AZ Blogger Meetup Recap!

I've said it once and I'll say it again, this month as totally flown by! All of a sudden one day I realized that the Arizona blogger meetup was right around the corner. I have been excited for this event for months it feels like! What a great event it was too. Chelsea, Danielle, and Kelsey did such a great job. Because this month has been so crazy for us I decided to give myself, and my family, a little break and I only attend some of the daytime activities. I couldn't have been happier!

I showed up late to the event meeting up with the group at the GROWop. Thankfully Chelsea was kind enough to text me and let me know where everyone was. It was a little akward at first, so I just kind of poked around checking out the GROWup and The Butter Toast Boutique (on a side note I can't wait to go back to Butter Toast and pick out some super cute vintage kids clothes!) I finally butted my way into a converstation and things felt a little more comfortable from there. I've always felt socially akward and since I've gotten older I've learned that running into walls or smashing a cake in my face isn't really an exceptable way of introducing myself. It's to bad though, I enjoy all of those things, leave it to an EX-theater major!

Everyone gathered at the GROWop
I heart this store! Can I live there?
Some of the ladies being creative.
Flowers? Yes please!
Coming from someone who works with faux flowers all the time, real flowers are totally different! I give all the florists in the world a ton of credit.

After the fun and festivites down on Roosevelt Row, everyone headed to Frances Boutique. I've never been that far into Phoenix before and I'm really glad I got the chance too. Even though it was just a short drive it really gave me an idea of how different Phoenix is from Pittsburgh. Everything is so spread out and still fairly new. I saw some beautiful articture as well as some more interesting sites. I just could believe how different it was from the crowded city I grow up by. I can't wait to go on more adventures!

Did someone say candy?! Smeeks Candy shop is so awesome!
I got so excited walking in, I can't wait to take Aurora there, she is going to go CRAZY! I've never seen a kid react to sugar quite like little Miss Aurora and this place is loaded!
YUM!
After a stop in the candy story everyone slowly made it over to Frances. This boutique is so beautiful. You walk in and it just smells welcoming. I was seriously inspired just by walking around this places, it gave me such an itch to open my own shop. It also made me realize how much work it takes to do that!
I can almost smell the fragrence again just looking at this picture. I could spend all day there, is that weird? ^.^
Of course I stopped at the adorable kids section!
Love Phoenix or Leave Phoenix. Seriously? Love this shirt.
Anything with words or phrases on it catches my eye! It's a wonder I didn't come out of there spending a ton of money. I was a good girl though!

We were so so lucky the Short Leash showed up and happily opened early to feed all the hungry bloggers. I was so excited to see them pulling up. I heard great things about them from Chelsea and I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to try them. It's amazing what happens when you leave the house. The owners and opporators, Brad and Kat (love the name ^_~) are amazing! They have increadible food too!

A hot dog to this pregnant lady is like gold!
I wasn't sure how to even begin eating this thing, but it didn't hang around long after I did. YUMMY!!!

After we had stuffed our faces, Kelsey and Chelsea presented us with around gift bags given to us by Frances!
How cute is that? It almost made me cry! Stupid hormones.
Inside was a gift box from Smeeks filled with Taffy (that is now gone!), an adorable pair of earrings, a container of the most luscious body butter, and a luxury bar of soap. Wow, seriously, how sweet?!

I'm so glad I made it out to atleast part of the event. I know that everyone had a great time at dinner! The great thing about blogger is that I still felt like I got to experiance atleast a piece of it from photos and stories I've read. I can't wait to see everyone elses posts and photos! I hope that this can happen again, if it does I would love to help in any way I can. It was such a boost and a really high point for me. I feel so lucky right now. I'm so glad we moved to Phoenix, it has been such a great experiance for me, I don't regret it at all. I came home from the event floating on cloud nine I think. Holy inspiration overload!