Recap of Gift Market at the Atlanta Mart 2013

I just spent 5 days in Atlanta shopping. Wow, who wouldn't love to say that? I love going to market with my sisters. They have the cutest shop in Trussville,  Alabama, called The Spotted Zebra. Isn't that the cutest name? It's gifts and a little home decor. They have such a great client base in Trussville and their customers love them! I love hanging out with them at the Mart because I get to see their dynamic and how they work together. They both have different strengths and the shop would not be able to run without both of them. I always add in my 2 cents just to ruffle some feathers!

There are 3 buildings at the Mart. Building 1 is full of showrooms that are open almost year round. You will find furniture, rugs and seasonal in that building. During a big market, they have 2 floors dedicated to temporaries. Temps are the booths that only come for market and are gone as soon as it's over. This is where you find all the new, cool stuff! Building 2 is full of gift companies. I mean everything you can imagine is in this building. You will find furniture, flags, pottery, frames, jewelry, lamps, every thing under the sun! Building 3 is known as the apparel building. When they have apparel mart, I envision all the showrooms open with clothing pouring out of each! During Gift Market, they have several floors dedicated to temporaries. I have a few favorites! I got to see a couple of great friends that had booths on floor 2. Vallie and Leah were both there. Their booths were packed when we went by. That always makes me happy to see someone be successful at what they love to do. I also always hit up Art by Amy. She is one of the people that inspired me to start making Lucy Lockets. She has a booth full of chain and charms and all kinds of crazy things to add to a necklace. One of the coolest things is you can pick out the charms you like and she will make you a necklace on the spot! Thinking that might be a good idea for me. Anyone want to host a party???

We had a great time. We saw lots of friends and lots of really cool things that will be in the store this year. If you get a chance, go by the store and tell them hello. You can also follow their Facebook page to keep up with all the new stuff that comes in!

I took a few pictures of my favorites. I may try and do a "trends of 2013" post, if I can muster up the list! There were definitely somethings that stood out.

 I shared this on Instagram {trend alert}

I love a yarn stocking. We "stocked up" on these!

Guess who will have a Giant light-up E in her room?

You might see a chalkboard wall at the store the next time you stop in!

 This girl had great jewelry at great prices. It was Fabu!

I shared this on Instagram, too. I need this at the beach!!

This showroom knocks my socks off every time! This fish is gorgeous!!

This patent white couch. O, yeah, just O! {trend alert}

Demdaco blew us away with their vintage signing. Some really cute pieces for Christmas!

 How could I not share this one! Who wants one of these for their tree. Or just to hang on their desk! 

A Letter to Myself in 2012

Dear Lucy,

The year started off amazing, working full-time at Telegraph Branding. You really loved this job since you love to be creative and think outside the box. That is what they needed from you! It was a good fit. The end of January brought the best trip to California with two of your best friends, Ashlee and Marisa.  Starting in San Francisco and staying at Jennye's apartment, the three of you saw everything! Jennye was the best hostess. Dinner every night, shopping and site seeing all day long. I wish we could go through all the fun that was had. Three days later you were on your way to LA. There was a half marathon to run! You met up with that cute B Disney Planner Smith. Seriously, is that her middle name? She planned this portion of the trip and, as usual, did a stand up job.

March came with plans of Spring Break and Summer Vacation. This ran into problems with the el-job-o. You had already used half of your vacation for the year and it wasn't even April. You decided the family was more important than the job. Taking Southern Accents with you gave you that little extra spending money. Emma tried out for the OMMS Cheer Squad and made it! Wow, that was some stress for everyone.

Emma was in full force with her Tumbling and Trampoline Season: a meet a month, 3 practices a week. That is a full time job! John Connor was playing flag football. A really good move for him. He needed to build a little confidence playing football. He had lots of fun running and catching balls and don't forget the touchdowns!

School got out and we traveled back and forth to the beach. Summer seems to be a blur with something going on every day! Cheer camp and football camp, fishing trips and dreams of scuba diving. Yolo board riding as the Gliding Monkeys at Sandestin, building sandcastles, bungee trampoline flipping and french fry eating at Hartell's were just a few of the summer activities!

School starting back always gets everyone back on schedule. It's such a relief to have school everyday, cheer practice, football practice, workouts at the gym, pilates and bootcamp. What would you do without a schedule? Emma going to school the first day in her cheer uniform was such a special moment. It gave you the sense of what she worked for and how she has become a leader at her school. A very proud mom moment! John Connor worked hard on the football field. He had a new coach and had to show him how hard he could work. He improved so much from last year. He did make a touchdown at the Thompson game. You loved how he looked over at you and Connor on the sideline first. Kids love to see the pride on our faces.

Fall also brought lots of changes for work. Southern Accents no longer needed you to do the social media and marketing. It was a shock and very hard to take. A month later, they changed their minds. It is still being tweaked, which gave you the opportunity to find yourself and build your own popularity.  You realized you had the ability to create your own brand. Lucysinspired came to fruition, meaning, it became something. It had been out there for a while without a purpose. Now that you had all these ideas floating around and no one taking advantage of them, you realized you could use your knowledge for your own brand. You now have a jewelry line that became very popular in December and this blog has become something you think about daily. There is a lot to look forward to in 2013.

Looking forward to seeing what becomes of it!

Lucy

Christmas with the Smoking Glue Gun Girls

My new craft group, The Smoking Glue Guns, was planning their holiday party. Um, they wanted hubbies to come? NO! All that's going to happen is the girls in one room and the boys in the other. The husbands will complain about having to go and then we won't even talk to them. NO BOYS ALLOWED! Well, that was my opinion and then it was decided {ahem, by Ashlee} that the party would be at Hansel and Gretel! Christmas at Hansel and Gretel, what would be better? Well, I'm used to having parties at my house. Um, the other house. The one that could hold lots of people and no one would trip over cords....sorry, Christy! I was ready, though. Hosting a party at Hansel and Gretel was one of the reasons I love this house. It has so much character and needs to have people see it and swoon over it....like me!

It had been raining ALL DAY LONG! I was getting messages asking if we could just wear pj's. I'm so glad Ashlee is the "leader" of this group. She put her foot down...no pj's! Glitter, sequins, sparkle, it's a Christmas party!! I'm glad she did. I love to get dressed up and I didn't have to go outside! yay!

Everyone brought food and a wrapped gift of their Favorite Thing and we would play Dirty Santa! This has become my favorite kind of party. We always just do Christmas gift for Dirty Santa. But, My Favorite Thing? Yes, that's a good one!! We drank some Jingle Jangle Juice. Too bad there isn't a photo of that...it was so pretty and delicious!

Krista getting an earful! {laughing at myself, now. I'm so serious!}

Doesn't the food look amazing? {it was}

Champagne as a hostess gift? {yes, thank you, Ashlee!}

I have had so much fun getting to know these girls! Dirty Santa was pretty dirty! I was excited to get a BirchBox. I have been wanting to try it and I won a 3month subscription! Thanks, Lori!

As usual, Lori Gordon took the photos! She even teaches others how to take photos like these! Wanna learn? Check out Click Workshops!

New Years Eve: Bringing in 2013 in Style

Happy New Year!

It's all in the details

The magicians. Ashlee (left) is the amazing designer and Lori (right) is the amazing photographer!

 Last minute touches

Food

Drinks

Details

Party girls

 Fireworks!!

I want to thank my good friends, Ashlee and Lori for allowing me to show you their fun New Year's Eve party. It looks like it was all girls, but I think the men must have been out back around the fire, not inside with all the pretties! Ashlee has such an attention to detail. I'm so glad she is letting me show it off! Lori knows exactly how to capture the atmosphere. It makes me want to jump right into the pictures. One funny detail is that this party started at 4:00pm on New Year's Eve and was over by 9:00pm. Life of mom's with small kids! I love that they went all out and didn't even stay up to see the ball drop, not even over New York City! I wish I could pick one favorite detail. She left nothing untouched. I have a feeling you are going to see a lot more of Ashlee's creativity on my blog...at least I hope so!   Happy 2013!

Pecan Pie is so Photogenic

I love to look at a pecan pie. I don't even eat it. It's delicious, don't get me wrong. I just usually choose the chocolate item on the table! Uncle Buff gave us this one for Christmas. I love that. Uncle Buff brings pecan pies on Christmas Eve for gifts. We aren't home very much on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We ate it this morning after we rung in the New Year 2013! 

Pecan Pie + Champagne =  great way to ring in the new year!

It truly is photogenic, don't you think? Pecan Pie always looks good in photographs. I took this picture on Sunday afternoon. Sat it down on the floor in the kitchen by the door and snapped this with my phone. I'm trying FatMumSlim's Photo A Day Challenge {again} this month. Today's prompt was Today. This Pecan Pie is how I started today and the new year. I felt it should be honored.