Postcard from Rio De Janeiro

This postcard is inspired by my incredible journey through Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a curation of the beauty, sights, and colors I saw while being there. Referenced from the runway of Rio Fashion Week, she wears Cristo Redentor, Corcovado, and Sugarloaf Mountain in her hair, coconuts from her ears, and the boardwalks of Copacabana and Ipanema around her neck. She is a pure reflection of how my heart was perpetually marked by this extraordinary city, country, and the people within it.

We started our journey in beautiful Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro on the morning of Saturday March 15th leaving the frost of New York City behind us.

We drank cappuccinos at Terzetto Cafe and wandered through the trendy streets of Ipanema Beach. 

I blended with the Portuguese blue tiles of the city streets...

and discovered the chic store for all "Rio It Girls" - FARM RIO

At night, Cine Santa Teresa glowed for all to see and beckoned us to a Rio of the past. 

The following morning we woke to run along the waves of Ipanema until I found my surfboard.

We drank from coconuts and followed the black and white tiled road of the boardwalk.

Ipanema was a kaleidoscopic paradise.

Walls were papered with passion, hope, and protest.

but we found our love on the steps of Escadaria Selaron.

We made our way to Museu de Arte Moderna on Guanabara Bay for cheeky Brazilian art...

and blew kisses from Theatro Municipal.

We rode the cable car to Sugarloaf Mountain...

and waved to Corcovado from the top! 

I held Cristo Redentor in my hand...

until we splashed through Copacabana Beach. 

We drove up the winding rode through Tijuca's National Park to find God...and we did.

My beautiful love beamed in the sunset of Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro...

while the city down below took our breath away.

Greg & Jill

Good Evening My Darlings,

I've just returned from my trip to South America and I'm feeling totally and utterly refreshed!! Unfortunately, NYC is not matching my enthusiasm with its absolutely frigid weather. In any case, I'm pleased to share this painting I did for my very dear, sweet, beautiful friend Jill who got married this past September. We've known each other for 10 years now, and I can't believe that we once lived on the same residence floor in college, and that I got to watch her walk down the aisle with her true love this past Fall.

It took me a little while to get my gift together for them but I finally did. As the saying goes, better late than never. Jill's absolute favorite color is turquoise. When I saw both her and her hubby wearing shoes in said hue, I knew what I had to paint for their gift, et voila. I'm thrilled that they love it so much.

Anyway my loves, I'm SO excited to share with you illustrations inspired by my incredible trip abroad and promise to be back on the blog very soon.

Much love,
Meag xx

Rio de Janeiro & Buenos Aires Bound!!

Good Evening My Loves!! 

I hope you have all been well. I'm thrilled to be back on the blog and sharing this painting with you as it was/is inspired by my imminent departure to South America TOMORROW NIGHT!! I cannot believe after almost 3 months of dreaming and planning that we are finally taking off to brilliant Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires in less than 24hrs. 

This will be my first trip to South America and after so many years of fantasizing about Corcovado, Christ the Redeemer, Ipanema, Copacabana, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the sensual tango dancers of Buenos Aires, I'm practically leaping out of my skin!! I'm thrilled to be taking you all there with me and will definitely be sharing the adventure across my instagram.com/travelwritedraw. 

I've also challenged my boyfriend to a sketch a day while we are away and plan to share the results with you here. I hope to fill an entire book with beautifully inspired brush & ink illustrations from our observations. Colors, beaches, sun kissed skin, I can practically feel the sunbeams on my face right now!! If you've been to either Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, I would SO appreciate your recommendations in the comment section below.

Until next time, wish me luck, and I'll be speaking with you soon. 

SO much love,

Meag xx

Illustrations for Latina Magazine - March Issue

Happy Tuesday My Darlings!! 

I hope you've all had a fantastic February (the month of love and FASHION WEEK!!). I cannot believe it is almost March already, apart from the fact that I was anxiously counting down to see the latest issue of Latina Magazine on newsstands now. I'm so excited to show you the accessories I illustrated for their March Fashion Closet Column. It was such a joy painting these back in January. A color palette of warm gold, peach, pink, and kelly green, had/has a girl dreaming of Spring.

I'm signing off to go search for my next illustration references but promise to be back soon!!

Much love,

Meag xx

VISITOR NUMBERS UP 5%!

 The 20^th Business Travel Show, which took place at Earls Court last week, achieved a five per cent increase in visitors despite being hit by a Tube strike and torrential rain.

6,475 corporate travel professionals attended the Business Travel Show (compared to 6,148 in 2013) for a busy two days of networking, learning and sourcing. Exhibitor numbers were up ten per cent on 2013 – from 205 to 226, floor space increased by 32 per cent, and 65 per cent of the floor plan was rebooked onsite. 

Exhibitors included Amadeus, Star Alliance, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Egencia, Travelodge, Virgin Atlantic, Eurostar, Qatar Airways, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Premier Inn, thetrainline, Concur, easyjet, BCD Travel and American Express Global Business Travel. 

The Business Travel Show conference, renowned for its high quality content and extensive programme, was opened by Dara Khosrowshahi – CEO and president of Expedia Inc – who predicted The Future of Travel and discussed the importance of understanding Millennials as well as the increasingly blurred lines between business and leisure travel.

Many hundreds of senior European buyers attended the show, including 953 hosted buyer level attendees – a 37 per cent increase on 2013. Over 300 of these buyers were fully hosted by the Business Travel Show. Now in its third year, the hosted buyer programme featured an exclusive half day pre-show conference and gala dinner on Monday 3 February.

  

I am truly delighted with the success of this year’s show – it was at its biggest and best for years. The floor was packed with many high profile exhibitors returning after time away and a long list of brand new companies sitting alongside our long-term supporters. 

Conference sessions were packed out and visitor numbers were at their highest for seven years. It doesn’t surprise me for one second that our visitors, who are, after all, seasoned and resourceful business travellers, refused to let the small matter of a Tube strike stand in their way of attending. All in all, it was a fantastic way to celebrate our 20^thanniversary event and we’re already looking forward to our 21^st in our new home at Olympia Exhibition Centre.

This blog post was written by event director David Chapple. The Business Travel Show, Europe’s leading corporate travel event, will take place 25-26 February 2015 at Olympia in London. For more information please visit www.businesstravelshow.com.

#NYFW Illustrated Top Street Style Picks

Hello My Loves,

Happy New York Fashion Week!! Though I have yet to make my way back to the city that never sleeps, I've been watching from afar all the happenings of Lincoln Centre the past two days. Between attending Paris Menswear Fashion Week in January, and watching the influx of #NYFW Instagrams and Facebook posts, I couldn't help but notice the overlapping street style trends in these two cities.

When I arrived at JFK on January 17th for my flight to Paris, I stood behind a very stylish, quintessential French girl for check-in. She wore a bejewelled beanie, gorgeous pastel wool overcoat, and Nike Air Max sneakers. It was uncanny to me how similarly we New Yorkers and Parisians were dressing alike. Above is my illustrated roundup of fashion week street style trend picks from here and abroad inspired by the chicest ladies :

Carhartt Beanie

NIKE Air Max 90 Engineered Mesh iD Sneakers

3.1 Phillip Lim Browline Metallic Aviators 

FENDI Mixed-Fur Mini Bird Baguette Shoulder Bag

Dior Nail Polish iPhone Case

Chanel Headphone Choker 

Jason Wu Elaphe and Leather Pumps

Much love,

Meag xx

GUEST BLOG: Why flights and accommodation are not the real cost of business travel

When you calculate the cost of a business trip, what do you include?  Flight cost?  Accommodation?  Time out of the office?  All of these are reasonable considerations when looking at the return on investment of making a business trip.

One aspect that is rarely considered is the cost of staying in contact.  With so much business conducted on mobile devices and the speed if business growing faster all the time, what is the cost of someone not being in touch?  An alternative way to look at this is what is the cost of them staying in touch?

The cost of data roaming has been the dirty secret of the mobile industry for a decade.  Despite attempts by the European Union to make this issue more transparent, the cost is still high across Europe and obscene outside of the EU (it can be up to £8 per megabyte of data). With the average business traveller using around 250 Megabytes of data per day, the costs can be astronomical – and are rarely seen as part of a trip.

Whilst the mobile networks have tried to create bundles to mitigate this cost of business travel, this does not offer the flexibility that businesses need: when you need to be in contact you cannot rely on only using a small amount of data in a trip.  What if someone sends you a contract as a big attachment?  You have the choice of paying a huge cost for it or not receiving it at all.

For many businesses the cost of connectivity when away falls between the IT department, the telecoms department and the finance function.  Make sure your business understands the total cost of doing business abroad by ensuring there is one person responsible for monitoring and managing the cost of data connectivity on business trips.

This post was written by Tommi Uhari, CEO of Uros. Uros is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show next week - 4-5 February 2014. To register for a visitor pass please visit www.businesstravelshow.com