Ten Years of Martha Moments!

The other day I realized that it had been ten yeas this month since I began this blog! I had to pinch myself because I simply couldn't believe that an entire decade had passed! When I sat down to reflect on it, I became somewhat emotional when I realized just how much this blog had changed my life. It has given me such wonderful opportunities and experiences and, most important of all, it has helped me make new friends and meet like-minded people from all over the world, a community of Martha Stewart fans and readers from all across the Unites States and Canada to Israel, Kuwait, Scotland, England and Japan. The blog really has helped shape who I am.

Below is a little summary of some of my most memorable Martha Moments - a journey through the last decade of Martha-related experiences. Some of them were very grand and exciting and some of them were quieter moments. I want to first say, however, a huge thank you to my friend Kenn who has always been a champion of this blog and such a big help to me over the years. It is largely because of him that this blog began! I also want to thank every single one of you who makes Martha Moments a part of your life. I have tried to make it interesting and informative for you. It has been so much fun getting to know everyone! Enjoy the little trip down my Martha Moments lane!
With love,
Andrew
xo

Kenn gave me this beautiful Good Things journal from Martha by Mail. It was where I first began to jot down ideas for my blog and I still do! The Martha Stewart Living pencil was also a gift from Kenn. I've stopped using it because I don't want to sharpen beyond the logo!

One of my first Martha Moments, in 2005, was visiting Margaret Roach's garden in Copake Falls, New York, as part of the Garden Conservancy's Open Days program. At this point I had not started the blog, but had been working with SaveMartha.com. I drove with my Mom from Ontario to New York to visit her garden for the day. At this time she was still editor-in-chief of the magazine. You can read more about it here.

The following year, I made it to New York to be in the audience of The Martha Stewart Show. By this time I had started the blog. The show was part of a special 15th anniversary celebration of their company and only the first 150 people to buy tickets made it to the show. As part of the ticket, you also received entry to a special event the following day at Pier 94 called "The Good Things Event" where the magazine editors would host seminars and workshops.

So many people turned out for this event! It was packed inside!

These two lovely women, Christine and Joyce, from Nebraska adopted me right away and were my friends for the day. They were so very sweet! I am still in touch with both of them.

This was the first time I met Martha. It was a very brief encounter, but I was able to tell her that I had come down from Toronto to attend. She smiled, welcomed me and thanked me for coming. Little did I know, four years later I would be a guest on her television show!

I'll never forget the day I received an email from the assistant of producer Lenore Welby - a woman I had remembered from her appearances on the Martha Stewart Living show and whose mother I had become acquaintances with through my work with SaveMartha.com. It was so exciting to hear that they wanted me to be a guest on a show about blogging! I set up an appointment to speak with Lenore and before I knew it I was booked! The show taped in New York on January 14th, 2010, and was aired live. I got to meet so many people that day, tour the studio from top to bottom and interact with Martha. It was truly one of the most exciting days of my life.

I've been fortunate to have met Martha on several occasions, as well as many of her editors and colleagues, including Margaret Roach, Hannah Millman, Lucinda Scala-Quinn and Jennifer Koppelman-Hutt. The biggest treat of all, of course, was being a guest on Martha's show in 2010! You can see the segment here.

A few months after my appearance on her show, I was invited to attend an event at Martha Stewart Living headquarters in Manhattan - a gathering of the magazine's favourite vendors and suppliers called the "Tastemakers Event." It was so interesting to visit this beautiful building and see Martha again.

After passing through the lobby, guests are led down a long corridor flanked on both sides with giant photographs from the pages of Martha Stewart Living magazine. Walking down this hallway was like visiting Oz!

At the end of the hallway is the vast clerestory with its huge pillars. It was a true Martha Moment seeing this for the first time!

The design of the blog has always been fun for me. I keep it very simple and uncomplicated, but do enjoy making a new header each month. The heading designs have changed quite a bit over the years. I began with a circular logo using the "Fling" font, which was used in Blueprint magazine. The circle was a reference to Martha's new logo and the font was a reference to her latest magazine. I always used imagery from Martha's magazines and books as backgrounds.

I elongated it in 2012 and began to mix fonts, using "Bickham Script" on top and "Times New Roman" on the bottom.

In 2013, I made it bigger but more refined, using "Edwardian Script" font on top.

I then went smaller again and returned to the Bickham font.

Like so many of you, I collect Martha Stewart magazines and books voraciously! While I don't have everything, I am quite proud of my collection and have pared it down over the years so that it reflects only my favourites.

I have folders and folders filled with magazine clippings, articles, press releases, brochures and correspondences from Martha's editors. It's all part of a blogger's arsenal of ideas and research!