Giveaway Winners and Weekend Photos

  Hi all! Hope you had a great St. Patty's Day weekend! I had the best birthday/Celtic weekend ever and will share some photos so the post may be long.

  But first, here are the 5 commenters who each wins a set of the ATCS I made:

   Congratulations!! Please contact me with your mailing info so that I can send them out your way.
Thanks to all for your comments, birthday wishes, emails, ecards, cards etc. You've all helped make my 1st blogiversary and my birthday so very special. Here are the handmade cards I received:

 This one's from my friend Betsy whom I met some years ago when we were both teaching at a rubber stamp store. On her blog she shares her beautiful journal pages.

  I received these two beautiful cards from my dear friend LuAnn-who I also met thru the rubber stamp store:

    And my online friend Joy sent me this gorgeous card:

 

  Please visit Joy's lovely blog  Morning Glory Card Studio which is filled with beautiful cards like this. And don't forget to congratulate her on having three cards published in the latest edition of Take Ten magazine!

  Notice what these beautiful cards have in common????  Each one uses Gelli Plate prints!!

  I mentioned my excitement about my weekend plans in this post. The first surprise came at Friday's dinner at The Historic Hotel Bethlehem downtown. It is a really beautiful renovated hotel that has lots of history and celebrity. You can click on the link to read more about it.We love the place-and it's within walking distance for us.We were given special treatment thanks to two very dear friends who made arrangements to have champagne brought to our table:

  The St. Patty's day buffet was wonderful but Bill and I were just so beside ourselves with the excitement of seeing Keith Harkin perform that it was hard to eat! The bartender up in the ballroom(Brandon) where Keith was going to perform reserved 4 seats of my choice (it was general admission) for the show as a special favor.Front and center baby!!! Since we had the reserved seats we decided to go up the street to Donegal Square , a wonderful shop filled with Celtic/Irish wares downstairs and a tea room upstairs. Keith was to perform a few songs there and sign copies of his debut CD(which I had in my purse :). Apparently there were few people there so the guys decided to just go to the hotel. But, Bill spotted Keith going out a side door up the stairs and called to him. Keith came back in (OMG he was right in front of me-I was shaking like a school girl meeting her biggest crush). Bill told him it was my b'day and how we were so looking forward to meeting him. He shook our hands and wished me a  happy birthday. Aaaaah!!! " OK,I'm telling myself, get a grip!" We go outside and there he was -the guys putting their guitars in their van. I went for it . I calmly(?) walked up to him and asked him to sign my CD:

  I LOVE his Irish accent!!! I think I floated back to the hotel-I don't remember it...
It was just the most amazing show-he sounded even better than the CD!! Unfortunately I can't seem to upload even one of the short vids. hubby took with the camera, so here's a pic instead:

  At the end of the show he graciously signed autographs and and took pics with everyone who wanted. We waited til the end and we got to chat a min. or so .I told him I refer to him as me younger brother-(we do look a bit alike and have the same color eyes)-which he liked-I wasn't ready to admit I could actually be his mother! Wished me a happy b'day again and signed a poster that hubby told me to get so he can frame it for me and put it in my art room.Do I have the best, most understanding hubby or what ?

 

  As we walked to our car Keith and the other two musicians were standing by the side door waiting to head back to NYC where they were going to open the St. Patrick's Day parade Sat. AM by singing Danny Boy. Keith called out and again wished my a happy birthday and hoped we enjoyed the night. We wished them a safe trip and continued on our way. I was so proud of myself for being composed and mature despite how I felt inside :)

 

  Sunday we made plans to go back in town to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade on Main Street. We did walk down but decided to have lunch and some Guinesses at the Hotel Bethlehem and watch the parade from the window because this is what was happening outside:

 

 

  It's hard to tell by this photo but the snow was really coming down and blowing sideways.I wasn't even able to get parade pics, and sadly it was a short parade this year. But we had a great time and even the walk home was  romantic despite the cold.(Of course, the Guinness helped:)

 

 

  I thought the snow covered branches looked like cotton plantings. We walked home the back way along the Monocacy Creek where historically preserved  buildings filled with history like this one are sprinkled about the area. The community does a great job of volunteering to keep it up, and to educate children on the life of the Moravians here.

 

  I'm linking this to Inspiration Avenue. This week's link up challenge is  "About Your Home Town:where in the world do you live?" It will be fun visiting the other artists' home towns.

 

   If anyone is still with me here-thank you for indulging me, hope you enjoyed your nap :)

 

                        " Respond to every call that excites your spirit." Rumi