You may have read on Facebook that I attended Bloggy Bootcamp in Scottsdale over the weekend! The energy of the event was unbelievable! Just thinking about it and all of the fabulous girls that I met makes me so excited!
Andrea {my amazing assistant} and I headed out bright and early to the event. It was held at the XONA Resort, which was lovely. We signed up for the Mompreneur session, where several fabulous women, including Laurie {Tip Junkie}, Lisa {Lisa Leonard Designs} and Marlynn {The Power Mob} spoke about business and social networking. It was a very informative session and I love what the ladies had to share!Here I am with my new friend Julie {AngryJulieMonday} the photographer of the event and Laurie from Tip Junkie! I was thrilled to meet Laurie, as we have connected online many times! Julie sure didn't seem angry to me....she was sweet as pie!
Here we are...soaking it all in....
After the session, we had a delightful lunch poolside! I was quite lucky to be sandwiched in between Tiffany from SITS, the mastermind of Bloggy Bootcamp, and the multi-tasking Marlynn (mentioned earlier). I quickly learned that I had lucked out being placed at Table #7, which was full of talent. Jyl from Mom it Forward and Girl's Night Out twitter parties was talking about brands and how she has connected with them as sponsors. Tiffany introduced me to her childhood friend, Kim Boyce who recently published a cookbook and many other fabulous women full of energy and ideas!Speaking of energy and ideas, here's Laurie again {with her fabulous pink handbag}! If you aren't following her, you should be! She is a savvy business women with amazing plans and ideas...watch out, she's going to take over the world. (or at least the blogging world)
I had the pleasure of meeting Shey, the local twitter-loving creative genius behind Shey B Designs, the most gorgeous camera straps ever! I bought my own green/brown damask strap from her a few months ago! I loved checking out all of her new fabrics...and swooned over her new couture line! I will be hosting a giveaway next week for one of her fabulous straps....stay tuned! 
When I met this women, I nearly bowed at her feet. This is Kim of Today's Creative Blog. You may remember a "little" feature she did on me a couple of months ago? Did I mention that my blog traffic nearly DOUBLED that day? I guarantee many of you are reading this right now because of this wonderful woman. Thanks again, Kim....it was a pleasure to meet you in person! 
Two Kats....MamaKat and TomKat. Destined to be friends. One will be on Ellen someday, the other on Martha. We dream, together. 
At the event, there was an opportunity to display/sell products during a break! Andrea & I whipped up a little sampling of TomKat designs! 
What's a TomKat Studio display without cupcakes? 
I asked Dana from Simply Sweets in Scottsdale {who also attended the conference} to make me some pretty cupcakes to display along with my cupcake toppers! Aren't they so cute? This is Dana....she is a talented cake artist and also sells fabulous baking supplies!
After the learning sessions, there was a short break and Andrea and I grabbed a coffee. We had a great talk about the business and how great it is to find a balance with working from home while being a mommy. I am very lucky to have her. We came back to the resort, and did a wardrobe change for the cocktail party! 
We spent the better part of the evening cuddling on this couch with two fantastic ladies, Kim Boyce and Liz of Whining and Dining. Kim was one of the speakers in the afternoon session, where she talked about the process of getting a book published. She recently authored the cookbook, Good to the Grain. She was kind enough to fill me in on the details of the process and how it all went for her. {I asked a million questions} One of my long term goals is to publish a book. I'm not really a writer, but the thought of creating a book makes me giddy.....the ideas, staging, photography......a girl can dream, right?After attending this conference, things like publishing a book, having sponsors, working with brands, doesn't seem so out of reach! With a network of amazing women like this....who knows where we can go?
A huge thank you to Tiffany and Heather, and to all of the women who put this amazing event together! If you have a Bloggy Bootcamp coming to your area, I highly recommend you attend!I can still feel the excitement and the energy........
{photos courtesy of TomKat Studio, AngryJulieMonday & Bloggy Bootcamp Flickr Pool}
