As I mentioned on Monday, the trip to Vegas had a two-fold purpose. The Blended Bloggers were itching to meet in real life and this convention was the catalyst for that to happen.
I was the first one to arrive. I got my rental car, stopped off at a grocery store and oh look! There’s a Marshall’s! Killed a little time there (yep, found some cute stuff!) until Sarah from Cali texted to say she was at the hotel. I met up with her at the Venetian. After hugs and a few squeals we tried to check in but could not as the reservation was in Lana’s name. We then drove over to the airport and circled around a few times. We were too busy talking to pay attention to where we were going so we kept missing our turns! We finally met up with Carrie and Lana and headed back to the hotel. After checking in, we headed to dinner. The Venetian has a TON of restaurants so we just picked one and sat down. The waiter was kind enough to snap our picture!
Later the rest of the troops arrived: Shaunacey, Deena and finally Alison.
So here’s my impression of everyone:
Sarah looks so sweet from her pictures and her huge smile but she was sweeter than I could have imagined. I don’t think she has any enemies. At all. She easily makes friends and it feels like you’ve known her forever. Check out her impression of the meet up here.
Carrie is much tinier than I imagined her to be. In her pictures she appears to be tall but in reality she is about my height but teeny tiny! But she is strong and as beautiful in real life as she is in her pictures. Check out her impression of the meet up here.
Lana was tall. She looks tall (everyone looks tall to me) but then again Carrie looks tall. No she really is. She is also very sweet and easy to talk to. Check out her impression of the meet up here.
Shaunacey and Deena made me smile with their Canadianisms. I tried not to comment on their accent but we all laughed at Shaunacey’s “eh?s. I love how their inflections go up when the talk. They were both hilarious and you’d never know that they had just met that day. They seemed to be old pals from way back. Check out Shaunacey’s impression of the meet up here. And Deena’s here.
Alison was the baby of the group. She is also really tall (about Lana’s height) and she is so laid back as I picture midwesterners to be. She did not attend the conference but went sightseeing on her own during the day and then hung out with us at night. Check out her impression of the meet up here.
It was amazing how well everyone got along and how much we talked. At dinner the second night we went around the table sharing how we’d met our husbands and how they proposed. So fun to get a little more insight into each individual.
I did not love Las Vegas. I was impressed by the architecture but the whole ambiance of the place was unsettling. The casinos open 24 hours with people in them at all hours, women walking around over halfway undressed…it felt like I was walking around Gomorrah. Yuck.
But the Venetian was really impressive. How they recreated the alleys, bridges and canals of Venice INDOORS to seem like we were outdoors was really impressive.
I left early on Sunday so I missed the shopping day with the gals. It looked like they had a lot of fun and came home with some treasures to boot! I will treasure this time together.
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I love that you included those beautiful pictures that Sarah took in our descriptions. So nice meeting you, wish I could have had more time with you!
Next time…?
Great recap!! I had NO idea I said ‘eh’ that much lol. Good thing no one seems to notice here… maybe I need to work on that lol.
I loved the hotel too, it was so gorgeous and so much to do! Where else can you shop at Banana Republic until 12am!?
No don’t change a thing! It’s just so quintessentially Canadian and YOU DID IT!! Haha!!
Yours is the first blog of TBB that I’ve visited today! I’m hoping everyone did something similar because it’s really fun to get your impressions of the other ladies! Now I’m curious just HOW small Carrie is 🙂
Oh yay! Hope you had fun reading the others!
It was such a great weekend – wish we could do it all over again! I’m so glad to have met you, and next time hopefully we’ll have more opportunity to talk.
Next time!
Aww, I’m so happy that we were the first to meet, you made my nerves just melt away! And it really didn’t feel like we had all just met that day! Excited for our next adventure together and what the Blended Blog has in store for us!
You are the easiest person to get along with! Glad we got to meet!
I wondered what you thought of Las Vegas. My first visit was in October 2014, so pretty recently, and I did not love it either, for exactly the reasons you said. It was interesting, but, yeah, very unsettling. I guess they call it “Sin City” for a reason, huh? Not a place I would choose to go “just for fun.”
Agreed Karla. I’ll probably have to go back once because Michael wants to see it but with so many places to see, this is at the bottom of the list.
Such a good recap for those of us TBBers who weren’t along for the meet up. Since I am the grandma of the group, I wonder how I would have kept up and fit in. The Venetian is an amazement. Glad you enjoyed your trip.
I felt like the grandma in this group Leslie! Or at least the mom 😉
Sheila, your photos of the conference and Las Vegas are beautiful. Through them, I feel a little like I was there with all of you. Our blog names are so similar and some day I really hope we meet.
Hi Susan! Even our names begin with S! We must be kindred spirits! I’m so glad I went to my first blogging conference. It’s like a pep rally for my blog! I’m going to check yours out! Thanks for stopping by!
Sheila,
I had such a blast reading your blog post and everyone elses too!! You all did such a great job describing eachother. I am so glad you all had such a great trip! I can’t wait to hear more stories,
Denise
Thank you!! I can’t wait to tell them to you! ?
I love all of your descriptions. Glad we were finally able to meet!
Yes! So glad!
I loved how you gave your impression of everyone – I feel like I know each of them a little better know. also, I think we would be great friends – I am with you on the “things I would not like to see” in Vegas. Those things really sadden me.
Lisa
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I do hope we get to meet some day IRL Lisa! It would be great to have long chats together 🙂