blogger Archives - Over The Top Mommy

The day I got an email in my inbox inviting me to attend the Disney Social Media Moms on the Road Conference in Arizona was a Magical One!

I’d connected with so many other Disney-loving moms online who are also in the social media world and this was finally going to be my chance to connect with many of them in person! I was also excited about the location of the conference, The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort! The property looked like it had so much to offer when I checked out the website. Emi was excited for the pools and Sonoran Splash, which are the watersides. I just couldn’t wait for all of it!

As the conference date neared, I started to plan out which necessities I’d need. I made a list of road trip necessities, in-room necessities, and conference necessities! Since Emi was going to be traveling with me to Arizona, although she wouldn’t be attending the actual conference, I wanted to get some extra special things for our trip to maximize our dual Disney Side.

First of all, let’s talk EARS! I love wearing ears. I wear ears when I’m in the parks. I sometimes wear ears when I’m teaching. I wear ears when I’m cleaning the house, unless I’m already wearing a tiara to clean! I will find any excuse to wear ears. Emi and I both already have black and red ears but I was in search of new ones for this special occasion. I came across an adorable local (to me) shop on Facebook called Popsikle Shop. She makes custom ears, so I decided to order a pair for both emi and I, matching of course!

Next we went shopping for warm weather necessities. Wait, I didn’t mean warm weather, I meant HOT weather! (Have you ever been to Arizona at the end of June?) Emi wanted to find some items that were matching and Disney-ish. We really lucked at Walmart! Their Juniors section had a ton of really cute bathing suits and swim shorts. Hot pink with white polka dots was VERY “Minnie”

So adorable, don’t you agree?

Do you like our hot pink visors, too?

We also found matching polka dotted coverups at Walmart that we wore as sundresses!

Walmart had everything we needed for our trip. We found sunglasses, water shoes, some other summer clothes, sunblock, and even snacks for the road trip! Not only did they have everything we needed, but it was also very affordable!

We also packed the personalized t-shirts we had made for Disney24 to wear in the room as part of our pajamas. I think this was the first trip we’d gone on where we had almost exact matching wardrobes. It was pretty cute!

I knew I needed to find something special to bring to this conference and hand out with my business cards. I racked my brain for something that I could make, but I truly had no extra time to really make anything by hand. Then I came across a post from a friend of mine, Xenia, who had recently hosted a Disney Junior Familia Party. It was on that post that I discovered alfajores! I KNEW immediately that they where what I needed to bring to the conference. Melo made me some AMAZING Mickey-shaped alfajores in both pink and white animal-cookie flavor and churro flavor! She was sweet enough to wrap them individually for me to pass out to friends. Needless to say, they were a hit!

Emi and I picked out a road trippin’ buddy to take with us. It only seemed appropriate that we chose Minnie Mouse. She sure loved to take pictures with us on our trip.

We even went to Michael’s to buy some chalk paint pens and the night before we left, we wrote on our car windows! We had to be the most prepared car driving through the desert! Emi even wrote “Honk if you love Disney” on my rear window!

I DO think it’s weird that not one person honked though!

Oh well, more Disney for us, right?

It’s almost a month later and I still smile when I think about how much fun I had at the Blended Conference. Blended was a one day event held in Tempe, Arizona at the Double Tree by Hilton. It’s a beautiful property to stay at and when you check-in you’re always greeted with a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie! (They were so generous that we got a cookie when we checkout out, too!) In the case of Blended attendees checking in, each one of us was also given one of these adorable Shamrock Farms coolers, which were filled with goodies for our hotel room. There was a bottle of half & half, some milk, 3 flavored sour creams and chips to dip them in! Shamrock Farms was one of the generous sponsors of the conference!

Blended was my first blogger conference and I wasn’t sure what to expect prior to attending. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was excited to meet both of the SUPER ladies responsible for the great conference, mainly because they’re both named Wendy also! I just KNEW we were meant to meet! I was also excited to hear all of the guest speakers’ presentations! Normally, I’m not a shy person but I would say I was bit intimidated going in, just because I’m so new to the blogging world. Although I’ve been a blog reader for years, I hadn’t actually sat down to blog on my own until this past summer. I brought my best outfit, a pad of paper for note taking and a stack of my pretty new business cards that were designed by Tania Fischer Designs. (And seriously, my cards turned out SOOO cute! You’ll see them in this picture amongst some my new blogger friends’ cards that I got at the conference)

It was great to connect with some of the other ladies at the informal meet up on Friday night in the hotel bar. It’s always exciting to meet some of the bloggers in person that you’ve only communicated with online. It was even more exciting to chit chat while we enjoyed some Fairytale Brownies (another one of the conference sponsors) that were in a giant basket on the table! What a great conference sponsor to have! Mmmm!

On the morning of the conference, while I was getting ready, I may or may not have had a solo dance party in my room! I’m not used to having a big giant room all to myself where I can make as much noise as I want! With my coffee in hand, I dressed in my signature color, pink, and headed over the conference room. It was just the best day! I learned so much from each of the amazing guest speakers, (click here to see the list of talented ladies who presented), talked with some of the conference sponsors that were actually present in the back of the room, ate tons of yummy food, and met so many other bloggers like myself. I also appreciated the break-out groups that were led by Wendy Wright of Choosing Love and Arizona Moms Network and Wendy Bevill O’Neal of Around My Family Table, because you could basically ask them ANY question you might’ve had about the blogging world. As if all of that wasn’t enough, they then held a raffle for some awesome prizes, including each of the centerpieces in the room. I actually won one of the centerpieces which had been provided by Fry’s Food Stores! My daughter was ECSTATIC when I brought it home!

At the end of our day, we were each given two huge bags filled with even more swag that had been provided by the sponsors! (Click here for a list of ALL of the Blended Conference sponsors)

These are just some of the business cards I collected!

Two fun peeps I met that day: Heather from Brie Brie Blooms & Laura from Pink Cake Plate

And after the conference, we kept the party going over at Joe’s Crab Shack! As you can see, Laura & I are NOT afraid to wear a bib!

The entire event was just an amazing experience and I cannot wait to go back next year!

So….the word on the street is that next year’s Blended will be a 2-day event! I’m crossing my fingers that it is! To sign up to receive information about next year’s event, click here. I hope to meet you there!