Country Living Fair in 4 Hours or Less!

It was a whirlwind trip! I had planned it weeks ago. I wanted to go over, take a girlfriend and leisurely shop the Country Living Fair in Atlanta. This did not happen!! Emma decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday and go shopping. Oh, I had a shopping trip for her! (wink, wink)

I have this 12 year old that will be a 13 year old this Thursday! (yikes, how did that happen) She made lots of plans for the weekend.

She would have friends over before the gala at school and then they would all spend the night...we would roast marshmallows. On Saturday, we would go to the mall. Nothing has changed with 13 year olds. They want to go to the mall. No money? No matter! Just walk around and try on clothes and test makeup! Well, that put a big dent in my plans! I negotiated with her and told her I would take her and a couple of girls to Atlanta to shop. She was impressed! We would get a hotel and shop at Lenox Square! eeeek....so much fun! I only had one stipulation. They had to go with me to the Country Living Fair. They seemed to be ok with that. I wanted to leave at 7:00am. We all know that is impossible when you have 9 teenagers spending the night. They probably didn't go to bed until 3:00am! After dropping them off and picking up things forgotten, we were on the road at 9:00am! Ok, so I won't get to meet up with the HomeTalk crew and I will barely make it to the Rust-Oleum demo on how to re-vamp that ugly tile in the bathroom. No problem.....

We got to the fair and they were very confused. It's outside? What is there to do here? How long do we have to stay? If we can check in the hotel at 3:00, we can leave at 2:30? Oh no, girls. This is my part....the rest of the weekend is yours! I did give them a $20 bill and told them to find something small and I would make a necklace. They said the only things they could find were $100 dollars! I think I have some divas on my hands! We split up and I did my best to keep from seeing them! I knew as soon as I did, they would never leave my side and I would hear, "Can we leave?", over and over!

I did get to see Jenni and Jared Bowlin. Oh my goodness. These two, I love them!

Jenni has a great eye for vintage and does a great job styling her booth. They had this adorable stamp of a farmer with another stamp that said farmer....It had my name written all over it! ;-)

I got a new light...imagine that! It's a reproduction, but, oh, I love it! Where will I hang it? Your guess is as good as mine! Suggestions, please?

I found a great booth with lots of architectural pieces. I got some corbels to add to my collection.

They had lots of wooden Christmas trees. Remember this one I had made several years ago? Seems like everyone is making them!! I still love them!! I'm working on a different design. I will get a few made up and show you soon! (hello, Christmas is around the corner!)

I also got a couple of these for Lucy Lockets! You might see them in the Etsy shop soon!

I had been texting with Beth at Unskinny Boppy and we finally met up by the tower of pumpkins. She was talking to Ben Ashby and wanted me to meet him. It was love at first sight! (for me, anyway!) He is amazing. Have you seen HIS magazine? Serious style. It's a gorgeous magazine and the guys on the cover? You might know them from the Amazing Race or The Fabulous Beekman Boys on the Cooking Channel? They were signing their cookbook over in the pavilion! YES!! But, I had to find a copy of the magazine. I threatened to steal Ben's. He just laughed....I was serious! Beth had gotten her copy from Junxtaposition and thought they might have another copy. They did! I bought it! I got the Beekman Boys to sign it! I had my picture made with Beth's camera! Yay!!!! I didn't catch Ben Ashby again. I would have loved to get his signature, too. :( Beth and I told him to come to Alabama and we would show him around!

My girls saw me at this point and were ready to GO! I didn't even make it around to all the booths. I'm so sad and I need to plan my time better. We did make it to the mall and got new makeup and some clothes.

We also got to play with a Microsoft Surface. They were doing a demo right outside the Windows store.

 Everyone was happy at the end of the day. I'm pretty sure that's all that matters!