Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Where I've been...

{Jack of Fox 5 filming the 'before' in my DC Design House Room, photo by Sherry Moeller}

Wow. 
We just got home from a crazy weekend/ week in California.   After a great Bare Bones Tour at the showhouse in DC on Saturday (pic above), I hopped onto the plane with my husband, Dave, and 3-year-old, Christian, to LA.  We got in late that night and rented a car and drove to Disneyland. 

The actual purpose behind our trip was the Design Blogger's Conference but we were able to sneak Disney in on Sunday, which was awesome. 

{Breakfast = Room Service}

I looooove staying in hotels and it's been a while.  I think room service might be my favorite part.  {Once when Dave & I were first married, we brought our card table to our bedroom and put a tablecloth on it with yummy food and pretended we were getting room service.  hahah I know how sad that sounds but it really was great and this reminds me that I want to do it again.}

I loved our first hotel in California, which was the Hyatt by Disneyland.  The view was awesome and because of the 3-hour time difference, we got to see the sunrise: 



I haven't been to Disney since I was a kid and I don't think I've ever been to Disneyland before. (Just "World.")  It was so pretty!  I picked up a new camera at the Target there because my massive camera is tough to carry around and whip out at a moment's notice.  We've been meaning to get a tiny one for a while and I'm so glad we did. 

Soooo... I went a little picture crazy.  Definitely annoying.  I took pics of everything:


{Castle Pond}


{Two ducks in the pond...  it looked like they were kissing when I clicked the button, but I guess I was too slow for her.}


{Christian on the shuttle to Disneyland... Wondering what in the world this "Disneyland" we'd been hyping up actually was.}

loved this one:

{the teacups}

I loved being around all of the green.  Everything's dead at home and getting a dose of color just felt so good on the soul.


I am officially dying for Spring.


Want some of these bad boys lining our property:



And I had to take this pic of It's a Small World:



The Haunted Mansion has always been my favorite:



I caught a glimpse of the Evil Stepmother peeking out from the curtains:


{kind of spooky}

And I was crazy over the tour through Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  I loved it!!


After Disneyland, we headed to LA to the Sofitel for the Design Blogger's Conference.  Christian ended up getting 2 really bad ear infections and we spent an afternoon at the medi-merge (he was balling/ screaming.. have never seen him like that) so I did miss a bit, but I can't wait to share the good stuff I did get to hear/see. 
For now though, I'm off to bed and will be sure to share details as soon as I can get a bit caught up around here.   I met a lot of amazing women and it was so nice to be around people who get this whole blogging thing.

Before I run, here's a peek at my design board for the DC Design House Room: 


Shocking, I know, but I went with greens.  Since this is really the first time I've ever gotten the chance to design with no real budget contraints and no client, I really wanted to do the space almost as if it were my own.  I have imaginary clients in mind with this space, and if I had to describe them, I'd say they're an older thoughtful couple who loves to both travel and be at home.  They've collected interesting pieces & objects over the years and I gave them my personal design aesthetic.  (Hence, the green and tradtional-vintage-modern mix)  I envisioned the room as a "hideaway" room in the upstairs of the massive Tudor home.  It's the place where people can go to get away from everything: read a book, take a nap, write, blog, etc ;) ;)  I like to imagine that anyone stumbling into this room would feel like they could use it as their own.  I would have loved exploring the house as a kid and I can imagine a child laying on the window seat, reading a book and wondering about the paintings on the walls.  I wish I had this getaway room in my house. 
And finally, thanks to everyone who sent me Disney advice... we took it and it was perfect!!

xoxo, Lauren

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