Market

As I mentioned before, this past weekend I went with my mom and sister to Atlanta to market. My dad, brother, and Tiffany were also there for other meetings, so it was fun to get to hang out with everyone. My sister and mom picked me up in Birmingham on Friday and we were off. We actually didn't even make it to the mart that day because we spent all of our time picking out purses and jewelry for Frankie's at these other places. As you can see from the following picture of my sister, we got lots of great stuff and our car was loaded down when we were done... The whole back seat was packed, the entire trunk was packed, and there was even stuff in the front floor board. All of this was just from ONE place! We went to two other places before this one and had tons of stuff shipped! Hurry to Frankie's in Decatur, Alabama to see all of the new things!

Friday night my sister and I went to IKEA. I had never been there before, but it was sooo cool!! They had such great stuff, for such awesome prices! I didn't buy anything, but it was so much fun to look around. If you haven't been, you should definitely take a trip. I can't wait to go back one day to pick out stuff for me and Ben! After IKEA, my sister and I had planned to have a dinner date because everyone else was at a meeting. However, we spent so much time in IKEA that by the time we were ready to eat, everyone else was out of the meeting so they decided to meet up with us. We ate at this place called Maggianos. It's a really good Italian restaurant. We had WAAAAY too much food, but it was all very good. We hadn't all been out to eat like that in a while, so it was a nice outing.

Saturday, we got up and headed to the apparel mart. If you've never been before, it looks like this:

If you can tell, its a HUGE circular building with the center of the building open. Those are a bunch of showrooms all the way around. This is only about 1/3 of the building. The showrooms continue on the backside of those shown, and all the way behind me. There is also 13 floors of it...all of the floors wouldn't fit in my camera. That picture really doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea. Basically, any and every brand you could ever think of is there. I remember the first time I ever went, I was a little overwhelmed! Now, I absolutely love it! It is so much fun seeing all of the new styles and helping pick out clothes for the store. We basically go to certain show rooms and sit down while they show us the most popular pieces of their line. There are several lines that we go to every time, but the rest of the time we walk around and just look for cute things to order. I can't wait for it to all come in! We got a lot of REALLY cute clothes!!

I will say, the whole apparel mart is a little different these days though. The last few years, it has been PACKED with people. I remember having to wait in line to get on the escalators, and having to weave in and out of people when walking on each floor. This time, it seemed SO quiet, and there weren't nearly as many people at all. We didn't have to worry about fighting the crowds or waiting in line to get on the escalators... I'm guessing its all because of the economy.. I really don't know, but it was so so weird.

We decided to stop by this particular showroom where this man had his two maltese dogs! I instantly fell in love! They were the SWEETEST dogs ever. They were super calm... not like Ellie at all. They barely even moved haha, and they were soo soo pretty. Their hair was reallly long, like you see on all the pictures of Maltese dogs. I can't get Ellie's hair to get that long because it ends up getting matted so I have to shave it off! I talked to the owner though, and he let me in on his special tricks so maybe I can grow Ellie's hair out. Here is a picture of me and my sister holding the dogs. Look at the one in my sister's lap. It was TINY!! She was only 4 pounds! I couldn't believe it! Anyway, after the market closed, we met up with my my dad, brother, and Tiffany, along with some of my parent's friends to eat dinner. We ate at a steak house that is connected to the market. We usually eat there every time we go to market because it's so convenient and the food is pretty good.

Sunday, we headed back to market all day, finished up shopping, and then drove back to Birmingham. I bought two lottery tickets on the way home, hoping to win big for me and Ben. Unfortunately, I wasn't a winner....bummer. Oh well, it was worth $3 of 30 second entertainment haha.

Overall, as always, it was a great trip! I can't wait until we go back in a few months! In the mean time, head on over to Frankie's to check out all of the cool stuff! To see pictures, look them up on Facebook and become a Fan..the pictures probably aren't posted yet, but will be asap. Purses and jewelry are already in, and the clothes will start coming in a couple of weeks. It's all super cute, so hurry before it's gone!

Christen