BD West 2015

Each year we are excited to discover new products at BD West. This is the third year under the Sails Pavilion at the San Diego Convention Center which brings beautiful natural daylight to the amazing display of products. Throughout the two days we captured a few of our favorite finds for 2015. You can find the vendors for these great products listed below.

Vendors shown: Rejuvenation, Kellex, Craftmade (lighting & LED "filament" bulbs shown), Grand Rapids Chair Co., Hubbardton Forge, NeoMetro/Dyson, Walters Wicker/Manutti

HD 2014

Another great year at HD to find new products.  Here are a few of my favorites this year:  

3form, ArmourFX, Barbie Kennedy, Born Brick, Chelsom & LightWave Laser.

Santiago Calatrava

We had the opportunity to have an evening walk at cuidad de las artes y ciencias in Valencia.  The architecture by Santiago Calatrava and variety of modern art is amazing to behold.  The shapes, rhythm and connection between the elements were ever changing as we wandered throughout the site. 

Porcelanosa

I had the opportunity to visit the Porcelanosa Factory with a client, and while I have always known of the quality of product that they provide, I was not ready for the scale of the factories and showrooms in Villareal.  Thank you to the Porcelanosa team for such great service and support.

BD West 2014

The second year of BD West just reinforced how much I enjoy this venue.  The scale of the show is more intimate with tons of natural light.  You are able to stop and talk to vendors and colleagues without feeling so rushed and we still find plenty of vendors that are new to us.  Here are some of our favorites from the exhibit floor (in alphabetic order): Atlas Hardware, Cerno Lighting, Kettal, Made Goods, Neoteric Luxury, Surya & Westminster Teak.

BD West 2014 One on One

We love the one on one appointments the first morning of BD West.  We have found it to be a great way to really become informed about companies that we were not familiar with previously.  The connections we made last year yielded great results throughout the year so we were excited to see who we were pair with for 2014.  Thank you to BD West for a great program and to Challenger Lighting, Conneaut Leather, Emu, Enduratex, Daniel Paul Chairs, First Light Lighting, Lumerion & Summer Classics who all took time to meet with us on Thursday.  

Thanksgiving Leftovers

We love Thanksgiving!  This year we celebrated with 34 friends and family for dinner.  As normal we had a few left overs, but we were shy on leftover turkey.  Looking at the delicious stuffing and hungry for breakfast I created two savory breakfast options.  

The first was a savory apple crisp created with our warmed homemade applesauces which I top with a stuffing crumbled.  The crumble is simply left over stuffing which I toasted and broke into small crumble in a frying pan.  I like this better than apple pie!

The second, and my husband's new favorite, is a stuffing egg-in-a-hole.  My stuffing is very moist and easy to compress into a hamburger ring. The denser you can compress the better as it softens during cooking.  I used a smaller biscuit round to punch a hole in the middle.  I placed the ring and the hole in the frying pan with some butter.  I use the hole to judge the cooking as you don't want to touch the more fragile ring until necessary.  I flipped the stuffing ring when one side was browned and then added the egg into the center.  When the egg whites have started to cook through I flip back to the first side to cook the other side of the egg.  We drizzled with just a touch of maple syrup, but it was great without this as well.  When you cut in and the yolk mixes with the stuffing it is really amazing. 

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving and enjoy these leftover ideas. I may need to make stuffing more often!

GLOW Santa Monica

On Sept 28 we went to see the exhibits at GLOW 2013 at Santa Monica Beach.  The event is a one night event for participatory art.  My favorite piece was by Janet Echelman called 'the space between us'.  For full disclosure, David regularly consults with Kinetic Lighting who designed the lighting for this interactive experience.  And while the lighting did enhance the feature by creating an ever changing environment, I  was taken with the scale of the installation and the energy created by the viewers.  In order to engage with the piece, you climbed a two story soft sand burm to enter a lower ring.  In the center was another two story sand hill which allowed you to climb and stand up into the hanging nets.  A combination of climbing in the cool, soft sand and the ever changing angles to the net installation as you adjusted your viewpoint made it a piece that you could really sped a very long time enjoying.  It was a very serene space but still joyous.  I hope you enjoy the pictures...the geometry created by the net forms is beautiful.

NEWH Wine Tasting

Yesterday, Meagan, Alex, and I (Jamie) attended the NEWH/Orange County Region Wine Tasting event at the Shorebreak Hotel in Huntington Beach. Featuring Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa and Cielo Estate in Northern California, there was plenty of great wines to choose from (my favorite: the Cielo Estate Magnifique, a merlot blend). The Shorebreak was an excellent venue as well, with a cool beachy modern vibe to it. We reconnected with old friends and met a few new ones as well. All in all, a great event. Thanks NEWH OC! 

HD Expo 2013

...here are a few of our favorite things for this years HD expo and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV.  A list of the vendors pictured is noted below.

Vendors shown in alphabetical order: Amanti Teak, Andrew Morgan, Arteriors, EcoSmart Fire, Eric Brand, Gold Leaf, Innovations, Kenneth Cobonpue, Kettal, Kohler, Lamellux, LBL, Lily Jack, LZF, LFZ, Maguire, Materials Inc, Palecek, Samuelson Contract, Shine, SkLO, Tri-kes, Trinity & Fute, Walters Wicker.​

If you are looking for additional information, leave a comment below.​