefant, Jaime Derringer of Design Milk and Karey Mackin of Mackin Ink was wonderful. And hanging out with all of these women (and a few guys, too!) that are my own personal design crushes has been nothing short of empowering.

This morning I had my own moment of celebrity awe while listening to the keynote breakfast – Why Design? – with Heather Armstrong of Dooce, Jean Aw of NotCot, Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge and Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy. I even got to sit about 2.5 feet away from Heather’s husband, the infamous Jon.

My own panel – Designer vs. Design Blogger – was during the first breakout session. I got to speak with an amazing group of women, too. Joy Cho of Oh Joy!, Jaime Derringer of Design Milk and Rachel Jones of Black Eiffel. It was thrilling to hear about how the others balance their lives and how design impacts both areas of their lives. And as a surprise to even myself, I wasn’t even a bit nervous.

Next I’ll be hitting up Build Your Brand and Your Business with Emily Goligoski of The SanFranista, Victoria Smith of SFGirlbyBay, Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl and Sarah Jane Wright of Sarah Jane Designs to hear about how they started out and turned a nothing business into a big something. After that is the Keynote Lunch with artists Erik Natzke and DJ Earworm. Then the last breakout session (I’m still undecided), the closing session and the Blurb Meetup and Happy Hour. Whew.

They have us running non-stop, but I wouldn’t change it for a thing. If you weren’t able to make it out to Salt Lake City this year plan on signing up for Alt 2011 for sure!

Salt Lake City : Alt Summit.

{via ffffound, no source}

Day 1, 10:35 am MWT

I must really, really love design because I’ve been up since 3:45 this morning. My journey to Alt began in Oklahoma City at 6:30 and after a swift connection in Denver, I arrived in beautiful Salt Lake City around 10:30.

As I wait in the SLC airport’s Starbucks for Greedy Girl to arrive (the silly thing booked a different connecting flight out of Denver than me) I’ve made a few observations:

• There’s an oddly disproportionate number of attractive people here.
• This is the best music I’ve ever heard played at an airport Starbucks, and I’ve been to my share. It sounds like they’re sharing my iTunes.
• I haven’t seen any celebrities making their way to Sundance. Yet. But I have seen a few too many people trying too hard to look like a celebrity.
• I should have packed more shoes. I forgot the ones I wanted to wear Saturday night.

So as you can see, so far so good! After checking into the hotel I’m off to the early bird lecture, How to Find the Best Design Sites. Then tonight it’s off to Speed Networking and the Hollywood Opening Social. If you’re not already, follow me on Twitter for more updates throughout the day!

Off to the Alt Summit.

{~Dezz~}

Bright and early tomorrow morning I’ll be off on my way to the Alt Summit in cold and snowy Salt Lake City! Three days of being around fellow design bloggers and trailing after my own design crushes is in store, along with some great panels, networking and (of course) celebrity watching. (Sundance is going on right now, after all…) I swear I feel like I’m gearing up for a trip to sleepaway camp! If you’re headed to SLC as well, you can catch me speaking on the Design vs. Design Blogger panel taking place Friday morning at 9:45. If you’re not, check back here for sporadic updates of all things Alt!

Altitude Design Summit.

Locks of Love.

I’ve been growing my hair for the past three years with an end goal in mind. Making a donation to Locks of Love. I’ve always been that girl who grows it and cuts it, grows it and cuts it. You know her too, I’m sure.

But this time was different and as of Tuesday it became official – I was about to become 10″ shorter. Well, at least my hair was. My incredible hairstylist, Donny (at Bella Strada in Edmond, OK), has been helping me right along for the past year. No highlights or stripping because Locks of Love won’t accept it. (And one of my biggest fears was them sending it back saying “Thanks, but no thanks…”) I was also trying to straighten it less, to minimize daily wear and tear and pulling it back a lot because it was so. freaking. long. And when Donny pulled it back into that final ponytail and snipped away all I felt was relief. No regret, only joy. Joy that I was able to do something that was so easy for me that would ultimately make someone else’s life just a little bit easier. So with that, I gave away 10″ of hair, then snipped off another 1.5″ in the process of getting my hip little lob (a la Gwyneth).

I didn’t know much about Locks of Love or the natural wig industry before my little endeavor. Did you know that children suffering from long-term medical hair loss typically have to replace their wigs twice a year and that each one can cost as much as $1,500? As if having cancer isn’t hard enough. If you’re interested in learning more or making a donation of your own you can check out more here.

Thanks so much to everyone who supported and encouraged me during this process. I love that I was able to do this and can’t help but smile that it’s happening at Christmastime. (I wish the before and after photos were a little better, but you get the idea!)

www.designcrushblog.com

I hate to be a pain, but if you haven’t updated your feed reader or bookmark for Design Crush to www.designcrushblog.com yet please take five seconds and do it. For me. My birthday is in a few months and I’ll just go ahead and consider my early present from you. (Thanks so much! I absolutely love it.)