ketchup

we have a lot to catch up on yal.  let’s see if i can get us up to speed.

so last week i went to salt lake city to attend alt summit, which is a conference/workshop for (mostly) lady bloggers.  98% of you don’t give a hoot about this, so i’ll make it quick.  plenty of bloggers have put their two cents out there about their experience, so i’m not going to be verbose about this.

summary: it was fine.  the facts: bloggers as a group are delusional creatures.  we put the mess we blog about out there b/c we think we are interesting, and we expect people to care.  right now, there’s A LOT of stuff being put out there, and not a lot of it is care-worthy.  the best takeaway from alt was that in order to have a popular blog you’ve got to have an interesting perspective, a unique voice, and a personalized filter on trends.  you need original content, an authentic connection to your reader, and you need to post regularly.  this is if you want to have a ‘successful’ blog, defined by lots of traffic, reader comments, and opportunities to partner with sponsors for money.  if these things aren’t important to you, then put out whatever you please.  who cares – it’s your world.

if you want to partner with other (bigger) bloggers, or companies, in my opinion, it’s more important to make friendships with the ladies you admire.  from these authentic connections come natural collaboration opportunities.  no one wants to be ‘sold’ to, or handed a business card coldy by a used car salesman.  if you want to be part of the community, bring your a-game to these events, and let your personality (which should be reflected on your blog as well) shine.  if you hit it off with someone, then you’ve made a friend, and a connection that could prove very valuable down the road for both of your blogs.  be patient.  it took a village of bloggers to build furbish – and i couldn’t have done with without the strong network of ladyfriends i’ve built by earning their friendships over the past six years.

mackenzie, chassity, sally, this girl, bailey, gaby

for a much better, less cynical takeaway, check out molly’s recap of her experience at alt.  molly blogs with her sister sally at a piece of toast.  these ladies are first class, and molly’s a good writer.  she’s the friend you’d scramble to sit beside during a test in college – if you know what i’m saying.  and then raid her closet.

so there’s that.

then onto to NYC, where keila and maggie arrived ahead of me to do some major purchasing for the store at the NYIGF.  if you’ve never suffered the unique pain of roaming the aisles at the jacob javits center, dodging 70 year old jersey women in furs trying to haggle vendors to lower minimum orders so they can purchase things for their homes, and being educated by a grinning, balding 45 year old sales rep that his company’s best seller is ceramic chickens (and my customers would LOVE them), then bless your heart.  stay away.  it’s a special kind of torture.  but keila is a ladyboss at it.  she works the aisles like a bloodhound, sniffing out the best stuff and intimidating the hell out of any salesperson that approaches her with her laser focus (give me a catalog, what’s your lead time, just bill us, no, we don’t want that, thanks, goodbye).  maggie is a perfect accomplice.  she’s quick to give a ‘love it’, ‘love that’, ‘no way’, ‘so cute, get it’, ‘hate it’,  and ‘i need a diet coke’.  (keila allows her one stop a day).

i’m very lucky to have these scouts go ahead of me – i’m grateful to come in on the last day and have them excitedly show me what they’ve found, and take me on a quick round-up of their favorite finds.  my only complaint is ‘why didn’t you order more – i LOVE that!’.  a good problem to have, i think.

we really did it up this year.  the show was better than ever, the vendors and offerings were on point, and i didn’t have to see the invoices, so amex points were stacking up without me stroking out.  i’m telling you – 2013 is going to be next-level for furbish.  we’re majorly flushing out the categories we’ve been weak in, we’re going to offer yal the most amazing and crazily curated selection of accessories, gifts and furniture that we can find, and we’re going to present it to you on a newly designed killer website.  i know we hear a lot of that — with ‘sneak peeks!’ and ‘guess what’s coming!’ and ‘i can’t wait to share!”, but this is the real deal.  next level yal.  just wait.  new things are starting to go up already – check it out.

we stayed at the standard hotel, on the highline and it was perfect.  great food, great vibe, great location.  we’ll be back for sure.

wallpaper at the standard

graffiti on a trashcan

i spent a good deal of time in the comfy bed, willing my stomach to chill out (see below), but i did make it out to have some special time with mr. olsen, soak up some inspiration walking the streets of chelsea and the meat-packing district and have a few celebrity sightings: carrie brownstein from portlandia at peels, and glenn close in the resturant at the hotel.

westie s&p shakers at the restaurant

the bad news: i have some sort of norovirus-like stomach eating monster happening in me right now, and brian meares just had surgery on his toe, so we’re a sorry crowd, just sitting around the house popping prilosec and percocet, respectively.  at least it’s been sunny, and there are new roman shades up in the living room which makes me generally less hateful about things.

we finally got out of the house yesterday for a bit to go to the art museum and hobble around.  inspiration galore:

this painting stopped me in my tracks from across the room.  it’s a north carolina barrier island – isn’t it the prettiest?

so there we are. continuing renovations this week at furbish. keep us in your prayer chain that we make it through to the other side of the shimmer wall.