on friday, becky novacek and i roadtripped to des moines to visit the bhg scrapbooks etc offices. that's the original meredith building above - built to house the first magazines about a hunderd years ago. it's now connected to another more modern building - things have expanded a little in all that time.
it was like the COOLEST creative field trip i've ever been on. as the day went on, i just got more and more amped up about paper + glue.
michelle rubin picked us up at the front desk and then proceeded to blow our minds with a tour of the buildings. there are a LOT of magazines headquartered there, including better homes and gardens, renovation style, traditional home, parents, family circle (etc etc etc). we saw where the test kitchens for BHG were - and there were some DIVINE smells in that hallway. we saw their show kitchen and test garden. but my absolute favorite part? the photography studio. it's huge, with little alcoves with sets in them everywhere. all this is surrounded by props galore - rooms filled with rolling pins and vases and plates and bowls arranged by color and furniture and just about anything you can think of. it was a little mind boggling!
up in the scrapbooks etc area, we got to see the august issue all mocked up. the pages are printed and hung on the wall for a final approval before it goes to press. it's a good issue. ;)
after getting to see all the inner workings and meets lots of the behind the scenes magicians, we headed out for lunch with some of the people behind SBE and the BHG creative collection pubs. it was a great chance to meet some amazing women. as if that wasn't good enough, michelle took us to two super cute stores - ephemera and domestica, before we headed back to the office. both places were filled with eye candy - i walked out with some cool arrow clips and a couple of prints.
we ended the day by meeting with the project life group they have in their office - they try to get together monthly to work on their albums. how cool is that to have a built in support group? i shared some ideas that will hopefully make PLing a little easier for them, and becky gave them some awesome photo tips. it was so inspiring to see how they're all coming at project life from their own angle, and it made me want to get home to work on my own book!
becky and i left feeling totally recharged creatively - and our day still wasn't over. we stopped at an amazing little vintage shop - rescued junk - on the way home. it's typically open one weekend a month, but we got an email earlier in the week that they'd also be open that friday. i did a lot of balancing "OMG I WANT" with practicality (the red lockers? a boy would totally lock another boy inside those), and came home with a new stool for my workspace and a cool fan. and a bit of an obsession about a piece that isn't pictured here. like, thought about it all weekend.
and guess what? it's going to be mine. =) i just heard back from the shop owner w/ the dimensions and it wwill work perfectly in my room. now to figure out the details of getting it from there to here. i.am.GIDDY.
there is so much about the day that i can't even put into words - it was just an amazing experience. an amazing place, amazing people, amazing energy - and an amazing road trip partner. ;) i think the positive energy from that day will carry me for a while!
happy monday! =)
