Saturday, April 30, 2011

Food Blog Forum - Orlando & A Giveaway

Something told me I should go to the Food Blog Forum event in Orlando. It was the closest food blogging event that had occurred to me, and the speakers looked spectacular: Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, Julie of the little kitchen, Helene of Tartlette, Dawn of Wicked Good Dinner, and Lindsey of Love and Olive Oil. So many food blogging idols in one room - I had to sign up!

And I had to get sick! Not a little sick, a *lot* sick. So sick as in the girl-who-coughs-in-your-face-when-you-ask-her-a-question-and-eventually-loses-her-voice type of sick. I knew the day before I left in my little rental car that it was all going downhill, but you can't put life on hold sometimes, so off I went hoping to make the best of it. Thankfully, my mental focus on not coughing as much as possible, and a high fever, helped keep me deliriously even tempered in the face of so much greatness.

Brie "Cake"
On Friday evening, everyone was thrust into a mixer at Whole Foods, with much wine, to hopefully jump right over any stage fright on meeting complete strangers. Although a few of us have forged deep relationships online with fellow bloggers, many times it can be a different story in person. Some only recognize people by their icons or names, so matching faces to blogs was a bit of a game at first. I actually wore my brown fedora for this reason, and it paid off since many did recognize me.