Postcards and Coasters

For Big Birthdays my friends give a friendship bracelet. We each pick a charm that represents trips we've taken together, similar hobbies we enjoy or things we love doing together. This is one of my favorite birthday gifts ever!

A few of the Charms...

Camper... from my family. We took a lot of vacations in the family camper. I remember cruising the California coast and my sisters and I would stare out the window(above the cab) and check out all the boys. I'm sure we looked like the Griswalds!

Dune buggy... my family has spent a lot of time at the Imperial Sand Dunes in California. Years ago we were riding in our dune buggy through the sand dunes and were surprised to see a huge space ship in the middle of the dunes(The space ship was used in the filming of "Return of the Jedi" the 3rd movie in the Star Wars Trilogy).

Apple... from Lori. The apple is for the Vampire movie (Twilight) I dragged her to with all of the sobbing teenagers.

USA charm... is from my sister Stacy who drove across the country with me from Washington D.C. The Festiva brakes started squealing in Iowa and we didn't get them fixed until we were leaving Nebraska. Not sure how we made it that far without brakes. She also gave me the Frame... for our shared love of design!

Suitcase... from my parents. It represents all of the FREE airline passes they get from having a daughter who is a flight attendant. They say I'm their "favorite child" everytime I give them more passes. :)

Sunglasses... my friend Lori has a pretty sweet life in Newport Beach, California. The sunglasses represent all the fun girl trips to California.

"C"... included with the bracelet is a page telling who the charm is from and why it was chosen. The tear jerker came when I got to the letter "C". This is from my friend Anita who introduced Greg & I to our daughter's birth mother. Thanks Anita!

Crown... is from Hotel Del Coronado where my husband and I were married.

Air Plane... from my friend Lonni who lives in Boise...for my love of leavin' on a jet plane & of course my job.

Runner... from Camille. We both like to run and ran a marathon together.

Movie tickets & Coke-A-Cola... from Maria. We love our girls night at the movies and love our Diet Coke!

Boat... from my brother Ned & his family. For all the good times at the lake and an unforgettable crash while I was tubing behind the boat! It was so bad I was counting toes, fingers and eyeballs making sure everything was still there (I still blame the crash on Ned's reckless driving).

Thanks friends & family, I'm loving my new charm bracelet!