Thanks To My Father...

On the eve of Father's Day, I feel a debt of gratitude to my own father for the drive to work hard that I learned from him. I'm thankful that I enjoy working. I enjoy so much the creative work that I do, and am thankful daily that I am physically able to do the things that I am required and push myself to do. I believe that I inherited my love of work from my darling father, who at the age of 90 still mows his own lawn, prunes and gardens, shovels his own double drive and many times the neighbors, vacuums the house, harvests from his garden, and has a Face Book account!

This is one of my favorite photos of him taken in 1942. He is at his desk in a small apartment in Boston, Ma., where he attended MIT. That was several years before I was born. This handsome man worked his way through college entirely on his own. Born into a large family and being the last of 7, his parents died when he was a young boy. Raised by his brothers and sisters, he milked cows to earn his way through school. He was a successful student and graduated with honors, overcoming a lot of obstacles with drive and perseverance.

As a child, I never recall seeing my father sit in front of the TV. He worked all day at his office, or on the road traveling, came home and worked again, either repairing, building, or serving as a church officer. He was talented with his hands and a fine musician! And, like my own darling husband, he's a pretty good Sneelock!

My love of all things creative was instilled by him. My love of productivity was learned from him. My drive to push a little harder has certainly been passed down from him. If I can learn to give of myself, arise early and work through the day (and into the night), give selflessly of my time and talents, and be as tender as he is, I will have taken the best from his example.

I love you, Daddy. Happy Father's Day 2010.

To market, to market...yes, Holiday 2010!

Believe it or not, it's that time of year again! Here we are, in Atlanta, anticipating the newest and most current selections for the upcoming 2010 Christmas inventory. It is, indeed, an annual buying trip that comes with mixed emotion. After all, we have barely taken down the trees after selling through last years inventory and restocking trees multiple times. Are we really going there again? So soon? Really?

The answer is "yes"! Somehow, even with a bit of "do we really have to?" in our spirit, we gain momentum in the seven days of shopping, searching and order writing. By the end of the week, we come back with a plan to look forward to, for you and for us.

I always try to show you some of the best we see, along with some of the worst! The market is getting more and more strict about photo-ops, but I'll do my best to sneak them in! Stay tuned for daily reports and let me know what you like...or don't. Any special requests are honored as well.

CFO and kindred spirit, Linda Giler, is my shopping and planning companion for the week (not to mention the entertainer!). Just thought you might enjoy seeing our closet floor. Looks like black boots in all styles, and heel heights are in order for the week. Luckily, we wear the same size within a half size. And that definitely seals the kindred spirit connection.

Here are several views of our closet floor. I tried several shots to capture the "collection".

Rear view, showing various and assorted heel choices!

And, just for entertainment sake, here are the 4 "Please Dos" and the 4 "Please Don'ts" straight from the AmericasMart handbook...

Please do...

1. Tote bags and backpacks are a smart carry-all solution.

2. Wear comfortable shoes.

3. Only rolling briefcases smaller than 12"(H)x 16" (W)x5" (D) are allowed during Market. (I just must make an editorial comment, that this is virtually impossible).

4. Infants (under age 1) in carriers are allowed in accordance with the new AMC liability release waiver policy. NO-ON SITE CHILDCARE PROVIDED.

Please Don't...

1. Strollers are not allowed on showroom floors or in exhibit halls.

2. Don't sacrifice comfort for style. (This is the main one that I wanted to document!)

3. All rolling luggage larger than 12"(H) x 16" (W) x 5" (D) must be checked.

(It sounds like they might be really serious about this one...oh, dear.)

4. Smoking is strictly prohibited in all public buildings.

I'm guessing that the fact that "no photography" not being included in the top 4 "don'ts" is a good sign!

And so, we're off! Check in for my daily progress reports.

Day 2.....can we go home now?

At the end of an extremely tiring day (leaving at 8:30am and returning to our room at about 9:00pm), all of your comments made us roar with laughter!

Take a second look at the shoes we are wearing and you will have pity on us. We started out the day at one of our California vendors who offers a nice assortment for Holiday and everyday. We found some great things, but our favorite and best photo of the day was in the worst catagory.....as you will see!

In the world of fashion, both home fashion and ready to wear, there is a general rule of thumb that a bit of animal print is always interesting and always classic. It never seems to go out of style. However, we seem to have found an exception to this rule, as seen above.........leopard printed poinsettas!!!! EEK! (If you look closely, you will also see a tiger printed one!) Oh, my. What can I say, bad, bad, bad, very bad, so bad, BAD!

At the end of the design day, once again, glass glitter wins the prize. We ordered glittered ferns, glittered berries, glittered ivy, glittered deer, snowmen, Santas, glittered and snowy viburnim. What is it about glass glitter, anyway? (I'll have to tell you that my receiver and full time sales person, Kim, recently took the last remaining Santas in stock and glittered them up! They all sold within days!) Go, Kim! Great idea.

A closeup of glittered ivy that will be used to create wreaths for Black-eyed Susan's 2009 Christmas season.

Seen here, a deliciously fabulous glass glitter snowflake. Wow!

For those of you who were fans of our absolute best selling diffuser (Balsam and Cedar), we may be getting a few jar candles that may be available. We did order a very nice wintry new scent to fill our homes with the new diffusing, soothing scent of Yuzu Mint . We should have them soon.

In the middle of the day, we took a few hours and had a very PEACEFUL trip through the cash and carry jewelry show. We always find the newest trends, colors, styles and offerings here. We did a little purchasing for the store, for us and for sisters! It may not have been our favorite, but by far, the biggest trend was the peace sign! And for the record, the peace sign in swaroski crystals is pretty darn cute! (We brought back a few, so come check them out!)

Well, we have a few hours of order-sorting to do, calculating and list-refining before we can turn in. How I wish Sneelock were here for a good foot rub. Now what shoes can I wear tomorrow?

Tune in again for day 3.

A full week of style!

Well, here we are at Market in Atlanta!

The January market is always interesting as well as full of long, long days being on our feet basically all day. And when I say all day, I mean from 8:30am to 8:30 or 9:00pm!

This market each January is spent designing and purchasing the 2009 Black-eyed Susan Christmas offerings. Yes, I said Christmas! Although the trees are not even totally down yet from this year (oops, last years!) stories, we are planning and finding the most interesting inventory at the market.

Each day we are here, I will post at the end of the day the most "interesting" thing that we find! When I say interesting, it could mean really frightening, really cool, really silly, perfectly fabulous, or, well, you get the picture! Tune in each day for a preview of what we are spending our days doing.....come along for the ride, I think you'll be entertained!

Let me know which ones you like. We'll be looking for your comments and encouragement. Merry Christmas, 2009! Somehow, we always get into the spirit one more time......