Arizona Blogger Meetup
The best thing about being a blogger is that you can work where you want and set your own hours. However, this also means a lot of isolation with not much of an opportunity to connect with others in your field (yes, I just called blogging a field). This is why the event we attended a few weeks ago was so amazing.
The Arizona Blogger Meetup Group is a Facebook group that connects bloggers from all around the state of Arizona- although most are located in the Phoenix area. Once every few months, the leaders of the group host a meetup where we all get the chat (in-pers0n), eat delicious food, learn from other bloggers in fabulous education sessions and win incredible raffle prizes and swag.
Photography in this post that does not appear as an Instagram is courtesy of Photography Hill.
This meetup was held at the Shine space near downtown Phoenix.
Immediately on entering, our lovely hosts greeted us and gave us truly spectacular swag bag! I didn’t know how amazing it was until I opened it at home. Those details later.
The leaders of this event were the lovely Chrissy, Deidre, Kayla and Camille. Please click on their names to check out their amazing blogs! 
While mingling, we perused the fantastic giveaway table. My favorite was this beautiful necklace from To Adorn:
And this one from DownEast Basics:
I was not lucky enough to win either. However, I am now in search of a new chunky necklace. I haven’t decided if this is a good or bad thing.
We were also treated to some delicious food.
I loved these chocolate breads from Proof Bread.
After some networking and trading of business cards, we got to pick from four classes that were to be offered for two sessions a piece. Megan and I decided to split up so that one of us could attend each class.
My first class was on branding your blog , taught by Reachel of Cardigan Empire.
She discussed the concept of being “smashable.” To explain this, she described a coke bottle. If you smashed a coke bottle against a wall, how small of a piece could you pick up and still be able to recognize it as part of a coke bottle? This also pertains to a blog. How small of a section could you look at from your blog and still tell that its yours? Are you consistent throughout? Are readers able to recognize your work, your writing, your photos if they look at only one post?
To be smashable, you have to know exactly who you are, what you represent and who you are not. We were given a large list of adjectives and asked to circle five that describe our blog now, five that describe what we are not and five that describe where we would like to be. 
My second class was taught by Stephanie from Life Created. Stephanie gave us lots of tips for photo styling. I learned that the best angles to take a picture are bird’s-eye, 30 degrees and eye-level. I’ve been trying to take more pictures at these angles.
We got one picture together at the event. I feel like it a prediction for the future of Whimsicle.
We met tons of fabulous bloggers on this Saturday afternoon It is so amazing to actually meet someone that you know online. When I got home, I opened my swag bag to discover.. amazingness!! Packed in a canvas bag from Lawless Denim was:
a Pumpkin Brownie from FairyTale Brownies
a pair of gray, fleece-lined leggings from Pink Blush
A notebook from Tiny Prints especially designed for this event with artwork from Beth Allen Art and lettering by Strawberry Mommycakes
A print from Yellow Bungalow Shop
A pair of leggings from Agnes and Dora which I immediately wore to the park the next day
What would you have most enjoyed about this event?
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Looks like a lot of fun! I love going to blogger meet ups when I have the chance!
It was so good meeting you! Glad we have events like these to meet fantastic bloggers!
Great to meet you too Alicia!
What an amazing meetup! I Love meeting other bloggers and forming a community where we can all help each other. It’s especially nice when you’re able to meet them in real life!
Definitely Betsy!
This looks like such a fun time! I’ve always wanted to go to a blogger meet up <3
Looks like it was fun. I am looking forward to my first blogger meetup!
I love how many people showed up to that blogger event!
It was huge! Tickets sold out within the first day, so there was quite the waiting list too.
SO much fun! I wish there were meetups in my area!
Wait, what?! How did I not know about this? I must be in this group ASAP 🙂
Yes! It’s called the “Arizona Blogger Meetup Group” on Facebook.
how fun! wish i started my blog before we left AZ!
What a cool meet up! I wish there was something like that here!
Looks like fun. I would enjoy the food the most. Kidding. 😉
I enjoy the food the most! No shame in that 🙂
This looks like so much fun! I always wanted to go to a blogger meet up…maybe one day!
Aww this looks like so much fun! The food looks delicious!
I love blogger meet ups, I organised my own this summer.
That is awesome Fi!
So great meeting you at the event! Great summary post.
Thanks Diedre! Great to meet you, too!
This is awesome! One day I will find a blogger meet up closer to where I am. They look like so much fun!
This looks like such a fun blogger meet up.
This looks like it was a great meetup! I really want to attend something like this soon. I like the coke bottle analogy a lot! I’ll have to think of my blog in that way.
Loved the coke bottle as well! It’s so easy to apply elsewhere.
I kept seeing these kinds of pictures on instagram and I cannot believe I missed out on this meet up! Looked like so much fun!
Hopefully I can meet you at the next meetup Alyssa!
I was beyond bummed I could not make it to this meet up (it was my 5 year wedding anniversary that day) but I hope to see you at the next one! 🙂
Happy 5 year anniversary! Hope to meet you in person soon!
This looks like such a great meetup! It’s always fun to be able to connect with blogging friends offline too.
This looks like such a fun meet up! I love meeting local bloggers
Looks like you guys all had a really good time! The San Francisco Bay Area has one tonight, so it’ll be fun to go and party with a ton of babes!
Sounds like a great event. I always love meeting others with the same interests and learning new things. Sounds like this event was both — with presents!
The presents were a definite perk 🙂
What a wonderful meetup! The pictures are great and sounds like you had so much fun! I think for me the best thing would have been to meet other bloggers and network with them. I really wish I had that opportunity.
There must not be very many bloggers in Ecuador. It’s fascinating reading about your life down there though!
That looks so fun! I’d love to do something like that will my area bloggers. 🙂
That is a cool thing to do. There is my sister in law on the far left!!
It was so much fun! Your sister in law is Alicia, right? I met her there 🙂
This looks like a super fun event! I would love to learn more about photo styling because I want to do more styled shoots at home. Thank you for sharing!
I definitely want to learn more about photo styling. Especially how bloggers get those amazing looking backgrounds on their product shots. I think there is some secret I’m not aware of.
What a great meet up! I wish I could find more bloggers in my area! Haven’t met very many or any really.
It is definitely a cool thing to be able to meet other bloggers. Where do you live Avie?
My goodness, what a meetup! Looks like you all had an awesome time.
Thanks Camesha! It was spectacular 🙂
I am itching to attend a blogger’s meetup. Definitely on the to-do list for 2015. Dang, can you believe 2014 is about to end so soon.
Thrifting Diva
http://www.thriftingdiva.com
The year has gone by way too fast! I love meeting other bloggers though. So cool to see others do the same things I do 🙂
What a fun meet up…I need to move to Arizona! Looks like a fun time was had by all!
You guys have so much fun in Arizona! Looking forward to going to a conference next year!
This was my first meetup and I just attended my first blogging conference this past weekend at Blended. Which conference are you planning to attend Kristine?
This looks like such a great time! I wish there were blogger meet ups closer to NJ!
Thanks Jessica! It was so fun! We are definitely lucky to have something like this in our area 🙂
Those tights are awesome!!!!! And I’d love to be apart of an event like this!!!!
How fun! Looks like a blast!