I'm so grateful for the friendships blogging has brought into my life. You might know that I met two of my closest friends (Cassie and Courtney), though this blog. We all began blogging about the same time and met early on and just clicked. We are all unique and different in our own ways, but the three of us together just fit. They are like the sisters I've never had. Since we are scattered throughout the country, we keep up mostly via email and phone chats- and LOTS of text messages. Last week, we were thrilled to get to meet up in person in New York for Lowe's Holiday Ready Home event. And we also got to meet up with Jen, whom we all love and whose blog we get to contribute to. I felt truly blessed to make this trip because I didn't get to go to Haven and this trip just came together in a couple of weeks.
Cassie and I arrived first on Tuesday afternoon, so we had a little time to explore Times Square and Rockefeller Center like tourists with our big cameras. Cassie did a fashion recap on her blog, she's a master at putting outfits together. I have those same camo pants and would never have came up with that outfit.
When Courtney and Jen arrived, we walked down to Hell's Kitchen and chatted over wine and pizza. It's so good to just sit and relax and talk face-to-face for a change. If you've ever had a long distance relationship, you know what I mean.
Since we had most of Wednesday to ourselves, we spent the day exploring the city. First stop Starbucks! Then, Cassie got us on the subway where we headed to Central Park- after getting on the wrong train and having to reboard.
The below shot is definitely getting framed. Isn't the fall foliage gorgeous?!
The below scene is how I will remember us getting around the city- Cassie "in control" of the map and the rest of us mostly looking puzzled. We made the most of our time, seeing Soho, Little Italy, China Town, the World Trade site, and (ahem, Court) the Statue of Liberty.
We barely had 30 minutes to freshen up and change for the Lowe's event, which was a blast. It was held in a cool loft space and several bloggers/designers each designed a room fit for the holidays. To see the rooms they designed, you can go to instagram and search #holidayreadyhome
Curbly Contributors (Paper N Stitch & The Artful Desperado)
And we got to meet some very cool and fun people. These ladies have so much positive energy and just liveliness. It was great to be around. I'm only bummed I didn't get to meet all the bloggers that attended (just too short on time) and didn't get that many pics. Here are a few.
John Colaneri and Anthony Carrino, aka The Kitchen Cousins and Cousins Undercover couldn't have been more genuine and down-to-earth. They took time to sit and have a drink with us after they were done filming and were just regular (albeit super cute!) men. They talked about how they got started in television and about their construction business that keeps them very busy. Too bad Cassie missed most of this because she was having an in-depth conversation with one of her design idols. Or maybe she was at the bar?! hmmm . . .
I was so excited to meet a blogger I've been a huge fan of for years- Stefanie! She was also great and we got to talk about her adorable daughter and her awesome travels. We also met Amanda, a New Yorker and mom to a sweet baby girl.
New York & Lowe's, thank you for a wonderful time!
Cassie and Courtney posted their recaps today too. I love seeing the trip through their eyes and the beautiful pictures of the city they captured. They also featured the rooms the designers created, which are really worth seeing.
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