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!