Lost in LA
There is something about journeying up to LA and living in Orange County. The City of Angels feels very far away. The vibe up there is really different than down here. The OC is very planned , newer and did not sprout from a huge city filled with history and diversity. Its a bit simpler down here, not as congested, but also not as vibrant.
What makes LA feel even farther than it is? TRAFFIC. Usually lots of it. When I pack the car to go up there its as if I am going on a cross country road trip. I carefully go through my checklist. Coffee, check, full tank of gas, check, healthy snacks, check, too much gum in every flavor, check, face mist to keep me awake (yes I just say face mist), check, iPhone, check, coins for parking meters, check, sweaters & jackets, check, a sense of direction……uncheck. I have absolutely no sense of direction. Never have & I’ve reconciled I never will. You could turn me around in my own house and I could get lost. No my house is not very big at all.
Getting lost going to downtown LA means blowing by exits, wasting time and nearly getting killed by other drivers. These people know where they are going (or seem to know.) They blow by at warp speeds, centimeters from your car at 100 miles an hour. Exits are on the left, right and everywhere in between.
Food Blog Forum
Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the first Food Blog Forum event. Staged in a über cool gallery somewhere in downtown LA.
As soon as I saw the Twitter ticker announcing that Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen and Diane Cu of White on Rice Couple were holding a seminar I signed up without hesitation. That tweet was like fireworks going off in palm of my hand.
Not only was I thrilled that the Forum was in neighboring LA county (even though I was packed for an international trip.) It also meant a hall pass to leave the house early on a Saturday morning and put daddy in charge of the kiddos. Nice & easy!
Other than taking a few wrong turns. I made it to my destination A-OK!
There is something really neat about walking into a room and no longer being the newbie. Its OK to be the new kid on the block, but also kinda distracting. You have to go through all the formalities of introducing yourself. You aren’t sure who everyone is, if you are saying the right stuff or if people are even gonna like you. Even though I am a super secure kind of gal, it is still not the best feeling to walk into a room of the “unknown.” Last October I was the newbie at BlogHer Food. At the Food Blog Forum not so much. I knew the blogs & a lot of the bloggers. Met some new friends too. The neat thing was we all had lots in common.
Positive Energy & Good Times!
Whats not to love about a Forum designed around Food, Creativity, Success and Great Energy?
It was the land of opportunity at the Forum. Smiles were everywhere, it was if we were school kids giggling & sharing stories without a care in the world. Members of the blog world were united to learn together. We are the New Frontier and we were blazing trails!
Throughout the event notes were being scribbled, tweets were flying & paper airplanes were zipping overhead. (OK, not the paper airplanes.) Everyone was giddy with excitement.
With eager eyes and ears, we watched as presentations were given (by the rockstars of the biz) in food photography, food styling, branding, content, SEO and all the other nitty gritty that goes into publishing a top dog food blog. I will direct you to the relevant websites to get details on the presenters and topics that were discussed. And no, you will not get lost along the way!
Links from the Event
If you check out the following links you will learn loads and take in some great eye candy along the way!
Love the pictures in this post! Food Blog Forum was an amazing time; great to meet you!
Great job Marla! Love all the vivid photos! It was great meeting you and hope to see you in the OC soon! =)
A great event! Wow, you must have sweated a lot trying to drive in downtown LA ;-P…
Cheers,
Rosa
Love the wrap up Marla!! Can’t wait to see u in 2 weeks and I am seriously excited for October – its going to be a big fabulous party!!
Sounds like a great event! Wish I lived closer! I lack some sense of direction as well…but it looks like you made it there and back okay!
wow marla!! great write up! and awesome images and text to share the day with everyone.
Thanks for coming, it was great to see you again.
is it just me or did you make some cosmetic changes to your site, maybe less pink? whatever you did, it seems just cleaner and more awesome!
OC to LA being a chasmic leap, worlds apart, oh i hear ya. Dorothy we’re not in kansas anymore! LOL
Hell just going from N Co. San Diego to the city is the same. Worlds apart.
The event you attended looks and sounds so cool! I am “bad” about going to stuff like that, it always looks good on paper, til the day of the event when it’s like why did i decide to do this? I give you props for making the trek b/c it looks like a super fun time!
Yup Averie, big hikes are always so worth it when you make it to the top!!! Wish you were closer I would have schlepped you up to LA with me!
I could relate to your observations about LA and OC; I lived in both and remember the endless hours on jammed freeways and getting lost in canyons!
Sounds like it was a useful meetup!
What a great opportunity! I would love to attend something like that.
Sounds like a great event!
We know that coming to LA is stressful, but it’s also a great adventure. So glad to see you at the event and looking forward to our Camp weekend together!
Looks cool! I’m impressed that they pulled off a live Forum event so soon after launching the site.
This is definitely worth the traffic. LA traffic is horrible, but this event is awesome. I really wanted to attend, but it was a bit too expensive for me. 🙁
This looks like it was so much fun! I’ve never been to LA but I’d love to go some day…all those graffiti murals are beautiful!
Awesome! I get lost all the time too. It’s surprising how long the 30+ mile drive to LA can take! I’m so lazy, I hardly ever go >.< Hah! I missed this event, but I'll be there next time!
honey! thank you so much for coming! will see you at Blogher Food again this year, right?! xoxo jaden
What amazing photos, Marla. And the forum sounded amazing and yes, lots of very talented bloggers. Makes me look forward to BlogHer even more!
Nicole, we are gonna have so much fun at Blogher Food……you will love meeting everyone in person!
Looks like a fun time! I haven’t been to a blogger event but would love to sometime. I can’t wait to check out the links and learn a bit.
I am so pleased that I have found someone that was able to go. Good for you… I live FAR too far away, and would love to live within “attending distance”. I will check out the links when I have more time, but it is important to me. I read most of them regularly, anyway. Thank you for the post and being my eyes and ears!
🙂
Valerie
Wow, thanks for sharing your awesome photos from being “Lost” in LA! Your new site looks terrific, too. I was at FBF and am registered for Blogher Food – how long does it take not to feel like a newbie ; )