Meeting Martha

Along the way, a stop at Rock Center, over 200 flag poles decorated with 
United Nations member countries 
and U.S. state flags, so beautiful in the wind and sunshine.

Down 5th Avenue, an ahhhhhmazing ivory sculpture, so intricate and detailed.
The complete piece was about 4ft long by 3ft high - wow!

And finallyTime Warner Center, Williams Sonoma flagship store in NYC.  
This is my sanctuary, I walked in and 
had to stop and take a few deep breaths,  
I think my hands were actually trembling. 

Allegedly, you can purchase everything in the Williams Sonoma catalog in this store - 
over 50,000 items, oh my!  The perfect gift (hint hint - idk - mother's day, birthday, just because!) 
and it's already wrapped.

They have a kitchen in the store, can you imagine cooking and saying -
"you know I think I want to use this All-Clad pot or that Le Creuset cookware
or bring me a box of Maldon salt"?!!!

Martha had some rules! Having done this maybe a few times,
she's got the system down for signing her name 500 times
and getting it done in 2 1/2 hours!

It was so hard to get a good shot of Martha, she had quite an entourage. I could tell the way in which her staff operated that Martha runs a very organized, tight, regimented, professional ship from the guy in the dark suit who was not up for any nonsense, to the four women surrounding her that were in charge of making sure everyone had the proper page flagged for Martha's autograph, grabbing cameras and iphones for photographs, and keeping the line moving by not allowing you loiter more than the amount of time it took Martha to scrawl out of few words.  Although I was expecting her to be somewhat brusque, she was actually very kind and lovely, the whole encounter leaving me tongue-tied and goofy - ugh!!  Martha is the embodiment of a strong, powerful, smart, successful woman, so glad to have met her!