as we were flying over new york…our plane preparing to land, it all seemed very surreal. NEW YORK?! we’re about to land in new york city? land of lady liberty, central park (hellllllo, friends (ross, rachel, & the gang at central perk), the empire state building, brooklyn bridge, carrie bradshaw, trump tower), and ….. well, of course i could go on and on.

we’ve crossed many a dirtroad, backroad, and small town…but we’ve never been to new york. and there we were….about to land…. in NEW YORK.

NEW YORK CITY.

{our view from the plane. helllllllo big apple}

once we landed and were headed downtown to our hotel, we saw this….

{yep, i'll take this as a good sign}

that’s right, God put this big ole double rainbow right over NY as we were headed to our hotel. AND, as if it couldn’t get any better…our hotel room looked right out at what we THOUGHT was the EMpiRE STATE BUILDING and later learned was the chrysler building. (thanks suzy!;) we’re NY virgins) a whole lot of awesomeness.

the next morning…we were shuttled off to 30 ROCK!!! yes, i just typed that….here, let me type it again… 30 ROCK.

with the courage of a jillion of y’all behind us, we quietly walked down a busy new york street. in our holey jeans and cowboy boots with a zillion butterflies in our stomachs…

as one of our long time friends and facebookers posted: “bring the holey jeans, girls. BRING it!”

we were amazingly honored (and NERVOUS!!:)) to be on the TODAY SHOW with hoda & kathie lee. we were invited to chat about how to make money from home…but of course, with hoda & kathie lee, everything is pretty impromptu and from what we had been told, you just never know what they’re going to say or do. and yes, this fact i think made both of us EVEN more nervous. so after a “go team” pep talk from our good friend, bobbie thomas, and with knees knocking and hands sweaty…we were LIVE…

seriously…2 of these nicest ladies everrrrrrr. they were amazing and sweet and kind and funny and they did everything they could to make us feel at ease…we both managed to not stutter, fall off of our stools, or do something otherwise mortifying and embarassing. 

in case you missed the segment and want to catch it…click here! AND thank y’all for all of the amazing tweets, emails, & fb posts of support!!! y’all are our red bull!

after our first ever live TV debut, we quickly loaded up in the car and headed for the airport nashville bound.

and although we didn’t get even a small glimpse of LADY LiBERTY in NEW YORK…

{the DOLLY of LiBERTY at the COUNTRY MUSIC HaLL of FAME}

we did see DOLLY parton posing as the statue of liberty in nashville at the country music hall of fame…(but that’s a whole separate blog). 

we were asked to decorate ‘the HOOK up’ in ‘the LODGE’. the LODGE was the brainchild of HGTV/GAC …a super swanky presence at CMA FEST located smack dab in FAN ALLEY.

{shout out 2 our brother from another mother, cody bennett for this shot!}

the LODGE hosted superstar performances (we’re talkin little big town, thompson square, gary allan, scotty mccreery, kix brooks…the list goes on and on…), a WHITE ROOM CHALLENGE space (where your fave design stars themed out the space inspired by their fave country songs), ICE MY CUP in honor of vanilla ice (a moment of silence here please), a photobooth, AND the HOOK UP (decorated by yours truly)…a place to charge your phones and check out scripps networks ipad apps.

{photo credit: hgtv}

the highlight of our trip was getting to meet all of you crazy & excited fest goers that were stopping by…as we walked up the first day, we never dreamed there would be a LINE of junk gypsy viewers/customers/friends waiting to say hi! it was sooo great meeting and visiting with everybody!!!

{photo credit: hgtv}

we ran into our good friends, the PRopERTY BROTHERS…

{rockin our rap star moves with the property BROthERS & LOVE + THEFT}

josh johnson, & emily henderson…hung out at the CMT awards after-party with miranda & the pistol annies…& made lots of new friends…including LOVE + THEFT (above), nan kelley of GAC…

be sure to watch GAC’s top 20 countdown this FRIDAY at 8pm EST for all of nan’s interviews at CMA fest (including us!!).

chris lambton of GOING YARD & his new wife peyton…

and yesssss…possibly the biggest moment of. MY. LIFE.

VANILLA ICE…

{pretending we're rockstars in the scripps suite at LP field}

seriously y’all…i am a child of the 80′s-90′s. back in the days of using a hair dryer and hair spray simultaneously on your bangs in order to make them stick straight up, back when you layered your SOCKS, back in the days of A FEW GOOD MEN (you WANT me on that line! you NEED me on that line!). back in the days of MC HAMMER, baggy britches & STOP. COLLABORATE. & LISTEN. 

it was a moment when i asked myself…how did this happen? how am i HERE with VANILLA ICE?? (um, ‘scuse me…i meant rob… now that we’re like buds and all)…

did JUNK bring me here? yes, why yes it did.

JUNK BROUGHT ME HERE.

junk brought me here…with my family. with VANILLA freakin’ ICE.

all for the LOVE of junk. AMEN.

SXSW. one of the largest outdoor music festivals in the world. appropriately held in the live music capitol of the world…austin, texas. folks travel from near and far to attend SXSW…celebrities, rock stars, and media moguls. and this year, HGTV rocked the fest.

{presenting the studio by HGTV..art by you}

and when HGTV comes to town, they bring their A-game…

hosting their own venue…the STuDIO by hgtv…decorated by THE NOVOGRATZ…and featuring a stellar lineup of musicians.

and WE were invited to chill with our new buds, the property brothers…

{chillin in the STuDIO by hgtv...decorated by THE NOVOGRATZ}

we made good use of the photobooth…

as rod stewart says, some guys have all the luck…

{showin drew some love...}

we graffiti’d…

{JG hearts HGTV}

we met some of the awesomely awesome geniouses behind the heart & soul at HGTV…

{bigggg hello to robyn & denise ...HGTV superheroes!!}

we made darn sure we weren’t grouchy or irritable when we grabbed some tacos down the road from the STUDIO…

{seriously y'all. don't be a hater}

 and saw austin as we’ve never seen it before…

{austin + approximately 300K people}

 and that’s the way HGTV rolls…

*thanks to sarah wilson & HGTV for all the awesome pics!

we’re back on southern soil. back from our little rendezvous on the west coast…

here’s a bit about our travels…as captured from my iphone…

{just landed at LAX}

 first things first. a visit to rachel ashwell’s original store on montana street…

{a little piece of fluffy heaven at rachel ashwell shabby chic couture}

we had a wild & rowdy shabby chic/junk gypsy slumber party at rachel ashwell’s famous house…and i had not ONE, but TWO proper cups of english-style tea!

and then it was time to get to work for HGTV! look out world, junk is comin to town!

{we felt so officially tv-ish with the presence of the clapper thing!}

they even built a ‘junk store’ set for us! and yes, you do see a crock pot on a pedestal. HGTV did that just for us. :) classssssy.

{because junk is a girls best friend}

on set with the property brothers…

{jonathon & drew scott. aka: the property brothers (and yes, drew is holding an orange burlesque-style feather fan..look out girls!)}

{texas, here we come}

{friendly cowboys. GoD bless TeXAS}

{hello, home}

{progress!! corrugated tin salvaged from a texas harbor}