As Promised...

First off, the captitol from my room window on the 22nd floor:

Then, the street that the restaurant we at in was (did that sentence make sense?):

And the bell tower of the city, glowing purple:

View from the vending machine of the mountains one evening:

And now for some destruction from the week... leftovers from a cooking demo and the aftermath of a whiskey tasting (stunk up the entire floor we were on).

And now for the opening reception. Cubed cheese (big no-no in the culinary world), some yummy bison, and of course, the drinks:

Finally, a dancing doll and then the real thing, some native american dancers to open the show:

Oh yeah! I forgot. Finally, A cool blue bear outside the convention center and me with the winner of Top Chef, Hosea Rosenberg.

Hope you enjoyed! Now, off to the real world.

Aaaaannnnndddd, I'm back!

Wow, It's been awhile. So, you want to hear about my trip to Denver? Well, you get to hear about it anyway. First, we'll talk about the actual work part, because, well, it's probably not that interesting. I sat at the registration desk from 7-6 every day. Every Stinkin' Day. Lots of People, lots of questions, and then ots of time to sit and be bored. But I got to see a lot about what goes on at conferences and meetings, which I enjoyed. Definitely something i could see myself doing someday. There were fun times, though. Opening reception at the Denver Art Museum, lots of food, getting to see a little of Denver (meaning the street we lived on for a week). And we saw a bunny! Right in the middle of the city, outside the museum.

By the way, notice the snow? Yeah. Every other day. Or hour, take your pick. The weather was crazy! I thought I was leaving bad weather in Georgia.

It was warm when we got there, but they'd just had a blizzard.

Then, Sunday was really nice. And then, Monday, this is what we got.

And, Monday afternoon... warm again.

Oh, and the walk to the Wednesday night reception was sooooo pleasant...

I don't really have pictures of Thurday of Friday, because I don't remember leaving the hotel (registration desk, you know). Or Saturday, really. But it snowed Saturday, so a pic from out the window. And then Sunday... IT WAS 12 DEGREES! Ugh! And what did I come home to? ICE AND FLURRIES IN APRIL! Oh well. I also never though I'd be happy to feel humidity again. Seriously, my skin was getting scaly and (gross alert) my nose was a little bloody the whole time. And I never thought altitude would ever affect me as much as it did. I was dizzy literally every time I turned around. Ahhh, there's no place like home. But really, it is a beautiful city with lots of character and I wish I'd gotten to see more (but maybe next time in the summer:) ).

Next post: The week in pictures (minus the weather, 0f course!).

It's coming, I promise!

The long-awaited (ha) post on my glamorous trip to Denver, that is. I've just been so tired, I haven't had a chence when I wasn't sleeping. So, just so you can experience it with me, here's a view from my hotel room:

Agh!

Denver.
Less than 48 hours.
Denver is in the middle of a BLIZZARD right now.
Seriously. Wind chill 2 degrees.
Trying to figure out what to pack.
What do you pack to be inside a hot hotel all day and then out in the elements at night with no time to change?
Wasting time.
Gotta go.

I'm not LAST!!!

Ok. So I've never been what you call a "natural athlete." I like sports, love playing most of them (the exception? Softball. Got knocked out when I was little. I had one of those moments where I woke up and eveyone was standing over me like in the movies... but I digress). Even played soccer in high school for a few years. But was I good? No. I can't even walk without spraining ankles or bruising arms (you'd think I'd be able to see walls in my way...). I was always, ALWAYS the girl picked second or third to last, and the only reason why I was never last was because my athletic friends felt bad for me or didn't want to pick the weird people. I got used to it. I've always been more artistically gifted, and I'm okay with that.

When Ray suggested we start playing tennis a few years ago, I thought, sure. I'll make an idiot out of myself, but it'll be fun and soon it'll be out of his system and I can go back to dragging him to the Fox for musicals. Imagine my surprise when I turned out to be pretty good. Imagine Ray's surprise when I started beating him. And imagine, one more time, how shocked, absolutely shocked I was when tonight, a guy watching his girlfriend's tennis match, asked if I played on a team and if I wanted to join theirs! AGGGHHH! Super cool! That's never happened before! Someone actually watched me play a sport without laughing! And actually think I would be an asset to a team! Whhooooaaaaa. And, yay! Maybe friends, if they call me. Good week. Especially since I had a weird low yesterday. BUT! No focusing on that. Total answer to prayers on multiple levels. Yay!!! I'm the coolest ever.

Wild Blue Yonder

Off I go... to Denver! Thanks to the IACP, I'll be spending almost nine days in the beautiful state of Colorado. Nine days. That's the longest I've ever been away from home before... I feel like such a big girl, traveling by myself to go on a business trip. Ha. But really, I've always wanted a job that let me travel, and now's my chance! And, one of my goals in life is to visit every state. Probably weird, I know, but to see a slice of life from every area of the US is pretty appealing. Now, there are some states that I'm okay with only driving through (Iowa? Rhode Island?), but apparently Colorado is a state to see. Too bad I have to work the whole time.

And is it bad that I'm already stressing over what to pack for this trip? I have to fit nine days worth of stuff in one suitcase. And that has to include casual and work clothes, warm and cool weather clothes, and enough stuff to go to a cocktail reception and gala dinner. But if anyone can pack tight, I'm pretty confident in my skills. My suitcase might weigh a ton, but I guarantee I won't use the big one from our luggage. Don't really know where I got these skills or honed them, but whatever.

But this trip also makes me want to go shopping for new clothes. Winter clothes. Because I don't have many. Anyone know where to get winter clothes in March?

Why, oh why?

So, Ray and I are in the process of finding a church home. Waaayyyy easier said than done in the Bible Belt. I never really found a church to go to in Athens. And I visited a lot of churches. And I know there are certain sermons that are "make it or break it" sermons for guests--money, Christmas and sex. Well, what do you think I hear at every single church I visit? Yep, narrow that one down by the time of the year. Not kidding. I've been to one church in the past five years where the first sermon I heard wasn't on finances or relationships. But I guess you get a pretty good picture about the values of a church body in how the pastor preaches on the topic and the crowd's reaction, which is nice. There have been a few that I've avoided completely after one visit and a few that made me really like the church.
But still. Five years. Two topics. Huuuuugggghhhhhhh.