We wanted to give you plenty of time to recover. To do your laundry. To download your photos. To catch up on email. To test out the food workshop recipes. To recover from your trip down the zipline.

Because we didn’t know if you could take any more awesome right away.

But the time has come to share the dates for evo Conference 2011 with you. Mark your calendar for:

JULY 7-9, 2011

We’ll be back at The Canyons in Park City, Utah for another weekend of fabulous speakers, amazing workshops (you can bet your booty that we’ll be upping the ante on those oh-so-popular afternoon workshops), and entertaining parties.

To celebrate this big announcement, we’re offering full-conference passes for only $175. But you have to hustle. That special 50% off price is only good through Wednesday, August 4, 2010.

P.S. The Canyons…during the 4th of July? Off. The. Hook. We’re going early to enjoy the holiday and you’re welcome to come. We’ll bring the party. You bring the sparklers.

Come early and bring the family!

More details and registration information here: EVOConference.com

We kicked off EVO’10 in an amazing way this year with 4 fabulous speakers focused on the theme “Evolution Defined”. Nirasha Jaganath (MommyNiri.com), Stephanie Quilao (BackinSkinnyJeans.com), Wendy Sachs (Care.com) and Heather Spohr (TheSpohrsAreMultiplying.com) left us inspired and in awe.

I’ve had lots of requests to post up the quote that I used from Laird Hamilton – here it is:

“Water always finds the path of least resistance. It flows. You never see square turns on a river. There’s always curvature. . .

“When I think of my life, I feel like I’ve always been given the absolute right experiences to help create who I am. If I hadn’t grown up in Hawaii, cut my teeth at Pipeline, and been surrounded by the era’s greatest surfers throughout my childhood, I don’t know where I would have ended up. I don’t want to know. I’m grateful for all the twists and turns of fate that have brought me here.”

As long as you somehow think you are in control of everything, you are always going to be struggling and striving. That’s the opposite of letting things flow. Ask any martial arts mater: The power isn’t found in resistance. Strength comes from yielding to what is. Counter-intuitive though it may be, fighting puts you in a weaker position.”

Danielle Smith helped us put together an incredible slide show from our speakers that gave us glimpse inside each of our speakers’ journey. We originally had it set to Dave Matthew’s “Where are you Going” but to be all lijit and legal we had to add some stock music to it before it went live on the internets.

Heather Spohr summed up the conference theme perfectly with one of her closing remarks:

“Today I am a very different woman than the one I imagined I would be when I wrote my first blog post at twenty-two. But very few, if any of us, will travel a course in life untouched by the unexpected. In nature, the species that refuses to change when faced with the unexpected dies off. The ones that evolve, that find a new, different version of themselves, survive. Likewise, if we are to make the most of our lives, if we are to be the absolute best women we can possibly be, we must be willing to evolve no matter what life throws at us. To find purpose even when presented with a version of life that, in the present, seems impossible to live. Each day I work to find that purpose – both as an individual and as a blogger – and I entreat all of you to do the same with your lives as well.”

Thanks for an amazing evening!

(photos taken from the EVO Conference Flickr Stream from shelleblok)

There was simply too much!

The Entertainment

The Dueling Piano Man - Rapping!

The Dueling Piano’s
How can a piano throw down rap and hop hoppy tunes like they did! Erin also told me that I have no moves. As in moves on the dance floor. She just hasn’t seen me in all my glory . . . yet. (cc: Marie & Allison)

One Eskimo
ShePosts.com shot an amazing video of their performance of Kandi
(note the very cool drumset, and the very cute guitar player that looks like Heath Ledger)

The Cowboys at the Closing Party
Cowboy Up!

@tipjunkie and @jennyonthespot getting all Wild West!

The Photography

If you haven’t checked out the Flickr stream yet, cozy up with your laptop after the kids go to bed, set the EVO Group Flickr stream to “Slideshow” and enjoy 1,700 fabulous photos! (and if you haven’t added yours yet, cozy up with your laptop and ADD THEM NOW!)

Snap!

Chookooloonks said things to me that might make you blush to get this picture of me! Check out her 1,000 Faces Evo Edition posts – there are some smokin’ hot ladies there!

Also be sure to check out one of her latest videos where you will see some of those faces.

The Food

I don’t really have words for this Watermelon Punch that was served in the food workshop. Located recipe to post shortly!

And of course the food from Chef Mercko and his boys in the food blogging workshop was out of control. Click here for some of the recipes!

I’ve been waiting and waiting to try Beignets ever since I saw the Princess and the Frog. They were amazing!

Sweet Tooth Fairy Cupcakes
What more do I need to say? They had the mini’s at the closing party and I think I had a half dozen peanut butter chocolate ones. I’ve been back to her sweet little bakery 3 times since EVO to fulfill my need to ingest inordinate amounts of that specific cupcake.

The Friends

So many good peeps – so little time! Some of my favorite snaps I’ve stolen from the EVO Flickr stream . . .

Straight Up. (@jet_set and me)

Fellow MC (master of ceremonies & crime) @jylmomif

That Karen Walrond is an OG!

Jon and Andrea did an amazing job - and check out her shoes!

Face it, this girls got great hair (and makes great jewelry too)

Such cute little Scandinavian Child peeps!

Lovely Ladies

Ending it all with a lift ride up the mountain!

And of course the wrap ups! If you haven’t read the other blog posts about EVO’10 yet – check out this growing list of amazing posts!

I’ll probably keep adding to this post as I continue to pilfer photos from our Flickr stream! More updates to come!

It’s taken me about 3 weeks to draft my EVO’10 post. Why? There was a lot to sort through! Over 1,700 photos, 110 + blog posts and 40,000,000+ #evoconf Twitter impressions is a lot for a woman to sort through!

And truthfully, there is a sort of event PTSD that one has to sort through. I spent these last few weeks twitching a little bit, thinking I was missing a list of tasks, wondering if wireless networks were up and running and literally having dreams that EVO (in all of it’s glory) was still in session!

Not to continue to quote Laird Hamilton like scripture, but maybe just a little . . . My husband ear marked a page from his book “Force of Nature” for me that seemed to explain exactly what I was going through.

“When you accomplish a goal, the passage from striving to achieving is an especially tricky one. If you’re the kind of person who thrives on the process of making things happen, it’s hard to sit back and relax when they do. Sometimes there can be a psychological let down period after a highlight; I call it “Post Big Wave Syndrome”. In the beginning, before I understood it, it used to hammer me. It’s a variation of depression, the flip side of an adrenaline high. I’ve heard people talk about feeling low in the aftermath of a marathon they’d spent months training for or after winning a major award in their profession. My friend Eddie Veddar (from Pearl Jam) told me that he sometimes feels let down after a big show. At the moment when you should be enjoying your achievement, you feel completely deflated inside.”

I can relate to this! I was like a lost puppy for about 2 weeks. But now I’ve been able to do what I wanted to – which was to see the event as much as I could through everyone else’s eyes.

Throughout the event I told people that I was excited to see the Flickr streams and blog posts from everyone else’s perspective as my perspective was from that of “organizer” and “busy body”. I have to say that the post and pics are amazing, the vibe generated by our amazing attendees was more than we could have ever asked for, and The Canyon’s Resort and their team added all of the extra touches that made it a conference not to be forgotten. I am now sitting back and relishing the ultimate success of the event – which was lots of happy, well fed people.

And of course, if you wait this long to post, when you finally sit down to do it an absolute tsunami ensues. This would have been a 4 page post in word without images. I’ve done you all a favor and broken them down into more digestible bites for all of my “media snacking” friends.

Closing Party Post – Coming Soon!

There are too many thank you’s to list in one blog post, so I’d simply say thanks to everyone who made EVO’10 something amazing and wonderful. We’ll see you next year! (or at BlogHer in a few weeks!)

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So June just whizzed right on by. Truly…the last thing I remember it was Memorial Day weekend and BOOM now you can’t throw a rock without hitting a red-white-and-blue dessert post.

For me and the rest of the evo ’10 team, June was a flurry of preparations for our inaugural conference at The Canyons in Park City, Utah.  I’m still trying to fully grasp The Awesome of that conference. The location was to-die-for beautiful, The Canyons staff was amazing (those people know how to roll out the welcome mat…anyone that attended the Food Workshop can attest to this) the people that attended were warm, outgoing and inclusive, the sessions were inspiring and a happy time was had by all.

Especially this crew.

That’s the TodaysMama team (sans Amy, who just had a wee babe); me, Rachael, Erica and BreAnne on the ski lift at Park City Mountain Resort. We took a ride on the Alpine Slide AND the Zip Line. People, a Zip Line ride at sunset just should not be missed.

Unless of course there is a photo booth and western props calling your name at the base of the mountain.

Images courtesy of Bush’s Beans Facebook page. Park City Mountain Resort and Bush’s Beans throw a pretty great party, wouldn’t you say?

Many bloggers have recapped their adventures at evo ’10 and here are a few of my favorites:

• Stephmodo: Authenticity in Blogging.
• Good Life Eats Recap.
• Chookooloonks gets closer to photographing a 1000 faces.
• Greeblemonkey continues the Future of the Web conversation.
• Stephanie’s evolution at EVO.
• Mommy Niri shares her zip line video. CLASSIC!

I’m loving the Flickr streams from Shelle Blok  (Thursday, Friday & Saturday), Kami Bigler, and Moosh In Indy.

Finally, I want to thank my boss and BFF, Rachael, and her fellow evo ’10 mastermind, Jyl, for seeing the vision of this conference and working tirelessly to bring it to fruition.

Photo courtesy of Casey (Moosh In Indy)

Now, let’s dig into the rest of my favorites from June:

I have a soft spot for my home and the people that spend time in it so, naturally, this post from Jen Lemen is one of my favorites.

Greeblemonkey – The Funny Things Kids Say.

I love Rock and Roll Mama’s note to her 15-year-old self. Love. It.

The I Am Enough series from Tracey Clark is powerful and inspiring.

I can’t figure out how to appropriately decorate and store things in my kitchen. There. I said it. But, I think I may be on my way to more functional/stylish living after this post from Young House Love.

I was not aware plant stealing was even a thing!

Many bloggers welcomed summer with pretty pictures and lyrical words.  Here are my favorites from Soule Mama, The Queso and  Pancakes and French Fries.

Last summer I went to Ohio and became completely enamored with spending the evening on the patio and watching lighting bugs. This post makes me miss those evenings, oh, so much.

Getting dinner on the table this summer is SLAYING ME IN HALF. Thank you SimpleMom.net for some ideas.

Speaking of food…I am totally doing this. The Rookie Moms have the best ideas.

I love Bakerella…but really how can one woman be THIS talented.

Have a great July! Wear sunscreen and make sure to run through a sprinkler or two.

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