SXSW 2014 mini recap

I got so wrapped up in all the new baby stuff (*yawn*) that I forgot to humble brag about these two SXSW run-ins:
Grumpy Cat roused from her nap to give me an epic side eye at the Mashable House. Speaking of the Mashable House, that is also where I swung from a wrecking ball at 38 weeks pregnant. I could not resist! Can I just say that I'm just really glad I didn't wreck the wrecking ball?

But even more exciting than swinging from a wrecking ball and getting glared at by Grumpy Cat? MINDY KALING, y'all!
I don't usually collect autographs, but I have been a fan of Mindy Kaling's since I read her play Matt & Ben in 2004 (theatre nerd alert!). Of course I loved her on The Office (both as a writer and as Kelly Kapoor), and The Mindy Project is my favorite comedy on tv right now. We even pitched Mindy to speak at TxSC last year, but alas, she wasn't available.

Needless to say, when SXSW announced that Mindy Kaling and two of her co-stars from The Mindy Project would be doing a talk, I was thrilled! I didn't take a lot of notes since I was too busy laughing, but here's what I did get (click here to see the full size version):
You can see a better summary of the talk (by a real journalist) here, which includes the now infamous diversity burn. If that sounds bor-ing, here's a great website where you can track down what Dr. Lahiri is wearing on the show (FUN!) because she's hands down the best dressed woman on television (yeah, I said it, New Girl Jess).

While sitting in the SXSW talk, the kind soul next to me asked if I had noticed that a Mindy meet and greet had popped up on the schedule the night before. Noooooooo! I quickly rearranged my schedule and stood in the longer than Disney World line to meet her. I swear, there were at least 300 people in line and I had to be 200th back. They were just getting ready to cut the line literally two people in front of me, when I opened my eyes real big and wide and pathetic-like and clutched my giant stomach and silently pleaded with the SXSW security guy. He took pity on me and cut the line a person after me. Ain't no shame in using the combination of pregnancy and pathetic-ness to get what you want once in a while, right? (Also, I owe Baby Lucy a big prenatal thank you!).

Thus my face... I smiled so hard my eyes and mouth got stuck like this for a week (and here's a blurry photo, too!):

Mindy: Are you thinking about naming your baby Mindy?
Me: [boldface lie] Uh, yeah!
Mindy: Oh, don't. There are so many much more beautiful names out there.

Surreal!

SXSW 2014

I am thrilled to announce that the two official hosts for SXSW's Lifestyle and Fashion blogger and brand meet-up are me and the incredibly talented (and super well known and popular!) Camille Styles!
A SXSW badge is required to attend our SXSW meet-up, but don't fret if you don't have one. I'm hoping to gather a group of local women together to organize a mixer on the evening of Monday, March 10, too (no SXSW badge required). Save the date and stay tuned!

Granted, I'll be two weeks from my due date when this all goes down, so 1- I hope the baby stays put until after, and 2- if I happen to go into labor at SXSW, I hope that we can all be couth enough to restrain the desire to live Tweet and Instagram the birth. I've already decided that if the baby is born at SXSW, I'll name her #HashtagAdams or give her the initials SX.

Snapshots of SXSW 2012

It's hard to believe that SXSW blew into town and is already gone. This last week and a half has been a whirlwind: one of the most challenging and rewarding weeks of my year so far. Here are some of my snapshots of SXSW. I wasn't on Instagram at all, but I did manage to snap some photos and a bit of video on my camera:

Pedicabs: highest recommended form of transportation.

Seth: the only street-style photo I grabbed.

Every surface and every utility pole gets covered with show lists.

Kate Spade pop-up shop bus parked at 2nd & Brazos.

Indiana Adams: speaking expert and microphone hog.

StyleX Snapshots.

Julia from Sephora did my make-up at the Refinery29 Buxom makeover station. She was awesome!

This adorable dog belonged to a little girl named Lola.

Lola set up a lemonade stand on Congress Ave. Genius and too precious to resist.

The early crowd the Perez Hilton show. Perez gave Rachel and I VIP balcony access. It was a great way to end our SXSW, but I called it a night at 10:30 pm.

If you have never been to SXSW before, I recommend you do it at least once in your life. Maybe not while you're in your first trimester of pregnancy, but otherwise, yes, come enjoy Austin during SXSW some time. I'd love to show you around.

Back to the mom-mobile...

I have had the busiest week of my life. Texas Style Council was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and I spoke at SXSW on Monday and attended several interactive panels and the world premiere of Blue Like Jazz on Tuesday. The insanity continues tonight with the StyleX festivities. If you'd like to hear me speak on Fashion + Technology on Saturday, please come by StyleX. You don't need a SXSW badge. Everything is free to attend!

I didn't get a lot of outfit photos this week because I didn't lug my giant camera around with me. I did manage to snap a photo of Tuesday's outfit and the Camaro that Chevy loaned me during all my SXSW insanity. This was really great for me because I was able to leave my mini van with my best friend who was babysitting Jude (in addition to her own kid), and a Camaro is just so much cooler to zip around SXSW in than a mom-mobile. Wouldn't you agree?

date: 13 March 2012 | occasion: SXSW panels

dress: vintage $5 dress via 499 (last seen here) | headband: c/o Send the Trend (last seen here) | sandals: c/o Wanted | necklace: c/o JewelMint | bag: Maptote.com

I was more than a little sad to give the Camaro back. It was a dream to drive, but I can't imagine our family ever buying one in the near future. It's not really a car meant for car seats if you know what I'm saying.

But one day my kids are going to grow up and move out of the house and Chris and I are going to have to get a flashy "retirement car". Maybe this little guy will be our forever young car.

I'm great at public speaking but not so great at public dressing.

I am the worst when it comes to dressing myself for high profile events. I always end up leaving it to the very last minute (I'm talking, like, 30 minutes before I have to walk out the door) and because of this, I always feel like I look a little unkempt. During Austin Fashion Week I wore an ill fitting dress that made me look like I was smuggling a pillow underneath and threw my wet hair into a bun. During Texas Style Council's dress-up party last year, I donned a plain black frock with a tank top underneath-- no interesting jewelry, horrible choice of shoes. And although I liked what I wore to my StyleX panel, it wasn't indicative of my own style nor did it photograph well.

Austin Fashion Week | TxSX'11 | StyleX

I am determined to step-up my game this year, but I am also determined not to spend a boat load of money stepping up my game (I'm saving up for an 85mm/ 1.8f camera lens and the iPad 3 when it comes out in the spring). I figured my best bet was to rent, so I turned to (who else?) Rent The Runway. After a lot of thought, here's what I chose:

Mark & James limelight dress | Erin Featherston Running Wild Dress | Jay Godfrey Draped Dress | Shoshanna Basket Weave Dress

March is, once again, going to be a crazy busy month for me, but I am so excited to host The Texas Style Council and be able to speak in public at SXSW and StyleX again. Did I mention I'm going to be on panel with The Man Repeller? This is going to be like when I was on panel with The Glamourai last year. Because so many people will be taking her photo, I'll be stuck in the crossfire. When this happens, I'd like to look good, you know? Anyway, I'm excited to hear her insights on blogging.

I'm also excited that I'm not going to be scrambling the night before (or the hour before?) to figure out what I'm going to wear. My RTR order was placed last night, and now all I have to do is figure out my shoe situation. I even started a new shoe board on Pinterest, and I am going to try really hard to not ruin a perfectly good dress with a bad choice of shoe. Any style suggestions for the above dresses?