Hi friends! Alix and Dottie here….yes it’s really BOTH OF US POSTING AT THE SAME TIME!

If you checked in with last Friday’s Weekly Kiddo, then you might have heard that we took a little bloggy jaunt to Salt Lake City to speak at the EVO ’10 Conference. EVO is an amazing event celebrating the evolution of women in social media and hoo boy what a trip it was! We thought it would be fun to take a wee break from the usual and tell you a little bit about our fun time there. So pull up a chair while we chat together and share a little bit about our fun experience in Utah.

ALIX: What a weekend, lady! Even though we “work” together on our beloved kiddo, we don’t really get to hang together all that much. I was totally excited about our lil getaway. Our flight wasn’t long but I love how we came prepared with Kindles, iPhones and enough trashy mags to last a trans-atlantic flight!!

DOTTIE: I always enjoy a little easy reading on the plane, but because of my job I have to read these charming journals. No New Yorker for me, right now!

ALIX: Don’t let Dottie fool you friends…this mild-mannered crafty minx is a PR Bad Ass by day. I’m not ashamed to admit that US Weekly became our Pop Culture Manifesto as I tried to grill her for info on various celeb appearance rates. (Note to self….Kristin Cavallari… far more affordable than you might think. And if you book Tori Spelling they just might throw in the hubs for free…plotting next birthday bash)

DOTTIE: But back to the trip….

ALIX: OK OK….you’re right. So how gorgeous was Park City, Utah? Like, WAY more beautiful than I ever thought it would be.

DOTTIE: Agreed! It was wedding day perfect weather with not a widge of humidity in the air!

ALIX: Look how sassy you looked Miss Dottie…I was in love those vintage eye glasses. You have THEE best spex in the biz, lady.

DOTTIE: Oh stop! Let’s chat about our fabulous hotel, The Canyons, shall we? The place was just huge—I mean, look at those chandeliers in the lobby! I like the picture of Buffalo Bill about to ski down the mountain in thigh-high boots.

ALIX: Are you sure that’s Buffalo Bill?? I was thinking it was some sassy ranger guy who built the city. His S&M boots are quite the look. Ya know, I have to say I’m not really a rustic gal, but the Cowboy Chic was totally workin’ for me.  I kept wanting that gallery of horse paintings to talk, Harry Potter style though. There were horse portraits EVERYWHERE. A brief homage to my fave….the horse with the flat-ironed hair. SASSY!

HORSE: I’m a cowboy, on a steeeeeel horse I riiiiiiiide…..wait a sec….whooooooaaaa nelly, WHAT’S that sound? It’s like someone’s settin’ off firecrakers up in these here parts!

ALIX:  Hewwwww. OK guys, I have to fess up. I have no idea what happened when I landed in Park City but suddenly I turned into rootin’ tootin’ Alix. Yes, I’m about to go there. I COULD NOT STOP FARTING THAT FIRST NGHT!!!!!  I think it was the altitude…and I swear they weren’t stinky it was ALL AIR. But lawd have mercy, I was a fartin’ machine. I’m SO SORRY Dottie. You were a saint. When you weren’t weeping with laughter while I said things like, “No no….you go ahead. I’m just gonna hang back here and um…..stretch.”

DOTTIE: Darling, I love you even more because you were comfy enough to let it rip around me.

[insert hug between DOTTIE & ALIX]

ALIX: Oh, the other thing that cracked me up was my name tag. They smartly listed everyone’s Twitter ID on them, but since most people use their blog name as their twitter ID it looked like a business card. Like, yours said “Dottie, Modern Kiddo.” Mine, on the other hand, made me look like I was a dang psychic:

ALIX:  So BY FAR the best part of this shindig was meetin’ up with the ladies (and handful of gents). Talk about some quality people. I knew I was going to meet some amazing ladies, but they really just exceeded my expectations. For starters, Jyl and Rachel (the phenomenal masterminds behind this whole shindig) kept us so entertained, well fed and busy round the clock….it was kind of amazing. For those of you who have never been to a conference, it goes way beyond lectures and chit-chatty parties. There is so much listening and learning and really connecting with other groovy chicas.

DOTTIE: I know, right? We bloggers aren’t just these silos standing alone—but we all connect and we all talk and you realize that the blog is just one aspect of how delightful these people are in real life. We met so many new friends too, like the mega talented Alma from Ollibird, the sasstacular Carina from The Jet Set and of course my Kombucha soul sister, NakedJen!

ALIX: NakedJen! We loved that girl. I admit I was totally smitten by the ladies in my Vlogging Workshop (shout out to Lizzie  (LizzieBtv), Kim Orlando (TravelingMom), Meredith Sinclair (Hoo-Dee-Hoo), Kadi Prescott (www.kadiprescott.com), and Danielle Smith (Extraordinary Mommy) WOOT!) and this is hereby a warning to you dear readers—expect to see and HEAR more from me in the future!!! (Just in case you aren’t familiar with the term, “Vlogging” = “Video Blogging” ya’ll. Get ready!!)

DOTTIE: And let’s not forget our favorite girl Allison from Petit Elefant, who we both just adore.

ALIX: Allison is one of those people that just lights up a room—I remember meeting her at the ALT Design Summit earlier this year and thinking, “I need to hang out with this woman more!” Aw look, there she is down there in her sassy purple tunic. Hey, this is a FAB segue into the amazing sessions.

DOTTIE: There were so many good ones…business-focused topics, creative topics and even hands-on workshops. You could take Food (styling and prep), Photography (which included a ride in the gondolas up the mountain) and even a Crafting workshop (where we talked about propping and taking photos for tutorials and what not). It should come as no surprise that I chose Ze Crafting Session!

ALIX: And you didn’t even mind that your third-rate crafting buddy tagged along! (Hey I love getting artsy craftsy, but I’m NOT a sewer/knitter. That’s Dottie’s domain!)

DOTTIE: That is one sweet bag you rocked, Alix. I think YOU are the crafty minx!

ALIX: Hah! Well, I can’t lie….that ribbony, ice creamy style of crafty stuff  really isn’t my bag (hyuck hyuck) but I still had a GREAT time. Of course my favorite part was how I kept touting you as our crafty half …. only to have you execute a splendid CRAFT FAIL on yer cupcake topper. Upside down sign? Aw yeah….this is why I love ya.  *toot!*

DOTTIE: I personally LOVED the Craft Workshop. The panel was made up of these fantastic crafty bloggers and we actually got to craft in the middle of the session! How great was that?? OK, maybe I did put the sign on upside down on my cupcake, but it was still an utterly fab session. And to meet such wonderful online crafters in person—it was like my dream come true! I wish we could have had a quilting bee!

Our lovely panel: Cindy (Skip to my Lou), Marie (Make and Takes), Elizabeth (Dear Lizzy) and Lucrecer (Art Slam)

ALIX: After all that crafting I was exhausted and ready for a lil’ refreshment.

DOTTIE: Thank heavens for the terrific Manis & Martinis party! I swear those weren’t all our glasses. Ahem.

DOTTIE: Hmmm… I sure do look tipsy.  What’s with my red tongue? Do cosmos normally turn a lady’s tongue red?

ALIX: Maybe those really were all your glasses up there. Hee. All I know is that I loved my peach-pineapple martini you procured for me. Mmmm… so tasty. Of course we couldn’t get too tipsy because we were both speaking the next day.

DOTTIE: Oh yes! I was so nervous.  But you were fabulous, Miss Lady!  Alix was on quite the power panel (“The Evolution of Storytelling”) with blogging goddesses—Catherine of Her Bad Mother, Laura Mayles of Blog Con Queso/Kirtsy and Maya from MemeTales. Truly wonderful people and an A+ crew!

ALIX: Seriously, my panel was made up of the smartest, coolest ladies ever. It was *such* an honor. There was a lot of laughing but so many great issues came up as well. It was part of what I loved about EVO. There were some pretty heavy/bittersweet moments as people shared life stories, and yet a whole lot of laughing too. But let’s talk about you my sassy little PR maven.  PR really is an important part of running any business and I was loving all the re-tweeting of your “ABC” quote! [And no, I’m not going to tell you guys what ABC means—you’ll have to check out Dottie’s next panel. Heh.]

DOTTIE: There were so many incredible sessions the whole weekend, it was often hard to choose which one to go to—not to mention the outstanding key notes.

ALIX: And then there was OPRAH. Well, OK. She wasn’t there. But two of her top peeps were: Andrea Wishom, a 17-year veteran Supervising Producer with the Oprah Winfrey Show, and Jon Sinclair, VP of Development and Creative Services for HARPO Studios. They were fabulous. It was a totally fascinating keynote.

DOTTIE: Oprah really is one of the most influential people around—who knew she has been on every TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential people list since its inception more than 20 years ago??  Oh, I’ll miss her when her show ends.

ALIX: But Dottie….at least we’ll always have Nate. (sigh)

………………………….

We can’t tell you how fun and rewarding this experience was. We’re leaving out so much stuff, like even more amazing speakers, the generous sponsors and goodie bags (YAY for Lisa Leonard and her gorgeous jewelry), the zip line, the mountain top gondolas and so much more. If you have the chance to check out a blogger conference, by all means GO!

PS from Alix: GREAT NEWS PEEPS! Dottie has had a Twitter renaissance! I am pleased to report with minimal nagging from yours truly she TOTALLY got into twittering during EVO and has trotted out her old ID. Please add @missdottie to yer feed! Of course I’m still @galexina (mystic to the stars). And can I just say your aura looks marvelous?  xoxo