ONE WEEK AGO…

almost exactly to the minute….I was strolling down Melrose , in West Hollywood, (Los Angeles…)

looking for Nathan Turner’s store. West Hollywood, where Melrose is located is Design Lover’s Heaven…One amazing busniess after another, textiles, antiques, lighting, accessories…eye candy and beautiful things, wonderful unique perfectly FANTASTIC things!!!

 I kept getting double takes because I could not wipe the BIG cheesy smile off my face…. I was so happy…I was  Home!

I kept wandering into store after store…Mecox, Hollywood at Home – One and Two,  Hollyhock,…I had to remind myself to stay on track…that I had a mission. To Get to Nathan Turner’s store.

I had imagined this moment so many times…meeting him, seeing the dogs;  Daisy and Nacho, and just catching up on old times… Nathan and I go way back…way back…to  JUNE 2012. This was when I,  in a moment of total and complete Designer Worship, sent him paintings of his two beloved dogs:

Daisy and Nacho.

I promise, I do not make a habit of stalking “stars”.. First of all….as you already know, I am not that good at Twitter. But I have followed Nathan’s and his design for a while now and I could not help but notice that…. in every interview, in nearly all of his tweets and in articles and blog posts written about him…the topic at hand was usually his DOGS FIRST…then His Home and his Life, then Design. He is so very gifted…but I do believe he has his priorities straight. He inspires me and he is who I hope to be when I grow up! I love that Design found him…but it does not surprise me….HE IS HIS DESIGN. He exudes the All AMerican charm and ease which epitomizes his Design…He is comfortable and relaxed…but I am getting ahead of myself…

So I moseyed down La Cienega (TONS OF DESIGN STORES) and took a right onto Melrose…I knew I was close…and then I saw one of my Design Blogger Buddies, “Pebbles” (great name!) coming out of a store…

I said to Pebbles, ‘I think I went too far…I must have passed it…I am looking for Nathan’s store.” ….and she said, pointing into the shop from whence  she had just emerged.. …

” You are HERE!!!This is IT!!!”

She had just come out fo his store!!!! I could see him through the window, talking to my New Friend Holly who is an interior designer from Charlotte and who has AMAZING STYLE!!! Everything about Holly is stylish…including her name: Holly Hollingsworth Phillips…and I plan to do a WHOLE post on Stylish Holly, later.  She and Nathan go way back, even further than me and they were in there just gabbing away.

Talking Design and such.

I walked in…I think the bell jingled, maybe not, maybe it was me, and immediately Nathan knew who I was…and he came over and gave me the biggest HUG!!!

Like I said, I don’t usually get star struck…and I was NOT star struck…I was just so happy to be there with Nathan in his big Navy and White buffalo check shirt and wrinkled blue khakis…He was exactly as I pictured he would be…He let me sit down to get my knees to stop shaking .

He told Holly and his assistant about the paintings and  brought them out to show them.Nacho loved his.

 Holly left and then we talked and talked …about my life… the kids, I told him how Tate is now the Soccer team Captain and he told me about his 2 brothers, and how his Mom could not seem feed them enough…and we laughed about a certain someone in my house getting caught eating Jello with his hands, while standing IN the refrigerator…and we of course talked about our Dogs and I showed him pictures of my sweet Charlie and told the story of how he saved my life  and how last summer he had to wear a funny collar…

…and Nathan laughed and told me that Daisy had to wear one too…

We talked about Sweet Daisy, who at 14 is quite old for a Yellow Lab, a testament to his tender care. Daisy loved me taking her picture, but she said,

“You won’t mind if I don’t get up?”

…and Nacho who gave me the full tour, made sure I was all settled in and then went to go lie with his belly flat on the cool wood floor.