RWA 2012 Re-Cap
Well the conference has been over for 3 weeks but I’m only now expressing my 
experiences. Had a nice vacation with the family at Disneyland and LA. Now it’s back to the real world and catching up with things.
On Tuesday 24th July, triple Rita finalist Vicky Dreiling and I head off to the airport and our conference adventure. Both of us were very excited to be rooming together and getting to meet lots of online friends. I’m a nervous flyer but managed to snooze and read my way through a 3 hour flight that had us landing at Orange County 30 minutes early.
We were picked up by the fabulous Beth Yarnall who I’d met online only a couple of months ago. Vicky and Beth are old online friends and this was the first time they met too. It was so nice of her to pick us up. She took us to lunch overlooking the ocean, for a pleasant hour I could almost imagine myself back in Western Australia, lunching at Cottesloe. I haven’t seen the ocean in 2 years so I was nice to see it again.
After lunch we were back at the airport picking up fellow friend Kiersten Krum, who I met in February at the West Houston RWA Emily meeting – which she won her category for!
After collecting Kiersten we headed to the hotel. I was anxious to get there because I was finally, after over 10 years, meeting two really good, special, amazing friends. The wonderful Dee Tenorio and the most fabulous website designer ever Katrina Glover (KIKAwebdesign). It was the best feeling to meet and catch up with them. My phone died so I couldn’t get a photo of the 3 of us on my phone but I know Kat got a photo. To be able to meet people that have been a huge part of my life for the last to years was pretty unbelievable. But I did get a picture with Dee later in the conference and here we are!
After saying a huggy goodbye I headed up to the room to get ready for dinner with fellow West Houston friends. As I walked into the restaurant I ran into a fellow twitter friend Donna Alward. We shared a hug, which I know was special because Donna doesn’t give out hugs lightly. 🙂 After a nice meal I caught up with the Aussie/New Zealand contingency. Oh to hear the Aussie accent and get hugs from people I haven’t seen for 4 years. I wish I could’ve stayed longer with them and spent a whole day with them. It made me miss home a lot.
Finally my early morning and the two hours I had gained caught up with me and I had to call it a night. But it was a fantastic start to my RWA 2012 conference experience.
More to follow!!
The Conversation
OK WANNA HEAR SOMETHING TOTALLY WEIRD!!!!???? I was on that same flight at Kiersten and you were like waiting in the car or something RIGHT? I had no idea it was you! We met at the Newark airport and she was picked up but the three of us that had chatted while waiting for our flight took a cab. It was DESTINY that put us in the same space so much at conference! WEIRD…… you were stalking me even before you were stalking me! LOL!
OH MY GOODNESS! That is totally weird! Yes I was waiting in the car while Beth got Kiersten. Ok there is a reason why we were thrown together so much. We just have to work out what it is!! I’m having a little giggle right now about all of this!! Shall I post the ‘stalker’ picture?? LOL
I meant WITH Keirsten. Doh!
Oh absolutely! You can balance it with the really great pic from RITA night. I affectionately have dubbed it the Ebony and Ivory pic! If you don’t have it, you can snag it from my FB author page album!
OOH I will! There was a lot of the Ebony and Ivory that night :). Fi tagged me so it’s in my photos on Facebook. I’ve also got the nice one of us that Fi took too! Keep an eye out for it! LOL