Last Fridays at DAM and My Office Inspiration

The last Friday of the month, the Denver Art Museum hosts Final Fridays. My husband, friend, and I went to Untitled #47 (LOL) this past Friday, and it ended up being a fun way to spend a Friday night and a cool new way to see the museum. The full listing of events is here. As an added bonus, I got to take pictures of the interstitial piece that is serving as my current inspiration for my home office. 
 

Fort Collins, Colorado: A Drive-By Look

Fort Collins is like Boulder's little (or big?) sister. They are family and so they love each other, but their often amicable relationship can easily slip into one of animosity and competitiveness. I think they are both great cities—and in fact they've both been on those "best places to live" lists. Anyone who is thinking of visiting or moving to Boulder should also check out Fort Collins, and vice versa.

I went to my good friend Melisa's baby shower in Fort Collins this past weekend, and it reminded me how much I like FC. It started as an agricultural town, which apparently explains the (seriously) wide streets. I was told they had to be wide enough for a horse-drawn carriage to make a U-turn.

The downtown area is very different from Boulder's Pearl Street, which is just one long street. Fort Collin's downtown feels bigger to me because it's made up of several intersecting streets. It also looks more like a Midwestern town with its wide boulevards, large trees, and squat brick buildings.

I did actually take these pictures while driving through the downtown area. Courtney, of A Box of Paint, and I are planning to take a day trip there, so I'll write about it in more depth later.

Spring Plants

The other day, I took my camera with me on a short walk around my neighborhood. It's funny how much you notice when you take the time to look, isn't it? I saw lots of pretty little bushes and trees on my stroll, which my dogs accompanied me on. To be honest, though, I wasn't just looking for the sake of looking. After two years of battling weeds and pulling out stumps, we're finally ready to do some light landscaping, and I wanted to get some ideas.

The space itself places some restrictions on what we can plant. Our house is a red brick ranch, so I think bushes with yellow, red, and white blossoms would look best. Also, in the back yard, a previous owner had installed an old USPS trailer to use as a storage unit. It's too heavy to move, so whatever landscaping we do also has to blend well with that—I'm thinking retro-, American-, and farm-inspired.

I'm finding that I like wild-looking deciduous bushes, and there are plenty of them around.

In the fall, these bushes are covered in orange berries—I love the color orange. Do you see the rock wall half covered by the hanging branches? I'm also finding that I like rock walls.

This tree might be too delicate for my space, but isn't it so pretty? The yellow flowers look like charms dangling from a bracelet.

I saw lots of squat, irregularly shaped bushes, and I think they'd look nice along the side of the driveway.

This bush has a bit of a wild side, doesn't it? It reminds me a little of Animal from the Muppets.

You also see a lot of grasses in Colorado yards—it's because they are native to the area (and therefore drought-resistant).

I was just rounding the corner to head home when I saw this hidden behind the branches of a large evergreen tree. It gives you the feeling of walking into a fairy tale.



See, you never know what you're going to find if you pay attention.

Wicked Denver

An evil witch has cast a spell on me.... In other words, I saw Wicked and really liked it. I know the show has been running for a decade and many of you have already seen it, but I never had and thought it would make a nice birthday present for my stepdaughter.

I was excited from the moment I took my seat. We weren't supposed to take pictures during the performance, but I snuck in a couple pre-show photos. I loved looking over the rows and rows of theater-goers to the stage below. Although the blue dragon above the stage is a little "Disney," I thought it added to the ambiance, especially during the flying monkey scene.

The play begins with Glinda the Good Witch announcing the death of the Wicked Witch of the West and the citizens rejoicing. The colors in this scene are earthy, and the set is largely made up of old maps and large clocks. Then someone asks if the rumors that they used to be friends are true, and so starts the action. They move from school, where the set colors are fresh and preppy, to Oz, a shock of green.

Early on, critics either praised Wicked for being the best Broadway show to come around in a long time, or said the message was too obvious, the songs were too easy, and Glinda's performance outshone the Wicked Witch's. The themes may have been hammered into the audience a little too hard, but that's a difficult thing to avoid. Anyway, I was intrigued by the idea that a person (or witch) could be so widely perceived to be evil only because someone in power willed it to be and that the version of history that gets written down is the version that lasts, even if it's not true. I was also really touched by the story of two friends, whom I thought performed equally strongly in this version (though the male lead faltered a little).

After the performance, I was giddy, the way you feel when you've done something fun that you don't normally do; you've seen something lovely that you don't normally see; and the air is soft and warm.

If you haven't seen the play yet and it's coming to your area, I recommend you do.

Oh-La-La Dressing

Anyone who knows me knows I don't dress up. On a good day, I might look polished or stylish; on a bad day, I might look relaxed or, God-forbid, matronly. But I almost never look extraordinary. Which is why it's interesting that lately I've been drawn to dresses with a capital D.

Last week, I did an atypicial (for me) fashion post, where I mentioned that I've been flagging romantic, dramatic, lacey, silky gowns in red, black, and white in the pages of fashion magazines. Because I couldn't find exact replicas on the Web, I decided it would be fun to post pictures of the very pages I dog-eared. Enjoy....