No. 14 Again and No. 60 Finally.

 No.14 Again... and No. 60 Done. 
(but mostly just where I begin the birthday celebrating...)

No. 14: Go to the Nutcracker Market was the very first challenge I completed.

It was a great Christmas market with lots of interesting stuff but I expected a bit more in the way of hand made products, not quite so many imports.  But I had never been before and it was definitely worth it.

 So when my friend Cherrilla sent me an email titled : 35 Indie Craft Fairs Every Creative Person Needs To Visit....well, what was I supposed to do? Ignore it?  I think not. 

I went through all of the dates/locales and lo and behold! one of them was in Denver. That's just right around the corner. (Sort of.)  And I already had plans to go up and visit my friend Diana that weekend.

So plans were made and off we went. (Bunny and I - she wanted to see the friend boy.)

We made a total weekend of it and why not? My birthday is next week and friend Diana's is two days after mine.   So we both celebrated a little early.

Friday night was the Parade of Lights in downtown Denver and we did a parade like you're supposed to- with a little kid in tow.   Diana's little great nephew came with us. Diana and I both have raised kids, we figured we could handle one three year old for a parade. Ha! Bunny and her friend came and saved our butts. Nothing like two teenagers to entertain a three year old when you have to wait over an hour for the parade to begin.

 Aren't the lights beautiful? 

Like stars.

 A giant white tiger balloon.

 A toy float.

 Samoyeds wearing lights. 

 A twinkling gingerbread house/float.

 And a twinkling marching band!

 Look at the mane on that horse.

Sigh.

 Three year old and friend- sharing Pez, not a drug deal. 

And at the end of the parade- a giant penguin balloon. 

There were floats and balloons and fire jugglers along with horses and dogs and high school bands, all decorated with lights.  The weather was above freezing. The friend boy had never seen a big city parade. The little boy had never seen a parade at all.  All in all, a pretty perfect night.

Saturday we went to Georgetown to see the Christmas Market. Again, perfect weather and a lovely day.

 The movie "The Christmas Gift" was filmed in Georgetown. 

It starred John Denver and this taxi cab.

(And yes, this is absolutely the worst pic ever.  Of me. The cab looks pretty good.) 

A wonderful little mountain town with buildings dating from around the 1860s, 

decorated for Christmas.

I confess these guys were the highlight of the day.

Aren't they just little nuggets? 

The Christmas market wasn't very Christmas-y but the little town was adorable and we saw mountain goats on the drive there.


Saturday night Pam from Simple Details stopped by for a quick visit. She's another December birthday.  The Sagittarius ladies were ruling Denver over the weekend!

Then dinner was devoured at Hillstone's Restaurant. I'm counting this as #5 for No. 60: Hit five restaurants in Houston that I have never been to before. We eat out all the time but always end up at the same places. Time to branch out.  

Hillstone:  Snazzy restaurant in the Cherry Creek area of Denver. 

Even though Hillstone isn't in Houston, it was definitely a new restaurant and it was definitely branching out. And I haven't been in Houston for a while to complete No. 60, so there's that.  I said in the beginning I could bend the rules and I have and I will.
I had a beautiful birthday trout accompanied by a couple of India Pale Ales.  Branching out in the beer department has been another challenge- although not one on the list. Also I got to dress up and wear heels! Woohoo!

Sunday was the main event. After taking Bunny and friend to breakfast (At Snooze, another new restaurant for me. One that required a one hour wait. For breakfast. ) Diana and I headed off to the RiNo (River North) art district for the Firefly Handmade Market. And it lived up to its name.

A cool little event center in a very cool, up and coming part of town.

Beautiful handmade items, delicate jewelry, artisan soaps, jams and sauces, and fun printed items.

There are some very very creative people out there. The market was inspiring. Possibly a few Christmas presents were purchased.

And I didn't take a single picture because they had that "No Photos Please" rule. (O! Or maybe because I was lazy. Or see above about presents that are supposed to be surprises.)

So while I didn't really complete anything new, I am crossing off No. 60 for good and counting No. 14 as done twice. And I got a start on celebrating my birthday. I have always envied, admired and wanted to emulate the people who manage to spread their birthday celebrations out over an entire month. I truly think that is something to aspire to.

Maybe next year!
Maybe a new challenge???


(And did you notice? Not one single photo of me and Diana together. That should be another challenge. I never seem to get pics taken with my friends. Need to master the art of the selfie or at least learn to hand my phone/camera/iPad to someone to snap...)