I'M BLOWING INTO CHICAGO APRIL 18th FOR THE BOTANIC GARDEN ANTIQUES AND GARDEN FAIR

Photos courtesy of Chicago Botanic Garden

All this chatter about spring really has me excited for it. One way I can force it's arrival is by surrounding myself with as many flowers and greenery as I can. The opportunity to do just that is on my horizon, as I head to Chicago April 18th for the Chicago Botanic Garden Antiques and Garden Show. I have been asked, along with other bloggers I adore and always learn from-- Peak of Chic's Jennifer Boles and EEE's Emily Evans Eerdmans-- to participate in Living with Color: Style Bloggers’ Musings on Super-Chic Living panel, moderated by the one and only Julia Reed. Girl power will be in the house, and so will Honorary Chair Michael S. Smith talking on his new May 2013 book, Building Beauty, and Charlottesville, Va-based classical landscape designer Charles Stick. A pretty stellar line up to be sure, so I am looking forward to learning from the greats. But lest we forget the shopping to be had, as antique dealers, garden statuary and home accessories fill the rows of aisles with garden-themed ephemera old and new.

The lectures will occur at the Alsdorf Auditorium in the Regenstein Center:

Friday April 19th:

11am- "Building Beauty", Michael S. Smith

Saturday April 20th:

11am- "Looking at Gardens", Charles Stick

2pm- "Blogger Style Panel Living with Color: Style Bloggers’ Musings on Super-Chic Living" with The Peak of Chic’s Jennifer Boles, Stylebeat’s Marisa Marcantonio, and design historian Emily Evans Eerdmans. The moderator of this discussion will be the delightful Julia Reed,  contributing editor at Garden and Gun and Elle Decor and the Wall Street Journal in addition to author of four books, including the upcoming "But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria: Adventures in Eating, Drinking, and Making Merry." The dialogue is sure to inspire your design senses as each of these women discusses her unique viewpoint on living and entertaining with style, including favorite finds for the home

Sunday April 21st:
11am- "From The Ground Up" by The Organic Gardener Ltd. founder and consultant Jeanne Pinsof Nolan 

For tickets and to learn more, click here. If you find yourself in Chi Town or a neighboring suburb, I hope  you will come for the weekend, to hear, learn and see everything the stunning Botanic Garden has to offer for this, the 13th year of the Antiques and Garden Fair. Just think, maybe spring will be here by then. Looking forward to seeing your friendly face in the audience!