Before During After

Last week we finally finished painting our dining area and most of the kitchen. We also put in a new door and doorway leading to the main bedroom, which connects with the dining room, and we put in a cute new light fixture in the kitchen, replacing the old, boxy, metal shop-style fluorescent light. In total, it probably took us a good five days to complete:







We didn't get too much time to enjoy our new dining room, though. Just as soon as Missy's parents left and we finally put all the furniture back, we had to leave for Atlanta for work. Twice a year we attend the ATLANTA GIFT MART, which is a week-long convention for the gift trade. Our work has a showroom there and florists, gift shop owners, and the like come from all over to buy "balloons and co-ordinating gift items" from us. Yes, it's exactly as exciting as it sounds. So exciting in fact, that the most exciting thing that happened while we were there was this traditional Indian wedding reception that we stumbled upon on our way from our hotel to the mart:



There was a horse and carriage for the bride and groom, and the wedding party, all decked out in colorful robes and saris, danced in the street while a mini van blasted music out the back of it's hatch:









I didn't know that the Running Man, the Cabbage Patch, and the Roger Rabbit were traditional Indian dances...who knew?



We saw these two girls dressed up like bumble bees and assumed that they were headed for the wedding reception:



Soon we were upon the Mart and the familiar sight of the three humongous buildings which are connected together by giant HABITRAILS at various levels:







We stopped by our showroom to see how it looks. Every season our visual team re-decorates it. In summer, most of the showrooms at the Mart push autumn and Christmas items. Our co-worker/friend, Russ, made the giant gingerbread house out of foamcore and spackle:



We saw these toy boxes that Missy had designed and were surprised. We didn't think that they were going to carry them in our collection:





Other showrooms tried to push interesting product, like items made out of elephant poo:









"Building Three" - the "apparel mart" - is tall and cavernous. The cool thing about Building Three is that several of the floors are cash and carry, and you can find some really good deals there, even if some, if not most, of the fashions there are questionable:









We stayed at the Hilton, several blocks away from the Mart. Luckily, the view was much better than the view I had last time I stayed in Atlanta for work. Even luckier, there was a Habitrail in the parking garage across the street from the hotel that connected to a shopping mall that had a Habitrail that led to the Mart. This became especially handy because it rained during most of the Mart, and the covered bridges kept us relatively dry for most of pedestrian commutes: