Grace Bonney is a superstar blogger. Her blog, Design Sponge is one of THE most popular

 and one of the blogs that I have been following the longest. I preordered her {long awaited} just

released book a while ago and I waited impatiently for it to show up for weeks. When I got back

 from vacation, guess what was waiting for me on my doorstep...

All of the hype is totally justified. This is a fantastic thick book full of the beautiful interiors of folks

 we have come to know through Grace’s blog. But it’s not just featured homes, it also includes the resources of where to buy what is featured, super easy to understand how-to’s which include

 the levels of difficulty and moneys involved in the completion of the how-to’s, flower

arrangements inspired by the featured rooms, before and afters… 

I have poured over this book.

If you haven’t bought your own copy, then I highly recommend it. And, if you are more

patient than me, then you can meet me here {in Asheville!} next month, buy it and have

 it signed by Grace herself.

Are you guys familiar with the 3/50 project? If not, let me ‘splain it to you real fast like:

Awesome, right? Our downtown adopted this campaign right after it started about

2 ½ years ago. It’s a pretty simple idea with huge impact. How did it get started?

With a blog post, of course.

Said blog is Always Upwards. Smarty pants behind the blog, as well as the

3/50 project--Cinda Baxter. Let's enjoy Cinda's post from yesterday, shall we:

Our Monterey hotel room couldn't have been closer to the blue California waters.  

Monterey is a long way from my home in the NC mountains. But, just a hop,

skip and a jump outside of our hotel, I was excited to find my people. How I

lurve to find local artists.

Loved this mural on the waters edge.

We spent a good part of the afternoon enjoying the beauty that the Monterey Aquarium provided. 

And I'll be darned if my people weren't at the aquarium, too!

How beautiful is this plastic bottle art display?

Outside offered us just as much beauty as we strolled by the storeowners stunning flowers.

After our shopping, we took in the scenic '17 Mile Drive'. This is the stretch between Pacific

Grove and Caramel that is full of golf courses and enormous homes.

I had to stop and grab this photo for my {golfer} dad. Notice that the picture above of the Lone Cypress is the logo {in the circle below} for the prestigious Pebble Beach.  

I'm not sure I can explain how many deer were on this course and the surrounding golf courses. It was unreal.

We finished our day off at a fabulous dinner at the Chart House. If you are in the area, I highly recommend.

See the adorable pajama pants on the birthday girl--Wendy's mom made each guest a pair!!

For the one or two of you who aren’t familiar with Wendy’s blog, Wendy is Bella’s superstar

mom who is not only a popular photographer, but, a crazy-talented party planner.

Wendy made each girl their own tent and personalized them with an initial pillow from YelliKelli  

You might remember Bella’s 7th birthday party that I posted about here. It was a pretty unbelievable

Up Party. When Wendy said she was preparing for #8 on FB last week, I didn’t think it was possible

 for her to deliver an equally fabulous celebration for this years shindig. Um, guess I was wrong.

I have 363 days to try to get my name on Bella’s guest list for 2012.

To see more pictures and get all the info on vendors, check out Wendy’s blog.