LA & blogshop recap

This post has been long overdue, but I’ve seriously been putting it off for one reason: I didn’t want to think I was back at my desk at work instead of in the beautiful California weather. If you saw my tweets or instagram pictures, you know I was having the time of my life. I was going to do two separate posts for the trip overall and then blogshop, but let’s be real kids, I would’ve never gotten around to two posts. (Sorry I’m not sorry, because this is going to be picture heavy and just long.)

Friday: After a quick plane ride, we got in around 12, but thank you to Super Shuttle looping LAX twice and filling up the van completely, we didn’t see the inside of our hotel room until after 2. We stayed at a small boutique hotel on the border of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills called the Hotel Beverly Terrace. It was perfect for just Fancy Pants and I and it was well kept with great service. We took naps until we got picked up by Fancy Pants’ cousin for a mini tour around Beverly Hills windows down of course! We spent the rest of the night at a great BBQ at Vance’s cousin and her husband’s house.

Saturday: First day of blogshop! It was held in the cutest studio that was put together to the t with adorable decor. Everything was instagram worthy! No detail was ignored down to the plants and gift bags and it made for the perfect creative atmosphere. There was nothing more exciting than just being in a room with 25 other like minded individuals. Just hearing what they did for a living, about their blogs, their lives was so cool. I had never been around so many creatively driven people. The instructors: blogger Bri Emery of Designlovefest & photographer/commercial director, Angela Kohler, fostered a great place to learn Photoshop from top to bottom with every tip and trick in the book. The first day, my head felt like exploding, but in a good way? Even with a background in Photoshop, I learned so much. That night, Fancy Pants and I went to the Grove to walk around and we had an incredible dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant, The Fat Cow. Seriously, Fancy Pants ordered the best steak I’ve ever eaten in my whole life. I highly recommend this place for the food and great service.

picture via designlovefest

Sunday: Second day of blogshop! This is where they tied a lot of blogging into what we learned the previous day, by making headers, social media icons, mood boards, etc. It was so cool to have so many AHA moments by seeing all I had learned in just two short days. I was happy to have had a really great guide to follow along in and take notes when I needed to. I could not recommend this class enough. It’s truly worth every penny from beginners to those who would say they know Photoshop fairly well because there’s so much you do not even realize you can do and in 1/4 of the time. I met so many amazing and talented women over this short weekend like Jaclyn, Shannon, Ruthie, Amanda, and Ginny (just to name a few!!) You should definitely go check out their sites! After blogshop was probably the most exciting part of the whole trip for me, I met Kimmie of Harriet Ann Creative, in person for dinner! While I was nervous, I was way more excited than anything else. Her and I practically did the cliche girly scream running towards each other and hugging in the middle of what was pretty quiet restaurant, Village Idiot. After months of emails and texts, it obviously felt like I’d known her for years. We talked and talked and it made me even sadder that we didn’t live in the same state and couldn’t do this all the time. Seriously though, she’s one of my favorite people ever and she gave me the cutest striped cocktail napkins that everyone must order NOW.

picture via designlovefest

picture via designlovefest

picture via designlovefest

Monday: Last day! :( We checked out of our hotel and went to Santa Monica to the pier and the beach. I can’t tell you the excitement to be back at the Pacific Ocean. It was perfect. Fancy Pants and I grabbed lunch and walked around the Third Street Promenade for a few hours to burn some time before our shuttle picked us up. We called our last Lyft to take us back to the hotel. Seriously, Lyft was one of the coolest finds. Thank you so much to my wonderful sorority sister, Kathleen, for the recommendation. They’re a cheaper taxi alternative that goes all around LA. They’re normal people like you and me that you use an app to call and request and they take you anywhere. Plus you pay through a credit card on the app to make it so easy. Lyft needs to be EVERYWHERE.

Okay, back to the recap. Fancy Pants and I had an amazing trip that went by too fast. blogshop is a must do for everyone who’s thinking about it. The experience and knowledge is so worth the expense. I can’t wait to be back in LA again to see more of what I didn’t get to see (including celebs!).

Dan xx

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