meeting grace bonney

On Thursday, October 13th, I got to meet the creator of Design*Sponge, Grace Bonney!  She started this design blog back in 2004, and has become such a success, that she decided to write her own design book.  She basically compressed years of blogging into a manual for her avid readers as well as those who love design.  The book is broken up into parts - sneak peaks, DIY projects and before and afters.  It's full of ideas and inspiration that you can do in your own home. 

The book signing was held at West Elm in Dallas.  I've honestly never stepped inside a West Elm store before and have heard great things about it, so I was super excited to check it out.  Here are some that caught my eye. 

Those two gray leather seats would be great for our living room.  The white ceramic hurricane vases are so cute, I couldn't resist buying one for myself.  And I took several pictures of dining room sets so Paul could see my vision.

(psst...we actually just purchased our formal living and dining room sets, but they won't be delivered until November.  Stay tuned for an entry on that sometime next month)

Now onto the actual book signing....

Here we are, waiting in anticipation.  Pretty attractive bunch aren't we?  I think I slightly resemble Bert here.  Karina looking like Ernie?  Not so much, but I guess that's a good thing. 

These next two pics are a little stalker but whatev.  She makes me want to have a bob again.

 

Then it was my turn.  I was trying to brainstorm some things we could talk about but when I finally got up there, I really didn't know what to say.  I think I said something like, "it's so nice to meet you!  My cousin saw you in Vancouver...blah blah blah"  Couldn't really remember what I said, but I didn't get any reaction.  Sad.  Karina said it was probably because I was talking like 100 words per minute!  Hahahahaha!  That or she was concentrating really hard on how to spell my name (they give you a post-it with your name on it so Grace knows what name to put on the book).  But she was super sweet!  She even blew on the ink after she signed the book before closing it.  Tear! 

I look so awkward.  Ugh, how embarrassing. 

And here's one of the three of us.  I have no idea why I was so far away from her! 

After that, we made our way towards the cupcakes and refreshments.  The cupcakes were sooooo good!  We need to figure out where they came from. 

They also had a photo booth, but as of today, they haven't posted them online yet.  Will update this post once I get a hold of them.  I must tell you, Karina and I had waaaay too much fun! 

Yet more fun in the "woods" of West Elm. 

Buy a copy of Design*Sponge at Home if you haven't already.  It's a great book to use as reference when desiging your own home, and the bright poppy red cover adds a great punch of color on your coffee table!  Just saying!