Decorating with Dodi: High Point International Furniture Mart

If you have been following my blog, you probably know that I have two daughters who are interior designers...daughters #1 and #3. For many years they have attended the markets in Atlanta. They have always asked me to go with them but, I have been to Atlanta many, many times and somehow, I just never felt the need. They are both super fun to be with, but they are mainly there for work and I just wasn't sure I could keep up.

But, earlier this summer, as the three of us were sitting on daughter #1's porch and they were planning their first trip to High Point, they convinced me to go and make it a girls' autumn trip. I wasn't sure what to expect...neither were they although they did watch a video to get pointers for market visitors that really gave them some insights on what to do and not to do...but, in my wildest dreams, I would not have envisioned what it really was.

On Monday morning, my two daughters and I got on the shuttle bus at our hotel...one of the tips they picked up because apparently, parking can be difficult and expensive. My grand daughter stayed behind to do some college work. She is almost done with her master's degree and didn't want to fall behind.

After stopping at a number of other hotels for more pick-ups, we were off to High Point.

This was my first impression from the bus and, silly me, I thought "wow, that's a big building. How will we do all of that in two days?". Little did I know that that is just the main check in building...with many, many vendors...but, pretty much the entire downtown area is mart. The largest vendors have permanent buildings...and, I think we walked to pretty much every one of them Lol

I really didn't take as many pictures as I maybe should have because, honestly, I was awe struck and really just taking it all in. And, I was actually helping my daughters with selections as they were both buying much to fill whole homes for their clients. All I can say is that this place is a designer's dream. I could have pretty much lived in any of the showrooms.

Most of the larger vendors have hospitality areas where there is always an availability of snacks, food and drinks so you don't have to do much thinking about finding a place to eat. But, many of them also offer after parties and, we were lucky enough to be invited up to a roof top party at one of the girls' favorite vendors. It was overlooking the city under a tent and the food and wine were plentiful and fabulous!

We caught the last shuttle back to the hotel where we freshened up and were ready to head to dinner...a real one for my grand daughter who hadn't had the food we had earlier and just enough to tide the rest of us over until the next day.

We did a bit of research and found a restaurant that sounded like it had something for each of us. It was in Greensboro but still a bit of a trip over a few interstates before we arrived. This place is listed as one of the top 15 places to eat in Greensboro and also listed as having a European decor and menu, so I was sold before we even entered.

This is exactly where we were sitting...at the first table...when daughter #3 looked up and then starting getting noticeably excited. She said, "I think Carson Kressley just got seated at the table right next to us". Of course, we all turn and stare and yes, she was right. Now, I have always liked him from way back when but recently he has been on a lot of cooking and design shows and I like him even more. I SO wanted to just go over and tell him I am a fan but my grand daughter wouldn't let me intrude on his personal time. Of course, at this point, I couldn't even take pictures of us or the restaurant because she said it would look like I was trying to take his picture...and, once again intruding.

And so to appease me a bit, daughter #3 pretends to be on her phone and we have this! Lol

I must say, I kind of surprised myself because I am not the "star struck" kind of person but it sure was fun to have this happen. As we headed back to the hotel, we googled why he was in High Point and found out he was taping new episodes of his design talk show at the mart...and so we knew what one of our to-dos was going to be the next day!

We headed out early the next day so that we could get in all of the vendors the girls needed to meet with before heading to the final taping of "couched" Before the taping began, Carson came out to talk to the audience and, because we were in the first row audience could sit in, he started to talk to us. We told him about the night before, we discussed what we all ate and then when he heard I was from Ocala, he mentioned that he was coming here soon. He is quite the equestrian and shows his horses a lot. We have the recently opened World Equestrian Center here and he was looking forward to riding and competing there. I will say that our little chat didn't disappoint. He really is as nice in person as he comes off on TV and makes you feel like you are a long time friend. We enjoyed watching all of the makings of a TV talk show. The first guests were the hosts of HGTV Bargain Block and we learned that they are currently competitors in the 2022 Rock the Block show.

By the time the taping was over, we were all tired so we caught a shuttle and it was back to the hotel for us.

The next day we had a nice breakfast before packing up and heading to Asheville. By the time we arrived and checked into our next hotel, we were ready for some dinner so we headed to downtown Asheville. It was as crowded as we expected but we decided to wait and have dinner at Tupelo Honey...where we have eaten before...because we knew how good it is. We really didn't have to wait long for a table on the patio where we were thrilled to finally experience some of the sights and "feels" of autumn!