i’ve fully recovered from an exciting, albeit somewhat lengthy (nearly 7 hours long) photoshoot in our house and have a whole new level of respect for stylists, photographers and magazine editors. i had no idea so much time (and hard work) went into every spread for a magazine- whew! i’m getting today’s posts ready so i wanted to point over to meg’s new posts for the d*s guest blog this morning- she’s got a new desk peek and a fun piece on kids today. click here to check them out.

ps: without realizing it the biz ladies boston date has snuck up on me! i’m heading to boston next thursday for the meetup that night, august 14th, so if you haven’t rsvp’d yet just shoot me an email right here and bring a friend. we’d love to see you there- there will be free advice and tip sheets on PR/marketing, business/legal issues, wholesale/retail and a new category- using the internet and online marketing/social tools to advance your business. hope to see you there! (more info on the boston meetup right here)

when it comes to cool design girls, meg mateo ilasco is at the very tippity top of my list. aside from admiring all of the incredible books she’s published (most notably craft, inc. which is a must-buy for any biz lady) meg happens to be one of the most awesome girls around. she’s smart, she’s talented and most importantly- she keeps it real. she’ll be talking about her thoughts on running your own business, sharing some of her favorite stories from her experience and she’ll be sharing some great peeks into the desk-life of some of our favorite artists and designers. she has two posts coming today (one up now and one at 10am) so click here to check them out. welcome, meg! (image above from adorn magazine)

[if you missed meg’s delicious pasta recipe from a few weeks ago you can check it out right here- and her sneak peek from 2007 is right here]

last thursday our interns, christy and lesley, hopped in a zipcar with me and we headed to the hamptons for a quick two day work trip. i’ve wanted to film a little “webisode” for d*s for some time and we finally bit the bullet and decided to film some shop tours, a garden tour and an interview with a local designer. in addition, we’re building our d*s hampton guide and working on building a slideshow of some of the incredible furniture we saw. but before that’s all live i wanted to share a few of my favorite shots from last week- despite the torrential rain on thursday we had a great trip and can’t wait to share the roadtrip with you in a few weeks. [image above: beautiful yellow glasses at ruby beets. these were the one thing i wish i’d bought when i was there. they’re so lovely]

[image above: my favorite piece of the entire trip: an incredible (beyond-words) scandinavian wedding chandelier at dienst + dotter]

[image above: the curves on this table at dienst + dotter were gorgeous]

[image above: industrial mercury tubes at reuben. ps: reuben totally rules]

[image above: a turned white lamp base at ruby beets i wanted to smuggle home under my raincoat]

[image above: ok, i lied- there was another piece i wish i’d taken home. this milk glass pendant lamp from india was for sale at jed. it outside of my price range or it would have been riding home in the trunk with me- i’m obsessed with milk glass right now.]

[image above: i’m home! well, not really. this was one of the beautiful homes where we were fortunate enough to shoot an interview. can’t you imagine driving up to this every day? and having a glass of tea in those gorgeous yellow chairs on the back porch?]

[image above: fun decorating idea- balls of twine as decorative touches at dienst + dotter]

last week in san francisco i finally crossed paths with one of the bloggers i’ve always wanted to meet: maggie mason of mighty girl and mighty goods. in addition to being incredibly nice (and oh so much taller than me), maggie had some exciting news that she’s expanding her mighty-empire to include a new home site, launching today, called mighty haus. along with melissa summers, maggie will be focusing this new site on problem-solving home products and everyday lovelies. if you’re the type of blog reader who likes product without a lot of talk, you’re going to love mighty haus- maggie and co. are always so great at keeping things short and sweet. i’m excited to see the problem-solving home goods so i’m on my way to check things out now- click here to view the latest edition to maggie’s mighty-empire.

i’m still a little jet-lagged this morning but i am over-the-moon excited to welcome andrew wagner, editor-in-chief of american craft magazine, to the d*s guest blog! for those of you who aren’t familiar with andrew, prior to coming to american craft in late 2006, he was the executive editor and founding managing editor of dwell magazine. in 1997, wagner founded LIMN, an unorthodox design and arts magazine published by the equally unorthodox furniture and design company of the same name, and served as its editor-in-chief until 2000. wagner was also the founding editor of dodge city journal, a magazine dedicated to documenting life in america’s under-explored cities. as if all of that wasn’t cool enough, andrew has been a guest lecturer at schools across the country and has written for just about every design and architecture mag in the biz. i’m thrilled to welcome him to the d*s guest blog this week and i hope you’ll enjoy his posts. andrew has two posts today- one now and one at 12 so be sure to check back at 12 for the second! welcome, andrew!

i’m on a plane headed back to brooklyn now, but i just wanted to share some more images from last night’s fantastic show at rare device. one of the main reasons i went out was to support julia rothman and caitlin keegan- their work is so fantastic and it was awesome to see so many brooklyn (and park slope!) residents hanging out at rare device. i’ll have more next week but until then, have a great weekend! xo, grace. [image above: one of the temporary tattoos julia and caitlin brought for the show- they bunched up a bit but were super cute]

[tonight’s show had dress code- jumpsuits. i chickened out and didn’t wear mine but lisa and rena seriously ran with the theme- as did lisa’s dog]

[one of my favorite bloggers (and my host for the week), victoria of sfgirlbybay in front of julia’s work]

[julia’s biggest fan- her fiance matt]

[images above: julia rothman’s work and the front window of the show with mobiles by caitlin keegan]

my trip to san francisco has been fantastic (and warm!) so far and i just wanted to share a few scenes from the week before i post more tomorrow…..

[image above: hand-painted wooden apple boxes (with leather “stems”) i wish i’d bought at rare device. about $24 each by miss natalie]

[image above: julia setting up her incredible houses in the window of rare device, pre-show]

[image above: i love all of the hand-drawn details on julia’s houses. she also made stick-on tattoos for the opening tonight in her house patterns]

[image above: so clever- julia’s house doors double as a stand for the houses]

[image above: lovely succulents outside of a design firm next to pancake and franks in the mission]

[image above: breakfast (chocolate hazelnut and cheese danishes) at la boulange in hayes valley with julia]