So there’s this conference for wine bloggers. This year is its tenth and although I’ve known about it for a few years I’ve never been able to scrape together enough money to go.
Until now.
This year’s conference is in Santa Rosa, CA (yes, the part of California that was on fire a few weeks ago) which is in Sonoma County. I’ve been to California but not to Sonoma so I’m pretty excited to spend the weekend there, especially now that I know some things about the region and especially for something wine-related.
When this year’s conference was announced I. was. READY. I started looking at flights and the host hotel and began budgeting. I plugged in different combinations of numbers trying to make them friends with the budget numbers in my daily life and after about a week I had to give up. I just couldn’t make it happen financially to get myself to this conference.
Colour me disappointed.
But wait!
A couple of months ago the conference folks put out word that they were offering scholarships to help bloggers come to the conference. This was perfect! I earn enough to make my life run but not enough to add in a trip to California, so even though I don’t consider myself to be needy I gathered the courage to apply.
Fast forward a month or so and I get a random email on a Friday night saying,
“Congratulations! The WBC Scholarship Committee is happy to inform you that you are a FINALIST for the Rodney Strong Scholarship.”
Awesome! So great! I can’t wait!
(Ummmmm…. What does that mean?)
A couple days later I found out – registration and hotel plus $400 toward my flight to attend the conference! Holy crap, I’M GOING TO CALIFORNIA!
Needless to say, I’m super excited. Here is a not-at-all exhaustive list of things I’m looking forward to:
- Meeting other wine bloggers and building a community
- Showing off the blog I’ve built over the last three years
- Introducing Palate Practice to wine brands
- Introducing Niagara wine to my fellow wine bloggers (I’m bringing a couple bottles to share)
- Learning more about the wine of Sonoma and California (and, of course, tasting it)
- Feeling that sweet, sweet California sunshine
It feels like there’s so much to do before I go, but that’s probably just my excitement talking. This time next week I’ll be on a flight out – I promise I’ll take lots of notes and will report back!
Wish me luck!
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