I have SOOOO much to tell you about the Friendship Reunion!  I hardly know where to start there is so much!!  Well, as my mommy sang in “Sound of Music” . . . let’s start at the very beginning . . . .

Friends starting arriving in Utah on Thursday.  They rode in lots of busses from the airport down to Provo, which is where I live.  There was a Mexican buffet dinner that night for the early-bird friends, and then the party kicked off with a band starting Friday morning.  OK – if you’ve ever been to a fashion show where the models walk down the runway – well, we did basically the same thing, except we had some of mommy’s “boy” friends as the models, and they carried some of the really cute dolls that you’ll get to see next year.  There was Karl, mommy’s personal manager for 30 years who is very handsome; Stephen, who is mommy’s son (does that make him my brother???) who is also very handsome (keep your shirt on, Stephen!!); Tony, who is the President of Charisma and who is very handsome; Bret, who is Karl’s son, and, you guessed it – very handsome; and then there was Adam.  Adam is my mommy’s friend’s brother (aka Lisa’s brother), and I think we all agree, that HE IS A NUT!  (Oh yeah, he is also handsome, too!)  And speaking of NUTS . . . that Tim Luke guy is really nutty!  He sang a song to my mommy called “Sculpting 9 to 5”, and I thought she was going to wet her pants right there on the end of the runway!  He is funny!  The only thing that could have made the fashion show better – would be to feature ME as one of the dolls!  (smiles)

Next up, mommy spoke to everyone about how hanging onto life can ruin a good manicure – whatever that means!  It must make sense to grown-ups!  All I know is that her friends must have enjoyed it because I saw them laughing a lot!  (But then – I saw them crying, too.  I don’t know – I’m so confused!) 

Next we got to go to seminars, which were really fun (and sometimes funny!)  Connie – who does mommy’s hair for her, and Margaret – who is the head nurse at Charisma’s Doll Hospital, taught doll friends how to be more friendly with their dolls!  I heard people calling Connie the “Hair Goddess”!  In the other seminar, sculptors and designers shared their secrets on an artist panel, while mommy and her friend, Lisa, joked around with each other.  (They do that a lot!)  I learned something new at this seminar . . . Ping Lau should be doing stand-up comedy! 

Then all of the friends got to hear more from Tim Luke about how valuable we dolls can be.  (I could have told you that!)  He is an expert on this and he has been on television before, too!

After that we had a birthday bash for mommy as it was her 52^nd birthday that day.  (Aunt Lisa – are you sure that number is right????)  How funny to have your birthday on Friday the 13^th!  The party was themed “A Little Bit Country” (because some of you may remember that my mommy used to sing that back in the early days of television).  We went to a big barn and had a really yummy dinner.  Then a lot of my mommy’s so-called friends went on stage and teased her a little.  (I’ll tell you more about this in the coming weeks!)  Every time I looked over at mommy, she was either laughing out loud, or crying.  I hope that is a good thing!  But she really started to cry when some of her doll friends came upon stage and gave her some really nice and really thoughtful gifts and said some really nice things to her.  How did they know that she would love that so much??  She told me after the party that she has “never felt so loved” as she did that night.  I think that’s pretty cool, and I can see why mommy’s calls them her “friends”. 

The next day was a really long day for everyone!  It was the ultimate signing, and it truly was “ultimate”!  Even though there were long lines, people didn’t seem to mind because they got to meet mommy, Karen Scott, Sonja Bryer, Beverly Stoehr, Jo Ann Pohlman, Ping Lau, Karen Seamons, Paula Hart, Lisa, M’Lissa Virginia, Katie Sue and even Lisa’s dad, Gene.  (Friends were even asking Adam, Marie’s nutty security guy, to sign things for them – go figure!!)  After a really, really, really long day of signing, it was time to PARTY!  We all got our P.J.’s on and met together in the ballroom and it got really crazy!  (I’m going to write more about this in the coming weeks, too – because I don’t want you to miss anything!) 

I don’t know about you guys . . . but I needed a really good nap after it was all over!  I don’t think we got any sleep the whole weekend!!  But it was sure worth it.  Thanks to all of my mommy’s friends for making it such a fun weekend!  I think you’re all Adora Belle!!!! 

Xoxo Me!

P.S.  One of the best things we did all weekend was make dollies to send to children in orphanages in 3^rd world countries!  Thank you to everyone for being a doll by making a doll!  (And if you happen to have stow-away dollies that snuck into your suitcases or that you are still finishing, please send them back to Charisma so we can send them to the orphanages.  We are missing about 240 dollies!)