At a great (much wine) dinner the first night with fellow panelists, spouses and partners. At left is Janel Laban, part of the core Apartment Therapy team, who came from Chicago to schmooze with me.
Happy Tuesday, everyone. Today is our final office move-in push. You can see where we are in the photo below (we've got a lot to do between today and tomorrow), and I can't wait to show you the big reveal. In the meantime, I want to share with you some pictures from the super cool ALT Summit, that I attended last week in Salt Lake City. I was invited to speak on a panel with Jean Aw (NotCot) and Grace Bonney (DesignSponge), all moderated by Heather Armstrong (Dooce). It was an all -star lineup and a great, great trip.
The office just minutes ago. It's going to be a LONG day.
The ALT Summit
Having two full days with nothing to do but meet and chat with other design bloggers from all over the country is a real luxury. While the panels and sessions were all interesting, the real juice was in the dozens of spontaneous breakout conversations that happened in between. Aside from the folks in the photos here, it was amazing to finally meet in person Meagan Reardon of NotMartha, Gayla Trail of YouGrowGirl, Gabrielle of Kirtsy (also the organizer) and reconnect with Victoria of SFGirlbyBay and many more.
Salt Lake City and the mountains beyond on my first morning. Amazing.
My room was the smallest one they had: a 700 square foot Premier King Room.
WITH sitting room, hallway, bedroom and bath.
The bathroom in the distance is also huge and wrapped in marble. There's enough marble inside the hotel, I was told, to wrap the entire exterior once around.
My fellow panelists at 8am Thursday morning. Jean never slept, opting instead to head up to the Sundance festival and blog all the happenings.
The crowd of over 200 who were there early for our keynote breakfast panel.
The interiors of the hotel were HUGE and amazing. Built for the Olympics in 2001, it was the residence of royal visitors and features over the top details, decor and service. After a few days, you really get into it when you're from a small New York apartment.
Forget paper towels! Here they had stacks of linens to wipe your pinkies after each handwash.
One of the ballrooms. Simply immense.
The lobby bar with the huge fountained courtyard in the background. We spent a lot of time here chatting during the two day summit, while snow gently fell outside the windows. Would I go back? Yes, and take a few more days to get up into the mountains. Let's all go next year. :-)
LINKS:
- ALT Summit
- Grand America Hotel
- Jean Aw's NotCot
- Grace Bonney'sDesignSponge
- Heather Armstong's Dooce
Veronica & Keith's Handmade Chic 
Before & After: A Bathroom Goes From Pinky Peach to Sleek and Chic
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Hunslet Dinner Plate
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
Easy Pitcher Cocktail Recipe: Strawberry Basil Margaritas
Comments (3)
Alt Summit was fantastic. I thought Heather did a great job moderating the panel and was comforted by the knowledge that "panic" is an acceptable motivator in small/online business. :)
As a westerner, it is funny the things that you take for granted - I'll never look at a big bedroom or ballroom the same way after this post.
Thanks for coming to Alt!
Didn't know about this summit until I read about it on Heather's blog. I read the blogs for inspiration. I think all of us (your readers) enjoy seeing and hearing about this event. What fun it would be to enjoy a big whopping dose of design at one session! I'm off to vote--having a hard time getting through the gateway.
It was so great to meet you, and I'm glad you enjoyed the magnificent mountains next to the hotel, isn't it gorgeous? The hotel. And the mountains as well.