IDEX - Day 2 - Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Rosen Shingle Creek hotel is vast. Picture Grand Central Station on steroids. Seriously. When you go somewhere it's a commitment. You don't want to make a mistake and go down the wrong cavern accidentally. You may never be heard from again. Somewhere there must be a note of the square mileage of that place. (I'd say square footage but that would be ridiculous.) But it's not just huge, it's beautiful and comfortable as well. Take your walking shoes because you're going to need them.
The showroom floor opened at 10AM on Saturday morning to exhibitors, press and industry related persons. I got in there before the doors opened to the public in order to shoot more pictures. I'm not quite sure how it happened but a few gals convinced me to sign up for the Madame Alexander luncheon which was to begin at 12:30. Luckily the registration desk sent me in the right direction in order to sign up. Surprisingly there were only about 30 people at the luncheon! The centerpiece was a Cissy dressed in a beautiful bronze/apricot/lemon bathing suit with similarly warm colored accessories. She was lying on a towel under a foil palm tree. Under her towel was sand and real shells and a large blue cloth.
We got down to the business of eating our lunch pretty much right away. We were served beautifully by well-trained staff first with chicken noodle soup and warm rolls and butter. Then came a large salad made of all sorts of delicious ingredients including avocado, beans, bacon, tomatoes and lots of other crispy goodies. Iced tea had already been poured at each setting and sodas were offered. Dessert was a delicious tart and coffee.
We played a few silly games and I won an 8" Eloise.
Then the centerpiece was lotteried off and I got lucky enough to win the opportunity to spend lots of money to buy "Beach Blanket Party Cissy" - which I did. This picture does her no justice at all. I will have to shoot better ones when I get her back home.

The souvenir doll was an adorable 10" Cissette dressed in bathing beauty gear. She is my prettiest Cissette to date. I haven't taken a picture of her yet. This image is from the IDEX event announcement.I am so happy I attended the MA event. It was classy, organized and the swag was great.