the day came and went – oddly reminding me of my wedding.
there’s the build up, the IT’S HERE!, and then the WTF! it’s over! already! WHYYYY?!?! again! again! again!
if there was only one reason to go to alt nyc this year – it would have been for Garance Dore.
to be completely honest with you, this came as a complete shock to me because i didn’t know who the heck she was before hand. i know – why am i even admitting that now?! REGARDLESS – i think she is brilliant! and beautiful. and honest. and that accent! and… ya, you get it. her words really struck a chord with me. she validated that i’m allowed to be myself on this blog. this is my site. i can do whatever the fuck i want. go figure!
like that.
i just swore.
did i scare you away?
no?
phew.
wow that felt great! and you know what? i just might do it again sometime. because it’s my blog, and if you’re here, it’s because you want to read what i have to say. or that’s the hope. and if you don’t like it – well…
– well said garance. i don’t need to be tip toeing around because people might say something negatively about me or my blog.
or heck – maybe it’s that no one is saying anything on my blog! and that’s okay too! because grace bonney from design sponge said –
keenan cummings had me tearing up – kathleen keen from tate’s bake shop had sound business advice and a great outlook on what life throws at us and how we choose to react to it. isabel kallman talked about “urgent vs. important”. you know – the four quadrants. it’s an old tool, but none the less – i would have to agree – they do work! and then there was both john jannuzzi of lucky magazine and jennifer rubio of warby parker. young and hungry to share their knowledge – i was eager to listen. oh – and i totally want a pair of warby parker glasses now too… le sigh. i’m a sucker for cool marketing.
other than the sponsored dinner the night before, alt nyc is only one day. one – jam packed – day. after the talks, networking breaks and keynotes are all over – there is a party.
a party in which… i dipped out of pretty darn fast.
i said hello to a few more fellow bloggers, grabbed a few twizzlers from candy mountain and then – got the heck outta there. frankly – i was exhausted. i ran (cabbed) back to my hotel to grab mohawk where we then went for dinner to carmine’s. definitely did not realize the entire menu is family style and every darn thing on the menu serves 3-4 people – talk about leftovers!
and then – like the flood gates had been opened – i cried.
and cried – and cried and cried some more.
it felt great to release so many emotions all bottled up from the day. i had just taken in so much. really challenged to think about myself all day and where i want to go with my life. i knew where some of it was coming from – the built up fear – the lack of confidence i had in myself – the lack of sleep from days leading up to. and then there were some tears that i just couldn’t explain – but in the end – it felt great and i wasn’t beating myself up for missing a stellar party. sometimes you just have to look after yourself. and sometimes you’ll cry in the middle of a restaurant – but it’ll be for good reasons.
here are some of garance’s takeaways that stuck with me.
i will always have the coulda, shoulda, wouldas from my altnyc trip – but it’s not worth getting hung up on them – instead – i will treat them as fun takeaways and i will learn from them!
so what are some of my takeaways? : )
- make sure you eat and keep yourself hydrated – otherwise you’ll be a cranky bitch! and nobody wants that.
shouldn’t be hard though – the food they served us was fantastic! tomato, basil, and mozzarella sandwiches with a balsamic reduction, roasted beets, mixed quinoa salad, blanched asparagus, green beans – raspberry custard tarts – double chocolate cookies during the breaks – i could go on. yum!
- bring an extra tote bag… that’s EMPTY!
for all the fun swag we got – oddly enough, nothing to carry it in – we all looked like hoarders at a yard sale.
- reach out to people BEFORE you go. this will help your nervousness if you find yourself in a sea of new people because you’ll know one or two people. i found twitter to be a great resource and taking an alt summit class here and there never hurts!
- and the one thing that i keep hearing over and over again – and bob mcclure said it too – get out of your own way!
i know, i know – easier said then done – but… seriously. GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY!
get up.
walk around.
talk.
shake hands.
and hand out those business cards – otherwise you’ll just go home with as many as you came with and that’s no fun now is it?
until next time new york. it was fun.
having martha stewart show up wasn’t too bad either!
