A Meeting of the Blogs

Well, well, well - look at this: who are these two gorgeous looking ladies? ok, ok, well maybe not gorgeous, but for their age (mumble) - they're looking pretty good, if I do say so myself!

The story behind the picture goes something like this - after months of endless emails getting to know each other, it seemed impossible to believe that someone from Canada would get together with someone all the way from Texas. Well, impossible things do happen sometimes. The main event took place this week: Patricia Gray, interior designer extraordinaire and author of the Patricia Gray Inc. blog, managed to make her way down to Texas to meet up with me, Cote de Texas. This high-powered blogger rendezvous took place on neutral ground (sort of) in Dallas, not Houston - my hometown.

Personal business at the Dallas Trade Mart drew Patricia from the frozen environs of Vancouver (even though it actually was colder in Dallas than Canada!). Many meals, long talks, laughs (and tears!), screwed up hotel plans, a talkative GPS lady, lots of Starbucks coffee, a broken tooth, crowds of Market shoppers, and confounding traffic detours later -- Patricia and I decided that we:

1. Actually like each other.
2. Get along really well!
3. Have similar temperaments.
4. Don't get on each other's nerves, AT ALL!
5. Have compatible tastes.
6. Possess about the same amount of stamina (not much!)
7. And travel very well together.

We spent a day at the Dallas Trade Mart visiting the showrooms of places that bloggers have buzzed about all year - the Shine showroom in particular! And we spent a day just clothes shopping in Highland Park Village. But I think Patricia will agree with me, that the best time we had was late last night when we discussed our blogs together over the computer. We realized how competitive we were about our stats! A word of advice to bloggers - never, never, EVER look at your readership or Technorati stats with a fellow blogger - your friendship might not survive THAT test! But despite this, it was really great fun to finally share the blogging experience in person after sharing it for months via back and forth emails. This experience is one that I highly recommend. We looked at magazine pictures and web sites of designers we both admire and just talked about blogging in general until late into the night.

So, you might be wondering, (probably not, but I'll tell you anyway), will Patricia and I ever get a chance to meet up again? As I pulled away in my car, Patricia informed me that she was going to force me to go to Paris with her. Ok, so twist my arm, I'm game! Name the date, Patricia!

Power purses on parade! Outside the Tory Burch store in Highland Park Village.

Inside the Tory Burch store.

Ikat print shorts by Tory. Needless to say, we didn't buy these!!

The velvet tented dressing room area.

Inside a wallpapered dressing room.

Patricia's beautiful and charismatic daughter who joined us in Dallas. I thought she looked adorable in Tory's pink T shirt, but apparently she didn't agree - she didn't buy it.

Major shopping purchases!!! That's Charmaine reflected in the mirror to the right.

Patricia Gray buying shirts at Anne Fontaine beneath an antique French gilded mirror.