Arizona Blogger Meetup!

Wow, what a night! The day was absolutely wonderful too from what I've heard, and I am anxiously awaiting the photos to I can pretend like I was there too! I was sad to miss the daytime activities but what I experienced at the actual dinner event was amazing. It was absolutely surreal to meet so many people that I already "knew," but didn't quite know. And also to meet so many new friends! One thing I wish though is that we had more time; I would have loved to sit down with every single lovely person there and chit chat for awhile. Next time I am thinking we should organize some sort of "speed chatting" event and get to know everyone a little more. How awesomely awkward would that be? haha!

The whole night went incredibly well, from the outstanding waitstaff at La Bocca, to the delicious food, to the raffle prizes. It seemed like everyone had a lot of fun, and I hope that was the case! I was running around like crazy, so of course I didn't take many photos, and the photos I did take...kind of suck. That's what I get for using a cheapo point and shoot (my nice one broke at my sister's wedding, boo!).  Luckily we had Kaerie there, so the professional photos will be uploaded in the next couple of days and shared on the Flickr group I just created for the event. If you're not familiar with Flickr groups, let me be the first to tell you how amazing they are! Our group will basically be a collection of all the photos from the meetup. Simply join the group, upload your photos, and share them with the group so everyone can check them out! Awesome. I uploaded the few (bad quality) photos I have, and if you took any, please do the same! I'll be uploading the pro photos there, as well as any and all from everyone else. If you don't have Flickr (it's easy to sign up and it's free!), you can always email me the photos and I can upload them for you, giving you credit of course! (sometimessweetblog@gmail.com).

I'm currently writing a "how to" post about creating your own meetup in your town (with the help of Kelsey and Chelsea), so if you're interesting in planning and hosting one where you live we'll provide you with a starting point and some guidance! Also, if you attended I would love some feedback below.  Did you enjoy it? What would you have changed? As for me, I would have loved to encourage more mingling so separate groups could break out a bit more, but I know how hard that is to do. Plus, we all have our groups we are comfortable with, but it would have been neat to mix it up a little more.

I also wanted to extend a HUGE thank you to my partners in crime, Kelsey Strothers and Chelsea Brown. We each worked hard to plan the entire event over the past three months and it was so satisfying to see it come to life last night. I love those girls and I so appreciate their interest when this meetup was just an idea I threw out on Twitter. 

Ladies: I'll have the list of bloggers who attended up tomorrow, and don't forget to visit the AZ Blogger Meetup Flickr group and add your photos or email them my way!  I'll be posting a round up of photos next week. I also look forward to visiting each and every one of your blogs, and getting to know you a bit more. Thank you all so much for coming out- it was truly a fabulous night. Until next time...