Bloggers Luncheon at Royers

You can’t go to Round Top Antiques Festival & Marburger Antique Show without a trip to Royers!!!! In fact you can’t go to Round Top without stopping at Royers! That just isn’t RIGHT!!!!!!!!!! And you know you’ve arrived when you are met at the door by BUD! Bud is Royers! Bud is THE PIE MAN!!!!!

And if you don’t believe it… well look at his chair it says it all. Royers Cafe has been serving amazing food right on Main Street in the tiny town of Round Top (Population 77 says the sign) for as long as I’ve been going there. But, this year there was an invitation only luncheon for bloggers. Cindy, Sandy & I were so honored to attend. Also (below) there was Kristi Day & Jana Perenchio (whom I have known from Gilded Life Events in the past).

Along with Bud there was some special guests we got to meet & hear from.

First up was Lisa Robins from Dwell With Dignity. Lisa is an Interior Designer that decided to “Give Back” to others in thankfulness of all the goodness she had in her life. She realized that she had been blessed to have a beautiful home & life yet realized that for many that was not the case. She found herself wondering what it would mean to someone who was homeless to have a home that had been decorated with love & care. Made beautiful just for them. Lisa began gathering unused items from her home & the homes of friends & clients. Word spread & soon she was able to brighten & beautify the homes of others. Her dreams, visions, & care has become an amazing outreach & at this luncheon they wanted to share her vision with us & encourage us to all reach deep into our hearts to help others to have the beauty of the world we are blessed to have. So, please click HERE to go to the website & learn more about this wonderful cause & IF you feel moved…. please help in whichever way you feel moved to do. Thank you Lisa for having such a giving heart & amazing vision.

Next up to speak to us was Bill Winsor CEO of the Dallas Market Center. I am so lucky to have the opportunity to attend the Market in Dallas & go to this amazing collection of wholesale vendors all housed in one HUGE, beautiful place. They are there to tempt us to bring all the newest things to our customers. Bill & his team have a goal of blending the new items we all expect at market with the amazing vintage finds that so many of the designers come to Round Top Antique Festival to find. He knows that the likes of Ralph Lauren & others like them send their design teams into the field loaded with cash & driving trucks & trailers hauling “the goods” back to use in design showrooms & clients homes. Bill has teamed up with many vendors & will be opening an entire section of The Market to bring this concept to life. I look forward to seeing what he has up his sleeve. And why was he in Round Top besides this???? He has a ranch there. He was there (with a friend from New York) to WORK out at the ranch. They had been spraying bull nettle…. wonder if that New Yorker had any idea what bull nettle or Royers was before this day?

I wanted you to notice a few things…. Look at the people in the room. Dressed so very different than you would assume for a ladies luncheon. And the room…..

LAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Upon layers of interesting things to look at. To think about… I think the word layers really speaks for Royers, Bud, all the speakers & even each of us. Layers that as we peel them back we find many different things.

Even the ceilings are covered in “STUFF”. Kind of like our lives isn’t it? “STUFF” surrounds us all. Well, this leads into the next part of the luncheon.

Our chance to hear Carol Hicks Bolton talk about lives…. her life, her family, her stores, her clients & friends. Carol has been featured in MANY magazines & articles for years!!! And I have been blessed to have known Carol for MANY years. In fact when I first met her, in her store in Fredericksburg, she had not had her children yet (& now her son is in college … YIKES). In that time period the Bolton’s opened 5 stores in town, moved to North Carolina to be involved in the wholesale furniture business/Market out there, continued to go to Europe bringing back containers & decorating their stores & clients homes. Carol felt the pull & responsibility weighing her down & chose to close all but, Homestead the single Flagship store in Fredericksburg. Recently they have even done that & now only operate out of their warehouse. I haven’t had a chance to visit yet but, rest assured a trip is coming soon.

This part of the lunch was really interesting. I’m sorry my photo is a bit dark but, they were doing a slide show here. But, I wanted to show you what a wonderful warm feeling this whole lunch was. The format was a one on one “CHAT” between Carol & Bud’s wife Karen. The Bolton’s are in fact Bud & Karen’s children’s God Parents so, Karen felt just an old fashion sit down & chat was a good way to get to know Carol & her thoughts on design, decorating, & life. One of the things that really struck a cord with me was her saying that life must be lived with INTEGRITY. Integrity of character, integrity of design, integrity of love for life & love of life in the whole. This is a woman who walked away from 5 different retail stores to raise her family & home school her children to live REAL LIFE! And now she’s jumping back in on her terms.

And next meet Karen Royer. Dr. Karen Royer!!!! I was so impressed!!!! She is a sweet, charming, down to earth, soft spoken southern gal. She was so cute when she said she went back to school to get her degree (which she ended up with 5) to “UNDERSTAND BUD”. She chuckled softly & said “And I’m still not sure I understand him”. But, this sweet soul works with abused & troubled souls in Austin, Texas. She & Carol talked about simplifying life. She spoke about being in the time of her life when she wanted to just “DE -CLUTTER” her home & her life. To be surrounded by only things that she loves. I soooooooooooooo loved to hear that others are feeling the same feelings that I am right now. Are you feeling this way too? Karen even “teased” us with the possibility of an upcoming seminar or girls weekend to visit self exploration & growth. I’m all in for that so KEEP ME POSTED Karen. And LOOK at those PIES sitting behind Karen in the photo above! YUM!

Speaking of food… Lunch was yummy Margarita Pie(the flakiest crust you’ve ever sunk your lips into, mixed with chicken & a 2DIE4 sauce) & a salad with the best cilantro dressing. Topped off with JUNKBERRY PIE a la mode (with Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream). And baby it doesn’t get much better than that.

A table full of goody bags passed out by Bill’s darling assistant Michaela (she was dubbed the best dressed person in Round Top) who was so very thoughtful & helped organize all of this wonder.

A day of friends & fun!

Thank you to all who worked so hard to make it a wonderful day at Royers!

And yes…………. Royers is as much fun outside as it is inside as seen here with Ms Sandy hamming it up for the camera. Hope you had as much fun as we did & go visit all the folks we talked about in this post. They’re a fun group. And be sure to come back soon for more Round Top Adventures!

HUGS! Charlene