This week was a fab one, and as so, I’m going to stray bit a from the typical weekly roundup you know and love. I was fortunate enough to squeeze in a trip to NYC for a taste of Fashion Week and only experienced a total airplane delay period of one hour, whilst flying consecutively on the two snowiest days of the week. If that as a whole isn’t a marked success, what is?

My quick trip was entirely wrapped in my attendance of the Independent Fashion Blogger community Evolving Influence event , a conference for fashion bloggers to discuss the best practices, significance and future of fashion blogging. Though the biggest names in the fashion blogosphere spoke throughout the day, I arrived in time to catch “The Future of Blogging”, a panel featuring Susie Bubble of Style Bubble, Tavi Gevinson of Style Rookie, Bryanboy, Phil Oh of Street Peeper, and Britt Aboutaleb and Lauren Sherman of Fashionista.com.

Upon getting past the initial shock of seeing these quasi-icons in real life — an experience akin to seeing a unicorn — I could focus on the insightful words of speakers. Check here for my girl Julia’s live blog of the event and here for an in-depth overview of the conference via WWD.

Rather than words, let me present to you my experience in peekchas.

Rockin’ signage.

The event took place at the Helen Mills Theatre on West 26th.

The food was nearly as gorgeous as the attendees’ attire.

The event was sponsored in part by Couturious. I didn’t get the exact gist of the company’s function, but I gathered that it’s an invite-only web-based styling tool on which you can upload a pic of yourself and virtually try on clothes (in part, at least). See someone stepping into this virtual dress room above.

Fabulousity in motion.

The lovely Jennine of The Coveted was the mastermind behind the event, as well as IFB in general. As the founder, she was super excited about the great turnout. This was taken after we mutually balked at Scott Sherman and Garance Dore just feet away.

Last but obviously not least, here I am with Twitter-enthusiast, Bryan Boy. To say the least, everyone wanted a piece of this new-found celebrity — me included, of course.

The event was undoubtedly a success. I met several handfuls of haute bloggers, with whom we plan to work in the near future. Look for their guest posts here on the blog, as well as Handbag Heaven reviews sprinkled throughout this stylish sect of the blog world.

I’d like to kick things off this first February Friday (alliteration triple play!) with a literary transaction between my-coeditor and myself. Did you think the Snuggie represented the height of unnecessarily-ridiculous-looking-yet-strangely-desirable outerwear? So wrong you are.

Terryl: WANT: http://bit.ly/b1M5×2. totes BTS (better than snuggie).
me: that is SO dope. also, going to start trying to incorporate BTS into daily speech.
Terryl: ditto. I can think of, at least, 29 things OFF-HAND that are BTS.
me: well let’s hear ‘em.
Terryl: later.  don’t want to give it all away up front.
me: yeah, you wouldn’t want to be an info slut.
Terryl: pshyah.  been called that before.

I See London. In other news, the Grammy Awards happened, as I’m sure you were unaware until just now. (You’re welcome.) What did you think of the ladies’ ensembles? I must say, Brittany’s mosquito netting was my personal favorite of the night. I sincerely question whether they let her look into a mirror before leaving the event; someone on her team is obviously out to get her.

Have a Heart. Did you know that Today is National Wear Red Day? Me neither. Apparently  “today is the day when millions of Americans recognize the dangers of high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease by wearing red in commemoration of American Heart Health Month.” Sounds like a worthy cause to me, so I’d suggest you comply to the American Heart Association and don your scarlet to those fancy plans of yours this evening, or as Charu of the Butterfly Diary suggests, wear true red lipstick. Oh, you say live in the Midwest and will thus be snowed in? Then why not honor the holiday instead by cooking up some juicy fried chicken, cheeseburgers and fries and then only using RED ketchup to adorn them? Seems applicable enough.

Great Debate. If you’ve ever had to defend the validity of fashion to a stubborn nay-sayer, you will very much appreciate Arushi’s post, “Why I Hate People Who Ostracize Fashion.” It’s such an informed argument that while reading I kept getting the urge to write talking points on my hand with which to accost my boyfriend later.

Yourself it Do. Lilly of Lilly’s Roses gives insight on creating a semi-homemade (what up Sandra Lee!) iteration of Chanel’s Jade nail polish. She adorably constructs the post as a classic science experiment, which unfortunatly for me is a catalyst to terrifying flashbacks of my 8am Geogoloy Lab in college. I still shutter at the mention of a tectonic plate. I digress.

Have a weekend’s worth of fierceness!

Photo credit: Urbanoutfitters.com