I have been doing a lot of furniture shopping. When I decided I was ready to purchase a sofa, I had no idea how dismal the selection would be. Stores dedicated to furniture usually come with pushy sales people named Ron who will follow you from floor to floor, trying to talk you into a leather recliner with built-in cup holders. For a much more relaxing (and less expensive) experience, I’ve turned to Etsy for furniture inspired accessories. My favorite find is definitively this amazing brooch from TillyBloom.

It’s the sofa for which I wish had a formally decorated parlor. Tilly Bloom’s curious jewelry features everything from necklace and earrings to cuff links and bobby pins. I love a good vintage engraving and this shop has a perfect selection.

We thought it would be silly to go all the way to Barcelona only to be inside a tradeshow the whole time, so we made sure to take a day off for some good old fashioned sight-seeing. First stop: La Sagrada Familia, the famous cathedral designed by architect Antoni Gaudí.

Looking up. Note the cranes: construction started in 1882 and is expected to still take another 20 years!

Inside the main hall.

His work is unlike anything I’ve ever seen! It somehow manages to still look new and exciting, even after a century. Our next destination, Park Güell, is another incredible Gaudí creation.

One of the buildings at the park entrance.

The view from the top of the park: you can see the cathedral in the distance and, beyond that, the shores of the Mediterranean.

From the park, we traveled back into the heart of the city and visited La Boqueria, Barcelona’s famous outdoor market.

Just a sample of the delicious-ness to be had!

Fresh seafood, vibrant fruit, bright gummy candy in every flavor and shape imaginable, and so much more (even whole rabbits… ewww), La Boqueria is chock full of edible eye candy. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to shop there everyday; the sights and sounds are almost overwhelming.

After a quick bite to eat (how could we not?), we headed down to see the Mediterranean.

It really doesn’t get any better than that.

For more, check out our Flickr!

After a nearly-missed flight and a hurried sprint through the Barcelona airport that served to remind me just how much I need to start working out again, we’ve finally made it back home to Pittsburgh. Sorry for the lack of news in the past week; our hotel’s wireless internet became quite temperamental and we were barely able to stay online long enough to check email. In any case, the Bread and Butter tradeshow was a huge success! We found lots of exciting new brands, most of which have never been sold in the US before. Unfortunately, most of the items won’t be coming in until Fall and Winter, so you’ll have to wait a while to see them. That’s one of the toughest things about being a buyer: having to wait (sometimes close to a year!) to wear your fabulous finds.

So back to Bread and Butter. In case you don’t know, a fashion tradeshow is a big event (usually in a convention center or similar building) that generally happens twice a year. There’s lots of shows (Magic, Project, and Pool are three big ones in the States) geared towards many different audiences. Designers rent space at these shows to present their upcoming collections and buyers (like me) walk around and shop them to find the latest inventory for their stores. I knew that Bread and Butter is the biggest show in Europe, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be this big.

Here’s the view from atop the outdoor Wrangler Jeans booth; you can kind of get a feel for how many people there were.

And here’s a shot from inside the show – this is just one of 5 areas!

Now imagine walking up and down every aisle and shopping for 8 hours a day, three days in a row. Sound like the best job ever? That’s because it is.

Coming up tomorrow: Our day off. Beautiful architecture, the seaside, and lots of eye candy.

Collecting prints by indie artists allows me to decorate my walls without sacrificing my clothing budget. My favorite prints have come from local craft shows and, of course, Etsy. There are so many artists and styles showcased that there truly is something for everyone. Prints make amazing gifts and often come in limited editions, signed and numbered by the artist, making me feel like a true collector. I recently stumbled upon Mandy’s work at Belle & Boo.

Each print looks like a page out of a well-loved vintage children’s book. I especially adore the works pictured above; both would look perfect above my desk at home, next to vintage finds and my modern cuckoo clock. Belle & Boo inspires me to lead a much cuter life.

After a long and, unfortunately, mostly sleepless flight, we have finally arrived in sunny Barcelona. Despite our jetlag, we spent our first day sightseeing, eating, and (of course) doing a little window shopping. We took a break to snap a souvenir photo in a booth in the subway…

Sunglasses are truly the best prescription for jetlag.

Later in the evening, we made our way to the tradeshow’s opening night bash: a party that put every American fashion soiree that I’ve attended to shame. It was held in the beautiful Palau Nacional, an old fashioned building at the top of a lush park. The view was spectacular, but the party was even cooler.

It was truly a night to remember – and a great way to start our stay. Now that the fun’s out of the way, it’s time to get down to business and shop. Wish us luck!

P.S. If you’d like, check out the rest of our photos on Flickr.

With the love of one a kind vintage items shared by all of us here at ModCloth, we also have a special place in our hearts for handmade items. Our favorite go to place for all things handmade is Etsy. I love Etsy. I have devoted myself to browsing Etsy with the same sense of duty as others approach exercising or cleaning house. I am always browsing for a new accessory for myself or my apartment and consistently receive compliments on my purchases.

One of my favorite shops for jewelry is Ragtrader who, just like ModCloth, is based in Pittsburgh. Her vintage style is exceptionally stunning, especially her brass casts. Each piece feels like that perfect find from the jewelry case at your favorite antique shop. Everyone’s wardrobe needs a vintage feel and this is the perfect place to start.

She doesn’t know it yet, but we’re hoping she’ll make some custom casts for us soon!

Our first New York shopping trip was a huge success! We found so much unbelievably cool stuff for spring and summer; I really wish I could speed up time and wear it all right now. Here’s a tiny taste of what’s to come…

Exciting, no? Tomorrow we’re off to Barcelona for our first-ever European tradeshow. Anyone have any good restaurant or nightlife recommendations? Personally, I can’t wait to see the incredible architecture (like La Sagrada Familia) and experience Spanish street style first hand. See you on the other side of the pond!

Ever wonder where all the incredible items that we sell on ModCloth come from? Every year we travel all over the globe to find the freshest and most unique that the fashion world has to offer – basically the stuff we fall in love with and can’t imagine living without. The beginning of the new year means that it’s time to start shopping again. In the next two months, we’ll pick out almost all of our Spring, Summer, and even some of next Fall’s inventory – and today is the start of our 2008 buying adventure. Here’s our schedule:

Today – Jan. 9th: New York City
Jan 14th – Jan 23rd: Barcelona & Amsterdam
Feb 1 – Feb 8: New York City
Feb 12 – Feb 16: Las Vegas

My trusty laptop will be coming with, so I’ll be reporting on local trends, fabulous finds, and all the industry gossip as it happens. Here’s the first newsflash: ridiculously huge, bejeweled pins are in for Spring!

… or maybe NOT.

I’m going to start my year out with a thank you and an apology. First off, sorry for being such a bad blogger in the past week or so! Things have been beyond hectic but that’s no excuse. I promise this blog will be incredible in ‘08, with tons of new features, new writers, interesting interviews, and all-around general awesomeness.

Ok, now that’s out of the way…

I want to say a huge “Thank you” to everyone out there who’s reading this blog and shopping on ModCloth. I hope we’ve done a good job and, yet again, I promise that next year we’ll do even better. 2007 was our best year in company history, and you (yes, YOU!) helped us do it. When I started ModCloth over five years ago in my bedroom of my parent’s house, I never imagined that it would grow this much, with hundreds of orders everyday and customers all over the world. I know this is super-sentimental bordering on cheesy, but it’s literally a dream come true. So thank you again, from the bottom of my heart. 2008’s going to be another wild ride, and I hope you’ll stick around to see where it takes us.