NYC & Nate Day

It may have been almost a week ago now, but I've finally had the chance to post my NYC recap, and review of the Nate Berkus Show taping! I'll just start by saying I had an incredible time on this trip.

I figure the best place to start is the beginning. After finally landing in NYC, I made a beeline for my hotel that I booked last minute (through hotwire), and boy was I pleased when I got there...

The Benjamin is a gorgeous hotel located at 50th and Lexington, and though I was sad to have to spend so much to stay right in the city... I was glad this was the hotel that I spent my money on!


I spent my first night there at a little Italian Restaurant on Lexington meeting a bunch of talented and friendly bloggers, including Michelle from Holley & Gill, Will from Bright Bazzar, Jonathan Legate, Susan and William from House of Brinson and Joy and Janet, the fabulous Moggit Girls - just to name a few! It was an incredible experience to arrive in this little restaurant and be drawn into conversation with so many of these wonderful people I have chatted with on twitter, or read their blogs. Absolutely surreal... so surreal actually, I was too caught up to take any photos. Oh, except for this extremely blurry photo as I made my way back to my hotel afterwards...

The next morning I was up bright and early, checked out and headed into the city. I grabbed a quick bite on Madison Ave before making my way up to Central Park for a little stroll...

When the time came, I made my way to Bouchon Bakery in Columbus Circle, where I had the chance to meet so many more fantastic bloggers (and Canadians).

Vanessa, Sarah, Michelle, Me, Christine and Lisa

Along with these Canadian lovelies I also got to meet so many other people and we had a wonderful time. When it was time to go, we all marched our way over to the studio and waited in the VIP check-in line to head into the show...

A bunch of wonderful bloggers waiting in line to go into the show...

Before we entered, Michelle, Michelle (from Vertigo Design) and her friend Jackie were asked to step aside, and were brought into a separate room upstairs with some of the other bloggers.

After a great opportunity to meet, chat and network with other bloggers, we headed into the studio for the taping. 

Though I do wish that the show had been geared more towards the bloggers who attended (and that it would've been mentioned that it was a design blogger audience), I thought that Nate was fantastic! He was very personable and charming, and he did a great job with the guests he had on the show. My favorite part seems to be the same for most other bloggers as well - it was after the cameras stopped rolling and Nate took some time to sit down and answer our questions.

He was extremely honest with everyone who asked questions, and you can only respect that. Personally, I'm glad he was straight up honest and didn't try to lie when he was asked what his favorite blogs were. Nate let us know he didn't have the time to read blogs, but that his research team printed out posts for him to read that he might be interested in. Would any of us believed him if he told us he sat down every morning to read blogs? I know I wouldn't.

My trip was not nearly long enough, but I'm glad that I grabbed this opportunity and went with it. It was great to see the Nate Show taping, and meet so many wonderful and talented people. I hope that we'll all have the chance to do something like this again... as I know there were so many of you I didn't have a chance to talk with.