Happy (end of) Monday! 

I had such a wild and woolly weekend.  I flew to Los Angeles on Thursday, my first time there since I was 16.  That’s another wild and woolly story for another day though.  This time I went up for the Total Beauty Blog Summit, from Thursday through late Sunday night when I finally crawled off the airplane.  I have been a wreck of catching up on emails and home duties today (dogs, cats, kittens, puppies, children, laundry - oy!) - let it suffice to say, I neither feel, nor look so lovely today.

We had THE most amazing time.  I can’t even begin to tell you all of it!  We met some amazing people from some amazing companies representing some amazing beauty and health brands.   I met some of my old and dear beauty blogging friends, and met a giant slew of new folks as well.  We had some very good speakers and workshops - I did my first (and hopefully only!  lol) speaking engagement, which went well mostly because it immediately turned in to a Q & A session, which was just fine with me.  Sooooo much easier to answer questions than try to rattle off a written program.  And my session was about all things SEO, social media and geekery, and sadly, I could talk about that stuff forever. 

So a big shout out and a huge THANK YOU to everyone - all the Total Beauty bloggers (have you entered their Totally Green sweepstakes yet - if not, check it out - they are doing some really great things over there), Kristen, Emrah and the other gracious hosts from Total Beauty - and Don, Adam, Kristin and all of the other unbelievably gracious folks from Intelligent Beauty, who hosted us wild women for the weekend in their offices (their VERY chic offices!).  That is an amazing company, representing some amazing brands.  I look forward to picking their brains in the near future!

Thanks to everyone, and I hope I will be back on the regular beautilicious blogging schedule very very soon - and will be telling you about all the nifty brands I learned about this weekend!  But for now, the zombie must rest.  Hope you had a great Monday! xox

Image:  The beautiful Ellen, Teri and then there is me.   (c) 2008 - Christina Jones

Really, since you all know I am not one of these esoteric fashionista types who can analyze fashion down to the nth degree, the most exciting thing I had planned during Fashion Week (besides finally getting to meet so many of my blogging friends, of course!!) was an invite to the “Project Runway Designer” show.  Until mid week, after that weeks PR show, it was unannounced which designer it was going to be.  I had a gut feeling it was going to be Victorya, my least favorite of the remaining designers, then when she got voted off, I was in great hopes that it was going to be one of the remaining 6, but of course, it wound up being Victorya.  My gut rarely is wrong.  But that’s ok, I was still truly thrilled and so honored to be there.  Running around pre-show was Jay McCarroll (first season PR winner), Christian, Jack and Elisa from this season.  It was tons of fun just to watch them - people watching is one of my favorite things to do.  I’m not really keen on trying to get to talk to these folks, as I’m not sure what they have to say that is altogether interesting or useful to know or share (is that bad??), but I do really enjoy just staying in the background and watching.  Everyone was having a ball and there was an energy in that room that was just wonderful.  I can’t tell you how much I love Project Runway, I truly think its the best show on television, and I have the greatest respect for anyone who can compete at that level, no matter how far they make it. 

IMO, Victorya’s collection was ok - not my favorite, but certainly not the worst. I do like the solid colors, the strong use of black (who doesn’t love that?), and the models had beautiful makeup - not too natural, not too overdone.  I wasn’t crazy about the number of cummerbunds she was showing, but really other than that, it was a nice collection, and a really fun show.  I do wish Victorya had made a run around the catwalk though, rather than just peeking out from backstage at the end.  Seeing the designers is a great part of a show, IMO.  Here are a couple of key looks from the collection:

So after the show, instead of going to the after-party, we had a date at Koi with a whole slew of beauty bloggers who I couldn’t wait to meet - sponsored by Total Beauty.  Koi was amazing, it was absolutely incredible to meet some of my online friends, and get to know the folks behind Total Beauty a little bit better.  For me Fashion Week was definitely about meeting the people I love.  The dinner was sponsored by Aveda, a line that I haven’t used since I got out of the day spa business quite a few years back, but is still wonderful, natural, and very eco-friendly.  And everything they make smells incredible.  So thanks to Total Beauty and Aveda for a wonderful night out!