1. BLOGFEST 2012 NYC sold out in a little over 4 hours with 168 attendees (63 of which returned after the first Blogfest last year).

2.  650 Blog posts were written after Blogfest 2011! How many will we write this year?

3. Carey Kravet has a very fancy iPad that is yellow with blue college ruled lines.

4. One of our sponsors, House Beautiful Magazine (my personal favorite magazine of all time) recently won the ASME (American Society of Magazine Editors) Lifestyle award for the first time in 116 years! Woohoooo!

5.  Here's the inside scoop on the kind of conversation that goes on at the scouting meetings for House Beautiful Magazine: "So Newell... would you rather have a party at this place or have sex here? Do the (design aesthetics in this scouting photo) make you REALLY want to be in this space?"

6. Blogfest 2012 started with a kickoff party at the Kipps Bay Showhouse. After reading about this show house for years, we were beyond thrilled to get a chance to not only visit the Showhouse, but have up close and personal conversations with the designers. Our favorite new friend was Bryant Keller who designed the stunning foyer in that yum yum Scalamandre wallpaper!

Photo Courtesy of Trevor  Tondro for the New York Times

The iconic designer Charlotte Moss was also in attendance.  I LOVED her bathroom design inspired by her love of French Gardens.

7. The fun and fabulous designer Scot Meacham Wood has over 485,890 Pinterest followers. Really Scot? Oh well, go ahead and follow him too - click HERE. And while you're at it, follow Kandrac & Kole by clicking HERE.

Photo Courtesy of Kravet/Blogfest 2012

8. If you want lush eyelashes that hit your eyebrows like uber famous, gregarious designer Alexa Hampton, Alexa recommends RevitaLash eyelash conditioner!

Photo Courtesy of Kravet/Blogfest 2012

9. Here is your SAT lesson for the day - Alexa Hampton's 4 favorite words:  1. Effulgent (shining brightly) 2. Euphonic (pleasant sounding) 3. Lugubrious (gloomy) and 4. Sanquine (cheerfully optimistic).

10. The dashingly handsome and talented Mr. Jon Call tripled his hourly design fee in the last several months and has never looked back - and yes the new projects just keep coming!

11. We spent a very fun afternoon at The Museum of the City of New York and heard from the Benjamin Moore's trend forecasters in the world of COLOR. Here's what you can expect to see in 2013:  unabashed RED (and it's sisters coral and pink), YELLOW (leaning towards Camel but also light and airy hues of yellow to mix with pink and coral), CHARTREUSE and APPLE GREENS, WATERY BLUES (influenced by Facebook and Twitter!) and more ORANGE.

12. More news from Benjamin Moore's Color Pulse 2013 - Start waving goodbye to metallics, turquoise and black and white - huh??

13. Another one of our sponsors, Glassybaby, manufactures my new favorite "happy". Voted by Entrepreneur Magazine as the 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year, Lee Rhodes is a lung cancer survivor, mother, philanthropist and the good will ambassador behind this amazing company. Lee and her staff were kind enough to come to Blogfest 2012 and give each one of us a little bit of "happy" in the form of a Glassybaby hand blown glass votive. I was so in love, I purchased two more on the spot. To read Lee's story and how her company has raised $911,207 for charities supporting the fight against cancer, click HERE.

P.S. Get ready friends and family - this will be my gift of choice to give for years to come!

 14. I wrote down so many great soundbites (stay tuned for another blogpost), but one of my favorites was by Designer Darryl Carter. In a panel discussion held at the impressive Hearst Home Group and moderated by VERANDA'S Editor in Chief Dara Caponigro, he said, "Muted palettes are actually very complicated if you study them." So true!!

15. Another of my favorite quotes from the week: "People are PIGS - ugghh how do you live?" - Designer Miles Redd 

16. Being the textile addict that I am, I was beyond excited to tour behind the scenes at Kravet/Lee Jofa/Brunschwig & Fils. Hearing about the inspirations, the processes, the pride and talent behind each new fabric collection was a thrill!

 Of course I ordered samples of these two for my upcoming master bedroom redesign!

17.  Our itineary goes on and on. At the Elle Decor Modern Life Concept House, I fell in love with this desk area because it's hidden in an awkward alcove in the room which is a challenge I'm having right now with another client.

18. Party planning secret from the Modern Life Concept House (yes we were fed like Kings and Queens the entire week) - if you want to serve cruditaes so they spill over the bowl and look luscious like this, fill the bottom with clear marbles first!

19. To cap off this amazing week, we enjoyed a Farewell Celebration at the Museum of the City of New York where we could buy raffle tickets to win a smorgasbord of designer delicious items.  Not only did I win ONCE but TWICE (and believe me, I never win anything!!) Ok, so I was just a tad excited (induced by sheer exhaustion and several glass of wine) to win the opportunity to blog for New York Spaces Magazine. What an honor!

20. Continue to follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube and of our course our BLOG. We'll be back again next year! Thanks again to Kravet for hosting this event!