"Charming Getaway" recap

by Kelli Pope

I've been telling you about the "Charming'" getaway for a couple weeks, so now it's time to tell you what an ABSOLUTE blast it truly was. First and foremost, I must thank Mary Noelker for this brilliant idea, and for providing her family's incredible cabin for our escape. She was the epitome of a charming hostess!

Initially, "cabin at the lake" can conjure all sorts of images; primitive fishing shack, minimal camp lodging, empty log cabin for roughing it, nice chalet...... We were all incredibly thrilled at the accommodations! WOW! What a beautiful place!!

It was cozy, and Mary made us feel right at home immediately. The property was completely surrounded by row upon row of evergreens.......... GORGEOUS!

The plan was to pull out the charms on Saturday, exchange and make our bracelets. Yeah, right!!! We could hardly wait until everyone arrived Friday night!! We did manage to wait until after dinner. The excitement was high!! We each took turns unveiling and describing our charms, then passed them around so everyone could choose one.. or 2 depending on how many the artist had made. There was wine, and laughter, and more laughter, but when we got all the charms out, and the chain distributed, you could have heard a pin drop. We all were SO intent on making the bracelets!!!

Here is a finished piece!!! VOILA!! We have glass, aluminum, found objects, ceramic, hammered metal, stitched beads, sterling silver and even antique, resin-filled class ring forms! So, with our project finished, what do we do on Saturday? More talking, laughing and swapping funny stories. And oh yeah...we're at the lake!!! Even though it was really, really, really cold, we went down for a walk around the lake to collect fossils.

Back to the cabin to get warm, open the wine, and have dinner. And what better pass time after dark, than roasting a few marshmallows for s'mores over the fire pit! YUM!!!!!!! Even though Mary (left) claims she won the largest, puffiest, most toasty-brown marshmallow roast off of 2012, I'm MORE than positive Leslie (center) won with the most puffage of all!! Thanks ladies for all the fun and laughs. It was great meeting new friends and connecting with old ones and getting to know you better!!! Can't wait until the Summer gathering! hmmmm.... what shall we make for that retreat?
Michelle Weston, Leslie Baete Fawcett, Mary Noelker, Marianne Brown, yours truly
and Robbie Moriarty in front (unfortunately, Theresa Kibby had to leave us before we got this pic)