Refreshment with Friends

Last night I had the opportunity to go with friend Kelly aka Everkelly, (author, fabric designer,all around amazing creative gal, beautiful, funny, kind soul) to the book signing for Design*Sponge at Home by Grace Bonney, founder of the world renowned blog Design*Sponge.

It was in Beverly Hills at the Anthropologie store there, a really beautiful store. There was a big crowd and lots of buzz around the shop, a great energy for a gathering. Kelly and I for a moment played "guess who's the famous blogger" trying to place half inch by half inch avatars with real live people which is nearly impossible. We did introduce ourselves to the beautiful, stylish and good humored Joy of Oh Joy Studio and chatted with her for a moment. She has the cutest baby bump and looked as fresh and energetic as she does in all her photos.

We also met up with Christy, a friend of Kelly's, who previously interned for Grace Bonney in New York. She was a ball of beautiful, hopeful, cheerful energy and so fun to talk to. And she pushed me out of my comfort zone, which is pretty hard to do.

Kelly and I also took a tour around the store, which is always full of great inspiration from the bones of the building down to the smallest items on shelves and hangers. Afterwards we walked across the street for a  cocoa/tea chat and looked at my wedding inspiration board. I also got to see some of Kelly's lastest photo shoot for a cool project she's working on. Her designs were so smart, fresh and inspiring. It was so fun to see projects she's been telling me about come to life. I'm hugely cheering her on.

We also talked about novel writing, a couple of writing projects we're each working on and a lot of other things. After dropping Kelly off I stopped by the grocery store and then headed home. When I got home I was so full of fresh energy, so excited about creativity, about meeting new people, about having courage to make dreams come true, develop ideas and have hope for the future.

I realized that there's nothing better than  planning a night out of your routine, with inspiring people, in inspiring places to really refresh the heart, mind and soul. Are you getting enough refreshment? I am reminded tonight that I need more and I'm committing to plan more of this. It's a good thing!

photo by kalanicut - Grace Bonney with a lovely Design*Sponge reader

linked to Good Life Wednesdays at A Beach Cottage.