Oh dear. I was kinda feeling like I didn't take a lot of pictures at Silver Bella but now that I'm going through them, I've realized that I did! I've got LOTS to share and I haven't even taken pictures of my shopping loot, projects from my classes, or the prezzies I received from some special pals!!! This is definitely gonna take another post...or two. :-)
It's been absolutely fabulous popping around to blogs and Flickr seeing everyones pictures from Silver Bella. Sigh. I know the term "magical" keeps being used to describe this weekend but honestly, I promise to never use that word again to describe anything other than Silver Bella. It's the best one to describe this experience.
This is my sovenier postcard (which was taken while I was cutting ribbon from Kimberly Kwan). Silver Bella had an official photographer! Kim Haynes was her name and she is a talented and adorable gal!!! I propped the postcard up with a selection of my new fab jewels that I bought at Second Chance!
Before I get too far down this sparkley road, I have to say that my entire trip to Omaha was charmed. Totally. Right from the start...my flights were on time, any shuttle I caught was on time, my hotel room was great, all my luggage followed me everywhere I went. With the exception of a surly waitress and an impatient shuttle driver...it was all just fabulous! But I didn't really expect anything less...do you remember how I even came to get the money for Silver Bella? If you don't, you can visit this old post of mine. :-)
My first day in Omaha, Thursday, was C-R-A-Z-Y! From the moment I got on the shuttle at the airport to the hotel, I was swept up in swirls of happiness! I got on the shuttle and walked past a few women, heading towards the back. They called out..."Oh no you don't, you belong with us!" This fab group of ladies turned out to Janey, Susan, Natalea, Hope, Heidi, and Carol. I'm glad they rescued me from the men in the back of the shuttle...they claimed to be on their way to a scrapbooking convention, but I wasn't buying it. :-)
During the course of the next few hours, I met up with Wendy! I was SO happy to meet her!!! I also got to meet all the Jacksonville girls...Jamie, Ann, and Jeanie and then there was Suzanne! Oh and then there was Jennifer! So here's a little funny...while all the Jacksonville gals went off for their photo shoot, Jennifer, Suzanne, and I had our own photo shoot... :-)
Then from there it's just a blur of happiness and glee..I got to meet the very sweet Robyn, Heather, Cindy, Lisa, Carol, Amy, Cerri, Tammy, and Natalie. I may be getting out of order as to when I met each person but I do recall there being a point when I literally had to step away because I felt very close to tears. SOOOOO happy!!!
My BFF Lilli arrived and then while we were in the lobby, we got to meet Kari at the same time!!!! That was a hugfest-o-rama!!!!
Lilli, Kari, and I went to Spagetti Works for dinner and then headed over to Second Chance which was closed to the public and open just for us Bellas! There I got to meet Karla S. and Julie B, whom if you recall, was the sweety heart that sent me a copy of Teresa's book, "Foof-a-life." Thank you again Julie!!!
Some fun pictures taken at Second Chance...

A picture from happy hour...
During happy hour I got to meet a few more FAB Bellas...Heather, Karla N., and Leslie. Oh I bet there were more!!!!
Friday was our first day of classes...I'll share pictures of my projects and the FABULOUS teachers with you once I get those pictures taken. In between classes, a group of us went into town for some shopping. Can you say Photo Op???
Here are Heather, me, Stacy, Kari, Carol and Melissa. WOW!!! I was hanging around with THESE people!!! I truly felt like I was hanging around celebrities!!!
We bopped around town a bit. In another shop called the Fairmont, we found the Jacksonville contingency...so Wendy and I got a picture together!
I loved this wreath!
The Old Market area of Omaha is SO cute...
Say "O!" (I LOVE taking self-portraits!)

Doesn't this wall look altered? WAY cool!
Back at the hotel, we had our Bella luncheon. Lilli entertained us with her exquisite violin playing. This girl is SO talented!!!!!
In my next class (projects and teachers to come with my next post), I got to meet the lovely and funny Heather. She was with her two sisters and mom...oh that just made me so happy because it totally reminded me of my two sisters and mom....well, if we all did art... :-) They were SO funny together! At one point, Heather was saying something to her Mom and threw in a "Yo...!" CRACKED.ME.UP! Here's a picture with them (sans the sister taking the picture) on vendor night, with them all wearing their CUTE aprons!
Okay, I think I'm gonna stop here...not that I want to but I think the old hamster in my computer is starting to get tired. I've got a few more fun pix to share as well as pictures of the gorgeous Prima Bellas and my projects. There's also some more fabulous people I met in my classes! CRAZY FUN!!!!! Oh, I also gots to get busy updating my blogroll! I have SO many peoples I want to start stalking monitoring! :-)
Happy day hugs to you!!!