Glutenology Houston - Sunday March 10th

Just wanted everyone to know that there will be an expo in Houston in just a week! Glutenology Houston is having their second conference at the Humble Civic Center. Tickets are currently on sale for $20 (children under 12 free!) on their website and it promises to be a wonderful learning opportunity. There will also be tickets sold at the door for $20 each. They have a several speakers on tap plus a huge vendors hall. They have an awesome option to watch via the Internet too!

This conference is sponsored by Glutenology and Gluten Free Society.. So it will be different from the expo I attended in Dallas. Rather than the focus being on the vendor hall, there will actual speakers. I am most looking forward to the session with Dr. Russel Jaffe, who'll be talking about Hidden Allergies. As you know the wheat allergy is just the tip of the iceberg with DH.

Just like the last conference we attended, DH and I are looking forward to the sense of community. When DH was diagnosed 10 years ago, we could have never imaged conferences, expos, and communities dedicated to being wheatfree/glutenfree. We are really looking forward to going to an expo that is so close to home. Houston is about 90 minutes away from us so it will be nice to learn about resources closer to us.

Disclaimer: I will be attending as an official blog sponsor. I will receive free admission.

Gluten and allergen free Expo - Dallas: Review - how I felt

How much would you pay to feel normal? How much would you pay to relax when you didn't realize just how tense you were? How much would you pay to finally see that you are really not alone? My cost: $40 for tickets and $130 in gas.

When DH and I first started talking about going to Dallas on Sept 8, it was just to see Social Bliss play a show. Then about 3 weeks ago I realized that the Gluten & Allergen Expo would be in town, I just had to make it happen. Dallas is a 3.5 hr drive so it could be a day trip. Kill two birds with one stone; expo for a couple of hours and then Social Bliss. Sounds like a great day to me!

Wednesday my allergies began to kick my ass. By Friday I looked like hell and DH was wondering if we should be going anywhere. By bedtime my voice was walking out the door. Saturday morning, my voice was gone and thoughts of staying crept in. 9am I woke DH up and started getting dressed to go. He still had doubts. Ravebaby woke up and didn't want to go anywhere. About an hour away DH got car sick. We were really wondering if we had made the right decision.

We found the conference center and as we walked up the energy changed. We started to relax. Once we got to the Udi's table and Ravebaby focused on pizza and brownies, I relaxed. It occurred to me that I didn't need to freak out about what DD was grabbing to eat. She could eat everything! There in that place we were normal. There in that place we were just like everyone else. Every single person in that expo was dealing with living without.

After having two incidents in the last two weeks of telling Ravebaby no, it was liberating to say yes to everything. It was a bit overwhelming to realize that I didn't have to ask if it had wheat. No wheat allowed. No need to ask. There was pizza, sandwich bread, pita bread, cake, pie, chips, crackers and the list goes on. There in that place for the first time in almost three years, I could relax.

Wa the trip worth it? It feels like a MasterCard commercial:
Gasoline for the trip: $130
Entrance fee: $40
Finally feeling normal: priceless

To be continued: up next - products