New Clay Chicks Ceramics

Today at The Depot we received a new line called Clay Chicks Ceramics.  The 2 sisters that own the company live in Louisville, Ky.  We found the line while at market in Atlanta and I just love it.  Here are the two pieces I brought home with me.

The first piece is the yellow/white striped memo board.  I used the lil red house attachment at the top and added our last name and house number.

The second piece that I just love is the red and white polka dot picture frame with the lil faces attachments.  Notice I personalized all of our family names on them.  I think they are just too adorable!!!

We have several colors in both pieces, the blessings platter, baby shoes, different attachments and a few other items as well..  Come in and check them out!

Snow Beautiful!

Western Ky woke up to some serious snow this morning.  I had 6" and its just beautiful!!!!

This is the second winter that I've had my car and as much as I like my car, I will not buy another one and still live out in the sticks.  I'm so use to having 4x4's that would take me just about anywhere.   I would just get up and go whenever I wanted.  But no driving for me today, my car is actually parked down at the end of the road in the church parking lot.  Hopefully sometime tomorrow I will bring it home.  Til then when the hubs is gone, I'm depending upon my other Knight In Shining Armour, my dad!

Hope you enjoyed your snow day.  I threw a few snowballs at work today, but mostly froze my piggies off.   It's just been too cold for too long.  I love the snow, but I don't like being stuck at home when I have places to go!

Market Mania!!!!!

I love Market!!!! This was my 4th trip to Atlanta for the Gift & Home show and it seems to get better every time.  I have met some wonderful people here.  Meeting the person behind the product is always amusing to me.  I've also met some great buyers from other parts of the country, shared some retail secrets, and found some new great product lines.  I think we purchased more inventory on this trip than we ever have in the past.  It was a lot of hard work but a lot of fun!

So our plans were to head down early Wednesday morning, but the snow and ice put a hold on us for a few hours.  We finally left around 2pm Wednesday evening.  We drove straight through without any traffic jams, wrecks, or icy conditions.  We made it to the CNN Omni Hotel about 8:pm.

Our room opened up to a balcony that faced the CNN News Center.

I spent some time out here looking for my favorite, the handsome Anderson Cooper.

The next morning we headed out bright and early, the hotel was only a few blocks away from market and our walk would begin across the street through Centennial Park.  At night this place was gorgeous.  The park was covered in Christmas lights, snow, and ice. They also had a skating rink set up in the middle, but we had no time to enjoy it.

All wrapped up and ready to go!  Market....here we come!!!!!!!!!!!

We met some great girls during lunch one day and just happened to be talking about their hometown Panama City Beach.  They asked me if I had a favorite steakhouse there and of course I said yes, Angelo's!!! my families absolute favorite.  We plan our day around eating at Angelo's every time we hit PCB.  We even talk about the great steak house before we get there.  It's probably Kris and Lanes favorite place to eat in PCB.  I can't tell you how many pictures we have of our kids under Big Guss.  So can you guess who these two lovely ladies would be?  The lady to the left is the owner of Angelo's and the lady to the right is the manager of Angelo's.  I was in  Guss Heaven.  They were super sweet, gave me an Angelo's koozie and a VIP card for the next visit.  And that's NO BULL!!!!!

One of my favorite things about Market is meeting the people behind the product.  This is Mr. Wilton II of Wilton Armetale.  Him and his father created the WA line in 1963, the word Wilton being their last name and the word Armetele meaning art metal with a french flair!  Below is a picture of Mr. Wilton and Mary Lee taking the WA Oath.  He gave us a signed piece and a WA cookbook.

Mary Lee, Mr. Wilton, & me!

Earlier I told you that I had my eye out for the handsome Anderson Cooper.  Well this is as close as I came to meeting him.

Sending him Kentucky Kisses!!!

Meet Norah!  My favorite serving pieces that we carry at The Depot are the Norah Fleming pieces.  I just love them.  So every chance I get to talk to Norah is a treat.  I always ask a lot questions, like what's coming next and any tips she might have.

And yes, this is me and all my glory.  I just love this place.  3 buildings up to 18 floors and divine merchandise.  I just love it here.

After 3 days of market we decided it was time to head home.  We stopped at a little diner called OK Diner just north of Atlanta.  I thought it was quite funny that they had a money tree in the center of the dining room. Considering the amount of money we just dropped I seriously thought about giving it a shake. 

I took all kinds of pictures of the merchandise that we bought but I can't share it with you until we get it in and out on the floor.  We told all to ship ASAP, so we will be filling the store up any day.  Come by and see me!

A great start to 2011

My daily or simidaily blog has pretty much turned into my weekly blog here lately.  Life is flying by and I'm trying to document our family happenings as often as possible.  Its now Jan 9 and I haven't blogged since Jan 1st. I'm really behind.  A whole weeks worth to talk about.  2011, great so far.

Friday night we welcomed in the New Year at our friends Jenny & Scotts.  We played alot fun games and had alot of great food!  Karson loved Kamdens new Xbox Kinect.

Jenny (the hostess) and I

All of us girls - Jenny,Julie, me, & Penny

Scooter!

Julie

Sunday Kris grilled lunch, it was sooooo good.  These are his famous honey grilled wings.  Hooter wings are now my second favorite.

Lane took his first tour of the mines this weekend.  He looks really big in the picture.  I don't have a little boy anymore, he's all grown up :(

A continuous miner.

Kris on a golf cart.

Sunday evening we went to Chuckie Cheese to celebrate my niece Kinleys 8th Birthday.  We had pizza & cake, played lots of games, and then we went to Toys R Us.

My nephew Payton is a handful.  Look at that face!  He tickles me to death.

I got Payton these splatter painted jeans for Christmas.  They are just super cute!

I've been waiting patiently for a friend of mine to start on a project for me.   Her name is Leslie at Busybee Stitchery .  She took Kris' mine rescue cargo pants and some accessories I have collected (like pens, team number, and brass belt tag) added some cute material to it and this is the finished product.  I picked it up this week and of course,  she did a great job!!!!  I was very pleased.  Thank You Leslie!!!

Front of bag, the cargo pants side pocket double as a side pocket on bag.  The #2  was the patch taken from his contest shirt.

Bible Verse on side John 15:13
Notice the lil Mine Rescuer man on the key chain.  One of my favorites!  Super Cute!

Back side, again....another usable pocket.

Inside is his brass belt tag.

Wednesday I met up with an old friend James "Cab" Hampton and his wife Paula for lunch.  It was so great to get to see them.  I've only seen James a few times in the past 17 years and this was my first time meeting Paula.  She's a gem, really sweet.

Friday night Karson tested for his Green stripe.  He passed!
Below he breaks for his instructor, Mr. Johnson.

Receiving his stripe from one of the school instructors, Mr. Edwards.

My lil Karson with a "K" as Mr. Johnson calls him.

Karson & Mr. Johnson

Had a  busy but fun week.  Now I'm catching up at the house work and packing for this weeks trip.  I'll be heading back to Atlanta for Market with Mary Lee in a few days.  Hope the boys survive and the house stays in somewhat decent shape.  My mom will be here helping with the boys, so she'll keep a watchful eye out.  I'll post pictures of my trip when I get back.  I (heart) my job!!!!

Have a Marvelous Monday!

What Would You Say

When thinking of my New Years Resolution I pondered upon what was really important to me.  Yes, I would like to lose about 40 lbs, keep my house a little more in order and hold my tongue a bit more.  But I really wasn't feeling it.  So I opted to do something a little different this year.  Something to remind me to live better.

Reflecting upon the past year and how it seem to be so difficult to me.  I've reminded myself that there are others struggling with much more.  I have a healthy family, a warm home, and more necessities than I  need to live comfortably.

This morning I was reminded that tomorrow will mark  the 5th Anniversary of the Sago Mine Disaster that occurred on January 2, 2006 in Sago, WV.   I will never forget all the emotions that over whelmed me during that rescue.  Yes, I still consider it a rescue although only 1 out of 13 men survived.  I clearly remember the joy I had as Anderson Cooper covered the rumors that all 13 were alive.  I remember the community singing church hymns and ringing the church bells in the back ground.   5 hours later I woke up to learn that there had been some miscommunication at the command post.  Only 1 had survived.  So how does this have anything to do with New Years Resolutions?  If we all lived as this was our last day, we probably would'nt need to make New Year Resolutions because we would strive to be our best everyday.

Watch this video and tell me "What Would You Say" if this were your last day.  Mine sign would say

and thats my New Years Resolution.