Sadly, the wine lounge I worked at, Meritage, was recently sold. These are pictures from our last hoorah, a "field trip" down to Denver.

Those wine glasses are huge!! I am one classy lady. (Balancing a spoon on my nose at a fancy restaurant...nicely done)
Ready for the circus!
The pictures above are from our first night, when we went to dinner at a fantastic restaurant called "1515." After dinner, we went to see Cirque de Soleil! The guy on the bike was our ride from the car to the tent - these bikers were everywhere downtown, transporting people around for tips.

POSTCARDS FROM MONTANA 7-10-07

To some of you, reading about us vacationing in Montana may sound mundane or routine. Looking at these images may quickly change your opinion. It starts from the bottom up with grain bins at the end of a gravel road, the OHara's gorgeous new home, rows of golden wheat ready to be harvested next week, and the mighty Missouri-first image just west of Fort Benton and the others around Hardy, MT on our way back to Helena. Unfortunately, I did not document in pictures the most fulfilling portion of our visit-nurturing and enjoying the wonderful friendships of Judy and Herb Hazen, Ann and Don Hazen, Janet and Harvey Worrall, and almost the entire O'Hara clan (Hillary, we'll have to catch up with you soon). We also caught up with several other friends during a get together at our home in Clancy. Mundane or routine? Never when we visit Montana.

Saturday night with the girls

Mom is always saying that the only pictures she has of me are pictures of me running and sweaty. I remembered my camera on Sat. night when I went out with coworkers for a bachelorette party, so I've decided to make Mom proud by showing some of the fun we had. :)
This is early in the night...it all goes downhill from here...

The proud bride-to-be after a few adult beverages.

Self-portraits always turn out fantastically.

This is a statue of a little boy in a rain coat jumping in a puddle. I have no idea, I just took the picture.

Say no to crack! (Waiting on the curb for our ride at the end of the night)

Another self-portrait gone wrong.

Enjoy! We may all be adults, but let us loose on the town for a night and we'll turn the town upside down. :)

Quilt Design Camp

I just returned from a week in Chicago, (the suburb of Oak Park), where I attended 'Quilt Design Camp.' I didn't have any idea on what or how we would be learning, so I was able to keep my mind open to the 'process' that Weeks Ringle and her husband Bill Kerr(http://www.funquilts.com/) would be guiding us to explore. Amazing, is the one word that comes to mind when I try and sum up what I learned. They covered many topics including, but not limited to: color, movement, dimension, shapes, balance, the willingness to explore and visualize all that is around you, and how to take your ideas and even 'feelings' and put it in a quilt using these other topics. The sky is the limit on where you can get ideas from, and for Tammy's sake, stars were optional. Sorry, I had to add an inside joke.

For me, my desire was to get away from the 'quilt police' and create, without worry, what I want, not only what other designers or quilters teach. I learned the quilt police were only in my mind and anyone who had their own ideas, it was just that, someone elses ideas, not mine. Mission accomplished.

The only pictures I have are of some of our 'explorations' in small projects, so I will not post them because you would have to know the class to get the project.

Bill and Weeks, two wonderful people who are all about making the earth a little better, and sharing their gifts with others. They also like to show people what is so great about Chicago and for us, they treated all of the class and a few extra guests to dinner the last night at this amazing Asian restaurant. Sorry, I forgot the name, but it was downtown in an area that has been renovated, and has a sister restaurant in China Town. I thank their six year old for recommending the 'triple berry' fruit icey with tapioca balls, I have never had so much fun with a fruit drink. Definitely a bonus.

I came home all enthused, and although I have my 'big design' I will work on that began at Quilt Camp, I came up with a new quilt I will be making for a wedding present. So I better go quilting....

Girls Night Out, 1950's style

Chicky was going to a bachelorette party and we thought we'd get a few pictures since we so rarely see her home. :) We loved the shoes and the ankle bracelet!