Monday, Morning….You Sure Look Fine!

Monday Morning….by Fleetwood Mac!

You have to love this song by Fleetwood Mac! This might be one of my all time favorites and is so much more upbeat for a Monday Song than most of them!!! Enjoy your Monday! I sure am!

I can't even begin to tell you how glad I am to be waking up in my own bed on this wonderful, sunny Monday morning!

I also can't even begin to tell you how hard this struggle has been about whether we should go to Market or not for the first time EVER in 13 years! Oh my!!

I knew I would miss out on the hustle and bustle of everything but it really was going to be ok!

 My sweet husband, who is behind me 100% in all that I do and vice versa really didn't want me to go…so…after much deliberation in "MY" mind…we canceled all reservations…to our usual stay at The Ritz…to dinners out in wonderful restaurants, etc….and then I pouted….

 Really, you say?

Yes…Yes, I did!!!

Why I must do that is beyond me! Because once I had gotten my way and gotten him to realize that I was pouting…it wasn't fun anymore! LOL! Seriously, though…I did pout because I was sad…it wasn't that I was being unsupportive or that I didn't agree with his decision..we had actually made it together! There is just something about the finality of being told "No" that will always cause me to rebel in my heart! I wish I could say it wasn't true but it is! And the I have to be extremely careful because of Jim's tender, loving and very giving heart…I simply cannot take advantage of it! He loves to make me happy! I will not ever take that for granted and thankfully my heart melted when I realized that and knew that he was right about us not needing much from market. I know he enjoys going just as much as I do! 
Once I had gotten that out of my system I was the one canceling things faster than HE could! (I really cannot be pleased and I don't know how Jim has stayed with me all of these years!) All of that to say…come Saturday night…when we realized we were really NOT going to market for the first time in 13 years…Jim was the one telling me we NEEDED to go! Go figure! I still wasn't convinced! I was still tired from New Orleans last week! Seriously! I'm too old for all of this! But I said we would sleep on it since Miller was out of town with his best friend and we didn't have anyone to hold us back…for the first time in 28 years! The one time we decide not to go….when usually we are lining up people to watch kids, etc…we were all alone and wrestling with this decision! Of course I woke up at 5:30…go figure! And I knew we should go! I prayed from 5:30 to 6:30 when I knew Jim had set his alarm, for guidance, reassurance, etc... and then we were up and at em! I packed my make-up bag, was flat ironing my hair and yet still yelling out to Jim, "Are you sure we should go?" "Yes", he said…and then I finally said…."I can't spend the night out any more for a long time!!! So we left…we left our packed bags…we left the dogs at the vet….we left without anyone knowing it! And headed to Market!! Foot loose and Fancy Free!

Until I finally gave in and texted our children in case we died in a horrible wreck or something which is always my stupid thought process!

But once we got there…after only a two hour drive which felt like nothing after a 5 hour drive to New Orleans last week…we had a very successful trip! ( Thank you, Lord!) 

These beautiful flowers greeted us first thing as we entered the "Temporary's" which I used to think were really exciting but they haven't changed much over the years! We were greeted with way too much recognition in my opinion! I thought a temporary would eventually move on to a be permanent show room…but not so…at least for now! Anyway, it was good to see sweet faces smiling at us and even a few very french voices speaking to us…and us nodding and bowing and acting like we understood! But, hey…we've been "temporary" friends for a LONG time!

sorry these pictures aren't the best! I was afraid they would think I was a spy from another vendor!

Then we simply looked at Christmas items

 and one other thing that I'm so excited about I can't stand it! I am not posting it yet because I really want to post it all at once! All in one big glorious grouping! I will say though, that we found out that our best selling candle, which is Lafco….
(that was featured on Oprah's Top Ten List two years ago)

 has now created soaps to go along with their incredible candles…I was told that all of Oprah's "people" or her staff…were in there as well and loved them even more than I did! I can't wait to see it on her Top Ten List again!

I must say though…I found it first! I really did! But, boy…I am very glad she loves them! She especially loved the soaps that you can see on the end of the table. They are fabulous! The owner, Jon Bressler was there for the first time and was so very kind and gave us free soaps because he believes in them so much! Take a minute and look at his success as a small business man! It's grown by leaps and bounds and he truly cares about what he is selling!

 Now theres an idea! Believe in yourself!! I can't wait to use it and it smells so incredibly good!!! You really must come by to get some for yourself or to give as gifts!

So, moving right along…here are just a few items we looked at and considered! I'm not saying exactly what we will be receiving in the next few weeks for fear of what  Pattie and Ellen will do when they realize how much we will be unpacking! ( wink, wink!)

After awhile you can only look at so much Christmas! So we ran downstairs so I could just "look" at a few normal items! Which we happen to carry these already but I never get tired of looking at Jamie's beautiful creations!

I must say I was really proud of myself and us in general! We left our house at 8:30 only because we had to drop the dogs off at the vet and they don't open until then on Sundays! We shopped till we dropped…I stayed well under budget and we left there at 5:15! Now that's really good, really fast and really efficient shopping if you ask me! I know what I like, I know what I want and I know when to stop! You just have to remind me every now and then!

And then there was that glorious moment when we once again looked out from the walkways that hang over the city and saw our car! I was so very glad we were going home!!!!

(you can barely see it to the left…the windows in the walkways were pretty dirty!)

This was the best sight of the day as we headed towards Birmingham!

It took me a while to get to that point…but once I'm there…I'm there! And there's no turning back! There's truly no place like home! And it's ok to be told "no" every once in a while! Especially with the way the economy is these days! I really want to be a good steward not only of my money, but of my talents as well! And that includes the talent of pouting and getting my way!