las vegas was amazing!

last sunday i embarked on a trip out to the crazy las vegas.  we were their with 12,000 other photographers for a convention and it was amazing!  i took the relaxed approach this year and decided to have fun and not stress out by attending EVERY workshop.  i did that two years ago and i came back drained.  i would say that this year i did it right!  i met my good friend laura kay and we had a blast - minus the voice loss and the long walks.



i got to meet some amazing folks and see some old friends too!  the houston group was amazing and fun to be with too! felt like home.

here was my schedule for the 4 days:

first day:

1. arrived in vegas with my boys: akil, matthew, danny and clint
2. spotted my friend sarah and chris rhoads
3. lunch with the boys
4. check in at our amazing signature suite with my 7 roommates!  carmen, melanie, jael, 
suzi, erin, laura, and lisa
5. had a latte with garrett and jared from shoot dot edit
6. met at zuri for a drink with laura and jeff holt.  finally met paula luna and her hubby mike.
7. dinner with the roomies at diego's
8. early to bed  
9. early to rise! 6am!!!

second day:

1. breakfast of champions with friends (you know who you are)
2. off to the wppi trade show to see the fun products!
3. lunch with the houston and dc group.  met some amazing photographers including armin   talked about branding.
4. back to the trade show for a bit to see my buddies at the leather craftsmen booth. met the  amazing anne ruthman in person and was "i spy"ed by her.
5. sat down to rest at starbucks and met jenni and michelle.
6. ready to go to a sushi dinner with laura, danny and clint.
7. rouge lounge was the next stop that night where we met up with joe, adam, blake,  akil, laura,clint, and danny.  got to meet some other photographers including: mel, brion, and jonathan (if you come to houston to visit your brother we need to hang out!)
8. next stop was the loktah party where josh smith of cinematic bride was an amazing host! he is my new friend. spotted kelly moore and miss brandy, millie and davina too! met tim uhl for a minute and he look just the same as he does on his facebook profile.
9. we manage to make it over to the jose villa party to dance.it was really dark so i could not   make out who everyone was.  i know for sure that i saw: lara casey with southern weddings   blog, regina, christine, sarah and chris, jeff, and a crazy lady that had some supper cool         dance moves that entertained us all!
10. met tanja lippert and that made me smile.  she is amazing. a great example on how to be a big dork!
11. hit the bed at 2:30 a.m.

third day:

1. wake up at 6:45 a.m. and think that they are pumping oxygen into my room because i can't  seem to fall back asleep.
2. breakfast of champions #2 (same thing as day 2)
3. off to the trade show for a quick second to see if there is anything that i can spy.
4. met up with amazing folks to shoot in old town vegas!!! this was the highlight of the trip. and amazing!!! i hooked up with sarah, eliesa of photogen-inc and her amazing team, danielle with mind castle studios, laura kay, and melissa louise.  girl time was amazing!! pictures will be posted soon!
5. i can't believe the list is still happening... went back to the MGM where we rested for 5        minutes!
6. 5:00 i made my way down to the love affair party!!!! it actually started at 5:30 but i was       prompt. got to meet me ra kho, who i admire. had fun seeing the love affair gals but missed lauren clark. the food was yummy too! i can not believe that i finally got to meet brent and visit with amanda and josh smith.
7. back to the room to change and say hi to my long lost roomies that i never see!  they are all in class learning great things. maybe i can get their notes?? :)
8. make my houston friends come get us so we can pull ourselves out of our room.  we head  over to the bellagio for some dinner. joe, i owe you!! poor laura lost her voice and could not talk the entire meal.  i think this was a theme by some other too.
9. headed to the photo love cat party to see my roomies and some other fine folks.  tried to win some free goodies....no luck.
10. 11:00 or so it is time to head over to the blu domain party. had a great time with lots of      faces.  met bobbi from bobbi and mike and michael.
11. cab ride home with danielle and casey.
12. bed time at 1:30

fourth and final day:

1. slept in till 10:00 a.m. and could not believe that happened.
2. breakfast with laura and clint at the same old place with the same old breakfast.
3. trade show like i have never done it! this time i think i ran through it looking for things i       wanted to buy. found it finally!  i was ok to leave now.
4. made it to the spa before i had to depart... express facial was the way to go!  got to enjoy a nice spa experience that was worth the $$$.
5. cab ride with lisa over to the airport and then a nice pizza dinner! saw nicki and kim too!

i think this is the longest blog yet and i can't believe that i remembered all of that! there were so many amazing people that i met and it was a pleasure meeting everyone of you!  i feel blessed to have had this experience. forgive me if i did not post our encounter on here.  leave a message because i can't find your business card!

there will be more to blog when i get my pictures ready!  now for a nap?