My brother thinks that I secretly work for the CIA

He has reached this conclusion because:

1. I live outside of Washington, DC and as he points out just a few miles from “the farm”, which is the CIA center you may recall seeing in the movie “The Recruit” with my favorite Matt Damon (sigh).

If I were a secret agent I’d want to be either Agent 99 or Emma Peel

2. He doesn’t really understand what I do or why anyone would pay me to do it. However he humors me by saying “Well you always seem to have money so it must be coming from somewhere.” He then adds with a sly wink, ” If you tell me it’s this color business I’ll go along with that.” (Well I guess in that case I’m glad he thinks CIA and not…well never mind).

3. I always seem to get to meet incredible people or have opportunities that others might only dream about (except of course those folks in the CIA that according to my brother have instant access to all people and places).

Okay so I have met or rubbed elbows with high-powered Washingtonians including Presidents, congressman and societies finest so I can see why he might wonder.

Appearing on CBS Sunday Morning, interviewing Tim Gunn and having breakfast with a reporter from the New York Times only added fuel to his fire but this week was the clincher. He’s now completely convince this color stuff is just a cover.

What happened? Well let me tell you because it was almost as unbelieveable to me as it was to him.

Yesterday, on the 44th floor of the Hearst Building in NYC I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Stephen Druker, Editor-In-Chief of House Beautiful Magazine in front of an audience of the who’s who of the NYC design community.

Q & A with the brilliant Stephen Drucker

I have been a fan of Stephen Drucker for years. I have watched while with his guidance House Beautiful has risen to the top of the “must read” list of professionals and do-it-yourself decorators alike. He is an inspiration to me.

Stephen is not only an “editor extraordinaire” but one of my idols. What a thrill to be his guest!

Month after month House Beautiful has provided us with the keys to unlock the “beautiful home in each of us” and for 2008 they are putting a major focus on color. It was for this reason that my ‘name twin’, the lovely Kate Kelly Smith, Executive Publisher for House Beautiful recommended me as the guest for this year’s event.

From left: Hearst Magazines president Cathie Black, designer Christopher Peacock, and House Beautiful publisher Kate Kelly Smith.

Stephen questioned me all about color, color trends and the direction of color in the home for 2008 and beyond. He also opened up the floor and allowed the designers to ask their questions.

Stephen and the designers asked many excellent and thought provoking questions which I am going share with my readers over the next couple of weeks by posting many of those questions and my response on the Color Pro blog so please stay tuned.

Right now I’m going to go pinch myself one more time just to make sure this was real and that I wasn’t simply having a fabulous dream.

With my idol Stephen Drucker, Editor-In-Chief, House Beautiful

P.S. As far as the CIA thing goes just a few words for my brother– “Not a chance!” No one in the CIA would ever get to have this much fun!

Credits: All pictures from MinOnline