Five for Fraturday

Happy Happy Happy Weekend!

Once again, I went to the TpT Conference and took about five  four  three  zero pictures!

AAAHHH!

I have been tagged in some and I started trying to screenshot them and edit them (because of course I don’t like the way I look in any of them) and then . . . I gave up.  Because honestly, it was overwhelming and/or I am lazy.

LAY—ZEE.

Especially today after I slept for thirteen hours and still feel like I could sleep thirteen more.

So be prepared for some words!!

I’m going to highlight the top five points of my trip!

Obviously, the NUMBER ONE HIGHLIGHT has to be FRIENDS.

I flew to Orlando with Lauren (A Teachable Teacher), Aris (Sailing into Second), Jen (Sparkling in Second), and Caitlin (The Styled Teacher).

Lauren and I sat next to one another and it was probably THE fastest five hours of an airplane ride in my life.  We talked the.entire.way.  I think we paused to drink our sodas and that was about it.

 

Honestly, Steve and I sit next to one another on our trips all the time AND THE FLIGHT TAKES FOREVER so I think I’m going to need Lauren to come along on all our trips from now on.  😉

On a side note, when the five of us arrived in Orlando and stepped outside, we all gasped OUT LOUD and people turned their heads to look at us because it was completely spontaneous, but totally in sync, and LOUD.

People.

The weather in Florida is insane.

IN-SANE.

Lauren describes it like this:  Picture walking into a brick wall that’s on fire but it’s raining at the same time.

AY YI YI.

I think the reason I don’t like myself in ANY of the pictures is because my hair stayed here in California and I have no idea whose hair I was wearing in Florida.  It wasn’t my hair, I can tell you that.

I kept telling people — I don’t look like this.  Pardon my look.

Oy.

Wednesday morning was the TpT Kick Off or Whatever You Want To Call It, and the Keynote, so after only about four hours of interrupted sleep, we attended that.

I wish I could remember some key points to tell you, but I went there without coffee.

WITH-OUT coffee.

I KNOW!

But it was a good presentation, and I enjoyed it, and I clapped a lot, and I was all RAH RAH RAH!  Let’s do this!

🙂

 

My two favorite sessions were Facebook with Kate (The Brown Bag Teacher) and The Real Truth From a Successful Teacher with Erin Cobb (I’m Lovin Lit).

The Facebook session literally hurt my brain.

Half way through, I could feel myself checking out because of all the information coming at me, but I powered through and now I have to see what’s what and who’s who and figure some stuff out.

Or just eat ice cream and keep doing what I’m doing because I’m a teacher first and all the business stuff is second and . . . well . . . there’s only so many hours in the day and do you see why I started checking out?

Erin’s session was HILARIOUS.  That girl.

She told it like it is and I so appreciate that!

She gave me a lot to think about, too, and how to balance my teaching life with my TpT life . . . so it was really helpful and made me rethink the Facebook session, and how I can do it all, and then my brain hurt from all the thinking so I went to a really long lunch with Lauren and ate french fries and ranch because . . . hello?  PRIORITIES.

That night was the Meet Up and I talked to a MILLION people and reconnected with people I only see once a year.  It was fun!

Our group went to an Italian restaurant on the boardwalk for dinner . . . and I ordered corn ravioli which I was sort of afraid of, but ohmyholydeliciousness, my mouth is watering just thinking of it now.  I ate it all.  ALL of IT.

Thursday was my networking session during the lunch hour.  It was called Blogging Tips.  Apparently, TpT thinks I have some tips about blogging so there’s that.  🙂

I was super nervous no one would come because it was during the LUNCH HOUR.  And I don’t know about you, but I like to eat during the lunch hour.  That’s when you have lunch.  Hence the name LUNCH HOUR.

I made 50 copies of my so-called handout.

When I first got to the room, there were three or four teachers sitting at a round table with their lunches and I thought yay!  Someone came!  And I sat down with them and felt really comfortable and told them we could just have a little chat about blogging.

They told me I was early and to start eating my lunch so I did.

I had one bite and then BAM.

People started showing up.

I don’t know how many exactly, but I ran out of my handouts and the next thing I knew, I was giving a full-on presentation that I was not prepared to be having.

But I love love love love love blogging so I could have talked about it for three hours without taking a breath.  And everyone was so so so nice!!  Genuinely nice!  I met some of the nicest people!!

I just love people who are nice!

🙂

I was sharing a room with Jenny from Art with Jenny K so we kind of had to each take a side, and make sure the people arriving were on the correct side.

I would say Hi!  Are you here for Blogging Tips or Finding Your Niche?  If they said Finding Your Niche, I instantly had hurt feelings and cried.

Just kidding!

I would say Okay, great!  You’re going to want to move over to that side with Jenny.

Well.

This happened with a really nice, beautiful lady who was there for Finding Your Niche, but she was sitting on my side.  And once I told her she should move up to the other side of the room, it hit me.

It hit me like a ton of bricks (that were on fire while it was raining).

I was talking to Paul’s wife.

Paul.

As in THE FOUNDER OF TPT.

So I said Oh my goodness, are you Paul’s wife?

And she said why, yes I am.

I said Do you mean to tell me that I just asked Paul’s wife to move?

She was super super super super super sweet and said it was perfectly okay, she could move, and that she didn’t mind at all.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS?  WHY DOES THIS STUFF ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!

 

Thursday night was Happy Hour and that was fun, as always.

But my most favorite favorite favorite part was that after the Happy Hour, the five of us had a slumber party!

We got in our pjs and hung out in our room.  Lauren and I had a Mac Daddy room and we’re not sure why, but it was HUGE and had a couch and chairs and two dressing areas and our floor said “Preferred Guest Level”.  We were pretty sure they made a mistake, but we didn’t want to embarrass the hotel so we said nothing.  We wanted to spare their feelings.

We ordered a bottle of wine and pizza from room service and just talked and talked and talked.

We even did each other’s hair!

🙂 🙂 🙂

We stayed up way too late and after about fours of sleep, we had to get up and get to the airport.

And that’s the end.

The End.

What a week!!!!!

Thank you, TpT!