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The Great Outdoors, a Bear, Boots, Bloggers and Friends – Snippets from evo’11

Marla Meridith on hike in Utah Mountains

Finally a conference with the mountains as playground. Yes! My favorites things in the world came together at The Canyons Resort in Utah. Nothing beats blogging, high altitude, learning and inspiration. On the heels of a blog conference that I was not so impressed with it was amazing to feel free. We were loved for the creative, ambitious thinkers that we are. Blogging and social media is changing by the day and evo’11 (The Evolution of Women in Social Media) embraces those changes.

Scroll down… that is me trying on a pair of $2500 custom made Lucchese boots at Burns Saddlery. Can I tell you how much I want those? Also how they will never happen other than trying them on.

MarlaMeridith.com in Park City Utah at evo'11 conference

We are all tickled these days with photos from our iPhones.

I have fun images from this event in large format that I can’t wait to share with you. For now I wanted to bring you a little teaser with shots taken on my iPhone some with Intstagram filters. Chances are if you follow me over there then you saw a few of  these.

evo'11 Conference Canyons Resort, Utah

That red sign is one every blogger wants to see when they get on an airplane. Always keep all your toys and devices handy. Not sure why my long flights never have that treat….

Usually when I land in Salt Lake City I am en route to Telluride. In this case it was my final destination.

Sunrise over the mountains in Utah.Check out my sunrise view each morning. I had my own kitchen which was perfect to make my Travel Oatmeal at 4am. The Canyons Resort was amazing in the summer. I NEED to ski their 4000 acres in the winter. Must. Do. That.

evo'11 Conference Canyons Resort, Utah

As soon as I had my bags unpacked I went on a hike straight up the mountain. Oh was it beautiful. I love losing my breath with the dry air nipping at the trees and my hat.

Evo even had fitness classes in their agenda. I did the boot camp and yoga. Of course.

Utah ski mountains in the summer

See that awesome chairlift? It is appropriately called the Orange Bubble. It will whisk you up to the slopes at the Canyons in no time at all. All of us were mesmerized by it. By now it has become famous in many bloggers posts.

I have never skied Utah (I am always in Telluride) but I need to test the powder there as I hear it is awesome! Besides, then I get to visit with Maria, Josh & baby, Dara and Kelley.

I am part loner, part social butterfly. I enjoy precious time alone and of course to balance that with time spent with love ones and special friends.
It never ceases to amaze me all of the great friends I have made through blogging…..Here I am with Alison, Maria, Dara, Aggie and Lisa. I even made friends with a bear.

evo'11 Conference Canyons Resort, Utah

By the way people were giving me very strange looks as I took many self portraits of me and bear to get our best angles.

I attended the food workshops each day I was there. One was taught by Helen, Tartelette. The other by Diane and Todd, White on Rice Couple. These events I will cover in two separate posts. They were spectacular and two of the main reasons I made this journey.

Helen Dujardin food styling workshop at the Canyons Resort

I enjoyed lots of great food. Farm fresh ingredients and lots of wild trout & salmon for me. Happy food.

Wild trout and salmon over salads at the Farm restaurant

During one of the morning panel sessions in snuck out to Park City. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone I did that. I HAD to get to town. Western ski towns are my favorite places. I opted to trade in learning important skills in the conference rooms for a walk, photos and to gawk at those cowboy boots and vintage homes.

This ski poster from the 80’s had me cracking up. Shouldn’t we all ski with our boobs hanging out and no helmet? Fun!

evo'11 Conference Canyons Resort, Utah

For now friends I will leave you with these snippets. More to come down the road…..

Have you ever attended a blog conference? If so which one? Any you wish to go to in the future? Do you enjoy the mountains?

Evo’11 Re-Cap Links

~ Marla Meridith

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70 thoughts on “The Great Outdoors, a Bear, Boots, Bloggers and Friends – Snippets from evo’11

  1. Great post and great picture! I love that picture of us, and I thank you for teaching me about instagram. I had so much fun seeing you, and next year we will definitely go hiking together. All of your pictures are awesome! Have a great rest of your summer!

    1. Alison, finally I got to attend evo. After seeing photos and hearing about it from you guys throughout the year I knew it would be a great fit. Next year we will certainly hike together & I hope to see you a few times before then!

  2. BlogHer Food 2011 was my first blogging conference ever and I had total “conference envy” about evo; the agenda and speakers were incredible. Sadly, I wasn’t aware of the conference until all the IG photos started coming in. I hope it will be as good next year.

  3. Marla~this post gave me chill~bumps!
    In fact…as I type…I still have chill bumps!
    Maybe it’s because I think YOU are a DOLL!
    Maybe it’s because YOU DID all my favorite things…
    excuse me…HIKING up a mountain…YOGA…boot camp…and shopping!
    Maybe it’s because I’m so shy about going to a blog conference…I really wish I had the nerve.
    Maybe it’s because YOU light up my heart and make me SO happy that I blog so I can know GIRLS with the spunk and spirit and PASSION and WOW that you have!
    Maybe I just adore you~
    That’s all…just maybe!
    xo

    1. Miss Teresa—you SHY?? No, I have a sneaky feeling you are not.
      Guess what? I am a bit shy too.
      No excuses though, you must make your way out to a blog conference. This would be the one for you I bet! We must discuss as it rolls around again next year. K?
      Cause I really, really want to meet you for reals. xxoo

  4. Marla, I love this post!

    Based on our chat at Starbucks this week, I knew I was in for a treat when you planned on posting these images and your thoughts and recap. And of course, totally awesome looking!

    I wish to god that my Mexico City trip had not overlapped with Evo. I would have SO been there.

    I read Helene’s recap of it a couple days ago and her post brought me to tears…it just sounds like there is SO Much love, community, sense of camaraderie that was present…I want in on that!

    And I know how you love the mountains…so happy for you to have had this time!! And the amazing women that were there, your friends, new and old. And the Lucchese boots. Nice restraint on those 🙂

    1. Averie, that restraint was tricky. Don’t think anyone around here would have approved of that purchase. You know, “real life” things need to be paid for.
      Glad you like my re-cap. It is so tricky to edit the gobs & gobs of photos to try to tell the story. Wondering if I will hammer out those other posts I intend to do??!!

      Such a great time earlier this week with you. Can’t believe our next meet-up will be after school starts….xxoo

    1. Oh Susan they certainly are a GOAL. Big one. I did find a turquoise and red pair that are still a BIG reach but could perhaps happen one day 😉

  5. Such a cute post! I got to see you lots in the Bush’s food workshop, but we never had lots of time to chat. We’ll have to change that next year. I’m so glad you had such a great time and even got to check out downtown Park City while you were here.

    Come for sure in the winter!

    xoxo

    1. Hey Jyl, we do need to catch up much more next year. I can tell that we both have loads of energy & like to go, go go! 😉 You gals did such a fine job with all the details of this conference. Looking forward to connecting again some time soon. xo

  6. Marla – EVO ’11 sounds like it was a nice intimate event in a beautiful setting – wish I could have been there. There is so much to learn in blogging, and conferences like this one sound ideal. Love all the photos you took and those boots looked fantastic on you!

    1. Heather, she is having waaaayyyy too good of a time! You need to come to a conference some day so we can meet for reals. We have known each other since we both started this blogging gig. xo

  7. Nice. I love your pics, even the angle you caught with the bear and yourself!
    I think I would ski like that, if I were so well-endowed. Yes. 🙂
    (But wouldn’t it be cold?)
    Ha ha ha.

    Can’t wait to hear what you learned!

    1. Mariko….dang girl that would be cold to ski with your snow suit wide open. Perhaps that lady is spring skiing?? I am certainly not that well endowed to find out.

    1. Sylvie, the only thing I can reckon is that she is so very “80’s?!” But even then I am not so sure I know why she needs to ski like that 😉

  8. Major evo envy. Sometimes events like this make me wonder about living on the other side of the world. Thankfully that thought doesn’t last long but how I’d love to attend one of these blogger get-togethers.

    1. Maureen, I think you are in Australia? Are there any events/conferences like this out your way? I love chatting with everyone online, but it is so extra special when we get together face to face. You would have a blast attending one with your outgoing personality.

  9. ive lived near the mountains my whole life and i definitely cant take them for granted. i love looking at them and seeing nature all around me. such a strength to gain from being near the mountains huh!

    xoxo <3

    1. Kelsey, I feel such strength and an amazing amount of grounding and center when I am in the mountains. You are a lucky gal to be so close to them on a daily basis 🙂

  10. It’s definitely the best way to ski freezing your nippies off, that’s hilarious. Looks like a great trip, what a beautiful place.

  11. I have never attended a blog conference but looking at these lovely photos makes me really want to! Especially one that takes place in such a beautiful location!

  12. Oh my goodness you crack me up 😉 That *0’s poster has me rolling. I’m so glad that you were able to go to EVO and have so much fun. Maybe one of these day’s I’ll get there. {{hugs}}

  13. Such a fun post, Marla! I’ve never been to Salt Lake City, but your photos are gorgeous…I can see how it would be the ideal vacation spot in summer or winter! Can’t wait to hear more about your awesome trip!

  14. Aww…what a great Foodie meet! You all look gorgeous..very pretty indeed. Wish I could be there the next time you all plan for one such fun party, Marla 🙂

  15. Ha those boobies look they are going to just pop right out!
    Looks like so much fun (not the boobies thing, i mean Salt Lake City). I want to try on some of those boots.
    *kisses* HH

  16. Hi Marla, I enjoyed reading your post about the conference and look forward to more updates. I have never been to avoid bloggers conference …..yet, we have never had on here in New Zealand so I decided we needed to have one! I am organizing our first food bloggers conference in November 2011, it will be small in comparison, we have only 75 bloggers here. It will be fun to meet all the other bloggers though.

  17. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Saw the photos already on Intagram, so glad you wrote a post too. Can’t wait to read about the food workshops.

    wonder if that lady got a cold from skiing bra-less LOL

  18. I live in Utah and can’t live without the mountains! I spend several days a week mountain biking and hiking the wasatch back in Park City (more before my little ones came along:) . Being on my bike in the trees is truly my happy place! So glad one of my all-time favorite bloggers was here!

    Thanks for all your fabulous ideas, great reads and beautiful pictures!

    1. Heidi, now that is just the sweetest comment. Really you just made me smile big 🙂 <----SEE!! Glad we are part if the mountain loving sisterhood. I am heading out to CO in a few days and I am jumping out of my skin with excitement. I have not yet tried mountain biking but hope to this summer. While the kids are at camp 😉

  19. I really need to put this conference on my schedule for next year. It looks like it was amazing.
    That ski poster is hilarious btw 🙂