I believe that if you love something hard enough and embrace your interests just for the sheer joy of it - great opportunities will come your way. You'll spend less time calculating your next steps and more time enjoying your good fortune. But to be clear - good fortune doesn't stem from luck; it's the result of being your own best friend and investing in yourself, your likes and loves. Case in point? The opportunity to meet my design idol Sarah Richardson came from winning a Pinterest room design contest through BlogPodium - a Canadian conference for design and lifestyle bloggers that I attend each year just because I love to blog about home decor. This may sound like 'no big deal' to some of you, or pretty darn awesome for those of you who appreciate Sarah's work, but it's the little things unique to each of our interests that make us happy, isn't it? And if we invest in ourselves and embrace 'the little things', we're likely to find ourselves in good company.
Lucky for me and a select bunch of contest winners and media folks, we got to spend a couple hours with Sarah at her studio/office on Friday. To no one's surprise, the studio was brilliantly decorated with a mix of Sarah's custom furniture, antiques and gorgeous fabrics from her new Kravet fabric collection. The soft blues, greys, greens and peach tones were mouth-watering.
The graduating class of Sarah Richardson Design, perhaps? Aren't we the cutest. After the social wrapped up, Sarah sent us off with custom tote bags made from her new Kravet fabric. I shared Sarah's personal photo of us holding our new totes on my Facebook page; to see it click here. In our totes was a bag of Pluck Teas loose leaf Earl Grey Cream tea - Sarah's favourite from tea sommelier and founder of Pluck Teas, Jennifer Commins. Lucky for us Jennifer served us cold tea cocktails while we mingled. In sum, the day was nothing short of fabulous. Sarah was very friendly, funny and a little self deprecating. My kind of gal!
I was up bright and early the next day for BlogPodium at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Toronto. Huge thanks to BlogPodium founder, Jennifer Flores of Rambling Renovators for putting on the event. The lovely table decor, photo booth backdrops and stationary freebies were from Minted. I love Minted - they created my business cards and showered me with fabulous freebies back in July!
Sarah Richardson was the keynote speaker and the highlight of BlogPodium for me. As we all sat and listened to her presentation, I secretly revelled in meeting her the day before and getting the tour of her studio/office. Her speech was so inspiring. She shared personal stories of humble beginnings and addressed a few set-backs. Sarah encouraged us to find our point of view, be consistent, be passionate and to never forget those who have helped you along the way. She continued to say that many of the people she works with today are the same people that helped her when she first started out in the business. She noted that collaboration is our greatest strategy; building relationships will cary us a long way. Also, you'll be happy to know she's developing a line of cards and wrapping paper for Hallmark and currently working on a new tips-based book on room design! And as if meeting Sarah and being on the receiving end of her kick-ass speech wasn't good enough, she later complimented me on Instagram for taking great photos of her studio on Friday. See snapshot below. She's thanking ME? Swoon!
After I came down from my Sarah Richardson high, I took advantage of the conference's blogging seminars and vendor displays from Para Paints, Indigo, Urban Barn, Home Depot and Moulding and Millwork to name a bunch. Come cocktail hour we let loose, enjoyed sushi and champagne, and hammed it up for Snapshot Photobooth. As fun and informative as the event was, making fabulous blogger friends is priceless. Laura, Amy, Brittany, Tiffany - I'm lookin' at you!
J xx
