Dallas Vacation!!

Brian and I went to Dallas last week with the owners of the local lighting showroom. Brian has been working with them to supply the Montana job with the light fixtures. He had a certain lighting challenge that he just couldn't seem to solve so the owners invited him to go to the lighting show/market in Dallas.

It was a great trip!!!!!!! We left Thursday morning and came home Monday afternoon. We stayed at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Las Colinas. It was really nice. Everyone there was incredible! While the guys were at the lighting show, I got to wander around the World Trade Center. That is amazing! It's 15 floors of storefronts that manufactures have set up so buyers from places like Nordstrom's or Macy's or other stores can come in and decide what they want to bring in for the next season. Next to the WTC (across the street) there is a 'cash and carry' set up. It's more like a fair where vendors set up a temporary booth and hawk their wares. It was so much fun!!!!!! I got a bunch of nice jewelry, 2 purses, new luggage (since my old one broke on the way there), beads and stones to make some jewelry, cashmere scarves (for $15 each) and I can't remember what else! It took hours to wander through the whole place. You have to be careful in there, though. What looks like a great deal sometimes isn't.

Another day I went up to the 8th floor of the WTC. It's called Kid's World because all the kid's stuff manufacturers are set up there. Each shop only has one or two samples of each product so that buyers can see what they look like. After the buying season is done, the samples are sold. I got Isabeau some new dresses for really inexpensive!! They are European brand clothes so I'm pretty sure no one else in this town is going to have them!!! I just wish I could get ahold of them here in the States because they are so cute and great quality.

One night we all took a gondola ride around the canals of Las Colinas. There were 3 couples and we each had our own ride. Very romantic. The gondolier (I know I probably didn't spell that right) has a wonderful singing voice. He studied at SMU in Texas and performs on stage quite regularly. He's been doing the gondolas for about 5 years now and stays with it because he loves it. There were plenty of kissing bridges to go under! Brian and I were the last to go and it was late evening. Someday we'll have to go to Venice and experience the gondolas there!!

On Sunday, we went downtown Dallas and wandered around. We went to the Grassy Knoll. There were a bunch of people there. We had unknowingly gotten there just before a Pro-Israel Rally. We would have stayed to lend support but there were a *LOT* of police (including the mounted patrol) and we were told there was to be a counter-protest across the street. We didn't feel like getting caught in something ugly. It turned out to be very peaceful. There were only 4 or 5 anti-Israel protestors that showed up. We watched it all from the opposite side of Dealy Plaza, right next to where the mounted patrol was watching from. It felt pretty safe to have them right behind us!

It's always good to get home. We're back into the swing of things again with everyone's schedules. Brian is back up in Big Sky saving the world (at least that little part of it).