Oh the importance of a great team. You really can't underestimate the beauty in finding people that you can trust, respect and work well with who are also super talented, fair and "get it" when it comes to your ideas and vision. It's rare for me to find team members that I really click with. I'm picky. While I am by nature a total people-person and enjoy the company of everyone (even difficult personalities are cool with me), it's not the same when it comes to working with them. It has to click, you know? It's either right or it's wrong. So today I want to shout out two very special women - one I've known since March 2009 and the other I've never met in person in my life and just "met" online a few weeks ago. Both are seriously great women and you should know them and know why.

Leslie (standing) and Laure (seated) in Emily Henderson's home - so happy Emily is part of the book!

The first is Leslie Shewring. An intro is really not needed if you read decor8, followed her Color Me Pretty column (on hold for now until we finish our book), or know about how instrumental she was in Blogging Your Way during its early years as a teacher. Now, Leslie is co-authoring the next book that we're currently working on and she is doing a bang up job and I'm really proud of her. When you find someone like her to work with, and you click, keep them near and dear. Leslie has been a massive support in my life - not just work stuff - especially now as I'm ill and she has flown in (literally) to Hannover to help on our book, and then flew last week to San Francisco and LA (from her home in Victoria, Canada), and is still working so hard styling and producing beautiful photos as stylist, photographer and art director on shoots. I'm blown away by her attitude throughout it all and am so happy we're on this project together. When our book releases on March 21, 2014, I will owe so much of its beauty and wonderfulness to her. Thank you Leslie.

Flower Power! Can't shoot a home without 'em! These were for Bri's house (yay DesignLoveFest!).

The second extraordinary female whom I'd like to celebrate is photographer Laure Joliet. This lady is a class act. She accepted a job with a few weeks notice, hopped on a plane to San Francisco to meet Leslie, and began shooting the first of four homes over the course of last week in both SF and LA. The best part, she gave me NO CRAP. I have zero tolerance for ego when I work with anyone, I don't care how great you are. Laure listened to me as I rambled on about this and that, which could have offended some photographers (please shoot tethered, please use a tripod, only natural light, blah blah blah) but she had no problem accepting my direction and didn't once let ego take over doing great work. I directed them both remotely to the best of my ability on shots we needed, angles, ideas but ultimately they had the bulk of the work and ran with it and blew me away as a result - as the photos came in each day, I looked through them, supplied feedback and we moved on to the next shoot and continued this process and in the end, as a team, we really accomplished a lot. I mean a lot. I owe the success of last week to them, not me. To put Leslie and Laure together without any knowledge of how the other works (or even who the other is - they were strangers when they met) and watch them nail all four homes shows the power of women who are talented and professional and how they just GET STUFF DONE.

Leslie gave me the full scoop after the shoot week and had NOTHING but positive things to say about Laure - she sang her praises and would gladly work with her again, and this alone made me absolutely the happiest person ever because I wanted them to click, work well together and do great work and they accomplished that and so much more. You'll see some of Laure's gorgeous work in our book that releases in March. I can't wait to show you! This book is now much bigger than Leslie and I with the addition of gorgeous homes and the wonderful Laure, so Leslie and I are even more excited to share it with you soon!

The home of SFGirlByBay will be in our book, yay!

So! To begin a shiny new week on a positive note, I want to celebrate the beauty and importance of a great team of amazing women. These girls, the homeowners, Leslie's amazing sister Diane who accompanied them in LA to work hard on shoots too... All of them. I'm worked with some women who sadly, left me uninspired, burnt out and wondering how in the world they ever got to where they are with such abrasive personalities. These women were just the opposite - and they made magic as a result. I know first hand what the definition of a great team, mediocre team and team SUCK can be! And these ladies were team awesome all the way. Thanks, LJ and LS and THANK YOU to Emily, Bri, Rachel and Victoria for being such a lovely team of homeowners, too!

(images: emily henderson, bri emery, laure joliet)