"TownCraft!"

Here on the Hales/Deaver front, we've had some excitement! As in...prize winnings! Err...winning! (Definitely only one, not multiple!) My mother and I attended the Georgia Bridal Expo two weekends ago at the Cobb Galleria Center. Mom and I were both informed at just how "overwhelming" it would be. Now of course, I thought this would be a fun adventure...an opportunity to scope out some deals...and see some wonderful ideas! I couldn't imagine the thought of being overwhelmed by loads of yummy treats, beautiful dresses, and lots and lots of giveaways! I have to tell ya, I'll be the first to admit...BOY was I wrong! Mom and I walked in and simply did not know where to start. We also had trouble with the massive number of venue and dress booths...both of which, we already have covered. We also discovered from many booths that due to the location of our venue, we would be charged a travel fee on top of the fees to use their services. (Definitely not what I wanted to hear.) Now I will say that the food samples were absolutely delicious! We had planned on going to lunch afterwards and to our luck, we ate more than I'd like to admit! But boy, was it delicious!!! So after visiting all the booths and gathering more pamphlets and paperwork that I ever wanted, we made our way for the car thinking that was the end of our bridal expo experience. 

Fast forward to Tuesday. On my way home from an awesome, amazing, incredibly frustrating day at work, I receive a phone call from a representative with TownCraft Cookware saying that I had WON the drawing from the Expo! What was my prize you ask? A catered dinner at our house (woo hoo!) and $300 worth of cookware! Now I'm pumped! I never win these things and this one sounded relatively promising! So as I run through the house telling Trey about it and deciding who to invite and such, my dear friend Rebecca informs me that while it's great that I've won...in reality, it's a sales pitch. Dreams...crushed! (Just kidding Rebecca!) With that said, I immediately got pumped once again at the idea of some of my favorite people all together and I didn't have to do ANY work!

Fast forward to yesterday! So after running home from school to ensure that all plates/cups/bowls are put away, clothes are off the floor, beds are made, etc everyone starts to arrive! Now despite the quickly flattening tire from the Harris clan that made for some pre-dinner excitement, we were all set and ready to go about 7pm. Quietly thanking myself for taking the time to clean the countertops one last time and put the last few dishes away I note that my entire kitchen is covered in cookware! (If only our prize had been $3000 instead of $300, we might've had something more to show from it!) The cooking show began with Matthew (the young face of the company) chomping on gum and informing us about the events of the evening. After a five minute blurb, he was benched for the remainder of the evening. Newbies gotta learn somehow. At that point, Larry took over. A true salesman. Like I said, if only I had $3000! He proceeds to compare TownCraft products to other standard cookware and then makes us TASTE the effects of the pan on boiled water. To best explain how it tasted, I gave Ruckus my spoon to lick (I sure wasn't about to drink all of that nastiness), and she promptly begins shaking her head like crazy and running to the water bowl! (We always claim that she's like a little human!) Back to Larry...as he cooks he is continually explaining how the various pieces of cookware can be used (ie: stacking pots and pans filled on top of the electric skillet and continuing to cook everything inside...neat trick!) So after watching Larry's song and dance, and trying to keep the boys in the group from harassing them too much...boys will be boys, we were finally able to eat! YES! Now unfortunately, the food was maybe a C- in quality (we like spices in this house!) So after chowing down (let's be honest, by this point we were starving!) Larry proceeds into his "sales" mode. Another unfortunate....turns out our $300 prize didn't win us a whole lot! I was AMAZED at the price of these items! An electric skillet for $800!!!! A dutch oven for almost a GRAND! WHAT! Welp, we certainly don't have that kinda money lying around, so we thanked Larry and Matthew for there time, embraced our new "man pan" and called the evening a night!

I knew going in that this could go wonderfully or poorly, and despite the mediocre food and the bummer on our prize, we had an amazing time! The evening could not have been better with the fun crowd we had! They truly made the evening much more entertaining than what I originally thought possible! After an evening like that, I am even more excited about our "wedding weekend!"

For those of you who are interested, here's what we won...that Trey plans to use TOMORROW for fajitas! 

®2010 TOWNECRAFT INC.