A Week In Dallas

Goodness. Wednesday morning, I was sitting outside the Hyatt Regency in downtown Dallas, Texas, awaiting the car that would take me back to DFW and back to the home of cooler weather. The six days before that were filled with more fun than any one person should be allowed to have.

Hyatt Regency hotel on Reunion Boulevard in downtown Dallas

When Mom and I first considered flying to Dallas for the Garden Writers Association (GWA) annual symposium, costs had to be considered - airfare, hotel, symposium costs, among other incidentals. It wasn't cheap. But the return on investment was incalculable. We're both so glad we decided to bite the bullet and just do it.

First of all, there were so many people that I knew were going to be there that I'd wanted to meet for some time. Where else could I get to do that, all in one place, and get to spend quality time together with them, doing what we all love to do - visit gardens, talk about gardens, learn about gardening and garden writing, and party!

L-R: Susan Morrison, me, Rebecca Sweet, Jenny Peterson, Laura Schaub, Mom

I want to thank the event planners for doing an excellent job of incorporating so many fabulous elements into the symposium. I'm not sure I could ever do it justice in words or pictures. I took over 1000 photos over the course of six days and it will take me a long time to work my way through them. 1000 words can't possibly be enough to describe my thoughts, the ideas, nor the feelings I experienced as a result of spending time with so many wonderful, kind, smart, and charming people. But here is a brief glimpse of my experiences, in the form of a tag cloud:

pinky swear FLIP™ video camera!  free plants Eddie Deen's Ranch gourmet food beach ball pillows Angela's pink tutu crack-of-dawn breakfasts Billy Goodnick "I have a big idea" tweet-up Y'all first-timer's reception  podcasts average daily temperature of 95.7° Energizer bunny Shirley Bovshow rock star Jean Ann beautiful butterflies Channel 27 (!) box lunches Felder Rushing's truck social media Sprinkles cupcakes Corona garden tools foursquare a blue heron Beetnik Media the super-friendly GGWTV crew Dramm mini pruners Lindt Lindor Balls air-conditioned buses Cowboy Kirk crape myrtles an X in the street and the Sixth Floor Museum mirrored skyscrapers Karaoke night Monduel's creative packing Reunion Tower

I'll be editing the photos for inclusion in a photo album of the week in Dallas, and I'll post a link to it, so watch for that!

Yes, I'm exhausted, but it's a good tired.