20 Moments of Awesomeness from Mom 2.0 Summit Conference

You might be wondering at my use of the word awesomeness in my post title. Perhaps you’re even shaking your head at my poor grammar choice, however, the dictionary has my back on this one. So, what I’m sharing today are 20 things that inspired awe or amazement in myself during my recent trip to the Mom 2.0 blog conference.

First off, let me start with telling you that Mom 2.0 Summit is a blog conference tailored towards bloggers, primarily moms, who write about life with kids in some aspect. Since I cover family travel, but also family lifestyle, I felt this conference would be a great fit for myself, and help me grow in my blogging career. I went with the goal of meeting other family bloggers as well as brands that had stories and products that could benefit my readers.

Now that you get a bit about what the conference was about, onto my 20 moments of awesomeness from the 2015 Mom 2.0 Summit!

1. The Phoenician: while we had some issues with our initial room location (which they were able to fix), and it took forever for us to get our bags delivered by the porters, when you’re staying on a property like this, it’s awesome!

   

2. Car Service from Kia: thanks to Kia, we had complimentary transportation from the airport to our hotel.
3. Awesome Food: the meals at the conference were delicious. I especially loved how they served a lot of fresh grain/legume and veggie salad options.
4. Organizers: one of my favorite things about this conference is the facebook group the conference sets up. The organizers are active in the group and very quick to help answer questions, not to mention all the veteran attendees who are quick to offer advice.
5. Roommate: in the group mentioned above I reached out and asked for a roommate. Scary thing asking to share a room with a complete stranger. However, I got the perfect match for a roomie, and I couldn’t be happier. Miranda from The Bright Side of Reality, was so easy to get along with and a true sweetheart. We pretty much adopted each other as conference sisters, and I’m happy to say that I found a new friend in addition to someone to split the bill with. Evidently I’m pretty awesome at helping with dress zippers too…

   

6. Newbie Knowledge: even though I’ve been to a few other conferences, I still went into the first day of Mom 2.0 a little unsure of how all of their programing worked. Turns out they expected that, and created a class for newbies like me where they explained the schedule basics and gave us some contact info in case we had issues. Basic stuff, but still awesomeness.
7. Pitching Awesome Elevator Pitches: Karen Walrond gave an intro class about how to craft your elevator pitch that frankly left me stunned. Not because I have this new awesome elevator pitch, but because I found a new source of inspiration. Really, head over to chookooloonks and just try not to fall in love; I dare you. My new elevator pitch might be something like, I’m a plan-preparing, traveling mom who likes creating memories with my family through travel and life between trips, but honestly, Karen Walrond is the bomb; just don’t put pineapple on her pizza.
8. My Own Bed: don’t get me wrong, I love my hubby and kids, but wow, three nights of blissful sleep in a bed all my own…AWESOME!

   

9. Parties & Dressing Up: it’s kind of fun putting on a nice dress and chatting with new and old friends. Dove sponsored our opening night party and the theme was Rise of the Phoenix, they even had a special drink for the evening!

   

10. Breakfast Outside: although Seattle does have some beautiful weather days, early mornings at Mom 2.0 were definitely awesome. There’s something special about walking downstairs and serving yourself breakfast of fresh fruit, coffee with raw sugar, and crispy bacon, then eating on linen covered tables placed on the lawn.
11. Chocolate: Lindt chocolates were one of the sponsors, and can I just say yum! These are always a bit of a Christmas treat for me, so it was nice to have a smooth, chocolate treat each day during the conference!

    

12. Pretty in Pink (or Purple): Molly Ringwald was the keynote for the opening session, and it was so great getting to hear about her journey in motherhood. You’ll be shocked to know, she’s not with Blane or Jake!! Shocking!
13. Embassy Suites Travel Hackathon AWESOMENESS!: So, I originally wanted to lead with this one since it’s pretty much the best, but I was patient and tried to lead you up to this. I also wanted to save the good stuff for those who actually kept reading. You’re awesome, thanks! Embassy Suites is a great hotel brand for families and pretty much anyone, and they sponsored a drinks and appetizer night one evening.

    

    During the event, they held a travel hackathon twitter party and had us compete to win a 5 night stay at an Embassy Suites property of our choice. Here was the travel situation (the noted kids were 1 & 3 years old):

    #Mom2Summit, here’s the situation! Tweet us your travel hacks using #ESMomHacks for a chance to win. Ready, go! pic.twitter.com/tRNUIeUVCP

    — Embassy Suites (@EmbassySuites) May 1, 2015

    
    I proceeded to give some of my best ideas to deal with the questions that followed to help this traveling family:
    

    #ESMomHacks @EmbassySuites Sippy cups for flying – extra clothes – special lovey stuffed friend! — Kim Stuffed Suitcase (@StuffedSuitcase) May 1, 2015

    
    

    Count your bags!! Before & after plus get in the family security line! #ESMomHacks @EmbassySuites #mom2summit

    — Kim Stuffed Suitcase (@StuffedSuitcase) May 1, 2015

    
    And later that evening I received this tweet notification!
    

    Congrats to @StuffedSuitcase on being tonight’s hackathon winner! Thanks for sharing all your #PrettyGreat family travel hacks! — Embassy Suites (@EmbassySuites) May 1, 2015

    
    WooHoo! I won, and the girls are already plotting where we shall travel to use our 5 night stay!

1. Moments of Unexpected Connections: at the Best Buy booth they had a photographer on site snapping photos of us with quotes and sayings to show off the cool Lyve photo streaming display device. I was chatting with the photographer and discovered that she does a lot of traveling for shoots and is a perfect contact for an upcoming idea I’ve been thinking about. Love those moments when you meet someone, but it’s when you really take the time to talk that you can find out that they’re a connection you need!
   

   “Patience is everything” – works for pretty much any situation, especially family travel! #patience #mom2summit #BestBuyMom

   A photo posted by Kim | Family Travel & Life (@stuffedsuitcase) on Apr 30, 2015 at 1:55pm PDT

   
   

2. More Winning Action: Safety 1st was a sponsor, and at their booth you would recieve a prize out of a vending machine for sharing a proud parenting moment. My prize…$50 Babies R Us (or Toys R Us) gift card! Look whose Christmas budget just got a bit bigger! :)
3. Old Town Scottsdale: Thursday night we headed into Old Town Scottsdale and I was amazed at how much it looks like a little western town, ready for visitors to stroll and explore. Travel moment awesomeness!
4. Sponsorship Goodies: the sponsors at the conference are very generous and provide all of us attendees lots of goodies that represent their brand. Some of the ones that stand out, selfie stick from Domain.me, battery charger pack from Best Buy, LEGO kit from LEGO (duh), toothbrushes and mouthwash from Firefly/Reach, Beech Nut baby food (even adults can love that stuff!), soccer balls from Stonyfield yogurt, phone battery pack from Juice Central, lunch containers from PediaSure SideKicks, champagne and candy from Similac, Smarty Pants vitamin packs for me & my girls, reusable frozen food grocery bag from Breyers, and chocolate chip cookies and coupons from Playtex. Such generous goodies for moms & helps make the kiddos happy after your absence too!
5. Adobe Elements: was so happy to receive a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements! Even though I use Lightroom and Photoshop, the Elements package really seems like a quick and easy way to get some photo tasks done. Plus, I’m excited to show my readers how they can have fun with some travel photos from their vacations!
6. Andrew McCarthy: yeah, be jealous. I met Blake! Oh, actually he was Andrew, and he’s married. But yeah, AWESOMENESS. I grew up in the age of Molly and Andrew, so this moment was just…!!!

   

7. Even More Winning Action: toss up on whether to end on this note, or with Andrew, but I just couldn’t resist showing off my final moment of winning awesome. Shared with Nequik a little mommy confession and entered to win an Instax mini polaroid camera, and lookie what happened!
   

   @stuffedsuitcase You’ve won the #QuikWins Instant Camera! Come by the Nesquik booth to claim your prize! — Nesquik USA (@NesquikUSA) May 1, 2015

    
   

Was so great and I’m a just a bit in love with my fun new techy toy!

Playing around with the fun instax mini camera I won at #mom2summit! Thanks @nesquikusa! My 11 year old thinks it’s the coolest thing ever! #camera #instagood #instax #instacamera #film #polaroid

A photo posted by Kim | Family Travel & Life (@stuffedsuitcase) on May 8, 2015 at 2:49pm PDT

So there you have it, my 20 moments of awesomeness! What do you think? Do you support my use of the awesomeness word now? Just to support how much I enjoyed my time at Mom 2.015, I’ve already purchased my ticket for Mom 2.016!

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