BlogTour Vegas: The People and Places

Hi everyone!  I am back from a wonderful few days spent in Vegas as part of a Blog Tour (#blogtourVegas) which took place from Sunday, February 2nd to Thursday, February 6th.  And what a week it was! There will be quite a few posts forthcoming about products and what’s new in the world of kitchens and baths. 

 

This post is about the “people and places” – where we stayed, where we ate and who I met. It’s a journal of sorts as I want to remember it all and give credit to the people/brands that contributed to this amazing experience.  It’s a long post, so bear with me!

I flew in with Meredith and Christine (see links to everyone at the end of the post) and we were met at the airport by a limo with champagne, no less. Off to a fun start!

We stayed at the beautiful and luxe Cosmopolitan Hotel. I would highly recommend it.  This is their Chandelier bar where we spent some time until dinner as our rooms weren’t ready:

The Canadian trio in the bar:

The view from my room:

And a view of the Bellagio fountains at night:

We had a wonderful dinner at the Comme Ça restaurant in the hotel.  It was so nice to finally meet the other bloggers and Veronika Miller of Modenus, the creator/connector/mastermind behind all of the BlogTours.  The view of the city at night from the restaurant was spectacular. (I was having such a great time that I didn’t snap any photos. There are a  few silly ones out there but they are  not blogworthy – ha!)

(photo courtesy of Leanne)

 

I don’t remember what I was saying here but obviously I should take my stand up comic routine on the road:

 

 

Photo: Chasen West

 

And my room was similar to this one:

 

(photo courtesy of Rita)

 

On Monday, the inaugural Modenus Talks happened where we, along with other designers and people and brands in the kitchen and bath industry worked in teams on a design challenge and business challenge.

 

Designing a 750 sq’ space with specific parameters with talented designers was fun and challenging:

 

And our team won the challenge – yay!:

 

(photo courtesy of Stacy)

 

For the business challenge we had to brainstorm requirements for a successful business for a recent Interior Design grad in the areas of management, marketing and technology. The ideas were flowing and we had lots of discussion around the topic. Again, our team won!

 

 

Thanks to our generous Modenus Talks sponsors: Walker Zanger, 20/20 Technologies, Blanco and Mr. Steam.

In the evening we attended the Poggenpohl and Subzero-Wolf progressive cocktail party at the exclusive Mandarin Oriental Penthouses.  The three suites ranged in size from 2800 – 4,000 sq’ – talk about living large!

 

With Cristin, Christine and Sarah:

 

 

And this is what we were really doing when not posing – tweeting, IG’ing etc!  (Yes, we were sitting on low, loungey futon-like sofas – trés cool!) And we ate the most delicious food including the best risotto I have ever tasted.

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we attended KBIS (THE Kitchen and Bath Industry Show) to see what’s new with the BlogTour sponsors as well as with the other exhibitors.

 

I’m guessing Pink Panther is the KBIS mascot! Photo: Chasen West

We started off by seeing some of the brands/products that were up for the Best of KBIS and the Innovative Booth awards as we were the judges:

 

Then we were off to a Champagne and Cupcakes event at the Electrolux booth – so fun (although it doesn't look like I'm having fun in the photo - I take the worse photos!!):

 

  photo courtesy of Flo (Veronika’s daughter and an integral part of the tour, to my right)

There was so much to see at the show but I think Christine and I saw everything we wanted to including the Cambria booth (more on that soon) where we ran into our honorary Canadian friend Summer:

 

 

Have you caught on to the Waterlogue app addiction yet? Everything looks better in Waterlogue, including me – ha!

There was so much to see at KBIS and I highly recommend attending if you are a designer.  (Update:  Read my article for hgtv.ca on what I loved at KBIS.)

 

Then we were whisked away for a tour of the Walker Zanger showroom where we met Canadian expat John (left), Branch Manager and Jared (VP, Design & Marketing). Read my previous post here and stay tuned for more on their new products. So beautiful!

 

Then on Tuesday evening we had a dinner at the M resort sponsored by our lovely host, Blanco. Christine and I sat in a booth with JB and Rita and had great conversation as well as the most delicious food. This is the only not-so-great photo I have of the night as we were headed out:

 

And one of the most fun times was when nine of us rented a “party bus” complete with music and video screens when the taxi line was too long after our last day at KBIS. Too much fun and there may or not be a video clip on my Instagram feed of said shenanigans.

 

Trying out my duck face! :) (photo courtesy of Carmen who seemed to capture some stellar BlogTour moments)

Then we had the most delicious and “fancy” lunch at Mario Batali’s Carnevino in the Palazzo hotel, sponsored by Toto (more on them in another post):

 

 

 

On our last night, Christine and I decided to see Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE, Beatles show and it was spectacular.

 

And finally, it was so lovely to meet “Mrs. Steam”, Martha, of luxe brand Mr. Steam. I had heard so much about her and we met up with her at various times throughout BlogTour. She also sponsored our last breakfast and spa treatments at Aria (we had to catch a flight so couldn’t take part in the spa part, unfortunately.)

 

 

It was so great getting to know the #blogtourVegas bloggers. I had met some before but most I had never met – such a warm and welcoming bunch!

• JB Bartkowiak, Editor, Building Moxie
• Cristin Bisbee Priest, Interior Designer, Simplified Bee
• Rita Catinella Orrell, Design Journalist, Designy Things + Architects-Toybox
• Carmen Christensen, Interior Designer, Time2Design
• Christine Da Costa, Designer, Decor by Christine
• Meredith Heron, Interior Designer, Meredith Heron Design
• Grace and Ken Kelly, Owners of Kitchen Designs by Ken Kelly 
• Rhonda Knoche, Designer, Rhonda Knoche Design
• Lisa Mende, Interior Designer, Lisa Mende Design
• Stacy Naquin, Interior Designer, Stacy Naquin Interiors
• Tina Ramchandani, Interior Designer, Franklin Eighth
• Marilyn G. Russell, Interior Designer, Design Magnifique, Inc.
• Sarah Sarna, Interior Designer, Franklin Eighth

And there you have it! A little peek into the “people + places” of Blogtour Vegas. Stay tuned for upcoming posts on our sponsors and what I loved at KBIS. And go here to read a recent post by Veronika with some amazing photos by Chasen. And go to the BlogTour Vegas page to see updates from all the bloggers. I am so honoured to have taken part in this and can now call myself a BlogTour alumni.

 

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Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!