Hamming it up with Katrina, Julia, and Megan backstage before the Naeem Khan show.

OK, mea culpa time: I’m really disappointed in myself for complaining about Fashion Week last Thursday. It’s an opportunity that lots of people would give a great deal to have, and it’s inappropriate - outright obnoxious, in fact - for me to whine about “having to go” (when of course, I don’t “have” to do anything of the sort). The truth is, wandering around the tents makes me anxious simply because I don’t know anyone, and it brings me straight back to seventh grade (insecurity, etc). I’m hardly a wallflower - I have no trouble going to a party by myself, or getting a drink by myself - but something about the crowd at Fashion Week makes me feel very out of my element. People simply aren’t generally very nice, or very welcoming, and if you’re all by yourself that can get exhausting.

But last night I got to hang around fun lounges eating prosciutto and drinking champagne with wonderful people who I love, and then I got to see a heart-stoppingly beautiful show that made me understand why people get excited about this week in the first place. And I’m really, really lucky to have gotten to do that. I had an absolute blast last night, and want to offer my sincerest apologies if I came off as sounding ungrateful before.

One more thing: why, you may ask, is a Domestic Bliss blogger hanging around Fashion Week at all? Excellent question, and one I’ve asked myself repeatedly over the past few days. One: I got invited, and even though the idea of going made me anxious…well…I wanted to. Clothing, cocktails, the occasional awesome gift bag, and the possibility of meeting some interesting people. Wouldn’t you? And two, I thought that it would be kind of cool for my readers to see Fashion Week from a non-fashionista perspective. I limited the number of shows I went to because couture isn’t really my thing (I love clothing and fashion, of course, but I’m most certainly a vintage/budget shopper), but I wanted to offer a taste of the scene from my perspective, because I think it’s a perspective that many of you - if not most of you - share.

Look who I finally met!!

(Those are nude fishnets, by the way. Are you allowed to wear nude fishnets in the winter? Or ever? I have no idea. I found them in the bottom of my lingerie drawer and thought they were kind of neat.)

(Also: I wore flats - and almost no makeup at all - to the last night of Fashion Week. Yeep. In my defense, I went to Robert Verdi’s Luxe Lab with the full intention of drinking too much champagne and skipping the shows. Julia made me go…and I’m glad she did.)

One of my favorite things about this week is that it’s sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, so you get to take Benzes around to lots of the events (yay!). This is me on my way to Robert Verdi’s Luxe Lab (again) to hang with Megan, who I haven’t seen in awhile, and get a little work done. Little “lounges”  like Robert Verdi’s spring up all over the city during Fashion Week as sort of home bases for bloggers, publicists and the like (midtown isn’t too rife with hangout-friendly places, and going home between shows isn’t a possibility for an UES-er like me): for example, Starbucks and AOL both have “blogger lounges” in the tents, and there’s a lounge in the Bryant Park Hotel (where I went to the Hautelook event).

Aren’t those sunglasses kind of awesome? I bought them on the street last summer for $5.

This morning, I woke up at 6AM to the sound of scrabbling puppies (see: sleepy face, above). I’m thrilled that they’re now best friends, but I would rather that their friendship play itself out post-dawn. Fortunately, my day improved exponentially around 8:30, when I headed over to Dylan’s Candy Bar for a press event introducing the new premium line of Wonka bars, which are available at Dylan’s starting today (but won’t be found anywhere else until March).

Kendrick’s cardigan, Theory tank, Bulgari glasses, Kooba purse, vintage jewelry and belt.