From our families to yours, have a blessed Thanksgiving. We’ll be back tomorrow with new articles, more giveaways and insider info in Northwest Arkansas.

Nearly 100 women stopped by for Signature Bank of Arkansas’ Ladies Night Out, an annual event held recently at the Pleasant Grove Road branch. Shea Dolan, mistress of ceremonies, presented door prizes every 15 minutes (including two from one of our favorite nwaMotherlode sponsors, Bath Junkie) while doctors from Mercy Health System offered wellness advice to guests in the boardroom throughout the evening.

Above: Dr. Andrew Leuders (center), family practice/obstetrics physician at Mercy Health System, posed with a group of Signature Bank ladies (plus Motherlode Mama, Shannon, second from the R; Mama Gwen was behind the camera) who were discussing pregnancy and babies. Dr. Leuders had just left the boardroom where women were studying his face on a Visia Camera. The picture showed previous sun damage (he’s since had much of the damage treated), and served as a visual example of how sun-damaged our faces can be without us even realizing it.

It didn’t take long before the Ladies Night Out ladies were having their faces analyzed to see the condition of their underlying skin (notice Dr. Leuders’ mug on the screen in the above photo). The Visia camera, which is available at Rogers Medical Center, identifies sun damage, future age spots, broken blood vessels and pore size. It even shows what your face will look like in five years if you continue to protect/not protect your skin. Seeing the detailed shots of Dr. Leuders’ past damage was a wake-up call to us ladies.

Gwen and Shannon weren’t brave enough to try the Visia camera, but for some reason, they did step on the machine that Dr. Randall Feezell had brought with him to the party. You know, the machine that analyzes your body fat content?

The Motherlode mamas won’t reveal our results, but we’ll say that the 5-pound glob of (plastic) fat that Dr. Feezell brought along was a very effective visual aid.

Dr. Feezell (seen to the right holding said fat glob) is moving to a new practice, NWA Gynecology. The new clinic will be located in the Mercy Physicians Plaza which will open in January 2009.

He’s full of great ideas about birth control, (out-of-control) period control and weight loss management.

Thanks to Signature Bank and Mercy Health System for a wonderful evening of friends, food and festivity!

Did you know that today is World Kindness Day? It was born out of a series of international conferences held in Japan and has since become a day just perfect for committing random acts of kindness.

With that in mind, why don’t we start right now by being randomly kind to those people in our lives that we’d like to thank more often: our kids’ teachers, neighbors, friends, family, co-workers. Everyone likes to hear a kind word or receive a little friendly nudge of encouragement, right? Just click on the “comment” button below and feel free to offer a shout-out to anyone you want to appreciate on this day of kindness.

We’d like to start the ball rolling by saying thanks to the nwaMotherlode mamas (and one dad — Bro. John!) who write here on a regular basis: Amy, Kim, Jennifer, Jackie, Jacqueline, Rhonda, Melanie, Stephna and Teresa. And a special thanks to our graphics guru, Greg, and Web site tekkie, Kevin. You all rock!

And, not to get sappy, but we want to thank our husbands for their ever-present love, patience and support since the beginning of this WWW journey. Thanks, guys!