He Hunts, I Shop ~ A day in Canton, Texas

My husband doesn't really hunt and to be honest, I'm not much of a shopper by most women's standards. I just love the "He Hunts, I Shop" t-shirts that all the big-haired Texas women with their bedazzled camo capris and blinged out Yellow Box shoes wear while maxing out their Mastercards on all the fabulous finds at First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas.

First Monday started out as a flea market over a century ago and has evolved into the world's largest outdoor trade days. It takes place Thursday through Sunday before the first Monday of every month in Canton, Texas. Every month, thousands of vendors from across the country turn this friendly East Texas town into a shopper's paradise where you can find antiques and collectibles, furniture, home decor, arts and crafts, clothing, jewelry, tools, produce, and much more.

I usually drive over to Canton every month to check out what's new and  I never manage to see everything I want to see. It's hard to image how big this thing is! I probably could burn a few hundred calories browsing the thousands of vendor booths if I wouldn't keep stopping to eat all the fabulous food! The food is an adventure all it's own. Of course there is the typical fair food, like corn dogs, funnelcakes and fried Oreos, but you've also got made-to-order fajitas on homemade tortillas, big juicy hamburgers with garden fresh veggies, roasted corn on the cob, Indian fry bread, crawfish etoufee, homemade pies, fried catfish, overstuffed barbeque sandwiches, Pedro's hot tamales and the list goes on!

I can't go to Canton without grabbing a big bag of  sweet/salty/crunchy kettlecorn, swinging by Parrilla's taco stand for $1 fajita tacos with salsa verde and dropping in Paul Michael Company to see all their lastest goodies for the home. Since moving to Texas, I have decorated a large portion of our house with stuff from Paul Michael. Not only is it a great place to shop, they always have complimentary cookies and ice-cold CocaCola! What's not to love?

If you've never had the chance to experience First Monday Trade Days, I highly recommended putting it on your to-do list. You could easily spend an entire weekend there. There's fun things to do for the entire family or it would make a perfect girlfriend get~away.

~Gridiron Girl