A visit to st. jude children's research hospital with the brizo #blogger19

a few weeks back, i was thrilled to be part of a blogger reunion in memphis put together by brizo with all the designers and bloggers who have attended brizo's amazing NYC #blogger19 fashion week events over the last few years.

st. jude, patron saint of lost causes

 brizo wanted to the opportunity while over 80 of us were together to introduce us to st. jude children's research hospital, a charity the folks at brizo partner with on st jude's fundraising "dream home" effort (st jude has raised over 260 million dollars via the dream homes and brizo has donated over 1.3 million to those efforts).

the brizo #blogger 19 gang

i'm so delighted that brizo made the introduction, because like many people, i had heard of the st jude name, but had no idea what they actually do, and now that i know, i can state that it is a cause i am 100% behind: treating and researching children's cancers, and making sure that no child treated by st. jude EVER receives a bill. the way it should be.

flags from the countries with doctors working at st. jude.  all research results are posted online for world wide access with NO profit motive. isn' that the way medicine should be?

at first,  i was concerned when told of our hospital tour, because  as you may know, m21 is a crier, and i knew that i would blubber like a baby seeing all the sick kids at st. jude ("mommy why is that strange man crying?") , but what i didn't anticipate was how much i would smile too- there is so much hope at st. jude, you can't help but be touched by it.

rockin out in the brizo photo booth

during our day at st. jude, we had all kinds of activities where we interacted with the kids, and you know what? though lots didn't have hair because of the chemo, in every other way they were just normal little kids, laughing and playing and being silly. so heart warming.

a cutie enjoying the brizo designed and donated dollhouse.

i worked a photo booth, disinfecting the props in between groups of kids getting their rockstar photo on (didn't want to spread anything around), and brizo designed and built some amazing dollhouses for the kids. everyone, kids, families and us brizo peeps, all had a great time!

the wallpaper  and flooring is interchangeable in each doll house room- so cool.

 a serious effort was put into the design of the hospital and the nearby family housing to keep things fun, and engaging (st. jude believes in keeping the whole family together during a child's treatment, and families of patients are given free housing and even grocery money). all areas are decorated with art made by the kids, which i LOVE- what kid doesn't love seeing their art hung up?

this patient drawn elephant was fantastic.

a snippet from one of the arts and crafts rooms- there are tv rooms, music rooms, study centers, you name it...

hard to get the scale here, but this is a full sized kitchen, scaled down for children. so awesome. 

each ward has a different theme. 

great solution to a load-bearing pillar in a lobby- turned into a mast for a sailboat shaped reception desk, nicknamed the "s.s.hope".

a personal fave of mine, a volunteer with a therapy dog. doggies lift the spirits of anyone, but kids especially, so i'm glad this treatment is included at st. jude

i loved this hospital, and now that i know about it, am a huge booster. you should be too. here's some facts from their website:

How do your donations help?

• Thanks to donors, no family ever pays St. Jude for anything. Care, housing, transportation, meals—the list of services we provide to our families is unequalled. But it is for one purpose: To ensure the very best outcome possible for every child.
• At St. Jude, donor dollars help fuel the groundbreaking research that leads to pioneering care and treatments for childhood cancer and other deadly diseases.

How is St. Jude making a difference for sick children?

• Every child saved at St. Jude means children saved around the world—a direct result of cutting-edge research and treatment that set the standard in treating childhood cancers. And our discoveries are shared freely with doctors and scientists all over the world.
• St. Jude developed protocols that have helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent, when the hospital opened in 1962, to 80 percent today.
• St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute.
• St. Jude has embarked on an unprecedented effort to sequence the pediatric cancer genome and to identify the genetic changes that give rise to some of the world's deadliest childhood cancers. Read more.

How are donations used?

• During the past five years, 81 cents of every dollar received has supported the research and treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
• It costs $1.8 million a day to operate St. Jude, and public donations provide more than 75 percent of our funding.

Donate now to help St. Jude save the lives of children in communities everywhere.

st. jude = simply amazing.  help if you can!

best giveaway ever! (a brand new brizo faucet!)

as my friends, jill of material girls and erica of EMI interior design are excitedly tweeting away about their upcoming fashion week trip to see the jason wu show in NYC, sponsored by brizo, i was reminded of some unfinished business from my own brizo fashion week adventure, and that business involves YOU!

last september when the brizo people were acquainting us with their brand,  the group of designers i was part of couldn't have been more excited when the brizo peeps announced  "ladies and gentlemen, look under your seats- you're all going home with a brand now brizo faucet!"  (please read in your best booming oprah voice).  i mean flown to new york, wine, dined and limoed around to one of the hottest fashion shows of fashion week, and sent home with a fabulous brizo smart touch faucet with a list price of around 700 bucks? really? those brizo folks know how to treat a designer right!

you get to pick venuto

so m21 came home with a gift certificate for a fancy-schmancy single -hole, deck mounted kitchen faucet that he unfortunately couldn't use as his kitchen is a wide-spread wallmount. (and boy are we bummed- pull-down nozzle = heaven). we've held on the certificate thinking we'd use it for a client kitchen remodel, but you know what? in the last 6 months we haven't touched a kitchen job, and we don't have any on the horizon either, so YOU, my lucky readers will be the recipient of brizo's largess and one of you will win either a beatiful talo or venuto faucet in your choice of finish!

or talo

of course, there is a catch- isn't there always?  but it's not a horrible catch- you just need to go to facebook and like my maison21 page. see, not so horrible, right? come back here after you are done, and let me know you "liked" me by sending an email with "BRIZO" in the subject, along with with your name (so i can check to make sure you really like me) and which faucet you've picked, venuto or talo.  if you already "like" my page, just send the email with BRIZO in the subject, and let me know you are an old skool m21 liker...

imma pick the winner by random number generator in one week, and will contact you to get your mailing info if you're the lucky one. just a warning- you can't have anything but the faucet listed on the above card, and you can't bug the brizo to exchange it for something else, or refund it, natch- the win is for the listed item only, and is non-transferable.  the brizo peeps are being nice enough to send it to the winner, but that's it as far as their responsibility goes... and of course, you are responsible for installation, blah, blah, blah... (contest only open to US residents, by the way. sorry, my international friends- love you, but no international shipping on this one).

"but wait, m21, can i get a second chance to win?"

why yes, you can!  simply visit my joss & main curator's collection sale starting tuesday evening, january 31st at 6pm PST/9 pm EST, running through wee hours of saturday morning (3 1/2 days), and send me a second email with "BRIZO" in the subject, and the posted name & price of your favorite item from the sale (so i know you really visited and didn't just list something from the pictures i'll be posting on my blog- we're making you WORK for this faucet, right?). you don't have to buy anything of course, just let me know what you liked best from my "black, white and BOLD" curated collection- easy-peasy and double the fun!

good luck!


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m21 gets down: the highlights of 2011

oh irony, how i love thee so! 2011 was the year that my blogging started to pay off with some fabulous social media opportunities, and of course, it was also the year i was so busy, it seemed like i barely blogged at all (only 132 posts). in my defense, my social media has been more concentrated on the twitters & facebook lately, as it's much easier to squeeze in the time for 140 characters as opposed to being able to find a couple hours to write a full-fledged blog post (taking & editing photos, composing the text and sourcing the associated links is NEVER a quick proposition, at least for little ol' typelexic m21). still, whether i blogged as much as i would have liked or no, the 4 years i've spent slogging away in the social media world has begun to reward me in unexpected ways, and has provided me with some incredible highlights to my year...

photo courtesy of angeleno interiors magazine

1) i love LA: one of my new years goals from last year was to be more social offline so i've really made an effort to be more active in the design scene centered here in los angeles. this has paid off in the number of absolutely lovely people i've met and befriended in the last year.  a few years ago, i dreaded attending parties associated with the los angeles design community because i didn't know a soul;  now i'm inconsolable if i have to miss an event, because i'll miss an opportunity to see the warm, talented, funny, and supportive individuals i've come to know and love! too many names to name here (y'all know who you are), but each of you make the formerly dreaded work-mixer a now much anticipated event!

my first design panel, photo courtesy of blueprintbrands

 2) my 1st design panel:  the delightful people over at the avenues of art, fashion, and design, west hollywood were nice enough to include me in a panel on "blogging LA style" (thank you melanie!), and it was truly one of the highlights of my year. not only did i get to become friends with two of my awesome co-panelists,  ashlina (the decorista), and gregory (apartment therapy unplgged and gregory han), i've since been asked to participate in 2 other panels. unfortunately, scheduling conflicts prevented me from participating in those two, but i'm hoping to take part in more panel opportunities in 2012. i'm a big mouth, so this is a natural fit pour moi!

from my glum expression, you can see what a dull trip my brizo fashion week was...NOT! (thank you fellow traveler kathy at live the fine life for this wonderful photo)

3) brizo fashion week:  another huge highlight was being flown to new york to attend the jason wu fashion show by the good people over at brizo faucets. an amazing brand, and an amazing experience, but again, it was about the people, and i was so lucky to have the opportunity to make 19 new friends out of the fabulous crew of designer/bloggers on the trip. brizo has just announced the next group of designers to attend this fab experience in february, and i'm more than a little jealous of them!

4) eleanor lambert: still here: in one of those serendipitous moments that has me thanking the universe for my good fortune, my trip to brizo fashion week coincided with the publication of this fabulous book by one of my oldest and dearest friends, john tiffany, so i was able to attend the launch party at lincoln center to celebrate its release.  seeing someone i love achieve great success was another highlight to 2011, and the fact that it fell during the week i was already in NYC courtesy of brizo was the best kind of unexpected kismet!

with my girls crystal (plush palate & rue magazine) and ash (the decorista) on our way to sunset cocktails.  in anticipation of the coming april market, crystal just posted some pictures of our hijinks, of which this is but one- go visit!

5) high point market: i was also honored to be part of a group of designers/social media cognescenti attending high point market in october, and i gots to tell you, it was hands down the funnest thing i did all year. you can read all about my adventures here, but i'll paraphrase for you: 3 days in an entire CITY devoted to furniture, lighting and accessories, surrounded by the best group of people in the universe, while attending a non-stop string of cocktail parties, and, well, it was basically this designer's idea of heaven!  i am dearly hoping my schedule allows me to return this april, as i have so much more to see and do in high point!

6) joss & main:  ok, this one is a shameless plug for good things to come in 2012, but i was approached about it in 2011, so for me, i'm counting it as a 2011 highlight! we are delighted to announce on january 31st, 2012 (a little over 3 weeks from now) that we are having a maison21 curated sale on the joss & main site. the theme for our sale is black, white and BOLD, and essentially it is a curated selection on how to get the maison21 look: liberal use of black and white, paired with bold splashes of color and pattern; as well as touches of glimmering metallics, and the gleam of lucite and mirror- and a maybe little something for the furkids too. selections aren't finalized yet, but i'm excited by what we've put together so far, and i think y'all will like it too!

of course, the support and continued readership of all my friends here on maison21 was another highlight of 2011, and i appreciate y'all sticking with me for these many years.  i hope to blog a bit more frequently in 2012, but remember, if you can't get enough m21 in your life, you can always find me (in smaller doses) on the twitters & the facebooks! (pinterest sometimes too!)

happy 2012 to you all- i can tell this is going to be a year of good things for all of us!

brizo fashion week in NYC (good things happen to those who blog)

jason wu s/s 2012 (photo by john aquino for WWD

when i saw the tweets and blog posts of the first group of bloggers and designers who brizo faucets flew to new york for fashion week way back when (early 2010?), i admit, i was confused: "faucets? fashion? what the heck do they have in common?"; then brizo sent me an invite to fashion week 2012, and i thought, "i still don't know if i get it, but hey, fashion week in NYC? i'm so there!"

faucet = fashion? for the home, yes!

now, after meeting jason wu, and the brizo design team, i finally do get it, and completely understand the connection between fashion and faucets, and why brizo has developed a relationship with jason wu practically since he was fresh out of design school. the connection is that both the brizo design team and jason wu are passionate about craft... and form...  and finish... and on and on, and really when you put it into perspective, the only difference between designing a faucet and designing a dress is lead time- you want both to the ultimate expression of your inspiration, and you want the finished product of both to be as absolutely perfect as possible given the constraints of the manufacturing (and sewing) process- no loose threads on a dress (paraphrasing jason) or no extraneous seams on a faucet (paraphrasing judd, brizo's design guru). really, be it fashion or faucets,  it's the same ideal all of us creatives pursue: the dream made real...

this photo perfectly captures the hustle and bustle of fashion week (waiting to get into the jason wu show, courtesy of kerrie kelly design lab)

and brizo's fashion week experience was like a dream (and not just because i was jet-lagged and quite out of it the first day or so). it was a fascinating peek into the brizo design philosophy, coupled with the incredible excitement of fashion week in new york.  now i'm a jaded angenelo, and it takes a lot to impress me- we angelenos rub elbows with glamor and celebrities every day after all, and  i've been lucky enough to have attended several NYC fashion shows in the past (and even styled a fashion week party or two back in the day), but having rare birds of fashion like joe zee, anna dello russo, and hamish bowles, mere feet away from you, and nodding to scott schuman (the satorialist) like we're old friends, is pretty damn exciting, thank you very much. as is that moment when the lights go dark, the beat kicks in, and the first model appears on the runway. magic, peeple.  magic, i tell you!  (jason wu's show was really pretty too- that helps. just as a good show is magic, a bad show is, well, tragic...)

yup, that's me, committing the publicity photo faux pas of a clutching a cocktail in front of a stand and repeat.  oops!  i'm standing with my 19 new bff's, 15 of whom i had never laid eyes on before last week. these junkets are great bonding/networking experiences too... (courtesy of kerrie kelly design lab)

more about the brizo fashion week experience to come...

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wake up in new york

the above view may look gritty to you, but it fills me with excitement, because it means the drive from JFK is almost over, and soon i'll be in one of my favorite spots on earth, the exotic and magical island of manhattan... which is were i'll be when i wake up tomorrow morning, courtesy of the fashionable folks at brizo, who are flying a group of interior designers, tastemakers, and social media mavens to NYC to participate in the fabulous frenzy known as fashion week. if you've never been to fashion week in new york, you are missing out as it's just as fun and exciting as it looks in the media, so when brizo asked me to participate, of course, i was all over it like mario buatta is all over chintz on a chair!

fashion for the home, by brizo

we'll blog and tweet about our whirlwind visit (wish i could stay longer to shop and socialize, but alas, work is too busy here in LA to be gone for more than a few days) so if you aren't following me on the twitters, or the FB, now would be a good time to start!

so tomorrow, while ted and richard wake up to the petsitter (sniff, sniff), m21 will wake up in new york!



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