Call Me Capt'n {& SXSW Recap}

6 hours after I landed in LA from Austin, I flew out to SF for a day trip. LIKE A ROCKSTAR. On top of that, my flight back home was delayed over 2 hours, so I didn't get home til midnight...needless to say, 5 days in Austin plus a turnaround trip to SF & back meant 12-hours of sleep the next day. HEY, BODY NEEDED IT MAN.

My favorite part of this outfit is the color combination between the coral of the trench & the navy blue of the sweater. Add a crisp button-down top under & I am looking mighty nautical. Somehow "nautical" & "radical" are always interchanged in my head...so I guess I'm looking pretty radical here too. A messy bun is great for the hair-out-of-the-face look, but to avoid looking like I'm going to the grocery store, I added a bow. Unsure if it worked.

martin + osa button-down, evie sweater, h&m trench, citizens jeans

To avoid the LONGEST POST EVAR, click {read more} to find out my 2cents on my trip to Austin for SXSW.  Read about some of the panels I went to, some personal experiences, and my blogger meet-up with IRL frands.
**UPDATE: I just added an amazing 4 second video that cracks me up***
This year, instead of going to CES in Vegas, I went to SXSW in Austin, TX.  Before that, I've heard mumblings of it, but wasn't quite sure what it was.  For those who don't know - it's basically a 2-week conference broken out into 3 sections: Interactive, Film, & Music.  The music section has really eclipsed the rest of the two, but unfortunately, I did not stay long enough for that...which is a major bummer because one of my favorite bands, The Sounds, was playing the night I left. WHAA.

 sarah, caroline & me with our freshly minted badges

There were panels after panels, panels during panels, panels here, panels there, panels everywhere! During these panels, speakers talk about their subject of choice & expertise: anything from design, marketing budgets, viral campaigns to even...yes...the Sexual Survivor's Guide for the Geeks.  Which, of course you know I went to.

lynn & me with NSFW stickers they passed out

There, they passed out "goody bags" & by "goody bags" I mean...protection (YOU KNOW), toys (YES), and latex gloves (WUT.)  Though my colleague, Lynn, and I went there as a joke, we actually learned some valuable lessons, like:

+ Did you know that if a woman does the same move to you 3x in a row, she's probably attracted to you?
+ Make sure to have an exit strategy: know when to leave & how...after the deed is done

+ And etiquette post-sessy-times: don't ask for a job & don't @-reply them on Twitter or tag them on FB with pictures, especially if those pictures are OF your sessy-times.

+ The Golden Rule: do not have sex with someone tonight that you are not okay with seeing in the hallway the next day.  

You are quite welcome for those tidbits; next time you go to a conference, you take those rules of thumb with you, okay? 

In more work-related panels, a lot of speakers talked about past programs, what they learned, how amazing they were, etc.  Some were insightful, some were boring, some were things a 5th grader could teach me but one of my favorite panels was hosted by The Oatmeal.  If you guys haven't heard of The Oatmeal, go there immediately & read his comics; he is HILARIOUS.  Also...gorgeous in person.  Like, I may have wanted him to sign my bewb after his panel.  This is how I imagined him to look like:

But this is how he actually looked like: 

WUT.  I KNOW.  The Oatmeal guy (that's just what I'm going to call him) talked about how he got started, his creative processes, what makes him think of funnies, etc.  Caroline & I...okay just me...were swooning towards the end.

Later that evening was the Texas Style Council Clothing Swap - in which style bloggers (and anyone else who wanted to participate) brought a bag of gently-used clothes & fill up your now-empty bag with other people's gently used clothes.  On top of that, any clothes leftover would be given to Goodwill.  GREAT IDEAR. Caroline & I participated, but I was so worried that no one would like my clothes.  I guess they did...I didn't see them at the end of the night!  Hoorah!

That same night, we went out to a few bars, one to meet up with our old colleagues, the other bar to meet with fellow style blogger, Phi-Style & her husband, Tu.  BLOGGER MEET-UP FTW!

a denuo reunion

blogger frands turned IRL frands!

You guys, drinks in Austin were SO CHEAP.  Like $4.  In LA, they're like $13!!  Tu was going crazy & bought like 5 rounds...what a great host.  We also went out the next night.

It was OPEN BAR.

Next day, I went to the Texas Style Council panels - I went to two of the several they had that day.  The first being Photography 101 with Kendi & her husband.  They talked about lighting, posing, composition, etc.  Great backpocket information for those who either have their friends / bf's take their pictures & even those that use a tripod (me).  Following that was a panel about longevity - how to keep your blog going for more than 6 months without feeling fatigued or burnt-out.  This was SO ME you guys.  You all know I tend to go MIA & after this panel, it was great to hear of ways to make sure you never run out of steam.

But the biggest part was that NO ONE WOULD TALK TO ME.  Srsly, I felt like such a loser; so much JUDGING.  Being a minority (I was really only 1 of 3 Asians there), I wonder if that played a role? Anytime I tried to talk to someone else, they acted like I was 1. hitting on them or 2. bothering them.  It became really evident that I stood out.  I suppose most bloggers already had a virtual relationship with one another & were finally meeting for the first time (like Phi-Style & myself), but I was really looking forward to meeting other style bloggers & trading stories, business cards, etc.  I left there pretty defeated.  My coworkers & Rye Bread spent the majority of the night trying to cheer me up because I felt like an outcast.  I still kind of don't get why no one would talk to me?  Maybe I was really nervous & thought too hard about it.  Either way, I learned a lot from the two panels I sat on & still love going to fashion blogs, so I guess that won't stop me! NOTHING WILL.
So that night, we had a pretty FANCY dinner at Truluck's, where I spent most of my time trying to pry crab meat out of this damn leg:

Since our SVP was the only guy in our SXSW group, we started calling him our "husband" & he started calling us his "sisterwives."  Because we're weird.

The next day, I went to a few other panels, one of them being about how bloggers & brands can come together.  Even with my defeat the day before, I still mustered up the courage to talk to a few people, including a manager from one of my favorite boutiques, Francesca's Collections & the folks over at Teen Vogue.  Made me feel better about myself.  Afterwards, we went to visit the SXSW tradeshow...where all the vendors have displays...but more importantly where they had the FREE STUFFS.  Any place that had a photobooth - we were there.

shamless promotion on the chalkboard

Overall, it was a great trip - while I didn't get to meet as many people as I would have liked, I learned a lot, was re-inspired to keep up with my blog (and perhaps take it to the next level) and saw interesting POVs on topics I thought I knew a lot about.  I definitely can't wait to go again next year - maybe this time I'll actually stay for the music!

And what do you get when you're in windy Austin + thumpin' trance music?  

SXSW Wind from hoisinivy on Vimeo.