Mike and I packed up and left this snowy winter wonderland the last week in February to head to a photography conference put on by our website and online gallery companies (Showit and PASS). I’ve still been trying to wrap my mind around our time in Santa Barbara, CA for the United Conference… It was a week full of inspiration, learning and meeting tons of wonderful people! I was nervous before we left because I had no idea what to expect… I was just imagining Mike and I as that weird couple who stands in the corner and just watches everyone else chatting and having fun! We totally aren’t the people to just walk up and join in on other peoples conversations. God knew exactly how I was feeling because it was NO coincidence that we met Andrew and Chrissy as we were boarding our last flight into Santa Barbara. Andrew and Chrissy are a husband and wife team from Pittsburgh… I was SO not expecting to meet a bunch of other people from PA! We quickly become connected at the hip with these two and it made the week THAT much more fun!

Even though this was a photography conference, Mike and I only had our cameras out two different days… first was to catch our first sunset there and the second time was our last full day there when we just drove around for 3 hours exploring. I love exploring with Mike… I think some of my favorite memories with him have happened while we are just driving around aimlessly.

The conference ended on Wednesday and we were planning to leave Friday afternoon but Santa Barbara wanted to keep us there longer I guess… two of our flights ended up being canceled due to heavy rains that the west coast was being hit by. We ended up having to stay until Saturday. I thought we were never getting home! While we were sitting in the lobby on Friday, thinking we were flying out that night, we had the chance to talk and spend some time with an amazing Canadian photographer, Matt Kennedy. If you aren’t familiar with his work go check it out now… but please come back when you’re done :) Anyway, we ended up going out to lunch with Matt and another Canadian photographer Taliah. I am SO glad we were able to have that one on one time with them. It was so unexpected but I loved it!

Funny story… we were models for one of the break out sessions. HA! It all happened so fast!! Jodi messaged me on Sunday afternoon, before the conference officially started, and let me know that her models for her session on Monday afternoon weren’t going to be able to make it and she needed a couple to fill in. I was already planning on attending her class so I couldn’t say no. I had NO idea what it was like to stand in front of 25 cameras all at one time… slightly overwhelming to say the least. I loved the opportunity to get to know Jodi though. She is a sweetheart and I’m glad we were able to help… even though I’m sure she would have been better off with just about anyone but us haha!

 not intimidating at ALL!!! Oh my what an experience!

Like I said our last full day there, or so we thought, we drove around and just explored Santa Barbara. It really is a beautiful city! Excuse the iphone photos that are mixed in :)

We really had an amazing time and we can’t wait to go back next year! We love the hearts of all of the people behind this conference. I’ll leave you with a photo of Mike and I from the Gala  :)