Adventures in Vegas

I'm home again. After a whirlwind three-and-a-half days in Vegas, I'm back. I've resumed my position on the couch, laptop on lap, TV on Weeds (but goodness, how I despise Mary Louise Parker), bowl of frozen cherries at my side. I may look calm on the outside, but inside, my brain is racing. You know how you feel when you have 8,000 things on your to-do list but you don't know what order they go in? That's what's happening here. Why am I so full of stuff? Four Words: TPT Conference in Vegas.

I. Had. A. Blast. I attended awesome sessions and listened to great TPT and blogging stories that gave me so much to think about, and so now my head is full of list after list of things to consider: ad pages to include in my products, and rewriting my titles and product descriptions. Following up on some of the relationships I started with great people I met, and making myself a schedule and sticking to it. Unfortunately, I already didn't do one of those things today. I woke up late and then I really HAD to finish the book I was reading, The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. It only took me about five hours (I wasn't really all that close to the end but it was soooo good), but I've already spoiled one of my resolutions about dedicating specific time to blogging, writing, marketing, blah blah blah. Oops. So I guess I really have to jump on it now. Like, for reals. So I'm going to give you a little debrief (Like an episode of Entertainment Weekly, you won't get the whole deal, but you'll get the gist) of my trip! Before I left, I had plans to room with four other ladies I'd never met. I mean, we'd "met", you know, by sending irreverent facebook messages to each other, but that was about the extent of our relationship. Oh, and once Natalie sent me wine, forever leaving an indelible mark on my lush's heart. But basically, I had no idea what to expect from these (mostly Texan) girls. It's a little nerve-wracking, spending three nights in potentially close quarters with virtual strangers (haha get my pun? Because we only communicated virtually? heehee) But when one of them arrived a double-sized bottle of wine, happily proclaiming that it was only eight dollars, I knew we were going to be A-OK. These are the ladies:

Cheryl from Crayons and Curls, Farrah from Mrs. Shipley's Whole Brain Teaching, Katie from Keep Teaching & Planning (KTP on TPT), and Natalie from Teachery Tidbits. Oh, and me :)
And they are lovely, indeed. One of the best things about the conference was that they know what lies deep in the hearts of teachers. This included free drink coupons LOTS of time to talk. Oh, and free stuff. Lots of free stuff.

These are our swag bags full o'teacher stuff. By the end of the conference, I had collected this variety of freebies:

The happy hours and meet-ups were some of my favorite things. In the midst of this talking- picture 600 teachers smushed into one space and EVERYone uses their teacher voice - the noise was deafening - I managed to squeeze through and around and meet some bloggers and sellers who I really admire.

Amy, who is an absolutely adorable individual. If I used the word "adorbs", I would use it to describe Amy. But I don't use the word "adorbs" because it's pretty ridiculous.

I met these charming ladies, too, and so many others.
Confession: when I met Jennifer Runde of Runde's Room, I'd already downed both the free drink coupons TPT had given me. Kind of fast, actually, because big groups aren't exactly my favorite. (I'm not the go-up-and-talk-to-you type.) So when I walked up to Jennifer, full of liquid courage, I said, "Hi Jennifer! I'm Chrissy from Buzzing with Ms. B, and I love your blog. It's so specific and full of thorough teaching practices!"
I was doing well so far.
"Thank you!" she said sweetly, gesturing with the international sign for thank you.
"I'm so impressed with your consistency in posting, too."
"That really makes my day," or something kind along those lines. "I'm blushing!" she said.
To this point, I appeared to be a normal individual. I should've stopped while I was ahead.
It was at now that the wheels came off the cart.
"Well," I stumbled here, not sure what was to come after that grand opening. "You should constantly....be....flattered.... of yourself?" What? What does that mean? Is that English?
"Thank you," she said, as I silently prayed that the teacher talk in the room was so loud it drowned out my ridiculous words. "I appreciate that!"
Lovely woman. Thanks for not calling me out on my absurdity.

See the glass? My downfall.
At one point in the weekend, some of my roomies and I decided that we wanted to take advantage of the fun photo booth in the corner of the meet-up room. We made our way over to stand in the line and giggle. While I was there, I met Ari, the Science Penguin. Anyway, all of a sudden, Paul (yes, that Paul), Deanna (yes, that Deanna), and John Yoo (yes, that John Yoo. I know, I didn't know who he was either, but he's a muy importante individual.) headed over to the booth where we were standing. They nicely asked (I guess they didn't actually HAVE to ask, because they were the ones paying for the photo booth in the first place) if they could cut. John graciously announced he would trade selfies for a cut in the line. So I did! I snapped a picture of Deanna and Paul,

and then John snapped a picture with me!

Considering I was about four drinks deep in my five-free-drinks evening (we met up with some preggos and they gave us their tickets :) I think I'm maintaining pretty well!
Later that night, we hit Fremont street and had some fun adventures there. I'll spare you the details, but our first picture pretty much sums it up. See the photobomber? Yeah? We didn't.

Natalie, Haley from My Silly Firsties, me, and Cheryl
I close this account with the crowning moment of my trip. I, probably as many of you are, am a big fan of Kristen from a Teeny Tiny Teacher. Her writing style is inspired and I love it. So when someone whispered to me in the midst of a crowded room, "There's Kristen! Like, A Teeny Tiny Teacher Kristen!" I was like, "I must go bother her." So we headed over. Sure enough, there she was in her teeny tiny glory. "Hi, Chrissy!" she said brightly. "What's your blog?" "I'm Buzzing with Ms. B," I said. "Oh, I know your blog! You're hilarious!" Kristen said. "AAAAA! You know who I am!" I squealed, trying not to wet myself. I couldn't believe I was on the teeny tiny radar! She agreed to pose for a picture with us and so my evidence is below:

So there was all the fun stuff from Vegas. I intend (I really do) to share some of the bullet points of my learning from the trip too, as soon as I can muster the energy. Vegas kind of wore me out.
I linked up this post with A Burst in First! Click over to read all of the other fun Vegas posts!

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