Project 365: Day 99 (Canvas and Cocktails!)

Canvas and Cocktails!!!

One of the best business ideas ever and a hell of a good time! This morning, in celebration of Bethany's birthday, a group of us went to Canvas and Cocktails in Cherry Creek to paint. We showed up at 10am for a mimosa painting class and for $35 we were provided with all supplies - including the canvas - and one mimosa to get us started.  The walls of the studio are covered with all of the different paintings that they do at Canvas and Cocktails and you can check the website before you reserve a spot in a class to choose a day when they're teaching something you like.

Our instructor was Dre. She began by energetically teaching us about our brushes and encouraging us to let all of our stresses go and just have fun.

You can see on the right there is a picture hung on the wall, this was the painting that Dre was teaching us to create and she took us step-by-step through the whole thing, teaching us everything from how to mix our paints to which brush to use, and when to take a break and walk away.

 She was great. For each step she would give us verbal instructions, demo the techniques, and then bump the music while she did it herself and gave us time to work on our own art.

The play list included hits from such greats as Pat Benetar, Tina Turner, Gyote, and my favorite Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror!!! It was great to see so many people working on the same exact painting and all coming out with unique works of art.

The place was packed with mostly women - many just like us celebrating birthdays, bachelorette parties, graduation - the mood was festive.

We absolutely had a blast! I will definitely be participating in some more classes in the future. Yay for fun Saturdays!!

Project 365: Day 98

First Fridays on Santa Fe again... can't believe it's been one whole month since the last one already. We went back to Theater Bar and then to Skylark with some friends where we attempted to play around the world darts... we got to 5 before we all decided we weren't interested anymore. Nick was kicking everyone's butts anyway! Good times were had by all!

Project 365: Day 97

No appointments scheduled for Friday so I hopped on a flight one day early! Headed home to see my fiance!!! YAY!!!

Project 365: Day 96

Headed to Arkansas for the week with a colleague of mine, Fred. At 61, he's got more energy than I could EVER hope to have (even now!) and this year he ran his 28th consecutive Boston Marathon (that's every year since I was born!!).  He's a great guy and we had lots of fun, but I'm glad the trip only lasted two days.... I can't keep up with him much longer than that!!!

Project 365: Day 95

Yummmmmm

Project 365: Day 94

We had an awesome Memorial Day on a hike to Herman's Gulch just off I-70. The hike was absolutely gorgeous and it was the perfect weather for a hike. This is why we live in Colorado folks - it was amazing.

 Little Wanda came with us (so did Aimee and Kev!) and was a perfect little hiking buddy.

 Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that it was a bit early in the season to be wearing my Choco hiking sandals.... there were a couple parts with some pretty deep snow and I definitely couldn't feel my toes for some of that time....

 But with views like this along the entire hike, who needs toes anyway? 

Once we got to the top, Aimee and Kev helped us out with a little engagement photo shoot (much to Nick's dismay) and we got a couple nice shots of the two of us.

 It sure is a beautiful life.

The Color Run

Yesterday Nick, Aimee, Kevin, and I did the Color Run and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

The Color Run is a 5K where at everyone wears white shirts and then at every kilometer they have a group of people throwing colored powder on the runners (a different color at each station) so that by the end of the run everyone is covered in color.  They also give all the runners their own packets of color to celebrate with at the finish line.  It's basically amazing.

Aimee and Kev came to pick Nick and I up at 8 am and out of almost 10,000 runners at City Park, we got in the line early enough to actually be in the first group of runners to hit the course.

 Even before the race started, I was so excited I could barely contain myself.

You were supposed to save your color packet for a big party at the end, but some people just couldn't contain themselves

and I got a little splash of color before we even crossed the start line.

Then only a couple minutes into the run, we found a yellow color packet on the ground and Kevin let it rip! He completely covered Nick's legs, it was awesome.

Pretty much from the get-go it was clear that this was the most non-competitive 5K I have ever done. We were probably running a 12 minute mile, but we didn't care we we having a blast. As we approached the first color station, my enthusiasm level was through the roof, I skipped through the orange color station yelling "color me!! color me!!" and they did! 

This is Nick running and me skipping through the first color zone

One K down and 4 to go! We were on a roll

The second station was blue

and then came yellow

and then green

 Kev was rockin' out his first 5K ever

After the green color station it was off to the finish line and I was on a runners high like I've never been before!

But you have to admit that even by the end of the entire race... we still weren't really THAT covered in color. I was a bit surprised by it, I have to say.

Not to worry though, because we still had our color packets! It started tame at first, Aimee and Kev asked me to take a picture of them throwing the color up into the air.

Then it was our turn and Nick and I got ready for our picture. We grabbed a handful of our yellow color and I was about to throw mine up into the air when....

Nick threw it RIGHT in my FACE!!

 And let me tell you... that stuff (while edible) does not taste good!

So I got Nick back...

 At which point Kevin completely NAILED me.

By this time people were getting really excited and before we knew it the entire place exploded into the best color party EVER.

It was freaking AWESOME. Thankfully, Kevin is a fantastic photographer and got some great shots capturing the celebration!

 By the end of the color party - we were completely covered!

But thankfully, they had leaf blowers to help us get the loose pigment off our bodies and clothes before we got into our cars, it was pretty fun!

 I was on cloud nine! It was seriously one of the best days ever!

On our way back to the car, we stopped by the start line which had been completely transformed from a couple hours earlier. There were obviously a lot of runners in the later groups that just couldn't wait for the race to start. Of course we took the opportunity to snap a couple more pictures!

 Our last group shot of the day

We ended the morning with bottomless mimosas (only $7!!) at Las Margaritas and topped the afternoon off with a bicycle brewery tour and a BBQ at a friend's house. It was an amazing Saturday! There will definitely be more Color Runs in my future, I'm hoping to make it an annual event!!!