The pause that refreshes.

 

I just wrapped up the most wonderful few days at the Altitude Design Summit in gorgeous Salt Lake City which explains the Mom-101 radio silence this week. 

(Here you see me toasting (with gumballs) my new friend Paige and my great old friends Christine Koh, and Julie Marsh, at a sweet suite party put on by Kate Spade and The Girls with Glasses) 

I left feeling creatively nourished, inspired, and energized, as it should be. In my life, I spend so much time generating content and posts and ideas and essays and 30-second scripts that are required to incorporate the words "proven effective," it really is great to replenish the coffers. If you're in the design world at all, I'd urge you to consider going next year. But not before I have my own ticket reserved. 

Those Kirtsy gals sure know how to put on a conference.

The good far outweighed the bad--the bad being that I spent most of the week hacking up a lung with an upper respiratory infection that nearly sent me home the day of my panel. But didn't. Thanks to Laura Mayes who insisted I'd get more rest in my luxe queen sized hotel bed than at home with a guy, a kid and two cats stealing the covers. And thanks to my genius co-panelists Maggie Mason and Erin Loechner who gave me an excellent reason to get out of bed that morning and dope up on Advil.

And, frankly, thanks to all the amazing speakers who made it hard to want to be in bed at all, when I could be down in a ballroom reaping their wisdom and wit. 

Feeling crummy at a conference means I ended up with a much different weekend than I thought I would have. 

-I was in bed every night by 10

-I took a long, hot bath for the first time in a year and vow to do it more often

-Although that means I have to clean my bathtub more

-I'll take baths at hotels

-I didn't drink

-Not drinking means I remember every conversation vividly

-If I don't remember your name it's because I suck at remembering names

-If you don't drink, Salt Lake City is a good place to do it.

-I spent more time listening than talking

-I'm a talker and oh my gosh that is hard for me

-I spent more time looking at people's cute shoes than talking

-Everyone in the design world has cute shoes. Especially Dottie. Also Heather.

-The perfect sponsor ended up being Zarbee's because they make natural cough syrup and gave me plenty.

-I was also so happy HP was there because they sure put on a nice dinner.

-My Nyquil tab was bigger than my minibar tab

-I washed my hands six thousand times

-Next time we need a hand cream sponsor to make up for all the hand washing

-Actually I liked all the sponsors, because they were relevant and cool and didn't try to hand you a coupon during a conversation.

-I missed spending a day at Sundance which I can't think about much or I'll cry.

-I spent $16.95 on a pay-per-view movie starring James Franco, so that's almost as good as running into him at Sundance.

-No it's not.

-I'm going to cry.

-I could have used a coupon for pay-per-view.

-$16.95 is still less than I would have spent on drinks.

-I think Julie will need thousands of dollars in therapy to make up for the three scenes she watched.

-Okay I had one glass of champagne the last night

-I was still in bed by 10

-It's weird seeing Letterman on air at 10:30.

There's something to be said for coming home from a conference refreshed and not burnt out. Although I'm still coughing, and my voice is still hoarse, which makes it hard to yell PLEASE KEEP YOUR UNDERWEAR ON, THE PIZZA GUY IS ON HIS WAY UP. 

That's to the kids. Not to Nate.