Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

Last Sunday was our annual pumpkin carving party, and it was a BLAST!! I love having my wonderful friends and family over each year before Halloween to enjoy a hearty fall menu of food while carving our pumpkins. People are also encouraged to bring their kids, in costumes, which was adorable this year.



This year we munched on chili and pumpkin cupcakes while sipping hot buttered rum.

Some of the costumes that were featured this year were.....
Kaden- Mickey Mouse
Benjamin- A Lamb
Adain- A Golfer
Emma- The Little Mermaid
* Unfortunately only Adain tolerated his costume long enough for a photo op, and boy was I glad he did. SO CUTE!!!





After yet another year of expert pumpkin carving I am convinced I have some of the most talented pumpkin carving artists as friends.





EVEN BETTER IN THE DARK!!!

Pat's 29th Surprise Party!!

Pat turned 29 on the 20th of October and I threw him an awesome surprise "poker themed" bday party. One of Pat's good friends, Blake was also turning 29 the same weekend, so his girlfriend, Kristin and I decided to throw a joint party for both of them. Since they share many of the same friends this worked out very well!!

A good friend of mine owns a club in Denver called Wish, he actually closed it to the public for the private party and poker tournament we had planned, which was awesome!

It was amazing that with such a large party, no one said anything and both guys had no clue what they were in for :). We decided to surprise them with a dinner before the party that we invited some close friends to, then the task was to somehow convince them after dinner to go to the place where the party was without letting on about the big party that was already getting started.

We were able to get the guys to get on board to head to Wish and via text messages I was communicating with my friends on the inside, that were busy getting everyone over to the front to jump out and yell, SURPRISE!! This is probably not the easiest task when trying to coordinate about 75 people. Somehow they pulled it all together and as we walked in everyone screamed. It was really awesome because it took both of the guys a couple minutes to even figure out what was going on.





Soon after, the Poker Tournament began and off to the tables we went. It was a really fun tournament and everyone seemed to have an awesome night, maybe a couple of people even had a little too much fun :).










Next stop 30!!!!

WHAT IF.....

Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin

What if things were switched around?.....think about it. Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be more of an issue than we think? Try to ponder the following:

*What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

*What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

*What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

*What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

*What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

*What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

*What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
*What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

*What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early
1990s.)

*What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

*What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter, or send an email?
*What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

*What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

*What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
*What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in

one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Here are the facts about each candidate's Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with aSpecialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. inPolitical Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn't everything, but we're talking about the two highest offices in our country as well as our standing in the world... Having a "D student" for our President sure has made a significant impact over the past 8 years. Are you letting the issue of race stand in your way? It's your vote, you make the call.

A ZEN BABY SHOWER

On Sunday I threw a baby shower for my amazing girlfriend, Sara. She is a yoga instructor and definitely loves all things "yoga". So when I was thinking about themes, I came up with a "zen-yoga" baby shower theme.

I thought I would share all the details in case anyone needs a neat theme for an upcoming shower.



I tried to transform my place into a spa-like environment. I removed some pieces of furniture so that we could cover the ground with yoga mats and huge pillows, to encourage people to get comfortable and relax.




I served a very simple menu, for Sara is not a very adventurous eater. As a creative way to tie the menu into the "yoga" theme, I named all dishes as yoga poses. I also wrote all of the food names on rocks. The menu was pretty cute.

- Zen Punch- Champagne Punch
- Peaceful Tea- Green Tea
- Locust Pose Samo's
- Triangle Pose Brie
- Downward Facing Doggies (BBQ Lil Smokies)
- Child's Pose Mac and Cheese
- Happy Babies- Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil



The tables were decorated with orchids, candles and more rocks to give it a "zen" feel. I also placed nice quotes on the tables with the centerpieces.





Instead of wrapping her gifts I used them to decorate, because they went along with the yoga theme.



My cake designer did not disappoint as he delivered a work of art for the shower.



It was so great that so many of Sara's friends and family could join. It was a great afternoon.

Cocktail's for a Cure

My girlfriend Kerri, put on a wonderful event last week to raise money for the Susan G Komen Foundation. The turnout was great, the auction was successful and the pink cocktails were flowing.

I was very excited to win a great auction item, 5 hours of PR/Media Relations from an all women PR Firm here in Denver. WOOOO HOOOO!!! When the website relaunches in November we will be able to go into PR overdrive :).

Unfortunately at 7 the VP Debate came on, which of course even in closed captioning, still sent me into a political tizzy. Unfortunately for me at this point I realized the person to my right and the person to my left were Republicans!!!! Oh I had to get out of there ASAP or my head was likely to blow off my body in frustration :).

It was a great night for a great cause and luckily I had the debate tivo'ed so right when I walked in I got to start it all over again- YIPPPEEEE GO BIDEN!!!

CultureHaus- Art for the young at heart

Last week a group of the ladies and I headed to the Denver Art Museum for annual the CultureHaus event. Not only is it supporting a wonderful cause- Art, but it is also a great place to people watch.



As we sipped the signature cocktails and munched away on the yummy gourmet Mexican fare, we listened to Denver's Mayor talk about the importance art has on Denver.

We pretty much spent the entire night at our table pointing out the amazing shoes or outfits walking by. It was literally like a couture fashion show- So fabulous!!!