Amazing Friends

I am just blown away by the generosity and love my friends showed me and my roommate Katie last weekend at our house party and the inaugural Chillhouse bash.

It was amazing, amazing, amazing. From friends showing up early and pitching in with getting ready, to my roommate’s fiance shoveling the snow in the backyard, to Patrice doing the Cheesecake Dance at the end of the night and all the funny moments that happened that night, I was so happy and so pleased by the feelings of love in the house. That’s what made it a warm house.

There were a few milestones that day. One: I added my place as a venue to Foursquare. I had said I wouldn’t when I moved in due to privacy issues. I nixed that problem by not using my real address and instead using the address of the childhood home of one of my favorite musicians: The Notorious BIG. Benefits: Seeing a visual representation of the friends who’ve been to my house. Also fun: People adding tips on what you can find at my place, including boobs. Nice.

Another milestone: Having half the internet over to my house. We had over 100 RSVPs and, from my count, we actually had about 80 people over during the course of the day. I was humbled. The weather was bad that weekend, and on any given Saturday there so much going on in the city that sometimes it’s hard to get folks together. We had friends from 4 of 5 boroughs visit us, as well as some people visiting from out of state.

The night in tweets:
“Why are you on the Internet? The whole Internet is here” ~@patricec about #chillchill

Me: where did the candy necklace come from? Her: the bathroom. #chillchill

Had copious amounts of fun at @emilyspearl’s #chillchill. Cool peeps, smart convos, and a cup of rum that’s still haunting me. [Note: I have since changed my Twitter handle to @ECava]

We had tons of great photos taken that day, including some in the photobooth! We had a few disposable cameras on hand, which I just can’t wait to get developed this week. For now, check out the slideshow below. Please send me any photos you took, so I can add them to the set!

• You can see a couple of great photos from the late-night portion of the party after most of you left here.
• You can find the user-generated Chillhouse 1 Playlist here.

The one thing that didn’t go as planned was that I didn’t have as much time to chat with everyone as I wanted to. I really enjoy introducing cool people to each other and blowing their worlds up with awesomeness, and I just didn’t get to do that.

I really appreciate you all so much, and also appreciate that you rolled with it even when the house was crazy packed. We had all types in the house; wedding photographers, graphic designers, doctors, models, entrepreneurs, dating coaches, lawyers and artists.  Because you are each amazing and talented and kind, I want you all to be able to stay connected, so listed below are all the people who made it out for the day.

If I missed you on the list, it’s highly likely that I was swimming in a glass of champagne instead of being mentally present for our conversation, especially if you arrived after 8 p.m. (email me, I’ll add you to the list).

So, again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for being so amazing, so generous, so thoughtful. I can’t wait to have you all over again. Mark your calendars for Chillhouse Saturdays all summer long, and many more warm housings to come.

Adam Kraemer http://www.intrepidmedia.com/whois.asp?id=4
Amber Blatt – http://theAmberShow.net @theambershow
Amy Cao – http://amyblogschow.com/ @amyblogschow
Anne McCarthy – http://long19thcentury.wordpress.com/ @annecmccarthy
Brian Vecci – http://www.clintonhillfoodie.com/ @chfbrian
Brian Quinn – http://www.thenoblerot.com/ @noblerotnyc
Charlene Jaszewski – http://theredheadsaid.com/ @theredheadsaid
Charlie O’Donnell – http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/ @ceonyc
Clay Hebert – http://dailysense.com @clayhebert
Crystal Horton – http://www.tastymorselsbakery.com/ @tasty_morsels
Damien A. Basile – http://thecauseisthehabit.com @db
Dario Meli – http://www.hootsuite.com :: http://quikness.tumblr.com/ @quikness
David Blumenstein – http://www.david.com/ :: http://www.hatchery.vc/ @davidavdavid
Elliot Ronen – http://four7s.com/ @elliotronen
Emily Hanhan – http://ncsuemme.blogspot.com/ @emilyhanhan
Erin mcparland – http://web.me.com/erinmcparland/erinmcparland/Home.html
Esther Brown – http://www.estheribrown.com/ :: http://outside.in/ @estheribrown
Jackie Summers – http://jackfrombkln.com/ @jackfrombkln
Jeffrey Wilson – http://www.2d-x.com @jeffreylwilson
Joey Pasion – http://passionmd.tumblr.com/ @passionmd
Jonathan Lazar – http://justjon.net @justjon Julia Roy – http://juliaroy.com @juliaroy
Kalimah Priforce – http://www.priforce.me @kapriforce
Katie Morse – http://candidkatie.com/ @misskatiemo
Kimmie Smith – http://kittenlounge.onsugar.com @cocoabebe
Lara Ruth – http://citygrits.net @districtbelle
Leah Smith – http://www.tafaritravel.com/ @tarafitweets
Maria Avgitidis – http://mariathedatecoach.com @thedatecoach
Mayur Subbarao – http://www.mayahuelny.com/
Melissa Sands – http://forkthis.blogspot.com/ @forkthis
Melissa Zhang – http://thespatulaqueen.blogspot.com/ @SpatulaQueen
Nichelle Stephens – http://nichellestephens.com :: http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com @niche
Nicole D’Alonzo – http://nikisnotes.com/ :: http://charitymoxie.com/ @nikisnotes
Nora Sherman – http://www.noraleah.com/ @noraleah
Parris Whittingham – http://fromparriswithlove.com/ @iamparris
Patrice Callender – http://hellandheartaches.com :: http://www.theotherbrowngirl.com/ @patricec
Rima Hawkes – http://rimahawkes.com/
Rob Blatt – http://www.blattcave.com @robblatt
Ryan Holmes – http://www.hootsuite.com :: http://www.invokemedia.com @invoker
Sarah Simmons – http://homecooksuperstar.tumblr.com @sarahmcsimmons
Sarah Cooley – http://randomsarah.com/ @sarahcooley
Selena Ricks – http://www.thedizzyfizz.com/ @selenawrites
Stephanie Lichtenstein – http://stephanielichtenstein.com/ @microsteph
Stuart Tracte – http://beerdiplomacytv.com/ @Stwo
Tameeka Ballance – http://tameekatime.blogspot.com/ @tameekatime
Tim Kane – http://tim.posterous.com @tkane
Topher Ziobro – http://imtopher.tumblr.com/ @imtopher
Tracey Lander-Garrett – http://bit.ly/aDLD7r @popgoesthegirl
Biana Bakman – @bianalog
Christina Coster – @mizcity
Daphra Holder – @thedaphster
Devin Brown – @devintrix
Julian Smith – @johnjuliansmith
Lily Robertson & Charlie Elliot – @batpigthe5th
Melissa Quinn – @fortyyards
Nate Erickson –  @nateerickson
Nia Batts – @nini_b
Whitney-Amanda Horsham 

Also huge thanks to my friends and new friends Aaron, Ana & Rob, Aneil, Bill, Brian, Caprice & Matt, Chinyere, Eric, Erin & Andrew, Guilherme, Janelle, Kat, Lori & Torr and Shannon for showing love and coming to the party.

If you made it to the end of this, you deserve to see a few seconds of The Cheesecake Dance performed at the end of the night.