My luggage made it! (Haven Conference 2018 Recap!)

The title says it all!!!  If you remember my experience from last year, you’ll know how I lived for 80% of the conference without my luggage which had EVERYTHING.  Business cards, clothes, shoes, everything.  This year I was smart and packed pretty much all of my essential stuff (including 2 changes of clothes!) into my carry-on.  Then I had a déja-vu moment.  I arrived in Charleston and the carousel did NOT have my checked bag.  So off I went to the airline baggage area and wouldn’t you know it, my bag came EARLY!!!  The weekend was already off to a great start 🙂  Hello Haven Conference and Hello Charleston, South Carolina!

Day 1

I had the pleasure of bunking with the lovely Ursula from “Home Made by Carmona” on the first night, a blogger I had been following for years.   You know how you wonder if the person behind the blog is just as amazing as you’d think they’d be in real life?  Yeah, she was.

The first evening we were there, Elsie and Emma from “A Beautiful Mess” along with Delta Faucet and Home Depot hosted a fabulous (and HOT!!!) cocktail hour.  I was a sweaty mess but I went over to say hello to these girls anyway and I’m so glad I did!

P.S. I also won an amazing Delta faucet that night!  WOOHOO!!!!

The Classes

The classes started the next day and to say Ariel’s was fantastic is an understatement.  I met Ariel two years ago at my first Haven conference and I’m so glad we stay in touch.  This girl is not only talented but she has a heart of gold!  She blogs at “PMQ for Two” and she knocked that class out of the park!

So did Angela from “Blue I Style” and Melissa from “Polished Habitat”!  They taught a class on how to get your blog business organized which has inspired me to get down to work pronto!

But goodness there were so many classes to choose from.  SEO, photography, video making…they all were so fantastic that I was left with a good sized to-do list for all the bloggy things!  But in a good way!!

Mentor Groups

Every year, the fabulous organizers assign everyone into mentor groups and I was lucky to get Charlotte from “At Charlotte’s House”.  If you don’t follow her already you should.

Photo courtesy of the lovely Emily from “M+B Home Design”

Mentor groups are such a great way to chat with other bloggers you may not have met before and a chance to jam with the experts about questions you may have on this crazy blog journey.  Some opt not to go to the meetings but I personally love the experience.

The People & The Brands

I met up with some wonderful people like Martha and her crew from “Martha + Jane”, Michelle from “Weekend Craft”…wait, here’s a photo collage of all of the amazing people I got to see and hang out with!

I went out every single night and it was so wonderful to take in the Charleston evenings with a group of lovely bloggers, delicious food and gorgeous surroundings.

The conference also allowed us to have face-to-face meetings with a whole host of brands that you could partner with.  I’m talking about Jeffrey Court, Frog Tape, Behr, HomeRight,…too many to list!  They were all so gracious that you wanted to work with each and every one of them, even if they weren’t in your niche!

All Good Things Must Come to an End!

When the weekend came to a close, I was exhausted but inspired.  I also got my exercise in as my connection to Philly and their ground stop had us running from one end of the airport to the other!  But I was SO HAPPY to see my family waiting at the airport for me even though my luggage waited for the next Philly flight LOL!  (Update:  My bag made it back to me the very same night – thank you American Airlines!!)

The conference will be back in Atlanta next year without 3 of their amazing organizers – Traci, Chris and Rhoda.  I do hope they’ll still make it next year as I’d like to give them one more squish of thanks for starting me on this wonderful blog journey!