A Weekend at IDSWest & Blend

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope that October has started off wonderfully for you. I meant to share this post yesterday, but things have just been nuts around here. 

I had a great weekend attending IDSWest and meeting a ton of fabulous, talented bloggers at Blend2012. It started on Saturday morning. After dropping my parents off at the airport, B dropped me off at St. Regis Hotel downtown, and I met up with Christine, Amy and Sara. I clicked with these three lovely ladies immediately and loved spending the afternoon with them. 

We strolled down to the Convention Centre, had something to eat and then headed in to catch Tommy's talk at 1pm. 

He gave a great talk on making the most of small spaces, and even though our new home is much larger than our Toronto home, it still gave me a lot to think about when it comes to decorating. Afterwards, we strolled the floor checking out all of the beautiful booths. So much gorgeousness to admire - especially the Aya Kitchens booth (I'm sure you've all seen this kitchen around the blog world over  the last few days).

Trust me, I left that home wishing I could renovate... not just decorate. Especially after seeing some of those kitchens! Gorgeous! 

After our strolling, we made our way back to the hotel to rest up and get ready for our nights. For me, that meant popping into Starbucks before hanging out with Rosa and Michelle in their room for a chat, before finally getting prettied up. I had so much fun meeting so many new friends and bloggers at Blend, that I took no photos... except for one of Christine after she won her lovely Delta faucet - lucky girl!

She wasn't the only lucky lady though! I was pretty excited to take home this fabulous wall decal from Danielle's business Urban Walls. Since I don't know how long we'll be staying, I plan to find something a little more permanent that I can put it on and then take it with us when we move. 

I must say, Barbara, Victoria, Nancy and Karla did such an incredible job planning the evening for us. The venue was beautiful and the food was delicious! A huge thanks to IKEA for sponsoring our evening - it was so appreciated by all of us! I can't wait for a chance to hang out with all of these talented ladies again! 

What did you get up to this weekend?

A Winner & Some West Elm Fun!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. It was warm and sunny here, and we had a ton of fun exploring more with my brother. Keep an eye out for some of our adventures later this week. For now, I want to share with you something I got up to last Wednesday night... and then I'll share the two lucky winners of the Printique giveaway.

So it's official, West Elm is finally up and running right here in Vancouver. The brand new store is located at 2947 Granville Street, and I was so excited to attend the opening night last Wednesday. When I arrived shortly after 6pm the store was packed, the music was going (care of a DJ, spinning live), the cocktails were flowing, and the delicious apps were... well, DELICIOUS! 

It was an incredible night and I loved getting to see the new store first hand. Here's some of my favourites:

This wall of beautiful kitchen wares welcomes you upon entering the store. The styling was perfect, and I loved how they colour blocked the sections. It took everything in my power not to come home with stacks and stacks of pretty bowls. The perfect way to add some colour to your dishes.

Loved this mirror as soon as I spotted it. It was tucked away behind a bed display near the back of the store, so it took me a while to spot it, but I only wished I could've taken it home with me. Perfect for our bedroom, or the guest bedroom. The shape is unique, and could be almost nautical in the right setting. 

Speaking of bedding - I was in love with everything they had...

A lot of neutral and grey coverlets and duvet covers. My favourite being the polka dots in the top middle. There was a beautiful set of embroidered sheets in this section that I wanted to take home with me, but sadly they wouldn't fit our very deep mattress... so the search continues.

If we hadn't just bought our King Size duvet cover from West Elm back in March, I think I would've been scooping this pretty one up! Love the colours, and the pattern. Very pretty without being ultra feminine. I'm sure B wouldn't have completely veto'd it! (as this picture would indicate, many attendees had enjoyed this bed as well).

More beautiful bedding, and a fabulously styled wall. I was so tempted to bring home one of those sweater-knit pillows, to warm up our place for the fall (the dusty blue is perfect for our place), but we're tightening our belts at the moment, so I had to leave it be. They are perfect for the fall - especially in the Raisin colour - loved it!

These pretty and happy pillows would be sweet in any space, but I was imagining them in Halle's newly evolving nursery space. I almost brought home that little pink one peeking out the basket, but thought better of it. Little girl does not need any more throw pillows at the moment.

Overall, it was just a really fabulous night. I loved getting a peek into the new store, and I'm excited to shop there once again. If you're in Vancouver, make sure to drop by the store on Granville! It was also an excellent opportunity for me to catch up with some familiar faces, and meet a few new-to-me bloggers as well. I'm looking forward to seeing all of those lovely ladies again on the 29th a fabulous event being planned by some really incredible ladies! 

Now, for the party many of you have been waiting for! The winners of the Printique giveaway, as chosen by random.org! The first of our two winners was lucky #17 - Areta! And oddly enough, our second winner was #18! Cathy! If neither of you hear from me today, please shoot me an email and I will get you in touch with Monica from Printique right away so that you can go shopping with your $20 gift cards. 

For the rest of you, who would love to go shopping don't forget to use the code FANCY20 to get 20% off your order! Thanks to everyone who entered - I always love doing a fun giveaway for my readers!

Canadian Design Blogger Meet-up - 2012 Edition

Good Monday Morning to all of you! What a FANTASTIC weekend! After a glorious Saturday morning of being pampered at the hair salon, I was thrilled to head down to Brassaii Restaurant for the Canadian Design Bloggers meetup!

Not only was it fantastic to see so many old friends, but I loved meeting new blogger friends, as well as finally putting a face to a number of blogs that I already read! What a treat. Vie and Daniella did a fantastic job rounding up some incredible speakers. We got to hear from Cameron MacNeil & Lisa Murphy of House & Home, Cassandra LaVallle of coco + kelley AND the man himself Brian Gluckstein! Seriously, it was mind blowing and invigorating being in one room filled with so many inspiring and brilliant people.

The line-up of event sponsors was beyond impressive: House & Home magazine, Delta, Cottonelle, IKEA, C.I.L Paint, Gluckstein Home, Aya Kitchens & Bath, green light district, Rowenta, CB2 and Kravet! I know right! These lovely sponsors sure hooked us up with our swag bag as well...

Halle's favourite part of it was the Jonathan Adler toilet roll cover from Cottonelle...

 

I have to admit, I decided not to bring my camera with me to the event. I don't get out often to chat and see friends on my own anymore, so I was excited to go and just meet people, chat and catch up. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to be a part of such a positive, inspiring and supportive group of bloggers! I came home feeling fabulous and completely re-energized! I know this is short and not very detailed, but to be honest I think I am still trying to process the whole thing.

I'm recovering from a crazy weekend today, even after my coffee I still feel like I could crawl back into bed, and Halle and I have some visitors dropping in shortly. Be sure to come back tomorrow for some bathroom updates... and let me warn you - there has been quite a lot of progress since last week!