Day two dawned bright and early with breakfast and and opening by the precious Chip Wade (I would give my left leg…all ankle issues aside…to have him do my master bathroom). Apart from Chip’s fun talk and jaw dropping before and afters, my very favorite session of the day was the hands on workshop with RYOBI and Kreg. Our little trio laughed a LOT, learned a lot and Paige and I both walked out winners of an awesome RYOBI AirStrike Stapler!!! (Where has that been all my life?!?!)
After lunch we hit up the amazing vendor displays and I SO loved bumping into Tamyra at Positively Southern. She was a doll and we immediately hit it off and enjoyed chatting multiple times over the next two days.
And in no time flat, it was time for the Ballard Designs coffee table challenge!!! I was super excited to have been picked as a participant, though I had no idea what to expect.
Each of the three teams was assigned a coffee table to decorate in ten minutes flat. Loads of Ballard accessories and fresh flowers were hidden behind a curtain. On the count of three, all teams rushed to scoop up as much as they could. And then the hard part began… we had to agree on a direction and decorate the table with the props given. As if that wasn’t nerve wracking enough, at the five minute mark they made us give back THREE of the items we were working with. ahhhhhhh!!!!!
The completed tables were published to the Haven facebook page and the one with the most likes at the end of the conference was the winner of $100 Ballard Designs gift cards for EACH blogger on the team. I was SO SO SO thrilled to have our table win and cannot wait to spend that STAT :-) Thanks to all of y’all that voted for us!! Before moving on, I just want to say how excited I was to walk up and see that Mallory at Charming in Charlotte was on my team. She is beyond fabulous and another gal that I know I’ll stay in touch with!!!!
The real fun and games (and laughs that turned into snorts) began when Lance of Parker Kennedy Living and photographer / conference speaker Christina Wedge showed for Christina’s fantastic photography session. We scooted over to Season’s 52 for happy hour (thank you thank you thank you Lance!!!!) and then went back again for a delish din din later in the evening. This is what I mean about a blog conference turning into a girls weekend. So fun!!
We wrapped up our evening at another fabulous party complete with St. Germain cocktails, lite bites, desserts and dancing with Haven Mavens.
I’m seriously bummed that I didn’t get a picture with the 11 Magnolia Lane gals at the party because I FINALLY hunted them down and loved them every bit as much in person as I do in the virtual world. I just can’t say enough good things about them. :-)
xoxo
