Trip to Colorado!

This past weekend, I was honored to be a speaker at the Colorado Women’s Expo. Not only did I get to meet some great Colorado crafters; I also had a little time to explore the beautiful city and see an old friend.

Denver was truly a great city and I am so thankful to everyone at The Colorado Women’s Expo, The Denver Post, Ground Floor Media and NBC-9 News for making me feel so warm, welcome and taken care of. The show was a smashing success with great vendors, wonderful discounts, pet adoptions, health information, cooking lessons, fashion ideas and tons of great speakers!! This was their second year and by the looks of it, they are well on their way to many many more great expos.

I loved Denver so much that my Hubby and I have decided to move our annual ski trip from California to Colorado next year. Maybe Eliza in Texas will join us?

I stayed at The Curtis hotel. It was tons of fun! The hotel is hip & fresh and features humor at every corner. The hotel is located so close to everything…I was able to walk to many main Denver attractions.

Two different prom groups were staying at the hotel while I was there. The kids pulled the fire alarms twice. I know it was a pain for the hotel staff as well as the fire department, but it was kind of funny to see. I also realllllly enjoyed the prom fashions. Be still my “young love” heart.

Each floor is themed with different artwork…etc. I stayed on the Chick Flick floor and this was the art just outside the elevator.

16th Street

After exploring my hotel, I ventured down to the 16th street shopping area. It was filled with lots of colorful people, restaurants and mainstream shops. I was looking for cupcakes for Sunday’s presentation at the Expo…but I could not find any…..so I popped into Walgreens and picked up 3 packages of snowballs. I felt like a junk food junky – I almost wanted to explain to the clerk that I was purchasing the six snowballs to showcase my scrapbook-paper cupcake toppers and that I was not planning to devour them during an episode of One Life To Live.

Denver has some really beautiful buildings.

Dinner at the Hotel! By looks of the place (and the packed house) I think it is a hot spot. Super cool decor, friendly staff, good food, ok wine list, great ambiance and a little bit cheaper than ordering room service – even though it is the same menu being prepared in the same kitchen.

Disco Ball in the Ladies Room! Loves it!

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DAY 1 of the Expo – DAY 1 of my trip

Cheryl Preheim & me
NBC-9 Denver…It was early! 6:20 am (5:20 Cali-time)

Visit this link to see the video of the presentation.
Let the video load if it gets choppy.

Amy from Ground Floor Media, picked me up from the hotel and brought me over to the news station. I was so grateful. 🙂 A few times, I have had to navigate strange cities at odd hours with a ton of make-up on and a bag full of glue – not a pretty picture. Amy brought along a 2 apples, a banana, a bottle water and travel apple jacks – Thanks a million – the last apple was devoured on the plane. You can check out Amy’s blog post about the day here!

The News-9 team was awesome!!! Upon entering the facility, I went completely silly over their smooshed penny machine. (cathie’s family giggle now) I collect smooshed pennies and was stumbling for a penny to smash with the News 9 logo. Thanks to Amy for lending me one! They had a little coffee station set up – much needed. The host were so kind and Cheryl was genuinely excited to craft a pendant. Her energy was infectious.

Inside the Convention Center! This bear is HUGE!!!

Altered dominoes, drilled dice and scrabble tile pendants.

Poker Chip Necklaces! Made with Mod Podge and Dimensional Magic.

Denver Art Museum – Must see!

After my presentation I took a shuttle over to the Denver Art Museum. It was fabulous! Lots of activities for kids and families and it is located next to the main library of Denver.

A huge dustpan installation. I photo-shopped the pic so you could see the scale. I almost died laughing when I saw this. Eddie and I have a running joke because I don’t mind sweeping, but I hate using a dust pan.

I am beginning to think everything in Denver is BIG!

Warhol in the Western exhibit – you don’t normally see such modern pieces in the Western exhibits. Pretty Cool.

After the museum I decided to walk back to the hotel. I stumbled upon a protest rally for the Invisible Children. The “abducted” gathered in the Civic Center Plaza where hundreds of Colorado teens, simulated the plight of Ugandan children taken from their homes in recent years by a rebel army.

Entrance to the Civic Center Plaza in Denver.

As I walked…..I got lost and stumbled upon the guard at the US Mint. I tried flirting with guard to give me weekend tour of the mint…I even told him about my smooshed penny collection and then I realized that smooshing pennies is illegal as it is defacing US money. No tour – just directions back to The Curtis.

Kristie and Tom

I was so excited to meet up with my friend Tom from Jr. High and High School. We had not seen each other in 22 years. He had not changed a bit – still funny and sweet. Tom has been in Denver for awhile and took me to the “non-hotel” spots, which I was grateful for. He has a darling daughter and a lovely girlfriend, Kristie.

The lovable and hugable bartender.

Me, Tom & the birthday boy. Notice our red eyes??? It must have been about 2:00 in the morning at this point. It was so fun to catch up and swap tales. I danced (poorly) with the birthday boy to a little Frank Sinatra. Most of the bar patrons were not use to people breaking out in song and dance.

Kristie “aka – name that tune” and me. Kristie could name any singer within the first few bars…it was truly amazing.

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DAY 2 of the Expo – DAY 3 of my trip

Future Salesman of The Year!

Meeting this young man was truly one of the funniest moments. I think I will remember him forever. His mom had stepped away from her booth for a quick moment when I met him.

He was being very professional and trying to sell me a nail decorating kit. He explained that with the pens I could paint hundreds of different designs onto my nails, he even had a chart for design ideas. He offered to paint one of my nails to show me how the pens work and offered to remove the design if I did not like it.

I did not really feel like explaining to him that I generally only wear clear or very pale pink polish due to the fact that my hands are photographed all the time and bright polish can sometimes distract from the project. I just bellied my pinkie up to the nail bar and let him have a whack at it.

He painted a ladybug. He offered to remove his design with polish remover. I told him, “NO Way! I loved my ladybug and was keeping the design.” How could I remove his art with the swipe of a cotton ball?????? As I was doing my presentation, ladybug nail and all……I saw him in the audience. I think we both learned something that day.

We had a great turn out for Sunday. Today’s presentation was recycling ideas for kids birthday parties, weddings and celebrations.

Party favors made with recycled tin cans that have been Mod Podged with paper, stuffed with candy, wrapped with cello and adored with glittery chip board letters.

Cupcake toppers made with bamboo skewers, paper flowers, scrapbook paper and rhinestones.

Altered party tiaras…Made from Bratz tiaras from the dollar store. I used the new Extreme Glitter from Plaid to glitter the background and then I just layered papers, flowers and rhinestones with a combination of Mod Podge and Hot Glue.

Altered dollar store party and horns.

I had a few hours to kill before my flight so I bundled up in my sweatshirt, grabbed my ipod and walked over to Larimer St. It was loaded with people – but not crowed. Everyone was sipping coffee and petting dogs.

This has got to be stunning at night!

Really cute boutique shops!

Yummy and only $3….Cathie…you are not in LA anymore.

Like many cities, you will find painted cows around town. I really liked that the “Denver Cows” featured fun facts as well as bright paintings.

Bye for now Denver, you were a fabulous city! Eddie and I will see you, old friends and new friends next winter on our ski trip!