Is it worth it?  Should I get a box of my Amanda Bars?  The Taste Tester said they’d be mouthwatering…

The always elegant Shelley Greenberg, perhaps better known as @thespottedduck, recently did a giveaway on her blog that got me pretty excited.  To a commenter chosen at random, she was giving away a bar of soap from DeShawn Marie, a Boston-based artist/magician/creator of all-natural, gorgeously unique handmade soaps.  Needless to say, I asked Shelley if it would be OK if I entered 1,000 times, since I love cool soaps (and fancy soaps, too, RL), but to be fair I could only get one shot.  Well, toss me in the shower and pat me dry, I am one lucky girl – I won the soap!

I chose Grapefruit Orange.  I love citrusy scents in the spring and summer; consequently, my favorite lotion of all time, space and energy is Jo Malone Grapefruit, so I figured DeShawn Marie’s Grapefruit Orange would be a perfect complement.  My lucky bar arrived today, so naturally I had to take some pictures.  Check ‘em out:

The scent is heaven – I can’t wait to lather up!  Thanks to Shelley and Deshawn Marie for putting together a wonderful giveaway.  And everyone should definitely check out DeShawn Marie’s other products as well.  I know I’ll definitely be trying some different types – she makes all sorts of handrolled soaps that are really pretty - so take a look yourself.  And geez, stinkbomb, take a shower.

I live in New York now. 

But let me be crystal clear: I do not live in NYC.  I go there to attend tweetups, visit museums, and meet up with friends and colleagues, but I don’t spend every day and night in NYC. 

So when you ask “How’s life in the BIG CITY today?” or “Have you seen the Cupcake Truck yet?” or “How’s NYC treatin’ ya, kid?” for me it’s like, “Oh, yeah, hey, um, I live in a village on Long Island – the closest thing to a cupcake truck is Peapod.”

But you know what?  I think I’ve got the best of both worlds here.  I lived in Boston for 4.5 years, relying on the T (gag me), cabs and my own two feet, and having few chances to really escape from the sounds, smells and sights that came with living in an urban area.  Here, I’m in the greatest spot because I have all the perks of suburbia (malls, parking lots, grass) coupled with a quick (less than an hour-long) train ride to the City right outside my door. 

What’s great too, is that I am still part of SHIFT Communications, and I get to work virtually with my amazing team of PR stars from Boston.  I’ve been growing and learning with this particular team for the past year and half, so it’s a blessing I get to continue working with these enthusiastic, creative and hilarious people every day.  Big thanks to SHIFT for wanting to keep me around. 

Plus, obviously the Gregory aspect of the move makes me smile! Goes without saying…

I am really loving my life here, and I’m excited to show you some sweet snippets of what my new world is like here on SHC.

Most of people I talked to weren’t able to catch a ton of sessions (poo-poo on you), but I’m glad I was able to hit six interesting panels and conversations while I was there, which I’ll post about over the next few days.  These sessions spanned topics from augmented realities on mobile, connecting with and empowering your audiences online, getting girls interested in video games and technology, and the ethics of blogging your sex life.  A little something for everyone.

Outside of the sessions, I spent a lot of time doing the tweet-n-greet, let’s-share-a-power-strip thing in the TechSet Blogger Lounge, with peoples like Brian Solis, Steph Agresta, Aaron Brazell, Corvida Raven, Aaron Strout, Brett Petersel, Steve Hall, Peter Kim, Geoff Livingston, Allen Stern, Jason Falls, Giannii, Laura Fitton, Justin Levy, Steve Woodruff, Uncle Brogan, Melissa Pierce, CC Chapman, Loren Feldman and some guy with a cane.

I also had the pleasure of dining on some delicious Texas BBQ at Iron Works with Jane Quigley, David Armano, Kaitlyn Wilkins, Doug Meacham, Paul McEnany…  and about two tons of beef.  Greg and I also managed to have a date night, during which I had my very first steak and grits at a restaurant.  Thanks to Lambert’s in Austin for making it memorable and delicious.

Oh, and then there were the parties.  (P.S. I know anyone who’s at Music right now is rolling their eyes…)  As photos will attest, I made appearances at the Brown Bar tweetup (honoring Mr. Verdino, of course), TechSet, Diggnation, All Hats No Cattle, Mashable, and UNLISTED.

What a full, fantastic week.  I’ll be writing more about my takeaways from the sessions I attended, and I hope to keep the great conversations going that we started down in Austin.

After all, that’s what this stuff is all about, right?

]]> http://socialhoneycomb.com/south-by-social-honeycomb-sxsw-recap/feed 2 http://socialhoneycomb.com/lets-say-howdy-at-sxsw http://socialhoneycomb.com/lets-say-howdy-at-sxsw#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:13:00 +0000 Amanda Gravel http://socialhoneycomb.com/?p=356 I can’t believe March is already here.  This means that SXSW Interactive is finally right around the corner! w00t.

Are you going? I’m hoping I can meet a lot of new friends and influencers while I’m there, and connect with others I haven’t seen in a while.  I’ve never been to SXSW before, so I’m super excited to see some great sessions and hang with the coolest geeks around, including, of course, the Verdino party machine.

So if you’re going to be there, let’s say hello, tweet, high-five, clink drinks, chat about our work, take some “tiger” pics, practice our Texas accents, whatever.

Thanks again to Mashable for the Interactive pass. Can’t wait to see everyone there!

Dowding’s lucky students are in for a discussion about the importance of good writing as it pertains to public relations and communication in a 2.0 world. And of course, we’ll be talking about first jobs and what life is like on the entry level as we start and build our professional careers.

Should be a good time–here’s hopin’ we all learn something new.

Because you’re so darn cute, I’m going to cut you a break. In lieu of blogging about every little thing that happened last week, I’ll just share a Wordle tag cloud that highlights what went down from 10/25 – 11/2. If you need more though, and you’re my friend on Facebook or one of Greg’s contacts on Flickr, you can check out our photos–I’d say they’re worth a click or two. Even if it’s just for the dopey captions.

Back to reality, folks.

 Update: Also, LOVE.