Date night at the Colorado Symphony Orchestra

Source: Wikipedia

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Denver’s weather was beautiful. Though I know we’ll be paying for this unseasonably warm weather with fire hazards and drought conditions, I have enjoyed every minute of sleeveless shifts, sandals, and sunshine!

The highlight of my weekend was date night at the Symphony on Friday with the hubby. We attended Beethoven’s Eroica Revealed, the third of the “Behind the Score” series that we have attended. This series not only plays some of classical music’s most beloved and celebrated music, but also provides a little background and education behind the composer and the piece. Scott O’Neil is a brilliant conductor, musician, educator, and entertainer. I enjoy watching him almost as much as the music!

Prior to the show, we had dinner at the always-charming Le Grande Bistro and Oyster Bar. The service and food here never fail and it’s one of Denver’s best and newest French restaurants. I had the ratatouille for the first time and LOVED it.

We ended the evening by using my Hilton points at the Curtis, a boutique-style hotel operated by Doubletree. Amy’s amazing en pointe service at hotel’s bar, The Corner Office, was a definite highlight. While the hotel itself is very cute, clean, and convenient to the Performing Arts Complex, loud partiers in the adjacent room made it a less-than-stellar experience. Oh well…that’s downtown, I guess. We may try Hotel Teatro next time.

Have a productive & happy week, everyone.

Feeling the Pinterest love again

In a slight state of panic, I deleted my Pinterest account several weeks ago after reading this post about its Terms of Service.

After a few weeks of deprivation, however, I missed it so much that I created a new account. This second time, I am MUCH more careful before I repin anything to make certain that the original pinner has followed copyright.

This past week, I was thrilled to receive an email from Pinterest stating that they are updating their Terms of Service. I still think there is room for growth (as do they), but it’s a nice start. I have pasted the contents of the email below. (Note to self…lookup copyright restrictions on reposting emails.)

Updated Terms of Service

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on an update to our Terms. When we first launched Pinterest, we used a standard set of Terms. We think that the updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy are easier to understand and better reflect the direction our company is headed in the future. We’d encourage you to read these changes in their entirety, but we thought there were a few changes worth noting.

• Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.
• We updated our Acceptable Use Policy and we will not allow pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse.
• We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.
• Finally, we added language that will pave the way for new features such as a Pinterest API and Private Pinboards.

We think these changes are important and we encourage you to review the new documents here. These terms will go into effect for all users on April 6, 2012.

Like everything at Pinterest, these updates are a work in progress that we will continue to improve upon. We’re working hard to make Pinterest the best place for you to find inspiration from people who share your interest. We’ve gotten a lot of help from our community as we’ve crafted these Terms.

Thanks!

Ben & the Pinterest Team

Retraining Satiety

I’ve been intensively working for the past two weeks on getting back to my wedding weight. As a self-confessed “foodie,” this has required me to adjust the rate at which I eat and drink as well as retrain my stomach to need less food for satiety. My daily calorie-count has been paltry, but I LOVE the results.

One thing that gets me through each morning is a boiled egg. I’m amazed at how such a small morsel of food can actually give me the energy I need until lunchtime. Yesterday, this infographic from Lifehacker provided a clue as to why.

Saturday morning

I’ve posted before how much I enjoy our “no-drive Sundays” when we can manage them. Saturday is always a busy shopping, errand-running, lunch-in-Cherry-Creek kind of day that has its own appeal.

As we enjoy our coffee, I usually make up the week’s menu, write the grocery lists (which unfortunately often involves a stop at Target and Whole Foods), and generally plan the weekend. It’s a lovely start to the day before we get moving.

This week’s menu includes some warm-weather favorites as well as a few hearty dishes for a chilly forecast on Monday & Tuesday:

Grilled shrimp, chicken, & veggies

Gazpacho soup

Chicken tikka masala

Greek pasta dish

Potato leek soup

Burrito bowl

Lentil chorizo salad

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and a lovely weekend to you!

The history behind the “Keep Calm & Carry On” posters

Love this video I found on Apartment Therapy

 

Stationary

I’ve never been much of a phone person, but I have always loved writing and receiving hand-written notes. Several years ago, I invested in an embosser with my monogram. It was SO much less expensive than customized stationary.

Today, I picked up these little ecru & blue notecards by Crane from my local stationary store. I love the medallion print on the inside!

Off to write a few long overdue letters…