Back in 2007 when I started the Material Girls blog, there weren’t a ton of design blogs on the scene just yet and my blogroll included friends that I considered the group of “early adopters”.  It’s funny how I can still remember exactly who those bloggers were.   We all bonded over a shared love for interior design and the blogging platform, Blogger.   One of the first people I remember “meeting” was Franki Durbin of Life in a Venti Cup.

Back then, she lived in St. Louis, so our communication was limited to emails and back-and-forth blog post commenting.  Though we had never met, I’d always imagined Franki would be just as fabulous, fun and stylish in person, as the voice behind her blog.  And guess what? I was right.

{Franki’s original blog header when she first started blogging}

What a nice surprise it was, to receive an email from her a few weeks ago telling me that she had recently moved to Dallas, was practicing interior design also, and had an idea for a new series on her blog, called “Show Me Your Dallas”.  The idea was for her to meet up with different bloggers from the Dallas area and have them “show her their Dallas”.  If there is one thing that I love, it’s exposing friends to all of the hidden gems that Dallas has to offer.  Of course I agreed to Franki’s proposal right away and got started planning our day of shopping!

I couldn’t wait to meet her and find out who the woman was behind the Venti-

You can read about our whole shopping excursion HERE in Franki’s new blog post feature- Show Me Your Dallas!  Also, our day of fun is “to be continued” on her blog site tomorrow, so be sure to check back for more shopping fun!

The picture above of Franki and I was taken at one of my favorite showrooms in the Design District, Leslie Taylor.  I was first introduced to the showroom through fellow blogger/designer, Abbe Fenimore, of Studio Ten 25.  She had cited it as one of her favorite places to get overscale abstract art (and since Abbe’s design aesthetic is similar to my own, I knew I’d love LT).  Franki quickly became equally obsessed with it too!  We snapped some pics of their vignettes yesterday to show you how gorgeous everything in there is. If you are a designer who is planning a trip to Dallas, it’s definitely a must-see!

I’ll take one of everything please!  And if Franki’s hubbie is reading this, she would like a Neiman Marcus Pop Up Book and a mirrored table from Leslie Taylor for Christmas 😉