Hello. I am back from being GONE. And when I say ‘gone’ I mean at a conference.

THE conference.

Career Directors International’s Summit 2009. It was fabulous. To top off a weekend of learning, networking, fun and enormous amounts of food, the setting was beautiful.

And of course, as soon as I returned to Michigan, the cold I was trying to hide from attacked me full force and I have been miserable and whiny succumbed. I usually never get sick, so I have been very unhappy that my body caved. THAT is why I haven’t blogged in what feels like months. I miss my blog and you, dear readers.

Anyway, that is where I’ve been. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. The flight.

I haven’t flown in years, 13 in fact (yes, I know), so I was a bit, um, nervous. Needless to say, the Bloody Mary’s did nothing to quell my churning stomach, rapidly beating heart and seriously scary thoughts. I used to like flying, but I guess time and too many plane crash movies did me in. I am so grateful to my seatmate, travel companion, and lovely sister, who flew with me and did not mind when I clung to her arm, closed my eyes, and did deep breathing exercises to keep from vomiting/ screaming worrying.

The Summit.

First, I just have to say… the conference center was breathtaking. Laura DeCarlo (President of CDI, for those of you who just landed on planet Earth) and her very cool husband, Chris, picked this place out (nice job, guys!). This was one of the first views I had to stop and capture on film:

Isn’t it beautiful? Remember, I’m from Michigan. Palm trees and waterfalls aren’t anything I experience that often.

Look at this one…

Ahhhhh….

I met so many wonderful people. Talented, strategic, and creative resume writers and career coaches. I met writers whose work I have admired for years. I met a writer who just launched her resume business this year. I met a writer who specialized in writing resumes for police and firemen. I also met a career coach who specialized in career, interview and education coaching for “moms & dads, teens & grads”. How cool is that?

As a bonus, I got to meet folks who I tweet with including the fabulous @resume_writer (a.k.a. August Cohen), executive branding queen @ceocoach (a.k.a. Deb Dib), web 2.0 and expert resume writer @barbarasafani (as herself), witty @jasonalba (as himself), and fun @LauraLabovich (as herself).

I was fortunate to sit at the conference table with Laurie Berenson, Kris Plantrich, Deb James, and Dee Duff (my cohorts from the Detroit Women for Hire/GMA Career Fair in May). We had a great time together. What an interesting group of people. I felt so blessed to be there among our industry’s best of the best.

(August Cohen & Kris Plantrich)

(From L to R)

Karen Smith-Hanney, Kris Plantrich, Laura Drew, Laurie Berenson, Me (in brown), and Dee Duff.

Lastly, it wouldn’t be right to end this post without posting pics of the lunch desserts. They were just… incredible. Yes, it was tough eating these delectable delights (lying), but I managed to do it, hardly leaving a trace of their presence. WHY did I take these pics? See for yourself (cake-aholics cover your eyes):

Seriously.

In my next few posts, I will discuss what we learned during the conference.. it wasn’t all delicious food and steel drums. I brought back lots of new information and topics to discuss, so stay tuned!

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