Blogfest 2011 - Day 3 Part 2... 1st Dibs !!

I ran out of time yesterday to post all the ah-mazing wonderful-ness that is the 1st Dibs showroom. It was one of my favorite parts, especially because it reminded me a little of Slate but on steroids.

True antiques are the most beautiful things in the world. I am obsessed with beautiful old furniture and things. That's the beauty of 1st Dibs. These pieces are the real deal. You can find many "knock offs" on Craigslist, but these pieces were/are the game changers in design.. and real design truly is timeless. I would gladly take home any one of these pieces and keep them forever and ever and give them to my grandkids. I cannot afford these antiques, but I can definitely admire them (and buy the cheap knock offs on Craigslist).

Enough chit chat, I know you want to see the pics! (my camera died halfway through the showroom, so half are iphone pics).

The real deal. Pottery Barn knocked off these lanterns.

The face of pure glee.

Did you guys see Jenny's new pendant?!?! This is an original, but hers is so creative and amazing. She's one of my idols. Really.

When I studied Art History in college, I never looked at statues and thought "wow that's sexy". But this photographer did! I love these prints.

The event was great too - Thom Filicia was there and I got to meet him for the second time. Do you remember this post about how my dress poofed out and I looked pregnant?



I told him about it...







And in this picture I could pass as 3 months pregnant. Ah, oh well (I'm not preg).

Love these girls!! me, Beth, Abbe and Traci

I ended Blogfest 2011 with a two hour delay at the airport, a tall beer and a plate of nachos (which may or may not be contributing to my phantom pregnancy photo problems):



All in all it was an AMAZING TRIP!!!

Blogfest 2011 - Day 3 Part 1

Ah Day 3.. the last and final day. This day was my favorite :) SO MUCH inspiration and gorgeous things to look at.

The day kicked off with brunch and a talk with Margaret Russel. She is so fabulous and smart and articulate and sweet!



Then we headed over to Kravet. I died and went to heaven!!! I love fabric! It was so fun getting to see fabrics that haven't even come out yet. Creating fabric is an ARTFORM and it was facinating to see every little detail that went into it. I learned a lot about this and now I fully understand why it's so expensive.

Even the floors were gorgeous.. yum.

That's their storage - pretty isn't it?? I wish mine was that pretty.

After Kravet was the 1st Dibs showroom - I have soooo many amazing pictures but oops - I ran out of time. I'll be back later with those!

Blogfest 2011 - Day 2

Day 2 of Blogfest was also my birthday! The weather was rainy and cold in NY while we were there and we were not prepared with our clothes and shoes options (I always try my best to prepare ahead of time, but when I packed Accuweather read 70s and light rain). The first couple events were optional so we headed out to do some New York City shopping.



My poor little red flats were SOAKED and they stained my feet bright red! I purchased a pair of boots that I wore the rest of the trip (and that I have been needing for a long time!). We went to Macy's and H&M.. two great New York City staples. We also stopped into Banana Republic and good thing we did - they were having a 40% off everything on sale and we scored big time!

After shopping we went back to the hotel, got cleaned up and headed to the Barbara Barry event (although we missed her speak.. so sad). Then the buses took us to the Kravet event which was SO FUN!

Pic of the awesome Kravet event. They had so many great designers there - and do you spy Michelle Adams? I got to meet her!

They gave us this book to get signed by all the designers. We went around the room checking out their beautiful rooms they designed and had them sign our books.

Thomas O'Brien - he was amazing!! (Thanks to Janell for the pic!)

Amanda and Thomas :) Isn't he dapper?



Eric Cohler - gorgeous room. He was amazing. I had a heart to heart with him about "matching" art like he used in this room. I asked him his thoughts about this because I recently read it was a no-no. Obviously he has no problem with it!

Suzanne Kasler's room was GORGEOUS!! I would love for my office to look like this!

I loved the art.. it's all from Natural Curiosities.

Such a beautiful study done by David Easton. He was so wonderful to talk to!




I loved Thomas O'Brien's use of Nympheus in his room. It's currently my favorite fabric so it was fun seeing it used in such an over the top way. (Not to mention, fun seeing all the new colorways!)




I talked to Thomas O'Brien about it.. he loves using the fabric on the reverse (as you can see). Beautiful!

We skipped the Sub Zero party after this party to go out to dinner for my birthday. We headed to Mario Batali's Del Posto. It was SOOO GOOD. The best pasta I've ever had.







It was a great day and definitely a birthday to remember!!

Blogfest 2011 - Day 1 (I'm Back!)

Phew. What a whirlwind couple of days. I can't express in writing how FULL I am after Blogfest. Full of knowledge, love, friendships, inspiration, happiness, junk food (haha).

It was such an amazing trip... I know I won't be able to recap it very well (One of my worst qualities is my memory), but I'm going to try a day by day recap.

Monday, May 16th

I woke up super early (5 am) to two voicemails on my cell phone telling me my flight was canceled and my new flight would arrive in NY at 6 pm. I yelled a couple sleepy expletives and asked my husband if there were any other flights going out (side note - my husband is the best. I should really put him on payroll as my office/life manager. He is my rock and I don't know what I would do without him). He found a flight going out via another airline and we purchased it - I HAD to be there (and I got a refund for the other one). Long story short, due to weather and delays, I BARELY made it to the Hearst building.. went straight from the airport to the cab to the luncheon.

Breakfast in the Hearst building. Yes, that is Tobi Fairley across from me. I was reading her story in Traditional Home on the plane just hours before.

I thought this room had really cool milk-glass like windows. Turned out it was fog (we were on the 44th floor.. I think?) LOOK at those peonies!

After lunch we were graced with the presence of Editors in Chief of some of the top shelter mags.



It was interesting to hear their point of view and get an inside look into shelter pubs. You could tell some editors didn't particularly love blogs (which sort of made us go hmmm.. this is blogfest after all) and some loved blogs.

I loved this imagery story from Veranda. The explanation behind these images is that although the two images are very similar, Veranda strives to be the image on the right. Softer, more elegant, pretty yet casual. I want to be the image on the right, too (nothing against Drew).

Pardon my language, but Newell Turner is the shit. There is no better way to describe him. I have to admit House Beautiful is my favorite magazine. It's beautiful without being too out of reach. And that's exactly how Newell is - sophisticated, educated but funny and down to earth.

(he didn't actually mention MFAMB directly but definitely alluded to it)

I wish I could have met Newell but he was more popular than Britney Spears circa 2002.

I love these girls! From left to right: Amanda, Chassity, me, Amanda (click on each name to see their amazing blogs)

After the fun at the Hearst building Amanda and I headed over to check out the Elle Decor Modern Life Concept House. It was gorgeous!!! I was in visual overload, which happened a lot during this trip. I was so happy to see spaces designed by some of my favorite designers (although I didn't get to meet any). I took a ton of pictures..

My favorite room in the two concept apts, designed by Carrier and Company. Love the citron green.

I'm taking note of the pleating on the drapes. Classic but still modern. And that art!

Do you see Amanda? :)

Chinese take out menus as the backsplash.

If I could have raised the bed up a couple feet off the floor, this would be a dream bedroom for me.

There will be pictures of all the rooms in Elle Decor soon and they will be much better than mine.

We ended the night at the Design TV/ Joss & Main party. It was so fun hanging with a lot of my favorite bloggers. I just adore them all!!!!!

Chanee, Janell, Amanda, me

Chanee, Amanda, Amanda, Chassity, Janelle, Me. We had a great time!!

Joss & Main was gracious enough to provide fabulous gifts for a raffle that night. Well, I couldn't believe it, but I won the grand prize!!! It was the day before my birthday and I have to say it was a wonderful birthday surprise! I won these two chairs (below), the peacock blue Robert Abbey lamp (below), some candle sticks and a book. Wow!!!

Horrible iPhone picture, but me in one of my new chairs. :)

Phew! What a great first day. I have two more days to cover.. although I have less pictures of those days.

*** If you were at Blogfest and have pictures of me/related to me can you please send them my way so I can include them in my recaps? Thanks girls!! ***

Last night was pretty dreadful at JFK airport. The weather held up dozens of planes and I didn't get home until 1:30 am. I'm pretty tired this morning and am working from bed.

Apparently, while half awake this morning, I dropped my splenda packet in my coffee and didn't realize until I was finished. lol!



Man it is good to be back home with my husband and to have this sweet girl work in bed with me (who after a round of steriods is back to normal! YAY!!)


Isn't it funny how dogs talk with their expressions? Her face says it all: "I had to ride along to the airport last night at midnight to pick your ass up so I'm just as tired as you. I really don't want to be taking pictures right now. K Thanks."