Martha's NYC Dreamers into Doers Event

Last week, I was lucky enough to secure a spot at the 2011 Dreamers into Doers Event at the Martha Stewart Headquarters in Chelsea NYC. 

For those of you who don't know, Dreamers into Doers (DID) is an online network of female entrepreneurs who turned their passions and hobbies into a career.

It's a very supportive and inspiring group of ladies, some of whom I was so happy to finally meet!

We couldn't post our photos of the Martha offices (find those here) but let's just say it's exactly what you would expect - Clean, colorful, creative and ORGANIZED.

Like an amazing OCD dream.

Fancy Screws? Really? I love it.

The two-day workshop included great speakers like Senior Editor
Terri Trespicio from Whole Living Magazine. 

(You may have seen her on The Martha Show show last week!)

And Gael Towey, Chief Creative and Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO).

We were also treated to delicious lunches. And cake pops!

Danielle spoke from Etsy.com - a personal favorite website of mine. She was great!

So after some media training...

The moment we were all waiting for finally arrived...she arrived.

MARTHA!!!!

Martha spoke with Co-Founder and CEO of NY Stem Cell Foundation, Susan Solomon.

It was a very interesting interview about starting a non-profit and what obstacles Susan had to face in the beginning of her Foundation's journey. Pretty Cool.

I also met some wonderful women from various self-starter businesses like:

Jasmine of The Couture Cakery (another cakery in PA!)

Sarah De Jesus of the upcoming Dreamers Joy Events

Don't judge me on my flat hair - it was sleeting out, ok?

Marian Briscoe of Life on Paper -- Marian's currently upgrading her site so check back soon!

I also had the pleasure of meeting the adorable but camera-shy Carrie Harris of the

Sweet Spot Candy Bar and my fellow Jersey girl Heather Valentine from The Sewing Loft.

Such amazing talent under one roof was almost overwhelming!

The next morning we watched The Martha Stewart Show - live! 

I had been to a few tapings of the show in the past but never did Martha send a shout out like this! 

(fast forward to 2:12 minutes)

Such a beautiful and well-organized set.

She even answered our questions at the end of the show. So great!

The two-day DID event concluded with Sarah Casey, Food Editor for all of MSLO.

She was funny and knowledgable as she normally is on the show. 

Thanks to everyone at MSLO for putting together a great event. 

Do you have a dream you want to pursue further? I highly suggest joining the DID community! 

Tis' the Season for Gingerbread Houses

Last weekend, I was asked to compete in a Live Gingerbread House Decorating Contest hosted by the flagship Bloomingdale's store in New York City.

Even though I only got a few days notice, I didn't panic. We were allowed to bring only royal icing and an open mind -- so how much prep could I really do anyway? They supplied us with all of the materials, including the candy from their amazing holiday selection of sweets.

I realized all too late that it had been years since I've actually built a real gingerbread house. Not just decorated. BUILT.  Oh well, too late now.

As I started setting up in the Bloomies Culinary Kitchen on 6, my French competitor arrived but he wasn't alone. He had an assistant. 

I was instantly the underdog. 

(It's intimidating enough that Pierre works here)

We were then given sheets of thick homemade gingerbread, which I rarely see. It wasn't the thin hard variety that is wildely used, but rather a moist thick heavy bread. Delish! 

But would it stand on its own??

(I only have this small blurry post-competition photo of the gingerbread. Sorry!) 

Turns out...building gingerbread houses is like riding a bike.

A delicious spicy bike.

I got my house to stand up first - so one point for me!

But Pierre is French. So two points for him. 

(One for the accent and one for his lady assistant.)

We had an hour and a half to build and decorate our houses from top to bottom.

It was getting so hot in the kitchen with the lights and all the crazy shoppers standing right next to us (seriously, boundaries anyone?) so the royal icing was starting to melt which was challenging.

But, alas, I finished.

Mine was totally sloppy and not up to The Hudson Cakery standards. 

I didn't even complete the sides of the house!

But at least I used a lot of Bloomies candy within that *dramatic hour of competition.

Oh wait! I added icicles to the roof right before our time was up.

Cashews for the windows, gum drops for the trees and bushes, jellybeans for the front cobbled path, powdered sugar for snow and some red licorice for the "string of lights" on the roof.

I wish I had more pictures of the roof since it was detailed with royal icing lights and fun scalloped patterns. Sad Face.

Here are the houses side by side.

They were actually similar in style but his house was much cleaner-looking than mine. 

(I'm totally bringing a heard of interns next time)

Here are the judges carefully.....judging.

I won points for stability, use of product and creativity. 

They won points for size, design and creativity.

So it was declared.....a tie!

Which I'll gladly take. It was so much fun and I got to talk to a lot of friendly holiday shoppers, employees and friends. 

And thanks to my man for being the official Hudson Cakery photographer that day.

But I'll be back next year Bloomies...to go for a Gingerbread win! 

(Cue evil laugh)

*Dramatic = Actually quite friendly and overall stress-free. You were a great competitor Pierre!

Happy Holidays!!!