I had the most amazing opportunity to attend CHA this year with Steph from The Daily Digi. We met up with Peppermint (first time we’ve met her in real life!) and walked the show floor together and also recorded a live Digi Show with Katrina Kennedy and Kami Leonard as our guests. We also had a meet-up for a few local Digi Show listeners. Talk about an incredible weekend!
There’s no way I can summarize it all in one blog post. It’s going to take awhile to document everything and I foresee many CHA adventure scrapbook pages in my future! I at least want to blog about some highlights of the experience. I’m not even going to get into product stuff here because we talk about that on this week’s Digi Show (should be up in the next day or so) and I’ll also be blogging about a few things over at The Daily Digi.
Steph arrived at the airport just a little before me so she was nice enough to wait for me so we could ride to our hotel together. We were roomies and we stayed at The Paradise Pier hotel on the Disney property.
We went to a press event at CHA in the afternoon.
We met up with Chelle Ludwinski, Jennifer Svane, Kami Leonard, and Katrina Kennedy in Downtown Disney and had some fun together. I love this picture of me and Katrina together.
These ladies are so much fun!
Then we went back to our room to work on a project and I decided to jump off a couch. You’re going to have to listen to The Digi Show for the story on that one! lol! Let’s just say that I have several big bruises on one of my legs as a result.
Then we went to dinner with a bunch of amazing designers. Are you ready for some name dropping? Because I am! I’m geeking out that I got to eat dinner with:
- Steph – Daily Digi
- Peppermint – One Little Bird at The Lily Pad
- Christine Newman – Listgirl
- Katrina Kennedy – Capture Your 365
- Kami Leonard – Ziggle Scraps and owner at Scrap Orchard
- Jennifer Svane – admin at Scrap Orchard
- Chelle - Chelle’s Creations at Scrap Orchard
- Liz Tamanaha – Paislee Press at The Lily Pad
- Sara Gleason at The Lily Pad
- Heather Hess Joyce at The Lily Pad and her husband Wes
- Amy Martin at The Lily Pad
- Jacque Larsen at The Lily Pad
- Karah Fredericks at The Lily Pad
- Laura McCandless owner of The Lily Pad
Heather, Amy, and Liz
Jacque and Karah
Laura, Sara, and Chelle
Peppermint, me, & Steph
Christine and Katrina
I just couldn’t believe how neat it was to sit at the table with all of this talent! I love that even though we were from different sites and stores, that we had a common passion for documenting our memories that made us instant friends.
The next morning was a big event for us. Steph had the idea to host a Daily Digi sponsored breakfast to bring together the designers and leaders in the industry that we have been able to work with as The Daily Digi (and also The Digi Show). Steph even shipped bottles of custom printed Jones soda bottles for favors at the breakfast.
We met at Steakhouse 55 in The Disneyland Hotel which was very elegant and delicious! Everyone from dinner the night before was invited as well as
- Ali Edwards and her assistant Katie (great name!)
- Becky Higgins and her husband David
- Kari Holt
- Brandi Nielsen
- Laurie Pecotte
Look at all of these great people who came to breakfast!
Wes, Heather, Chelle, Jennifer, Karah, and Sara
Katrina, Kami, Peppermint, Liz, Christine, Amy, Jacque, Laura
Kari Holt, David Higgins, Becky Higgins, Steph, Ali Edwards, Katie (Ali’s assistant), and Laurie Pecotte.
I couldn’t get everyone in the shot so I’m glad I could borrow Liz’s picture that shows me and Brandi Nielsen.
I got to sit between Laurie and Brandi.
I’ll admit that I’m pretty excited that I got to have my picture taken with Becky Higgins and Ali Edwards. They have been favorites of mine for years and they are so incredibly sweet and genuine in real life. It felt like we were all old friends.
This might be one of my favorite pictures from the whole weekend. Obviously, Liz Tamanaha and Becky Higgins knew each other because Liz was on Becky’s 2012 Project Life team AND she is the designer of the Midnight Edition of Project Life that was unveiled at this CHA. But this was the first time they met in person and it was amazing to witness this genuinely touching moment!
We also took a big group shot after the breakfast. I feel so lucky to be pictured with all of these amazing ladies!
After the breakfast, it was time for a full day of CHA. Steph, Peppermint, Katrina and I walked the floor together looking for products and ideas that would be of interest to the digital community.
I almost had a paper relapse when I saw some of the booths. I told the ladies to help me resist and remember that I’m all digital these days! I stayed strong, but it was tempting at times. It was a long day of walking and looking, but very interesting.
That night, we had a Digi Show listener meet-up in Downtown Disney. We were really worried that nobody would come and we were absolutely thrilled that 3 of our loyal listeners made the trip to come and see us! Tammy, Barbara, and Angela made us smile for days. They were so sweet and told us how much they enjoy listening to the show. I told Steph that hearing what they said will keep me going for a long time!
It was fun that all the designers came along for the meet-up as well. These ladies were overjoyed to meet everyone and they literally squealed with delight when we introduced Katrina Kennedy!
And in case you are wondering why we are all in big coats…it was very cold!
On Sunday, we recorded The Digi Show live in our hotel room. My sides literally hurt from laughing so much!
Kami and Katrina were great fun to have on the show!
I’m going to have to end here, but there’s a lot that I haven’t even covered yet. Don’t worry though, I’ll be sure to share more very soon. I feel very blessed to have had such a great time with so many wonderful people. What fun!
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