ChoppedCon 14 Review

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To say that ChoppedCon exceeded my expectations would be an understatement. I left the conference feeling motivated, full of new knowledge and with excitement over having met so many wonderful blogger friends!

The Mission of Chopped Conference which was totally fulfilled was to “bring together different communities of people with a passion for food around the core ideas of love, family, and community, and finding ways to share that via blogging to a larger audience”, and took place in Kansas City at the River Market Event Place (this venue totally reminded me of where my husband and I had our wedding at the Milwaukee Public Market, so I felt right at home…a few states away). The whole conference had such a sense of community around it, everyone was so inclusive and nice, and I think that was all thanks to the wonderful host, the wonderful Marly of Namely Marly. Throughout the conference Marly spoke to everyone with such kindness, and put together a truly wonderful event.

The quality of the speeches, panels and level of the knowledge and expertise was just superb!

The best way for me to explain the conference? Through pictures of course (and you’ll have to please excuse me if I end every single sentence with multiple exclamation points, it was just that exciting!!)

Line One: Liz of The Lemon Bowl and I (she’s a healthy food blogger), cute food at the opening reception, Bjork myself and Lindsay from Pinch of Yum (I was so excited to meet them in person, I mean, Lindsay literally wrote the book on Food Photography that has taught me everything I know…and I got to meet her…and actually talk to her and her husband Bjork…they just know so much and I can’t even describe how great they are in person!! I was clearly so excited to meet them I didn’t care that my necklace picked up crazy light…consider it a lesson learned about beloved statement necklaces lol), and Christina from Dessert for Two and I (it was so nice to meet her in real life, she’s so sweet and talented…you guys, this girl,she not only has an amazing blog, but she has a cookbook coming out soon that I can’t wait to get my hands on!)

Line Two: Speakers and panels-Carolyn O’Neil, Kristen Doyle of Dine and Dish Christina Lane of Dessert for Two Bev Weidner of Bev Cooks and Dana Shultz of Minimalist Baker, Lindsay and Bjork of Pinch of Yum, and Kathryne Taylor of Cookie and Kate Ali Ebright of Gimme Some Oven Cheryl Sousan of Tidy Mom and John Shultz of Minimalist Baker. I do want to note that even though my phone was charged, it did die every two minutes so I didn’t get to snap pictures of all the wonderful speakers, I can’t wait until my new iPhone gets here, but take a peek at the full agenda here.

Line Three: Becky of The Cookie Rookie and I, a delicious soda with syrup from one of the wonderful conference sponsors Torani, Victoria of Love Laugh Cook Lynn of Order in the Kitchen Janelle of Bakes in Slippers and I (these girls were so awesome to meet…we still have a group text message going that is hilarious) and Liz of The Lemon Bowl Milisa from Miss in the Kitchen Lauren from Climbing Grier Mountain and I (so great to meet some of these bloggers in person that I have interacted with online before!)

Line Four: Ali from Gimme Some Oven and I (in her amazingly gorgeous apartment…um…can I move in? please?) Lynn from Order in the Kitchen Dana from Minimalist Baker and I (Dana was so sweet and funny, don’t cross her though or she’ll find someone to slash tires lol, totally kidding, right?) then another one of Lynn and I getting Lattes from Latte Land the last morning before going home (this girl,I  totally bonded with her, we had such an amazing time and I’m so glad I met her…there were definitely words of love exchanged, not weird, right?) and then…I came home to my hubby making us steak for dinner (what a treat!!)

Even though I didn’t get pictures together, a special hello to some of the other bloggers I met: Krista from Joyful Healthy Eats, Megan from The Housewife in Training Files, Lindsay from The Live-In Kitchen, Kristin from Iowa Girl Eats, Ashley from My Midwest Table, Melissa from Bless This Mess, Jessica from Saucy Pear, and Erin from Lemon Sugar.

My only wish after ChoppedCon? That all future conferences I go to are as amazing as this one was!