Beyond bliss

If you know of Silver Bella, you probably know its reputation for enchantment and over-the-top fun.  I did, but that didn't stop me from being wowed by it all.  It was even more fun than I expected.  It was beyond learning, beyond bonding, beyond inspiration...it was beyond bliss!

Upon arrival in Omaha Thursday afternoon, I met up with a couple of other Bellas, including my beautiful "big sister" Elizabeth Shea.  She was exactly as I expected in person -- charming, helpful, and ready for fun!  As an Omaha resident, she was able to steer us to a great lunch spot - Upstream Brewery - where I had some of the delicious beef that the city is known for.  This was in the part of town known as Old Market, across the street from the Silver Bella hotel, the Embassy Suites.

There's a view of it from the window of my suite.  Afterward, we had to hit Second Chance Antiques!

The store had hosted a Bella-only wine and cheese reception the night before.

The basement alone was full of hats, purses, vintage clothing...

a whole file cabinet full of buttons (one of a few button nooks in the store.)

Upstairs was everything you'd expect: plates, books, photos, ephemera, linens...

you name it, they had it...if you could find it!  Of course, the search is  half the fun!

Soon it was nearing 4:30 so headed back to the hotel to check-in at the Silver Bella registration desk...

where we were each given a bag of goodies and told to bring it back to the welcome dinner.  So we went back to our rooms to dress for that and came down in time for the hotel's free cocktail hour (gotta love the Embassy Suites!)

Two of the Colorado Bellas -- Suzanne and Jeanelle

The lobby area that was the home of the event felt like a family reunion!   Lovely ladies greeting each other with hugs and shrieks -- there was an air of excitement and anticipation and you couldn't help but be swept up into it!

This continued as we entered the ballroom for a buffet dinner -- lots of milling around tables, visiting, and greeting one another.

Here I am, dressed in a silver blouse (that I found and love because it reminds me of how I used to dress in the 80s!) which I embellished with this corsage...

 a beautiful, vintage silver bells corsage, in honor of the Silver Bells swap I was hostessing!

In the middle of each table was this arrangement -- a paper hat atop a column of boxes; the boxes held the supplies for our surprise group craft project...

which was this inspiration board with the theme of "sisters"!

Here we are, working hard on our first creative project of the weekend!

There wasn't really time to finish, but I am looking forward to working on my piece more, later today!

This is as far as I got-- many of the ladies decided not to glitter the mat as instructed to avoid the mess...but not me!  I had my Silver Bella initiation, by glitter!  More bliss to come...