Organizational Queen and Last Day in Beantown

After 1+ year of blogging, I finally figured out how to use gmail to its fullest potential.  Kath taught me!  She is the organizational queen.

Fun technological tips I learned:

• Check out Google Labs under Settings.  Send + Archive and Multiple Inboxes will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
• You can color code your tags!
• Keyboard shortcuts – C is compose, F is forward, R is reply…. and you can create your own shortcuts too!  That’s under Google Labs too!

Other blogging tips I discovered this weekend:

• On Windows Live Writer, insert an image and resize it how you want it to appear in your blog.  Click on the image and then select "Save Settings to Default" on the right hand side.
• If you want to create automatic hyperlinks in Windows Live Writer, type a name and insert a hyperlink, but click the "Add to Link Glossary" button.  That way, it will always suggest that hyperlink in the future.

Amazing!

I’m sad to leave the planning committee!  After 6 months of planning, I cannot believe the Summit is over.

This was such a fun vacation.  I’m going to miss Boston so much.   

But today was a fun day!  Between our fun run and our group brunch, I ate a sample pack of apricots from swag bag.

And then about 20 attendees met up for a group brunch in the park!

We all grabbed bagels from a nearby shop.  I bulked mine up with Barney Butter from the Summit swag bags.

(I used a pack and a half of Barney Butter).  Plus, I had fruit — I was seriously CRAVING fresh fruit.

And an iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts — I felt like I HAD to get DD since I was in Boston and with Tina!

It was fun to get more one-on-one time with a few of the girls!

Ali has a wiener doggie too.  Apparently her pup is in love with my Maggie.  Here we are demonstrating the length of our wiener dogs:

Amanda and Kelly:

Chandra and Tina:

The group split up and a few of us decided to do some shopping (or in my case…. browsing!).  It was a long walk but at least it was pretty.

First up was JP Licks.  After hearing so much about this ice cream place from the Boston bloggers, I was expecting something out of this world amazing.

There were tons of flavors to choose from — like cucumber, coffee, oreo cookie, peanut butter, and more.

I opted for a children’s size of Mint Chocolate.  I just wanted a taste, and this was perfect!

We also made a pit stop to Trader Joe’s…. AKA the motherland of food bloggers.  Somehow, I resisted the temptation to buy lots of goodies! 

And then we wandered around Newbury Street and did some browsing.  I tried on a few things, but didn’t buy anything.  And I finally posted an Operation Beautiful note in Boston!

For lunch, we picked a cute little cafe. 

Megan and I split this beautiful plate of fruit:

And I got the Pear and Gorgonzola Salad:

And a spicy buttered roll:

As our Boston Experience Sponsor, Nasoya sponsored this lunch.  Thank you so much, Nasoya!  It was delicious and nutritious.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Tina, Jenna, and Heather.  I really feel close to the ladies after this weekend… it’s so sad we live in different cities. 

Kath, Meghann, Kelly, and Megan are just hanging out in the hotel for a few more hours, and then the Florida girls are catching a late flight back home.   

I can’t wait to see the Husband + puppies!

Do you guys have any technological tips for bloggers?  I know Zesty Cook shared some excellent ones during his presentation at the Summit!