There’ve been a million and one recaps of the Altitude Summit that happens annually in Salt Lake City. Mine is waaaay late, but I’m taking the time to add it now to celebrate the fact that I Didn’t Die.
There are a number of reasons one might fear dying in relation to Alt. There’s a huge social component to the conference that can feel insurmountable to one who spends a lot of hours “talking” through a keyboard. So much face to face time! And looking presentable seems to be a challenge for folks like me who are most often on the dressed-down mom circuit.
One might fear the travel that’s required to get there. Either the flying or the riding in taxis could kill you. Or driving a rental car in a strange place. Staying in a hotel that (who knows?) might harbor some strange virus. Or picking something up as one travels through busy terminals in the height of flu season. So many possibilities!
But my main concern was first trimester. And now that you know all about that, I’m long overdue in sharing my Alt experience. Here are a few misleading photos, just for fun.
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| Left: That’s me and Natasha. Top right: Natasha and Ania getting down at the Method party, and Bottom Right: Natasha, Erin Loechner, me and Ania at the Hayneedle party |
Almost as soon as I found out that I was pregnant in early December when I wasn’t even four weeks along yet, I thought “Yay! We’re pregnant!” and shortly thereafter… “Oh no! This Alt Summit trip is all paid for. This timing could be bad. And I was really looking forward to it. Should I try to cancel it all?” We’d booked the hotel in April, and flights the same day that I registered for the conference in the first three minutes after tickets went on sale. My roommate and I had been planning on going for a long time. She’d be kinda ticked if I backed out. Should I back out? Selling the ticket to the conference wouldn’t be hard, but to leave the roommate in the lurch and have to try to figure out what to do with the plane ticket? Not sure about that. My first pregnancy was relatively puke free. Second not so much. And third? Didn’t know yet.
As the month went on I felt okay-ish. It wasn’t until the week before Christmas (at 6 weeks and 4 days– I’m a detail girl) that the engine that ran my life completely stalled out. I found myself attached to the couch and moving only to go to the restroom or locate another crinkly package of something (sort of) edible for my kids. The doctor told me she thought morning sickness would peak at 8-10 weeks and then improve, and I’d be 11 weeks for the conference. So maybe I’d survive. Each day up until the last transfer day I debated. Sell? Go? Sell? Go? I ended up on go. And I survived. So here’s the Alt experience through the first trimester survival lens.
I didn’t tell Natasha that I was pregnant until after we were in our seats on the plane. It was too late for her to run at that point. I figured if she knew how bad I’d been feeling she’d worry, and traveling with two small kids at home was enough of a worry. I bought everything I thought I could stomach to snack on for the plane. And we set out. It wasn’t until we were on the ground in SLC that I started to feel decidedly bad rather than “iffy”. We got to the hotel after a stop at nearby Walgreen’s for bland snack foods for the room and ordered room service. About 20 minutes after eating, that meal decided it wasn’t sticking around. Amazingly, that was the only time I got sick that week. It wasn’t a reassuring start, but thankfully, all was better from there.
There are so many fun photos from Alt. Fun people! Fun outfits! Fun backdrops! Fun props! And I was able to gather energy in little bits. But on the whole, I’d collapse into bed at 8ish each night. We were lucky that our room was a suite with a separate living area so that Natasha didn’t bother me staying up late and I didn’t bother her getting up early, because we were on very different schedules. I didn’t hesitate to tiptoe downstairs in my PJs at 6 am to search for a bagel. I found that next to no one is in the lobby at 6 am. Just the people who had bagels to sell.
There was also a little nap at a welcome event at West Elm.
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Alll of the photography I did was shared on Instagram. Which is to say that I took very few photos. I did my best to get the most I could out of it– going to all of the sessions and meeting as many people as I could muster the energy for, but I met far fewer than the year before because I just didn’t feel well. I sat across from an HGTV blog bigwig at dinner one night, and had nothing useful to say other than “I’m going to try not to get sick AT the table.” It was a touch-and-go dinner. Which was a shame, because it was beautiful setting in The New Yorker’s wine cellar. The tablescape was all Serena and Lily products, and each of the attendees got goodies and a handwritten note from Serena and Lily themselves on a vintage Parisian postcard.
The conference itself is a bit of a blur. I saw a lot of chatter from folks not at Alt saying things like “Wow, so many outfits! I can’t do that!”. Really, there are and there aren’t. You need five. Two daytime outfits, two party outfits, and one that you can wear on opening night and maybe to the workshops on Saturday. When you break it down like that, it’s not so bad. I’d carefully planned the outfits so that I had to do zero thinking in the moment. Put it on and head out the door. As you can see I totally avoided paints and skirts because I wasn’t sure how poochy-belly I’d be. I hated the days that involved stockings and spent a moment at each bathroom break trying to stretch the waistbands out so they wouldn’t be so squeezy. Not because my belly was all that significant, but because the pressure was just annoying.
I can’t say I did much about my hair. And I didn’t have the energy to go shoe shopping for something closed-toed to wear with my Clue party Mr(s) Green dress, so I gave this stuff (affiliate link) a try. Boy was I impressed. Well worth trying. And took about 5 minutes, which was all of the time and energy I had to spare at that point. Thinking I may regret posting a photo of my naked legs, but I see this as a near-PSA. Legs like mine require some occasional help.
The conference food wasn’t my favorite. Though it’s hard to compare it to the previous year because the previous year I’d actually had an appetite. My approach this year was one of “what do I think might actually stay down.” I had to laugh when I opened my giant fortune cookie at lunch, though. And then pondered a nap.
One highlight of the trip was getting to give drawer sticker product samples to an editor at Better Homes and Gardens. Not only did the editor accept them happily, she seemed genuinely interested in using them somehow, which was thrilling.
A second highlight was getting to share the (partly still secretive) projects I’ve been working on with Alma, who is one half of Ollibird. She’s a hero to me, and to hear that she is excited about what I’ve been doing was a big, happy moment.
A third highlight was meeting a whole bunch of crafty and sewing bloggers in person that I’d previously “met” online. It’s so strange and nice to have real faces and voices in mind when I read their blogs now! Like these girls…
Fourth highlight, of course, was the conference content. There are so many recaps that do a fantastic job of sharing far more than I can. Search for “recaps” on the Alt blog and you’ll find a mountain of them.
Coming up soon I’ll share the business cards I made for Alt. I used my home printer and Silhouette to make them, which felt particularly awesome when I was asked who’d printed and cut them for me. It’s a subtle difference from (and slightly more flattering question than) “did you make these?”I’ll share those soon.
For my more detailed and practical perspectives on the conference itself, I blogged about last year’s trip here, here, here and here.
I hope this was fun reading. It was certainly more fun writing about it now that I’m not pukey than it would have been right after the conference… while I was still busy trying not to die.
Meeting you in real life was one of the highlights for me, too! The first trimester can be the pits – you’re my hero for doing first trimester + Alt Summit.
YES…it was fun reading! Especially the part about regretting to post photos of your naked legs…hahahaha hilarious! Man you and Adrianna are SO funny. Seriously I always laugh when I read your posts. And I am glad you are feeling better now, phew!
You posted the spray tan legs!!! HA! I love it! I might need to grab that stuff before I head out on vacation here :). It was so awesome meeting you, and great timing for posting an ALT Summit recap. I was ready to read one again, rather than barraged with it the same week everyone else did one :). Love it! I so loved meeting you, cannot wait to get to spend more time with you soon!!!!