Everyday Beauty

Savannah Getaway {moss, grits, and a wedding}

 

The weekend before last, George and I flew to Georgia for Hope and Mike's wedding. We left the kids at my mom and dad's house and ran! It was the first time we've been away together since Mario was born 5 years ago. Savannah is such a beautiful city and one of the most romantic American cities I've visited.

 

We stayed at a lovely Bed & Breakfast full of Victorian antiques and gracious hostesses. They served Southern Grits Souffle {my first time having grits} our first morning there, and no one could believe we had never had grits before! Yankees.

The garden path in front of the B&B.

 

I want to live in one of these charming apartments...or at least have that railing!

 

Spanish Moss grows from hanging branches of trees all over Savannah. It requires high humidity and heat to grow. And that was not a problem, considering the temperature was 94 degrees! A record-breaker that day.

 

The night before the wedding, there was an intimate litttle party organized by Liz Demos. Complete with yummy cupcakes from Back in the Day Bakery. Here are Hope & Mike looking awfully happy {as they should be on the eve of their wedding!}

 

Hope & I posing. I was trying to be shorter and she was on tip toes trying to be taller. LOL

 
 
The wedding ceremony was beautiful, and choked me up as all weddings seem to do. Hope was beaming walking down the aisle with her father. So sweet. {don't you love the pink petticoat peeking out?}

 

Some cute details at the reception.

 

A toast to the new Mr. & Mrs.!

A wonderful weekend, a beautiful wedding and a relaxing getaway. Lovely Savannah.

A Summer Farewell

 

I can't believe it's October. Really. I'm still wearing flip flops and hesitating to put away my sun dresses and cotton skirts. While I really do enjoy Fall, I'm always a bit sad to say goodbye to farm-fresh produce, picnics, and the sunny days of Summer. But, alas, it is officially Fall and with it comes lots of wonderful events like both of my kids' birthdays, my husband's birthday, Halloween, trips to the pumpkin patch, lots of baking, Thanksgiving, and this year again for me, Silver Bella.

This Summer was packed full of activities, as Summer always seems to be. We went to see The Wiggles Live. That was our exciting concert of the year. Is it ok to admit that George and I actually enjoyed it?

 

Sam enjoyed the popcorn immensely, as you can see.

 

We also took a little trip north and met Gabrielle and her children at the Luckett's Fair. She and I are going to be roommates at Silver Bella this year, and we wanted to get together this summer since we don't live too far away. It was a hot, hot day, but lots of fun!

 

Her kids are the sweetest things, and Mario was so happy to have little friends to hang out with. He's still talking about them.

 

Here's Sam, again with the popcorn. Looks like Gabrielle's cute little guy wanted some too. I just know they were communicating on a level we couldn't quite understand. Baby babble.

 

We were even brave enough to take the 5 children into the Luckett's antique shop. Now that's brave. It was just so nice to get together!

Let's see, what else....

Mario harvested his {very tiny and odd} carrots. He was happy, which is the important thing because these were some strange carrots.

 

Yikes.

 

And Sam got a Cozy Coupe. He only knows how to go backwards though, which has given us endless entertainment.

 

And then there was the beach and BBQ's and all that other good summer stuff that we all look forward to each year. But now, it's goodbye sweet Summer.

Hello Fall! I guess I'd better go dig out my sweaters and jeans!

Anatomy of my Kitchen Table

 

Our company has come and gone. We had fun!

This is what the kitchen table looked like a couple weeks ago when Hope was here. Evidence of 2 women who like to make things and share ideas.

Exhibit A:

 Isabella Smith Maison Belle Cinnamon & Jasmine laundry detergent I had brought downstairs to show Hope.

Great packaging, but more importantly, good stuff without phosphates or bleach.

You can get it at Beauty Habit {a highly addictive website}.

 

Exhibit B: Adorable pouch Hope brought me as a belated birthday gift. The work of the creative felt queen, Julie Collings.

Exhibit C: This old tobacco tin was tucked inside that cute pouch.

 

Hope embellished it and filled it with all of these bits and pieces. She knows me way too well.

  

Exhibit D: The cover of the guest book that Hope made for her upcoming wedding. She used all of my scraps and random things I had in the craft room. I didn't get a very good picture of it, but it turned out so pretty.

 Exhibit E: Our current journals side by side. These are fun to draw/doodle/write/paste in.

 

And the other stuff on the table includes glue, pens, rulers, papers. You know, all the essentials.

I'm happy to say the table no longer looks this way. Now, it looks like this:

  

Exhibit F: Some totes I'm making for my shop. I should have them listed this week sometime.

  

Exhibit G: My purse.

  

Exhibit H: This basket purse came in the mail as a surprise from Analise. Needless to say, it is really beautiful and I LOVE it. It deserves a much better picture than this one.

 

Exhibit I: Superman jammies, complete with cape.

 

Exhibit J: Mario's balloon art.

And now I think I need to go clean off the table!

Company's Coming

Hope is coming to visit today and she's spending the night. I love slumber parties, don't you? So excited to see her and do some shopping and lunching and crafting. Then, on Thursday my mom is coming to spend a whole week with us!

The beach quilt {which is really a bed quilt} has been laundered and has added a nice splash of color to the guestroom.

Fresh flowers have been placed in a vase on the nightstand.

A small dish of candies is sitting on the dresser.

Banana Cream Pie has been made. Chicken salad and croissants have been bought. Lots of fresh berries are on hand for breakfast. House is vacuumed. Laundry is all done. Bathrooms are clean.

I really do love having house guests. I love the morning when they come downstairs and you talk about how well you both slept {hopefully}. And I love the morning coffee time together. Mario usually holds the guests hostage in the play room until he's shown them all of his trains. And, not for nothin'.... it gives me a good reason to clean really well.

Yay! Company's coming!

Fun in Leesburg

A couple weeks ago, 11 blog girls met up in Leesburg, VA for a day of antiquing and fun. I was so happy to be one of them! You may have seen this same sort of post on all of their blogs already, as I'm a little late here. But it was great fun, and I didn't want to let the memory pass by without a blog post.

Heather and Stephenie organized the whole adventure, and Lori joined them as they headed east to meet a bunch of us local Virginia and Maryland girls {Hope, Amy, Pam, Robin, Jessica and me}.  Karla and Beth joined us too, all the way from Kansas.

 

Here are some of the girls at On a Whim. {L to R: Karla, Jessica, Lori, Pam, Heather and Stephenie}

On a Whim has an entire small building dedicated to vintage prom dresses and vintage girly accessories. Tulle heaven!

 

We pretty much hit all of the good vintage shopping spots in Lucketts and Leesburg {including The Cottage, The Beekeepers Cottage and The Old Luckett's Store} and then we enjoyed a to-go snack at Lola's {below}, and dinner at Tuskie's later on.

{L to R: Jessica, Beth, Heather, Stephenie, Lori, Karla, and Amy}

Here's Amy posing with a friendly sheep. And there's me carrying one of my purchases down the stairs.

I've been wanting one of these wicker standing sewing organizers for years. I actually saw three of them while we were out that day. One was $86, one was $49 and one was $25. I bought the cheapest one of course, and it's in perfect condition. I'll let you know when I fill it with goodies. I love having a new reason to organize my supplies!

I also found this vintage barkcloth knitting bag. Funny story....Heather had an almost identical one that day that she was carrying as a purse {which I loved}. When I spied this one in one of the shops, I thought she had left hers behind by accident. It was such a coincidence that I found one that same day. I usually see these bags in darker shades with lots of red, which is pretty, but not really my style. These soft pinks and lavenders are so lovely.

And I found another old parasol to hang up or prop up...not sure which yet.

And this hat...

...which I only bought for the flowers. They opened right up after I steamed them a little bit.

I couldn't pass up this old chipped statue of Mary. {it's the small one in the picture.... the larger one was my great grandmother's}

 

It was such a fun day, and I really enjoyed seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones. And we all said ,"We have got to do this again!" Definitely.

{I swiped some of these photos of the group and the shops from Heather's, Hope's and Karla's blogs, by the way. Thanks, girls!}

Recent Treasure Hunting

Do you ever start a blog post and save the draft and then foget about it altogether? Well, I do. A lot. I never told you about when Karla was in town and we met up for the day to have lunch and find some good junque.

Here's Karla with her tea at Pinkadilly's in Old Towne Fredericksburg. {And, I get to see her again this Friday for another round of treasure hunting with some other gals as well. Fun!}

And here's what I found that day. This charming little vintage sequined crown was a great find. I probably paid too much for it, but I've never seen anything quite like it and, well, I just loved it.

 

Such soft colors. And how great would this be as a First Communion headpiece?

 

I also found this beautiful old hat with ruched layers of beige Russian veiling. There are little turquoise velvet bows tucked inside here and there.

 

It's presently on a shelf in the kitchen. I know, it's a little strange to keep old hats in the kitchen, but they're all over the house and my family thinks nothing of it anymore. Poor things, they think it's normal.

 

And then there's the amazing crepe paper roses in the very first picture. {Sigh}

I found them when we took a family trip to New Jersey last month. We were driving through some quaint old towns, near the PA border, and I was about to jump out of the window to peek inside the antique shops. One after the other. It was torture that the car kept on moving. I knew George had NO desire to stop. But he did..... and he set his stop watch. "Go look for your junk. Thirty minutes. I mean it."  {sadly, without such time restrictions, I would be gone for hours, completely forgetting I had a family waiting in the car.}

"Yay! Thank you!" {kiss kiss}

And that's when I found the crepe paper roses. They weren't even for sale, but rather they had been stuffed inside an expensive vase, just for decoration. The clerk seemed surprised and amused that I wanted to buy them. For just a few dollars, I walked away one happy girl.

 Look how the pink turns to peach almost. Something only time could produce.

 

And I also picked up this Victorian love letter keeper. Don't you love the whole idea of that? Keeping love letters in such a special place. So, I'm going to use it for it's intended purpose. {Honey, if you're reading this, you better start writing me some love letters! Or I'm gonna die an old lady with an empty love letter keeper, for cryin' out loud!}

 

And that's that. My antiquing loot. Looking for beautiful old things never gets tiring, does it?

Laughing & Crafting {En le Jardin Style}

I'm back from an incredible girls' weekend in Georgia and am slowly settling back into reality {you mean I have to cook?}. It's difficult to even describe how much fun we had, but I can tell you my ribs hurt from laughing and I'm finally getting my voice back. I haven't laughed so hard for so long in years!

Let's see....where to begin? Just a warning, there are tons of photos in this post, so it may take a while to load. It was hard to pick and choose between the hundreds of photos we all took, so I've included lots. Let's start at the beginning. We arrived at Jenn's gorgeous home on Thursday, where we all found ourselves snapping pictures galore. 

She's the most gracious hostess you can imagine and no detail was left untouched. We all felt so welcome in her home.

 

 

 

Here's Jenn on the chaise that was set up in her backyard for the event. This was possibly the only time I saw her sitting all weekend! Look how pretty...

 

Rosalyn-Sue with me, snapping a picture of Analise and Karla who were snapping a picture of us.....as you can see, there is no shortage of pictures.

 

On Friday, we all piled in a limo and headed to Savannah for a day trip. The picture at the very top of the page was taken of {almost} all of us just before hopping in the limo.

The limo ride was a blast, despite our chain-smokin', half-asleep driver! Lots of funny moments and memories as we drove to and from Savannah. There's something about being in a limo with a bunch of friends....you're instantly transported to the age of 18 and have no cares in the world.

Jessi and Kim being silly:

 

Once we arrived in Savannah, we had lunch at The Olde Pink House.

 

Here we are blocking the stairway after our meal. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to get a good picture, right?

We spent the day walking around the city. Below, some of the girls are posing in front of the spectacular fountain in Forsyth Park, L to R: Sherry, Joanna, Jenn, Jennifer, Cheryl and Analise.

 

Below: Lorraine, Joanna, Jessi and Analise

 

I just loved this weathered door with the pink glass doorknob and lace curtain.

 

We {of course} did some shopping too. We stopped by the cute shop, @ Home Vintage General where sweet shopkeeper Liz greeted us with Mimosas and tasty treats. And yet another shot of the group, with Liz:

Finally, in need of some sugar, we headed to Back in the Day Bakery to meet the lovely owner and Cupcake Maker Extraordinaire, Cheryl. She has been a customer of mine since the beginning of One Hundred Wishes, and it was such a pleasure to finally meet her!

Buttercream heaven.

Tiffany and I enjoyed our desserts. A lot.

 

Then it was back to Jenn's and more laughter the whole way home in the limo.

Saturday was the big day! En le Jardin took place under a white tent in Jenn's yard. I hesitate to even call it a yard. Isn't there a better word?.....maybe "grounds" .Yes, on the grounds, the event took place. We took hundreds of shots of the decorations and the table settings. Jenn poured her heart and soul into this event, and we were the type of group that appreciated every last ribbon, flower and chandelier. Details, details, details.

  

 

  

 

Before the crafting began, we had a lovely luncheon. Jenn and her mother prepared all of the food and had transformed her dining room into such a magical place.

 

And more cupcakes!

 

Kim, Jenn and Jessi in the dining room:

 

There were 3 tables of girls . {I'm totally giving you the play-by-play here, but I hate to leave out the details!} This was my table.  From L to R: Lorraine, Cheryl, Rosalyn-Sue, me and Tiffany.

 

Here's the table of the sweet Southern girls. From L to R: Kris, Angela, Teresa, Jennifer and Sherry. I had never met any of them, and it was such a pleasure to make new friends and get a chance to chat with each of them.

 

And the third table, from L to R: Carol, Analise, Karla, Suzanne, Kim and Jessi.

Here are some more shots from the event. Wonderful Lorraine and me. {girl, you need a blog. We would all love to follow your adventures!}

 

Cheryl dainitly using her vintage handkerchief napkin:

The very funny Angela and Sherry. Sweethearts.

 

Rosalyn-Sue, an authentically kind and generous soul.

Suzanne and Jessi. I love this picture of their eyes and beautiful smiles.

 

Analise at her vendor table, making us laugh, as usual:

The ever-smiling Karla kept us in stitches too:

Carol, with her goody bag tote full of pretty things. How could you not love Carol?

 

And look who made an appearance! Natasha wanted to be there but couldn't, so she sent a cardboard version of herself all dressed up. It was too funny!

 

Here's Analise feeding her some moss. LOL

Jenn even hired a harpist......you can imagine how the soft sounds brought the whole enchanted garden theme together. It was incredible.

After lunch, we got busy on our garden-themed projects. Here is the flower pot I decorated {on the top}, along with Tiffany's beautiful pot below it. I actually finished the project with plenty of time to spare, a first for me. It was fun to watch the girls each create unique projects with their own special flair.

 

We also made a second project, a little garden fairy ball. Here are some of the other girls' projects hanging in the tree. The lovely lace streamers were Cheryl's bright idea, and we all copied. Pretty pretty!

It poured down rain, but nothing would dampen our spirits. We had all come to terms with the wicked humidity and had accepted bad hair days as the norm. We were having so much fun, no one cared a bit! So, free-spirited Tiffany and Karla decided to take a turn going down the slide in the backyard. HILARIOUS is the only word that comes to mind. We laughed until we cried. Here's Tiffany, and you can see Karla right behind her, waiting for her turn.

 

Tiffany 5 seconds later. LOL

That evening, we were invited to Suzanne's home where she spoiled us with an amazing Italian dinner, summer drinks and dessert on her terrace. We were surrounded by twinkle lights and more laughter.

Jenn, Jessi and Suzanne on the terrace:

Tiffany and Analise laughing.

Here we all are posing with our cocktails that Suzanne's husband happily prepared for us. {Carol, me, Tiffany and Sherry}

 

Lorraine, Kim, Jennifer and Rosalyn-Sue:

 

Analise, Karla and Angela:

 

Happy girls:

And then on Sunday, we all packed up and {hesitantly} headed home. I was teary-eyed and feel so lucky to have spent 3 days with these 17 women with whom I have so much in common. It was magical. Karla painted this funny cartoon to remember the weekend. I can't get over how much we actually look like these characatures! I think she missed her calling as a cartoonist. So funny.....

So, there's the very long version of the very fun weekend we shared. Thanks for reading this far. I hope you had a few laughs too.

Happy Earth Day and Happy Birthday {to me}!!!

 

I know I'm suppsosed to be taking a blog nap.....but today is my birthday! And I really wanted to show you what my friend Holly surprised me with.

Gosh, I just love it to pieces. I gasped when I opened it. She doodled all sorts of little pictures of things that are meaningful to me and wrote Italian words {mother, friend, wish, rose, family, love, baby, home} all around the center oval. So much thought and detail and time was put in to this gift.

 

I'm going to put a picture in the middle and frame it for my craft room. I really can't even tell you how much this means to me. It's better than anything that could be bought. Thank you Holly.

On a slightly different note, since I share my birthday with Earth Day....I wanted to just say one quick thing:

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD. {Gandhi}

I never really blog about these sorts of topics, because the last thing I want to do is come off as preachy or as if I'm an expert in this area {I'm NOT!}. That is not my intention, and I am a big believer in "to each her own" and doing what is right for you, in your own time. But I am very passionate about this, and since it's Earth Day, I thought it was appropriate to post this simple little paragraph here. The more we spread the word and the knowledge, the better off we will all be. We are what we eat, plain and simple. And we only get one body and one life to live.

Would you like to know that the food you're putting in your body and in your precious childrens' bodies has not been sprayed with toxic chemicals and laced with antibiotics and hormones? Of course. Who wouldn't? If we want to see a change, we have to be willing to make a change. Start small. And the laws of supply and demand will go to work for all of us. The more we demand and purchase whole, organic foods, the less they will cost, and they will become more readily available. Maybe eventually the government will overhaul the FDA so it actually protects and informs consumers. Wouldn't that be something?

Try and do just one small thing today to make your life healthier and our world a little cleaner.  If we all made a tiny change, the impact would be enormous.

Happy Earth Day!

And now, I guess I should get out of my pajamas since it's 11:30 am. George and I are going on a date tonight. Dinner without kids...what's that? Can't wait!!!!!

En Le Jardin

 

I'm looking so forward to this, I can't even tell you! My friend Jennifer is hosting En Le Jardin, an Alfresco Art Event. It's going to be a wonderful, small-scale retreat with lots of time for crafting, chatting, sipping sweet tea and seeing the sights of the beautiful South. Jenn has planned it out so well, and we are all in for a relaxing creative weekend that's full of beautiful details. The event will take place at her home in Macon, Georgia, and several girls from Blogland will be attending. It's always so fun to spend time with like-minded women! If you'd like to join us, a couple of spots are still available. Click here to take a peek at the pretty garden-inspired projects, see the schedule of events and be transported to Jenn's enchanted garden!

Silver Bella Snapshots

See the laughter and the sincere smiles? We had fun! A LOT of fun!

 

A week later, but still very fresh in my mind. What a wonderful time I had at Silver Bella! For me, it was all about the friendships and the social gathering of so many creative, kind and wonderful women under the same roof. I finally met the friends I feel like I had already known for so long. I met customers and was so happy to put faces with their names. I met fellow bloggers and artists who have inspired me with their creativity. I really can't quite think of words to describe how much fun we all had. But, I'll give it a try.....

First, I must say a big thank you to the hostess with the mostest, Teresa McFayden! Without her this whole thing would never have happened. She pulled off a BIG event in style, and we all had a ball!!  Here we are posing for the camera in her class that I took.

 

Below is a picture of me and my roommates Heather Kowalski and Natasha Burns {all the way from Australia!}. I couldn't have asked for better roomies. Our room was a disaster area, but we just stepped over the boxes of ribbon and luggage and other junk, and had so much fun. {I miss you guys!} The three of us were so proud of our embroidered birdie ornaments from the group workshop on Thursday night, we had to show them off. 

Before I knew it, it was Friday and time for classes to begin. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was too busy trying to finish my projects {which didn't quite happen anyway, but I've been working on them here at home. Will post soon!}

My first class was actually my very favorite one, although I enjoyed them all. We made fabric cuff bracelets with Rebecca Sower. SO inspiring, she is. I could have stayed and listened to her stories all day. I remembered how much I love to hand stitch. It's been a while, but now I'm looking forward to doing some stitching this winter.

Next I took Teresa's fun class and cut, glued, altered and embellished a book. Very cool techniques! {see pictures below}

These were the happy & creative girls I shared a table with in Teresa's class. {L to R: Danielle Muller, Alisa Noble, Amanda Wiley, Julie Baxley and Heidi Woodruff.}

 

Natasha and I showing our {almost finished} projects from the class:

 

Then I had a class with Pam Garrison. Loved this one too! My project is half done. I think I talk too much in class. And I know I think too much. I just sit and stare at my project thinking of just the right ribbon or color or paper to use. Well, 3 hours flies by when you do that!  But I will finish this week and post about it.

Later that night was the Prom and the Bella Vendor Faire. All I can say is we were all busy, busy, busy! Thank goodness Hope was my faithful assistant so I could take a break, eat a little something and browse some of the other tables full of goodies toward the end of the night. Here are some pictures of my table. I tried to brighten up the photos as best I could, but you get the idea.

 

I love the look of it all piled in there.

 

A little price sign flag I made at the last minute.

 

Here's Jessi doing some shopping at my table. I tell ya, it is impossible for her to take a bad picture. A beautiful person, inside and out!

 

Toward the end of the night, this picture was taken of all of the Bellas who dressed up vintage Prom-style. The dresses were amazing, and there was no shortage of pastel tulle in the room!

 

More pretty sherbet gowns. {From L to R:  Jennifer Hayslip, Rosanna, me, Cheryl Dack and Natasha Burns.}

     

Somewhere in the middle of the fun-filled evening, I was named Prom Queen. Totally caught off guard by that, but honored! Seriously, I don't think we stopped smiling all night long. Everyone had such a great time.

 

Amy Powers was the Prom Sweetheart and Jessi Nagy was Miss Congeniality. {both very fitting awards for these two sweet girls, don't ya think?}

This is my dear friend Holly and me at the Prom {standing in front of Holly's table}. By the end of the night, the shoes were off, the makeup was about gone, and the hairdo had had it! Holly is still looking fresh-faced though! We had tables right next to each other, which was fun because we could chat in between sales. Miss you Holly!

 

And my sweet friend Heather's table was on the other side of mine. All 3 friends in a row. We couldn't have planned it better ourselves. Here I am with Heather.

My friends Cheryl and Jenn.... I miss you guys, all of you! {Geez, I miss everyone, don't I? I really do!} A weekend was just not quite long enough, was it girls? They had 2 of the prettiest dresses there!

Natasha and I helped each other with these crazy gowns. Zippers and laces and bows and pins. The things we do to look good! It's hard to be in a bad mood around Natasha. She is one of those wonderful people who sort of radiates happiness. And I must say, not many people can wear yellow well, but she looked gorgeous in this yellow gown! It was perfect.

 

More Prom night pictures....Tiffany and me. This girl is one super nice, generous and funny person. So glad I met her. {Thank you for all of your help, Tiffany!}

 

And here is Analise behind her table. Another wonderful friend I got to meet. She's such a sweetheart through and through. Her tables were amazing, and I managed to sneak away from mine and buy a few things from her before the night was over.

              

We all crashed into our beds after Prom night, and the alarm went off far too soon. There were more classes to take and more fun to have, so we dragged ourselves out of bed and started the next day.

On Saturday, I took a class with Charlotte Lyons and a class with Sally Jean. Both wonderful instructors and fun projects. {again, I'll have pictures later, when I finish them...}

And then, we had a luncheon with guest speaker Mary Engelbreit. She's so very down-to-Earth and humble. Those are 2 of the best qualities a person can have, in my opinion.

She spoke about her life, her business, her art, and she told us that there is no such thing as balance. You just kind of take it as it comes. Put one foot in front of the other, I guess, and make it happen. Well, I was sitting at a table of friends, women just like me....young mothers with growing businesses who are trying to juggle everything. I think when we heard from Mary Engelbreit that there is no such thing as balance, we could ALL relate and before we knew it, the tears were flowing. It seems hard to explain here in a blog post, but we all understood what the others were feeling at that moment. Even though it was tears, that was one of the strongest moments of the weekend for me. That connection. I am not alone. I am not the only one who struggles on a daily basis to make this crazy life run smoothly. That's good to know.....LOL...

Anyway......more pictures.....

Heather, Analise and her very sweet mom, Jan. I thought that was the coolest thing that they came together. She was just one of the girls.

 

This picture of Tiffany Kirchner, Karla Nathan, Jennifer Hayslip, and Debby Schuh was taken at the Glitter Lounge Party that Karla and Carol Spinski hosted in their room. Glitter was everywhere {edible glitter, that is} and champagne was flowing. Thank you both for hosting such a fun soiree!

This is me with Rosanna, who came all the way from Italy. How great that we got the chance to meet!

  

Rosanna and Cheryl, with the incredible sewn book Cheryl made for her. Everyone signed it for Rosanna, and she will always have a very special memory book of her time at Silver Bella 2008. Such a great idea for a keepsake.

Mary Smilove, me and Amy Powers. Mary is the queen of vintage style. Her coat, her purse, her supplies, all vintage! Love that!  And Amy and I live so close yet had to travel all the way to Omaha to finally meet. Funny how life works sometimes. Can't wait to get together again soon, Amy!

  

There were so many more pictures I wish I had taken. I don't have pictures of them, but I was thrilled to meet Suzanne, Kim, Janice, Cammy, Kelli, Natalea, Heidi, Pam, Rebecca, Carolyn, Sadie, Kim, Carol, Cari, Jenni and so many more I'm sure I'm forgetting. This post is already way too long, so I'll go now. But I just had to blog all of this because it really was a magical weekend in so many ways!