It's Official - I'm NCIDQ Certified!

I found out I passed over a month ago, but it's wasn't actually real until today, when I received this certificate in the mail.  Those of you who know me know that I devoted countless days and hours studying for this exam, since last Summer.  I missed out on so many things during this time - it was a big sacrifice.  

But it was all worth it.

What does NCIDQ mean?  It's the "National Council for Interior Design Qualification".  And per the documentation they sent us to use for announcements and press releases:

Passage of the Examination and earning the NCIDQ credential signifies that Nicole Zeigler has met the standards for education, experience and examination for interior designers in North America.  A minimum of six years of combined education and experience is required before being eligible to take the practice-based Examination.  The NCIDQ Examination is a rigorous, three-part examination requiring examinees to demonstrate competence in a wide variety of aspects that affect the safety of the interior environment.  The Examination covers programming, schematic design, design development, contract documents, contract administration and professional practice, among many other related topics such as codes, sustainability and universal design.

"NCIDQ has long been the standard to identify those interior designers who are uniquely qualified to protect the public's health, safety, and welfare," explains Kim Ciesynski, 2013 NCIDQ President.  "The NCIDQ Certificate is the mark of a professional, and this credential is what every user of a space should look for when choosing or working with an interior designer."

The Council for Interior Design Qualification is an organization of regulatory boards and provincial associations in the United States and Canada whose core purpose is to protect the health, life safety and welfare of the public by establishing standards of competence in the practice of interior design.  More information about the organization may be found at www.ncidq.org.

Considering there are less than 150 NCIDQ certificate holders in the entire state of Utah, I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment, and am already enjoying applying everything I've learned and relearned from my studies to my design practice.

Blogger19 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Tour

photo provided by Brizo

I typically post about interior design and the design industry.  However, this deserves an exception.  Last week, Brizo Faucet brought all the Blogger19 alumni (those of us who attended Fashion Week with Brizo in the past) to Memphis for a Blogger19 reunion.  Brizo planned and paid for this entire trip.  You'd expect that this would therefore be an event full of Brizo promoting, right?  However, the main focus of this trip was the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  Brizo has seen a bump in product awareness since starting their Blogger19 events, and this time they wanted to promote the mission of St Jude and it's founder, Danny Thomas.

Nearly 80 bloggers from the Blogger19 group.  Photo courtesy of Brizo.  

(First time this tall girl has ever been in the front row of a photo!)

We spent a day touring the St. Jude facilities, meeting patients, and hearing first-hand accounts from a St. Jude family.  I know I can speak for everyone when I say that this was an amazing eye-opening experience, both heart-breaking and uplifting at the same time.

A few of the points that really struck me:

• It costs $ 1.8 million to operate St. Jude every day.
• Families of patients will not pay a dime.
• And if a family does have insurance, St. Jude will take over that paperwork and handle the costs so the family doesn't have to deal with that stress.
• St. Jude is a research hospital, and they willingly travel the world sharing their findings, in hopes that more patients and families will benefit worldwide.
• St. Jude keeps the patients involved in everything.  Reception desks are kid-height, and doctors share treatment options and test results with the patients at the same time as the parents, so the kids don't feel excluded.

One of the more touching parts of the day was the "Design and Decorate with Brizo" portion, where we all had the chance to do various activities with the kids at St. Jude.  (All photos below provided by Brizo.)

Coloring:

Decorating Tiles: 

Designing a dollhouse room: 

Posing with props for a photo shoot: 

This really was an amazing experience, and I will proudly support St. Jude!  Special thanks to Brizo for opening my eyes to this organization.

Memphis Bound

On Tuesday I'm heading to Memphis, courtesy of Brizo Faucets.  Brizo has decided to bring all the alumni of the past "Blogger19" groups to Memphis for a reunion.  This is going to be 2 fun-filled days that will include a tour of their Jackson manufacturing facility, product technology training, a tour of St. Jude Children's Hospital, a celebration dinner event honoring the relationship between Brizo and St. Jude, and so much more.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the Blogger19 friends I met last February when Brizo sent me to New York for Fashion Week, and to meeting the other alumni as well!

To see who's going, and to follow what they're tweeting, check out this site:

http://www.brizo.com/theblogger19/index.htm

Plumen Light Bulbs

I loved the idea of Plumen CFL bulbs the moment I saw them.  And then I bought some for a great price on fab.com, even though I didn't yet have anywhere to put them.  Soon after the purchase, our ugly dining room track light (don't judge - it came with the house) broke and gave me a new opportunity.  I got to design our new dining room lighting around the light bulbs.  

I wanted to show off the bulbs, but I wanted something a little more finished than just the bare exposed bulbs.  The Industrial Glass Pendant from West Elm was just what I needed (at a great price too).

My handy husband relocated the wiring so we could hang the 2 pendants exactly where I wanted them.  My camera doesn't show them well when lit, but I love the sculptural look and the new dimension they add to our dining room.  This is the view when you first walk into our home (okay, in reality the dogs are usually jumping and barking and spinning in circles), so it was important to make a good first impression: