Sunday, October 3, 2010

Nate + Nest + Networking

If you follow other design bloggers that attended last Tuesday's Nate Berkus show taping, you've already heard plenty about it. In short - as a result of a twitter and blogging campaign, the Nate Berkus show producers invited a bunch of us to watch a taping. Then HGTV invited us all to lunch at their office (which I am so bummed about the fact I couldnt attend) and then Camila worked with The Nest to throw us a fabulous afterparty.

So here is my take on the Nate bit: I did not fly from far away nor did it cost me a great deal to attend so I'm not that upset about it. I think the way it was handled throughout was bad business - we were all herded like cattle in the pre show, no special design bloggy topics that episode, no on air mention of the fact we were even present, no opportunity to meet Nate after the fact, etc - it was kind of foolish of Nate and his producers to let an opportunity for incredibly positive press to leave feeling unfufilled. But hey, who the hell am I? So I'll leave it that. Should you want to read more about check out Sketch42's take on it. If you want to crack up check out MFAMB song parody about it.

So enough of the bad stuff...what about the good? Big hand to Camila of High Heeled Foot in the Door and the wonderful women at The Nest who threw us a little bash after the show was over. That was absolutely the highlight of the whole experience because I got to meet sooooo many other amazing bloggers that I've been following for years. It was a giant love fest. (If it weren't for the Nate show I would have never gotten an opportunity to connect with these fabulous people so even if it was an unintentional side effect, points to Nate Berkus for that one.)

I also got to meet the event photographer who is an incredible talent and nice guy - Trent Bailey. His portfolio makes me want to throw a fabulous gala event just so he can photograph it. (that's totally normal right?) He was kind enough to share some photos of the party with me so I could share them with you.

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Some of the lovely ladies I got to chat up: Amy of ABCD Design; Tamara of Get it Girl Style; Emily A Clark; Erika of Blu Label Bungalow; Jonathan Legate, Kwana of KwanaWrites; Janell of Isabella&Max; Kate of Centsational Girl; Amy of Masion Decor; Tanya of Save the Date for Cupcakes; Juliann of Create Girl; Stephanie of Sabbesspot; Lindsay of Everything LEB; Sarah of LiveLaughShop; Lindsay of A Design Story; Emily of Perfectly Put Together; Traci Zeller; Sarah of Thrifty Decor; Bryn Alexandra; Teresa of The Stamford Wife and many more! (This is just from the top of my head). I somehow missed a few other people I really wanted to chat with even though we were all in the same room. But can you believe I got to meet all of those talented bloggers in one night???

I had such a great time!! The only downside was seeing this photo of myself that sent me into a shame circle all weekend long. I know its only a photo but wow, I look like a three chinned slow witted monster here. Ugh.