Bueller? ... Bueller?

I'm Bueller.

Missing in Action.

Totally enjoying my "day off".

 {via}

Cue fancy car, sunshine, and driving in a parade. I wish. I would go bonkers for some trickles of melting snow and more than a day above -10 C (oh, and clear sidewalks for the stroller would be jackpot).

But seriously, I haven't posted once in 2014 yet. Woopsie.

The thing is...I'm totally and uterly distracted and loving my time away from work with my little Mr. I have taken photos of him at each of his month-birthdays and have added notes to my phone with post ideas and even some blog text. I've been inspired by what I've seen on some recent trips to Homesense and I'm in search of a rug and coffee table for the living room, I've kept up cooking (and WON the Chatelaine cooking picture contest this month!)...

But actually posting? Not yet. And it's not because I don't have a second to myself, I do now...It's just that things are honestly swell, exciting, and fun at home.

So I'm here, reading blogs here and there, and thinking of blogging...but I can't actually say when I'll be back at it regularly. Until then pop by when you see me in your reader, and more importantly - follow me on Twitter and Instagram (@interiorgroupie) to keep updated!

My new toy {DSLR camera}

Christmas was good to me in many ways, and one of them was a hand-me-down DSLR camera from my dad!

Last year I made an effort to take better photos with my point and shoot camera. While I think it improved my photos a lot, point and shoots are just not as powerful (i.e. fancy) as full fledged DSLRs. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to get my hands on this fancy one.

But now...I have to learn how to use it! I've signed up for a course with Toronto's school board (Wednesday was my first class! I thought I might be in the wrong place when the instructor spent 10 minutes on how to get photos onto your computer, but then we were allowed to take out our cameras and "discover" them a little bit). 

There are many tips on Pinterest, but do you have any go to tips?  What's the best way to learn the basiscs?

InteriorGroupie turns 2!

Today marks 2 years that I've been blogging!

{via}

Happy Blogiversary, InteriorGroupie :)

Time flies...thanks for reading and following along the adventures for the past two years!

Featured: So Canadian, Eh?

I am SO excited to be featured over at Hodge Podge today!

I met Barbara when she attended Blog Podium back in May. It was so great to meet her in person (by the way, she's as nice as she seems on her blog. And, taller than I imagined!). I was excited to be able to put a real live face to the blog-name and get to know her a bit more.

If you don't already read her blog, you should. Among fantastic projects, and extraodinary pillow sewing talents, she also has a series called "So Canadian, Eh?". This series profiles fantsatic Canadian designers (like Tommy Smythe and Brian Gluckstein), and bloggers too. And today *I* am one of the lucky bloggers to be featured!!



Click over to see my post - and thank you to Barbara for featuring me!



BlogPodium2 - Recap

Can you believe the weekend is over already?? Sad, but it went by quickly for good reason - The second installment of Blog Podium took place this weekend and it was fantastic. As I mentioned in my Friday post, I was prettttyyyy excited for this little event. Well, not so little actually - there were about 200 very well-heeled, friendly, and inspirational bloggers there!

The keynote speaker, Nicole Balch from Making It Lovely was excellent. Do you read her blog? She was here as a keynote for good reason - her blog is pretty kick ass. Hearing her speak about how she turned her blog into a business, and be so open about her thoughts on advertising, sponsored posts, and in-kind sponsorships was excellent.

Photo via BlogPodium

Following Nicole's keynote we had a super-star panel, a mix of industry reps and bloggers. It was great to get insight from the industry reps regarding what they seek from blogger partnerships, and fantastic to hear the candid lessons learned and advice from bloggers Lindsay (Little House Blog) and Christine (Bijou and Boheme).

Photo via: Mango Studios

Here are a few photos of the gorgeous event space, the recently renovated Arcadian Loft in downtown Toronto:

photo via BlogPodium

centrepieces by We Create Hoopla; photo via BlogPodium

And of course, after all that "learning" we got to have some fun - mingling with the sponsors and of course the bloggers. 

Photo via BlogPodium

West Elm table, photo via BlogPodium

Indigo Table; photo via MangoStudios

GlucksteinHome table, via MangoStudios

Photo via MangoStudios: Barbara from HodgePodge, Lindsay from Little House Blog (and BlogPodium co-chair), Jen from Rambling Renovators (and BlogPodium co-chair) and Nancy from Marcus Design.

Barbara and Nancy won an AYA Kitchen contest and were flown here from Vancouver to attend Blog Podium! I can't wait to hear their take on the whirlwind trip to Toronto. They were both absolutely lovely, and their blogs are some of my regular reads. It was fantastic meeting them face to face and spending some time with them after the event!

I enjoyes meeting so many people this time around - impossible to name them all, but some that stand out are Emily-Jane from Not a House but a Home, who knows my neighbourhood like the back of her hand, and my fridge-twin Jeanette from This Dusty House - we learned we live only a few blocks away from each other! The things you learn when you meet people in person... Catching up with some of my favourite bloggers and some new-to-me bloggers was definitely a huge part of the fun. To top it all off, we got a BlogPodium book with mini bio's of all the attendees, so I have a number of new blogs to check out!

HomeSense sponsored a funny photo booth - this is one of my faves:

 via MangoStudios (click here for more hilarity) - this is Lindsey from Recreated, me, and Meaghan from Row House Nest

After mild what-to-wear stress, I put together an outfit from things I already owned (gasp! I know...)

A huge thank you to all of the people who put work into BlogPodium, the sponsors, and for all of the attendees I got to meet!