Oh my word… Austin was so much fun! The multi-talented artist/designer Alyson Fox. Twelve amazing women. Delicious food. And, this crazy beautiful house…

Gah! Alyson’s home is amazing, and we were so lucky that she offered to host GIRL CRUSH right there in her stunning glass living room. And yes, there is an outdoor shower… not that any of us used it… but we totally could have! We spent the morning getting down to the nitty gritty of our creative souls – things we love, things we want, things that scare the $#&% out of us. Side note: I cannot even tell you how shocked and amazed I always am by the caliber of women that attend GIRL CRUSH. This was the sixth one I’ve done and, as usual, my mouth dropped open as they introduced themselves: writers, photographers, teachers, painters, designers, “financial advisors” who may or may not be on the run from the FBI, and the list goes on.

As the girls were working on a few inner-critic assignments, Alyson, myself and Kelly {my invaluable helper for the weekend who happens to be the woman behind the fabulous blog, Design Crush} set up for lunch:

Best napkin bowl ever, right?! Well, it’s not really a napkin bowl, but we put napkins in it just so we could leave it out on the counter! Now, all of that talkin’ really works up an appetite, and so we feasted on an amazing lunch that included chick pea stew, roasted potatoes, smoked salmon, salad, and home made roasted-red pepper dip  … all of which was prepared by Alyson. Geesh, between her house, her artistic talent, and her cooking… my girl crush on Alyson just tripled!

So, after lunch we’re supposed to move on to making collages for the afternoon, but the conversation was SO GOOD, that we just kept on talking… but, of course, we took a mid-afternoon break for these bad boys:

YUM! Peanut Butter Cup (cake), French Toast with bacon, something that seemed like double chocolate with chocolate goo inside… oh my word, these were so good! The lovely ladies of Sugar Mama’s Bake Shop generously supplied these sweet treats for our afternoon tea party… and then, just like that, there were none left. Mmm. And as if a ton of sugar isn’t sweet enough, we also got a surprise visitor part way through the cupcake binge:

What?! Magda Seyag?! Yep, another of my favorite artists, who happens to be from Austin, heard that GIRL CRUSH was happening and asked if she could pop by. Um?… YES!! I have loved Magda’s knit-bombing work for years, so I was so excited to meet her. She didn’t miss a beat – she arrived, grabbed a cupcake, and dove right into her own stories of her creative journey – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

It was a fantastic day… a really really really full day. I schedule these events to be from 9am – 5pm… but in Austin, the last person said good-bye at 8:30pm, and it could have kept on going as far as I was concerned! To all of the women who were there – I am so happy to have met all of you, and cannot wait to see where your creative path leads you.

And Alyson. Oh my gosh… Alyson. Thank you for everything. All of your help in planning, hosting at your beautiful home, that crazy delicious lunch, all of the absolutely beautiful things {ink dish mug,“shade of red” book, baggu bag!} that you put into the gift bags, and all of the hilarious conversation before, during, and after the workshop. You’re amazing xo

And finally, thank you so much to Kathleen Shannon, and Kari Crowe who were not only fabulous attendees, but also really great photographers who took enough photos during the day to make this recap post possible! xoxo

{ps. A few of the women have written their own recaps, so if you’d like to see their take on the day, you can go here, here, or here!}