Marty McPadden

 Seattle Public Market

Along with Traveling to Victoria, BC to attend Social Media Camp, I also made a stop in Seattle to do a quick tour for the city and meet up with some Twitter friends at a Tweet-up. Some of the people I met I had already known from Twitter and some I met for the first time. If you ever have the opportunity to meet your online friends in person, I’d highly recommend it.

The original Starbucks at Pike Place

Last Monday, I took the Victoria Clipper ferry back to Seattle and met up with Whit (@BecauseUAreHere) who gave me a whirlwind tour of downtown Seattle. It was a beautiful day and I said to Whit I had no idea Seattle weather was this nice although she did tell me not to get too excited as it was a “top ten” kind of day. I found that out the next day when it was cloudy and in the chilly 50s!

L to R: Marty McPadden and Terri Nakamura

After the tour, Whit took me over to Terri Nakamura’s (@terrinakmura) house for the Tweet-up. I want to thank Whit for organizing the Tweet-up and Terri for hosting it at her beautiful home. They even came up with a special hash tag for the event: #MartyMeetUp. I never had my own hash tag before.

I had met Terri in person for the first time back in December but I was meeting everyone else in person for the first time. 

The coconut creme pie Felice brought - YUM!

Everyone brought something to eat or drink and we had quite a spread. A couple of highlights for me were cupcakes from Cup Royale which included a unique lavender frosted cupcake everyone insisted I eat. I ended up taking it with me back to my hotel and almost dropped it before I could eat it.

L to R: Felice Lam and Marty McPadden

Felice Lam (@felicelam) brought a wonderful coconut creme pie for me to try. I must say, Felice knows pies!! A self described foodie, you can also follow Felice at @pandafoodie. Thank you Felice, the pie what awesome!

L to R: Rachelle and Marty McPadden

Another Twitter friend I got to meet was Rachelle (@artistpoint) Rachelle is a mom and entrepreneur and big social media fan. We talked a lot about blogging and start-ups! Thank you Rachelle. Remember, it’s all about start-ups!

L to R: Sean Gardner and Mary McPadden

Another person I also got to meet is Sean Gardner. Many of you know Sean as @2morrowknight on Twitter and writer for the Huffington Post. I knew Sean for some time and have chatted frequently on Twitter but it was finally great to meet him in person. 

L to R: Adam Loving, Whit, Brittney Bush

@superbetch

L to R: Imei Hsu and Felice Lam

Isabella Organ

L to R: Emily Bratkovich, Sean Gardner, Rachelle, Marty McPadden

There were many others that I got to meet and chat with including @adamloving, @superbetch, @HipsForHire, @YoyomanMichael, @emilybratkovich, @kirste, @BrittneyBush, @kenmizell, @cindymizell and @IsabellaOrgan who wrote this blog post about the Tweet-up.

Unfortunately, my visit was a short one but judging from the wonderful people I got to meet, I plan on returning to Seattle soon. This time for more than just one day.