Looks like we got a little carried away with our Ugly Sweater Contest!
Friday night we all rolled into Lenox Massachusetts, to the new Marriott Courtyard.
The hotel was so new, it wasn't on everyone's GPS yet. Lovely place.
Earlier this year, a brilliant sister posted the question on facebook, "What is the geographic center of the New England Region?" The Berkshires seem to be the place. Yes, some of the outliers had five or six hour drives, but it is a very large region! We had one sister who drove from Ontario, Canada, as well as one from Northport, on Long Island. This question may not be fully resolved yet, but thanks to our host, Michelle, Wranglers Janie and Debbie, and many others who pitched in, we did manage to get together and have a great time. Please feel free to use the comments section below to weigh-in, and have an opinion about the location and travel times.
I believe this is the area in question
Last year we had a great holiday luncheon and overnight gathering in Syracuse, New York, and that was the first Sister event I ever attended. Debbbie pulled together a fabulous gathering. I felt very welcomed and included--made friends that weekend, and have made new friends at every subsequent SotF event I've attended. We had about 25 sisters last year, and this year's event hosted 43, I think. We are growing exponentially, and perhaps the more central location made it easier for sisters to attend. Oh, and there was also a very clever facebook poll, offering options of a few weekends, and asking members to choose the date that worked best for them. I'm sure that this also contributed to the success of our First Annual Sisters Thankfulness Gathering. (Is that really what we're calling it?)
Since it was too cold outside to sit by the excellent firepit for our gathering, we used the cozy conference room for our Friday night introductory go-round, with drinks and appetizers. No one leaves a Sister event hungry, I've figured that out!
We were so enthusiastic that some of us almost went out and got tattooed on Saturday, but decided to wait a bit on that idea and go shopping instead.
The first image above was going around, but if I'm do it, it's gonna be the word Sisters in the same font as our logo. More will be revealed.
We invaded the western store in Great Barrington. The have an online store too if you need to find something, they'll ship it!
I found exactly the kind of western shirts I had in mind!
We went off in different directions, and with Rachel driving her yellow taxi (joke) we found ourselves at Joe's Diner where the above Norman Rockwell was painted. We went looking for antiques dealers, and found a few things...
We drove over to Retro Pop, a really cool antiques shop, and then we found a few more things...
Here's a really cool use for those old neckties. Thinking of you Elie J!
We ran back to the hotel in time to get ready for the Saturday night festivities including an ugly holiday sweater contest.
The conference room was set up and decorated by our lovely sister hostess and her gaggle of helper elves. The place looked great! There were drinks and appetizers, door prizes, some version of The Yankee Gift Swap (swipe?) that always makes me crabby.
Alicia Smith relating her experience with The Sister Corps
In attendance was a sister who went to Port Aransas, Texas as part of The Sister Corps. Alicia spoke to us about her experience there and the parts of the project that she worked on. We are really proud of all the sisters who participated in that service. And don't forget The Mazie Morrison Foundation/Sister Corps in your year-end giving. These sisters did an amazing job--I couldn't go, but I could send a donation to honor them and the work they did, and to support the foundation for its work going forward.
We dined together, and sat together telling stories and laughing, (almost as if there was a campfire nearby...) until the wee hours. The weekend was a smashing success, and we look forward to doing it again next year!