• by Kelly Samardak , June 17, 2010

HGTV Wine And Design 2010, 30 Rock Weather Room, New York
June 16, 2010

What?! Within a matter of weeks I get to cover another party up on Top Of The Rock? What a lucky girl! Not only that, but a day that called for stupid rain all day suddenly turned into quite the patchwork quilt of dark clouds and bright golden sun that held in its watery belly until well after the event ended.  So what was this party that yanked me back up 67 floors or so? Come with...

If you're a non-trust funded/lottery won/geniusly invested/overpaid New Yorker like me, watching HGTV is pure torture. Oh no, I'm not saying that the programming is bad.  In fact, I come from a place that doesn't watch HGTV because I'm polluting my mind with ridiculous candy smut like "The Real Housewives," "Mall Cops," "Dog The Bounty Hunter" and gruesome heart-chokers like "Intervention," "The First 48," and "Breaking Bad."  I'm saying that watching home and garden improvements in beautiful open spaces (I consider an over-large fire escape "open spaces" these days) is a big slap in the face to us shoebox dwellers. I'm also saying that I'm not the target market.  That doesn't mean I can't enjoy a party introducing HGTV talent to media and advertypes, now does it?

The weird thing is, I totally forgot that I had attended the Scripps upfront.  Due to that moment of amnesia, I looked around the sun-splashed deck and saw people I thought I knew.  I kept tapping that spot between my fuzzy little eyebrows looking perplexed, asking myself, "How do I know that guy with the star tattoo on his neck?" 

Oh, der, that's Antonio Ballatore of "The Antonio Treatment."  That's right, I remember my brain thinking it was annoying that Antonio goes to celeb homes and gyms and other such spaces and flips it up all sparkly-like.  On TV.  Like what the celebs get on a normal day.  Come to my apartment, Antonio! I've got a real nice un-air-conditioned piece of work for you! I walked by him muttering "Mario Lopez's weight room... sheesh..."

Again I had to ask myself why everyone was gathering indoors rather than on the breezy open-air deck with insane views of the city and its boroughs.  More room for me to meet people like Sonja Richardson and Lisa DeBourg of Morgan Stanley.  As I tested out my new flash on them, one squealed and both swung in the direction of, well, hair.  It was Carter Oosterhouse of "Carter Can" and, judging by many saucy glances and deep murmurs throughout the night, Carter Can do whatever he wants to anyone he wants. Oosterhouse made the rounds with Janell Vantrease, who I assume was his publicist, but you know what they say about assume.

Mingling about inside was Genevieve Gorder of "HGTV Design Star" and "Dear Genevieve." Vern Yip of "HGTV Design Star" and "HGTV Urban Oasis" was also making the rounds, an effervescent fellow.  The inside area was very sparsely decorated.  Fresh in my mind, still, was the last party I covered there, which had a long bar in the main inside space and tons of flowers and lights.  I was hoping the bareness of the indoors would usher people outdoors.  It sort of did.  

Back outside I met Dawn Hollowell of Scripps Digital, Sabrina Soto of "Real Estate Intervention," Kate Doherty of Family Circle, Alicia Criner of Microsoft, Mike Aubrey of "Real Estate Intervention," and the very dapper Carl Williams of Mr. Fashions Inc.

The sun began to sink and I could hear my gourd vehicle changing back into a pair of flip-flops, so I headed home, leaving behind me the rumble of schmoozing and the delicate clinking of wine goblets. 

Tomorrow (or, today, when you read this) is going to be a fantastic day! I'm covering a lunch/launch at Felidia, the flagship restaurant of Lidia Bastianich of "Lidia's Italy"! Should be delicious. No doubt super fat from that, I'll be hopping on the train to Irvington, N.Y. to expand my chubby little fingers into the punch bowl over in Westchester.

Larger photos from the HGTV party are up on Flickr!

Send those invitations for your summer fiestas to kelly@mediapost.com!