Hi, friends! I apologize for my absence over the past few days. I've been in Georgetown for my bachelorette weekend and am headed back to Minneapolis from Richmond tonight!

I wanted to pop in today and let you know that my new design is finished! Kelly Ann from Spirit & Haven is just the best. If you usually read this blog in a reader, you can hop out and take a look here. I hope you'll bear with me as I get back home and get acquainted with Squarespace. (I've been on Blogger forever and I'm never great with change, but it was time for one.)

In the meantime, tell me about your weekend! What's been going on with you guys? I have some really fun stuff coming up this week and I can't wait to show you what I've been up to!

Please feel free to add freckleditalian.com/blog to your feeds!

I went to Salt Lake City with big hopes of making connections and learning something about blogging. I did that.

But then, about halfway through the conference, I started to feel this renewed sense of inspiration and creativity--an itch to get things done--which maybe I expected, but wasn't totally prepared for. It felt good. I sat down with Megan Silianoff, author of 99 Problems but a Baby Ain't One, and chatted about writing vs. blogging. I had a delicious meal and, later, a couple of cocktails with some wonderful people from La Crema. And I had the pleasure of listening to Ben Silbermann of Pinterest close the conference with totally eloquent words about work and failure and creativity.

There's a lot that I'm still processing, so I think I'll just leave you with a list of things I took away from my time at Alt Summit.

+ Your voice really matters. Be true to it. Be authentic in everything you do.
+ Strive to create something that's open, accepting, and filled with love.
+ Don't be afraid to try new things.
+ Sometimes you're going to have to work really, really hard.
+ Don't be afraid to fail--every other successful person has done it, will do it, is doing it.
+ The gap between where you are and where you want to be should get bigger as you do. Never stop growing.
+ Just be better than you were yesterday.

Photo via my Instagram, which I took from Blair, who sat next to me on our flight + is also marrying a Rob.

My bags are packed and I'm headed to Altitude Summit! I've been looking forward to this for such a long time, and I'm so excited to get there and take it all in. I love visiting a new place, and Salt Lake City has been on my list for quite a while.

I won't be blogging again until Monday, but feel free to follow along with me on Twitter and/or Instagram! And if you're going to Alt Summit, let me know--I want to meet you! Wishing you all a lovely rest of the week and a beautiful weekend!

Photo credit: Winona Grey Photography