"What a Swell Weekend It Was . . . "

Nathan Turner's shop in West Hollywood

Greetings,

As a song once asked, "How can I begin . . . " to tell of my most wonderful weekend in Los Angeles. Great weather. Great old friends. Great new friends. Great parties. Great memories.

Thursday morning started early, with a 5:30am car waiting to take me to the airport for a 7am flight. But an early start was needed - for I had one busy day ahead of me.

As soon as I landed in LA, I gave a quick call to Megan (from beachbungalow8) as we had planned to meet for breakfast. We've been chatting by email forever, met ever so briefly here in SF a few months ago, but never had an opportunity to really talk. I guess the good news is - the restaurant wasn't very busy - because we talked for so long that breakfast had turned into lunch before we knew it . . . lol. It was like chatting with someone I'd know all my life. These 'blog' relationships can be quite amazing. Thanks Megan for spending so much of your day entertaining me.

Aaron Stewart (creative director for SFERRA Linens), Kelly Wearstler,

Scot Meacham Wood, and Ronda Rice Carman (from AlltheBest Blog)

Thursday evening was the SFERRA "Lose Count"/All the Best Blog Cocktail party - with special guest, Kelly Wearstler - held at Nathan Turner's charming shop in West Hollywood. It was such a great space - filled with wonderful furniture, great textiles, and everything for the home (and a huge crowd of people!) - and featuring the new collection of bedding from SFERRA by Kelly Wearstler.

And clearly, any party hosted by the always gracious blogger Ronda Rice Carman, would, of course, have more than a fair number of bloggers present. The photo below only proves the point. It was so great to meet so many people in person that I've only known 'online.'

Ronda (of All the Best), Brooke (of Velvet and Linen), Megan (from Beachbungalow8),

Christian (from Maison21), myself (from the blog you're reading),

and Jill (the LA corespondent from Material Girls)

(image from Maison21)

Kelly Wearstler's line for SFERRA Linens.

But, fair reader, the weekend had just begun. Friday was spent catching up with old friends (thanks for lunch Patrick!) and old co-workers, some shopping in Beverly Hills (Yay Barneys!), and enjoying the beautiful southern California weather. And glad of the fact that I had a convertible.

And Saturday? Well, Saturday was a well-needed day of relaxing.

Not at a spa.

Not at a museum.

Splash Mountain, post-splash.

But, at Disneyland.

Sometimes, you need to let your inner-child run around and ride roller coasters all day.

Somewhat fearful of tomorrow's workload,

tartanscot