Logan's Run - Dallas, Texas

Did ya ever see the 1976 movie Logan's Run? It's this odd "futuristic" movie where everyone kacks themselves when they turn 30. Everyone sort of dresses alike and they're all a bit out of it. Which brings me to this year's ARTs Awards in Dallas.

The Arts Awards is one of our industry's biggies and they've been holding them for the past 17 years in the building that was used as the Great Hall in Logan's Run. Everyone shows up in tuxes and gowns and the alcohol flows freely. And the 2006 awards are the last in the hall, as it's being torn down this year...30 years after Logan's Run.

Coincidence? I think not.


The Great Hall, Logan's Run, 1976



The Apparel Mart, 17th Annual ARTs Awards, 2006

It was a great time, let me tell ya. Unfortunately Beau was sick, so he couldn't make the trip, but Keri, Justin and I trekked out to Texas on Friday specifically for the event. We really had no idea what to expect, but one thing for sure we didn't expect is what a big deal this shindig was. This weird over-the-top room with yellow and red floodlights, a stage set with ruins, a mammoth television screen off to the side. Man, let me tell you, when the show got going and the spotlights started to hit the winners and the video cameras started beaming images up to the screen it was surreal.

Everything IS bigger in Texas.

By now, if you've made it this far into the Homescapes web-site we've beaten you over the head with the news that we won in our category (and to beat the subject to death further, that means we were awarded Furniture Store 2006, Western U.S.). You've probably seen the photos of me and Keri with the award and the ones of me on the stage with my doughy face enlarged on the big screen 10-fold during my "speech." But you haven't seen what it looked like from my perpective.



Like that. Sort of.

-Thompson Lange

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The Roving Retail Reporter: Keri Marion and her lovely sidekick, Justin Lewis

Justin & I had no idea what to expect when we rose from our dead snores Friday morning to board the plane for Dallas.

Of course, we hoped that our trip would be fruitful and that Homescapes would come back a winner, but you just never know these things.

When we arrived at the hall, we were all a little taken back at how MANY people were there.. if we had ever thought this was a small event, we were desperately mistaken. Of course, I say this with California eyes...

When I say things are big in Texas, I mean it. Everything was huge! I guess I'm so used to my 3ft. square apartment that the thought of having space around me no longer exists! The hall was huge. The stage was huge. The meal was huge. The hair... The hair was more huge than there are words for. I even fluffed up mine as big as I could without being patronizing.

Even the next morning, I noticed the bubbles in my Diet Coke were bigger than their California cousins.

So we go to this HUGE event with these huge screens and cameramen and roaming lights and everything was so big I wanted EVERYBODY to win. I swear it, I think I was weeping with joy by the sixth contestant.

Justin kept counting down the number of categories till we reached West Coast (us). I'd pinch his leg to signal that I didn't want to think about it. Thompson was nervous like a schoolgirl. I think he even said he hoped we didn't win so he didn't have to go up to the Devil's Lair (the huge stage with the huge screen).

I noticed him looking a little green so I fed him more wine. That's what sisters do.

In all seriousness, though, when our category came up and we actually won tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. I honestly didn't think we'd win because Thompson has gone on and on about one of the stores we were up against and how cool it is.

The rest of the night was hazy, as they usually are for me. I do remember, however, after all the winners had been announced going to a place called "Nana's," which, coincidentally, is the name of our grandmother, so it was pretty cool that she could be with us on our big night.

To get to Nana's, we had to pile into a not-so-huge minivan with 5 other not-so-sober passengers and cross this huge freeway to this ridiculously huge hotel that probably spanned a whole city block. Maybe even more, I don't know.

All I know is that this was an incredible experience we had. As over the top as everything was, I'm really glad we could be a part of it.

- Keri Marion

Carmel, California

Last month this goofy little blob of babble was featured in an article by Lisa Casinger in Home Accents Today. In the story, Lisa mentioned how I walk a tight-rope about what is and isn't appropriate for a work-related blog.

I'm about to fall off that tight-rope.

Yesterday I was checking out the stats page of our web-site. (That's the page that gives a breakdown on "hits" to the site, i.e. what pages are popular, what days and times people are checking us out, from what state/country, etc.)

My FAVORITE stat, however, is the "search string." The search string tells us what subjects/phrases are being searched that bring people to our site. For a while now we've had two phrases that always appear in the top 20 referral strings..."bare boys" and "boys bare." It's sad and funny at the same time. As y'all know, Beau and I did that fund-raising calendar in 2004 that Keri made cheeky fun of by titling on our site: "Boys Bare All for the Arts." So somewhere out there in the big wide world of the internet, some poor schmo's are typing "boys bare" and coming up with a picture of me and Beau. Talk about crushing disappointment...homescapescarmel.com is NOT exactly going to fill the needs of people searching for titillation.

But my new all-time favorite "search string" popped up yesterday. When I painted that dog for the Carmel Arts fundraiser, I named him Canadae Pangaea (basic translation: "word-wide dog") and nick-named him "Candy Pants." On the progress page for ol' Candy Pants, I ended the commentary with a little faux sentimentality about how I would miss the mutt and Keri hacked in a "sniff."

So what's the inappropriate search string that should never be mentioned on a work blog?

Someone found homescapescarmel.com by googling "pants sniff."

It's a crazy world out there.