Silver Bella...before and after & my family reunion

My first day was spent with Jessi and a bus load of Bellas.
We left the hotel at 9:00 and spent a full filled day with
our wonderful Omaha hostess. Here's a group shot that I
borrowed from my roomie Sharon,
snapped by the lovely Tiffany.


Our first stop was the Brass Armadillo, a large antique
mall. It was great and we shopped for 3 hours.


Sharon captured a beautiful photo of vintage Christmas
ornaments. The mall was a feast for the eyes. Both
photos courtesy of Sharon.


Jeanne and I stopped by this pretty store front on
main street in Omaha. This was Saturday night after
we had completed all of our classes.


Sharon and me playing in an old red phone booth!


We ate at Upstream and enjoyed a nice post Silver
Bella dinner. My new buddies, Megan, Jeanne, Jana,
me and Sharon.



The Saturday after Thanksgiving always brings my family
reunion. We have been doing this for many, many years and
I really look forward to the special time spent with
extended family! My cousin captured this family photo,
including the cute Juju.


I also took several shots of my children with Juju, in
hopes of getting that just right photo for the Christmas
card.

And saving the best for last....the 2 patriarchs of my dad's
family. My Uncle Jay, who is 88 and my uncle Hall, who is 87.
Both of them are always in attendance and I realize that at
their age, every year may be the last. So, I wanted to remember
them happy and laughing and that is just what I got!

Counting my many Blessings..

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
I plan to enjoy a relaxing day with my family and
eat a few of my favorite Thanksgiving treats. Also
planning on counting my many blessings and being
thankful!

Silver Bella...issue 1

Finally, I am getting around to posting about Silver Bella. I will
plan to do it in a few different "issues". There is so much to share!
First off, I attended the Glitter Lounge, hosted by Karla and Carol from
Raised in Cotton.


The decorations were very pretty and done up in Karla's lovely
"sugared" style! We got to meet Bellas and enjoy some
snacks prior to the opening night dinner.


Here's Karla toasting all of us. It was so nice to finally meet
her face to face. She is truly a wonderful and creative gal!!


Here I am with my most wonderful roomie, Sharon. We emailed back
and forth for several months and finally met up in the Denver airport
and talked nonstop on our flight to Omaha. We had a great weekend
shopping, eating, talking and creating!


Now for a few swap photos for you. This is one of my swaps, all
packaged and ready to trade. Thanks to Sharon for the lovely wrap.
She traced and cut out the envelopes for me!!


Several of the swap hostesses made pretty bags for us to hold
the swaps. I am bag rich now and loving all of them! Heather
made this pretty hanky bag.


Here's a little peak of the holiday fabric fatbook swap, hosted
by Michelle. This book is really pretty and I will share more detailed photos soon.


Check out my loot! The bag on the left was the Silver Bella bag
that was full of lots of goodies from several different sponsers.


This is my favorite photo of the swaps. I love that the swaps are
pouring out of the top of the bag. Isn't this altered bag just
wonderful? Lonnie is the hostess and seamstress for this one!


I leave you with a dreamy photo of my hostess gifts. Instead of making
a gift, I decided to buy boxes of yummy chocolate covered toffee
from Nashville. I hope they enjoyed it! To be continued....

It's SILVER BELLA time!! I am headed to Omaha tomorrow!
So excited and I will share many photos when I get home!