an interior designer's perspective on blogging and social media, and why it's important (a design camp OC wrap up).

last friday i was honored to join paloma contreras of la dolce vita and julie thigpen of belle maison onstage at design camp orange county, the fab 2 day intensive learning/networking experience put together by lori dennis & kelli ellis.  while paloma and julie taught teh assembled campers how to blog the right way, with dedication, and with professional tools like an editorial calendar and a press kit (neither of which i have), i sort of took the slacker approach, of "hey, it's better to do something rather than nothing", cuz, hey, it's worked for me, so why not?
 here's some highlights from my presentation, already posted on instagram:

this was my opening laugh, cuz if you are doing social media purely for the monetary rewards, boy,  are you barking up the wrong tree!

  the point of this slide is that when i started, i had no clue what i was doing, but i started anyway... because i was desperate to increase exposure for my interior design business. by the time people actually started paying attention to me, i had figured out a lot of the kinks and didn't look so stupid. the same holds true for anyone starting out in social media, when you make your first big fuckups- and you will- nobody is following you anyway, so just go for it and figure the rest out along the way.
this is pretty self-explanatory. no one knew or cared who i was before i started blogging, but now, things are different- i have a platform to tell my story- or any story i choose to- and get it out there, and crazily enough, it reaches a lot of people through my various social media outlets. how many people, i don't know or care, but it reaches the right people, and that's what i care about, so thank you for coming here and being one of them.
and this was my concluding slide with a couple of instagrams from project finished this summer, and again, the point of this slide is pretty self-explanatory: just do it. don't worry about not having the time, or not knowing what your are doing, cuz trust me- if lil ol' backwards me can figure out instagram and blogger and twitter and facebook, so can you. the time thing is always an issue, but isn't that the story of our lives? but we have to make time to be our own cheerleaders, because if we don't value our businesses enough to cheer them on, how can we expect others to?

anyhoo, those are some highlights from my presentation, and i suggest you book early for design camp vegas summer 2014- it's not to be missed!  oh, lori and kelli and my friend lisa mende will also be dropping some knowledge this week at high point, so if you are there, don't miss these dynamite ladies in person!

october events in southern california!

good gosh almighty- fall is here with a BANG! so many great events happening over the next few weeks:

i will be reuniting with veronika miller of modenus as she brings her signature phenomenon, blogtour, to los angeles for the first time! so excited for this opportunity to hang out with my social media friends from around the globe. jill seidner of material girls and i, as blogtour london alumni, will be hosting the #blogtourLA gang on wednesday for a brief visit to the la cienega design quarter and the west hollywood design district, with hosted stops at dragonette and mecox gardens. partay!

then there is the premier of the westedge design fair, sure to be chock full of the best in cutting edge design. i know that some of my favorite lighting peeps, zia-priven, have been working on something BIG and special to decorate barker hanger during the event running october 3-6, so can't wait for that!

and the following week, look for me at one of my favorite events, the los angeles antiques art + design show at its new location in culver city, oct 9-13.  i'll be stopping in over the weekend for a panel or two, but will for sure be at the star studded opening night to benefit teh decorative arts and design council at LACMA, a great cause!

and in the midst of all this madness, i'll be part of a panel on "career blogging" at design camp orange county, oct 9-11 (i'll be focusing on blogging to brand and build a design career. i might have some experience in that arena. or not). speaking at 9am on the 11th will be interesting, since my brain doesn't turn on 'til noon, so who knows what i'll say?) there are just a couple seats left for camp so GET ON IT!  ;-)

then, on the 14th, i sleep. ;-)

design camp orange county winner!

so exited to announce the winner of the design camp orange county giveaway- donna p. of "d for design"!  i've been following donna on facebook for a while now, so it will be awesome to finally connect in person!

and if you were disappointed to not be a winner, never fear-  a lil birdie told me that a couple of seats may still be open for october 9-11th, so if you love design, and want to learn, be entertained and network your booty off, sign up here!

updates: design camp free giveaway + travel inspired decor at 55 downing street!

please visit my latest post over at 55 downing street about adding a little (not a lot) international jet set travel style to your decor, like incorporating a trunk as furniture like brooke shields did in her living room photographed for architectural digest:

decorated by david flint wood

also, please don't forget that you can do a lil traveling yourself if you enter my design camp free ticket giveaway in orange county california! drawing ends friday, so you'll need to make your travel plans to join me on october 9th-11th asap!  it's gonna be awesome, campers!
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won't you be my guest? FREE GIVEAWAY to attend design camp orange county oct 9-11!

top california interior designers: kathryn m. ireland, nathan turner, timothy corrigan, jeff andrews, cliff fong, christopher kennedy and... christian may? (insert needle on the record sound). wait, did you read this list correctly?

yeah, i know- that was my reaction too, when media personalities and celebrity interior designers, lori dennis and kelli ellis, asked me to join such prestigious company and be a counselor at their upcoming design camp orange county. after looking over my shoulder, and verifying that they were indeed talking to me, i course said YES, and figured that since they already have a string of interior design camp successes under their belts, i should just trust the experts that i was an expert too, and go with the flow!  ;-)

design camp founders, lori dennis & kelli ellis

all kidding aside, i am totally honored to be speaking on a 'career blogging' panel with blog super stars paloma contreras of la dolce vita and julie thigpen of belle maison, and figure after slogging through the blog world for 6 years (an interwebs eternity) that lori and kelli are right and i just might have learned a thing or two to pass on to my fellow design campers! if nothing else, i can crack a joke or two, while hopefully offering up a nugget of wisdom every now and then, albeit from my slightly skewed decorator/social media addict perspective.  ;-) added bonus, in addition to the aforementioned amazing list of names already mentioned this post as counselors, i also get to hang out with good friends like public relations guru, rich pedine, and brand strategist/social media marketing genius, phil pallen, who are smart AND funny, and who will learn us a thing or too, all while making it so fun we won't even know we are being schooled!

and that in a nutshell sums up design camp- exceptional experts in our industry, educating us in the most entertaining way... and did i mention that there will be tons of free door prizes for attendees, and good food, and maybe a cocktail or two?  sounds like a slice of interior design heaven, right? well, how would you like to be my guest for design camp orange county on october 9th - 11th for ABSOLUTELY FREE? yup, we're giving away a ticket worth $1297 for free!  free, free, free!

design camp seattle attendees- don't you wanna be a part of this?

this is an amazing opportunity to learn, network, and mingle, so be sure to enter our giveaway by noon on friday september 20th! YOU DONT WANT TO MISS THIS ONE, KIDS! so enter NOW by leaving a comment on the blog, and then for more optional entries, please share this post with your friends via your facebook page (honor system), like the design camp facebook page or tweet about design camp! easy-peasy!
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see ya at camp!