Sabbath Adventures: Blogger Nerdiness Exposed

On Saturday my sister-in-law Jennie and I went to the Sunset (magazine) Celebration in Menlo Park. Jennie was exposed to my extreme blogger nerdiness, I'm afraid, but she was an awesome sport. First up: see Joy the Baker give a brunch demonstration.

Joy the Baker--if you've been following along, you know that I love her. She has a unique, funny blogging voice, beautiful photos, & delicious recipes. Just a few weeks back I made a grain-free version of her asparagus tart. I liked it so much, I turned it into breakfast the next day. :)

This was one of those cases in which meeting the real person was even better than reading her blog. Joy is funny in person. Really funny. She had me cracking up with her self-effacing & witty running commentary. The brunch recipes she shared sounded tasty and simple: cheddar-chive biscuits, coffee bacon, and a kale-spinach-banana-PB smoothie.

And the awesome blogger bonus: Tracy Shutterbean was there, too! Joy pointed her out and I totally blog-stalked her after the presentation. And here we are:

The blurry photo is totally my bad. I had my camera focus set to the center point and didn't warn Jennie. Blurry or not, you have the evidence in front of you. I loved every minute of getting to visit with this talented local.

After buddying up stalking she of shutterbean fame, I headed over to the book signing tent to meet 1:1 with the lovely Joy.

In line I talked for a while with a super sweet food blogger Tiffany who is making her way through Joy's cookbook. I just love meeting other bloggers! And we had more than just food in common. So fun!

Here is Joy, signing my book: "Becky, big loves! happy baking! you're major! xo Joy"

She totally called me "major." :) Oh yeah.

I told Joy how much I love her site with its beautiful photos and scrumptious recipes. I told her about my grain-free version of her tart and told her she always inspires me to try new things based on her ideas. 

And then Jennie took my picture with the lovely baker:

After walking away, a representative from Sunset's publishing firm approached me and asked some questions about my blog. I explained that I'm totally small fry but write about all kinds of topics: food, faith, family, grain-free cooking, and adventures. She gave me her card and told me they are always on the lookout for up-and-coming blogs, asking me to forward my link. Yikes! How exciting!

 Stay tuned for a really, really awesome post and giveaway concerning Joy. It's gonna be epic!!!