Looking to spend a fun afternoon with your dog this weekend in Highlands?  Head over to Tennyson Street in the Berkeley neighborhood this Saturday, May 10th, from 2-4.  Local businesses have come together to host a dog friendly, wine tasting event.  $10 will get you and your dog into Gemelli’s Ristorante (on Tennyson, just south of 44th) for a sampling of wine and food.  If you have not tried Gemelli’s yet, this is a great opportunity to do so. The patio is beautiful and will be the perfect spot for outdoor dining this summer. 

The profits from this event will go to Planned Pethood, a neighborhood animal clinic, to help with pet adoptions. 

 There are a number of great shops and boutiques along Tennyson, many of which will be open to you and your dog that afternoon.  Be sure to stop in at Parisi at the corner of 44th and Tennyson for a cup of gelato.  If your dog isn’t tired after all the fun and socializing, you can take Fido to the Berkeley dog park at 46th and Sheridan for an off-leash run around the park. 

Still looking for ideas for a special little something for mom this weekend?  There is a great writeup in the Rocky Mountain News featuring Highland Square’s shops and eateries…check it out here.

Denver’s First Friday Art Walk is this week!  On the first Friday evening of every month, galleries all over Denver open their doors to the public.  Galleries from the Berkeley neighborhood, to Highlands, to the Santa Fe Arts District, to Cherry Creek feature the works of many local artists.

 If you are going to be out this Friday, you need to check out a new gallery in the Rhino Art District called Blue Stone Gallery.  They call the space “a gallery of art, music, movement, health, and intellect” , and offer a variety of events like dance, drum circles, and book clubs.  You can check out their website, www.bluestonegallery.net.  They are located at 3377 Blake Street Suite #105 in the Silver Square condo building. 

Among eight artists featured will be Anna Johanson of Kickin’ Glass and Tim Herbst of Herbst Metal Art.  Anna works with stained glass making beautiful mosaic art pieces.  Tim utilizes color and texture creating amazing metal sculptures.  You can check out their websites, www.kickin-glass.com and www.herbstmetalart.com.

While you are in the neighborhood you can stop in at the Walnut Room and enjoy some great pizza and music!

It’s difficult to get all the information you need about buying a home in today’s market?  At Live we’ve come up with a super cool, casual, easy way to get answers to many of your questions and get the home buying process started.  Pam Catania and I will be hosting this Home Buyer Happy Hour at SwimClub 32 this Saturday beginning at 2:00 pm.  We’ll give you information from a realtor perspective.  But we’ll also have Grant Gingrich from J.Alston Mortgage to clear up any lending questions you may have.  And, as a bonus, Ed LeGrice of LeGrice Construction will be there to talk about renovations and remodels. 

We’ll have food.  Drinks.  Great conversation.  We hope you can join us.  If you’d like to come, please follow this link to register:  http://www.liveurbandenver.com/happyhour/  See you soon!  Susie and Pam

2008 Denver Digs Tree Arbor Day Tree Sale!
City of Denver Free Mulch Giveaway!

These are two great way to spruce up your yard, add value to your property and save energy on the cheap. I am planning on buying a few trees and getting the kids involved as sort of easy kid earth day activity, as involved as possible that is. Translation….I’ll be planting and cleaning up the yard while my kids swing, gather twigs, find pill bugs and spiders, and track dirt in the house. You know how it goes! So, mark your calendars and buy a tree or two this year…and don’t forget the mulch a few weeks later.

Trees for Sale (All six sites)

Saturday, April 19^th, 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Congress Park (9^th and Josephine)
Wash Park (S. Franklin & E. Kentucky)
Babi Yar Park / Hentzell (Yale & Havana)
Ruby Hill Park (Jewell & Osage)
Sloan Lake Park (25^th & Wolff)
Denver Nursery (Smith Rd & Havana)

$45 for bareroot and $65 for balled and burlapped. Need more info? www.theparkpeople.org / 303-722-6262

P.S. Look for ads in local papers for $5 off any tree. I saw one in the Wash Park Profile. Pick up free mulch compliments of our fine city. For details on the Treecycle Mulch Giveaway and LeafDrop Compost Sale call 720-865-6810 or visit Denvergov.org/DenverRecycles.

Saturday, May 3, 2008, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Sites:
Sloan’s Lake Park (mulch only): Sheridan and 17^th Avenue
Bear Creak Park (mulch only): South of Dartmouth on Raleigh
Veterans Park (mulch only): Iowa and Vine Street
Havana Nursery (mulch and compost – fee for compost): 10450 Smith Road, just south of I-70 on Havana

Many inner-city Denver neighborhoods are currently embroiled in a battle to curb graffiti and fortunately the city has come up with a FREE solution to this problem. By granting authorization to the city via a waiver located at http://www.denvergov.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.denvergov.org/DenverPartnersAgainstGraffiti, home and business owners can have the city come out and clean up their grafitti free of charge. By signing the waiver anyone can call to report the graffiti on the property and the city will promptly come out (usually within 48 to 72 hours) and clean it up for you. You might have an older or disabled neighbor who can’t maintain their property for themselves; simply print out the waiver, have them sign it, send it back and let the city do the rest. I have used this service for years and recommend it to anyone who is facing this problem.

Doors Open Denver 2008: Don’t miss this 2 day free event April 12th and April 13th all over town.

Tour amazing public and private buildings of architectural interest during this absolutely free event. That’s right…zero cents! Take self guided or professionally guided tours of over 80 sites including Daniel’s & Fischer Tower, Malo Mansion and the Paramount Theatre. This events runs 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on both days. For a complete schedule, maps and to sign up for professional tours visit the Doors Open Denver website.

There are a few things you need to put on your schedule no matter how busy, how overscheduled, or how hassled you are. 

 I’ve been going to the Red Cross Breakfast of Champions for the last few years and now I wonder how I could NOT go.  It’s a great morning and one full of emotions, (as evidenced by the packages of Red Cross tissues at each place).  The breakfast on Friday morning gave me some time to think about why we need to schedule an hour or two on a regular basis and let the “better angels of our nature” take over.   It’s not the Breakfast that I think we should put on our schedules…although if you get a chance it’s a great event.  What we need to put on our schedules is some time to give back.  Whether it’s to neighbors, our community, or the wider world. 

 Several years ago the Mile High Chapter of the Red Cross was looking for ways to honor the people and organizations that really brought the ideals of Red Cross and it’s founder Clara Barton into the communities where they live and work.  In 2002 they held the first Breakfast of Champions as a way to celebrate people giving back, in large ways and in small ways.  This year the Red Cross honored among others; a school cafeteria worker who saved a student’s life because she took the time for some Red Cross training, a boy scout who used his head and saved his sister from choking to death after he took the time to learn the Heimlich maneuver, a firefighter on vacation in Mexico who saved 3 people from drowning…in separate incidents on the same day !, using a lifetime of training.  And to a person these everyday angels say that they didn’t have time to think, they just did what needed to be done, and they knew what needed to be done thanks to the Red Cross.

Those small moments are the heart of the Red Cross,  an organization that not only provides lifesaving training, but responds to literally hundreds of disasters large and small in Colorado. Small moments in the big picture but huge moments in the lives of the people involved.  Everything from a hot meal and a blanket when your home is on fire, to support for the families of military folks on deployment, to training hundreds of people in basic lifesaving techniques.   All of that because individual people take the time…to learn, to volunteer, to train.

 That’s what this 2 hours on my schedule does for me.  It reminds me that I have to take the time…no matter how busy I am…to give something back.  Once a year I get to see the effect of taking the time, on the people involved and on the 800 or so people reaching for the tissues. 

Visit the Mile High Chapter of the Red Cross…take the time.  http://www.denver-redcross.org    

One of the best deals in town is free admission to featured plays at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts each season!  The Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) provides the free admission, funded in part through the 0.1% sales and use tax.  There’s no catch.  Just come on down to the DCPA and get in line around 4:00 pm the day of the play, pick up your ticket when the box office opens at 4:30, go grab a bite to eat at one of the great restaurants in the area, and then enjoy the play at 6:30.   This week’s play is Gee’s Bend, description below.  Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to enjoy an evening at the theater for FREE! 

This week’s play is Gee’s Bend.

The women of Gee’s Bend – an impoverished and isolated community on the Alabama River – created unique, bold and sophisticated quilts out of necessity and materials at hand. Now world-renowned, their brilliantly innovative quilts are featured in leading museums across the country, including the forthcoming Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. One critic dubs Wilder’s new play “a glorious piece of theatrical handiwork that uses the Civil Rights Movement as a thread for stitching together the rich emotional material of a close-knit family of quilters. With echoes of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, Gee’s Bend is both a work of art and a bona fide crowd-pleaser.”

Additional FREE plays offered this season include:

The Merry Wives of Windsor
March 20 · 6:30pm · Stage Theatre
Doubt
April 3 · 6:30pm · Ricketson Theatre
3 Mo’Divas
May 8 · 6:30pm · Stage Theatre

A few rules, please:

• Available the day of the event at the theatre box office only
• Box Office opens two hours before performance
• House opens ½ hour before curtain
• No reservations
• First-come, first-served
• One ticket per person
• Seating is General Admission
• No children under six

The weather is going to be great this weekend, and as a result, a great time to check out some open houses. Click here to see the list of all the great homes we’ll have open this weekend all over urban Denver, many of which are brand new listings!