Bridal Show

Sunday is the annual Boulderado Bridal Show, and our office is crazy busy getting ready for it. Nearly 40 vendors will be with us on the Mezzanine and in the adjoining rooms offering information about the various services they offer. (For a complete list of vendors, click here and scroll down.) Our on-site wedding coordinators, Anna and Megan, will be on hand to meet, greet, and discuss planning ceremonies and receptions with brides, fiances, and families. Our catering staff is pulling out all the stops and serving up beef tenderloin, harvest squash ravioli, and wine tastings. If you are interested in attending this free event, you can save yourself time by pre-registering on our website.

November at the Boulderado

November is another extraordinarily busy month at the Boulderado. Here's what's happening:

• Sunday, November 8th is our annual Bridal Show. If you plan on attending, there's still time to pre-register. Stop by to visit some of Colorado's top wedding vendors -- florists, bakers, and invitation makers galore! There's no charge for admission, and one lucky person will win $3000 off his or her Boulderado reception.
• Don't feel like cooking a big meal for Thanksgiving? Or maybe you just dread the thought of all those dishes? Either way, if you attend our Thanksgiving Buffet, we will do the hard work for you, letting you focus on the most important things about the holiday -- spending time with loved ones (and eating).
• Every year, the Boulderado hosts a Teddy Bear Tea which benefits The Children's Hospital. This year, it is being held on Saturday, November 28th. The Teddy Bear Tea is our most popular holiday tea, and just a few reservations are still open, so call today if you'd like to attend! Each child under the age of 12 who comes will take home a teddy bear with them.
  
• The Teddy Bear Tea also kicks off our holiday tea series. Every weekend and for a few weekdays leading up to Christmas, you can enjoy classic tea service on our Mezzanine.
  

Adventures in Pumpkin Carving

Halloween is my #1 favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about it -- candy, carving jack o' lanterns, roasting pumpkin seeds, watching Linus and Sally waiting in the pumpkin patch, dressing up in costumes, and scary movies. So, it's no real surprise I'm trying to stretch it out into just one more day here at the hotel as I crunch some leftover candy from the Munchkin Masquerade. Today, I want to share with you a Hotel Boulderado tradition that I took part in for the first time -- the annual Employee Pumpkin Carving Contest.

Each department can carve 1-2 pumpkins and enter them for judging and display in the lobby. I picked out my pumpkin early on to get the best selection, resulting in a huge specimen that was nicknamed "The Great Pumpkin" by some office mates because of its size and 30-pound weight. Here's what it looked like after being hollowed out, cleaned up, and ready for carving:

I'd already had a plan for the design for weeks -- a jack o' lantern clock, where the face of the clock was also the face of the jack o' lantern. The actual carving took me about six hours on Thursday, the night before the competition.

After I finished with that, I covered all the carved parts with cling wrap and kept it in the fridge overnight, to make sure it stayed as fresh as possible. I went to bed knowing I had done the best job possible and looking forward to the festivities the next day.

Just "chilling" in the fridge

And then, the very next morning, disaster struck. I was carrying the pumpkin out to my truck and slipped on some ice. I went down and so did the pumpkin. It bounced, actually, on the ice. I didn't even get up off the ground before I was examining it and assessing the damage. One piece of the face popped out entirely, and there were cracks running all across the front, but the pumpkin's thick rind prevented it from smashing entirely. Here's what it looked like, post-fall:

I tried to put it back together the best I could using toothpicks, nails, and sheer determination. After I put the finishing touches on it, I brought it down to the lobby and set it out for viewing. Some people who had stopped by my desk before then said they thought the cracks enhanced the pumpkin -- "It looks spookier and older." "Are you making some sort of statement about time cracking?" Not really, but the show must go on.

Here's the full collection of submissions sitting under the credenza loaded with bats, snakes, spiders, ravens, and dead tree branches.

Entry #2 from the Sales Office ~ A mermaid accompanied by starfishes
"Winner of Most Funny"

Entry from the Front Desk ~ A ghost superimposed with the initials HB, for Hotel Boulderado
"Winner of Best Theme Carving"

Entry from Set Break/Banquets ~ Scary face with bone teeth
"Winner of Most Difficult"
(Also should be given props for popular favorite -- as people were walking by and looking at them, this was the one most people said they liked the most.)

Entry from Housekeeping ~ A housekeeper (with a custom-sewn uniform)
composting into a pumpkin receptacle
"First Runner Up"

Entry from Q's Restaurant ~ The Q's Logo
"Winner of Best Technique"

Entry from Maintenance ~ An M&M guy
"Best of Show"

And my pumpkin? We took home the "Most Creative" prize. I've already had a couple of ideas for next year's contest, so watch out!

PS Our Front Desk Manager sent me this photo of two of our valet attendants on Halloween dressed like old-school valets. I love it!

302

Did you like yesterday's blog post about 304, one of our haunted rooms? It included an audio clip from the Slacker and Steve Radio Show where they brought a psychic into the room to perform a reading. The fun continues next door in 302, another one-bedroom suite with the same access to the open-air porch that 304 has. If you liked that, then you'll probably like this audio clip taken from 302 with the same psychic.

PS Check it out! CBS Channel 4 from Denver sent their social media team up to Boulder this morning to document the crazy snowfall we got. While they were downtown, Mike and Michael stopped by to investigate the Halloween decorations and shot a live video right in our lobby. Click here to see the results!

304

Our lobby has undergone a transformation since yesterday's post. Skeletons, vampires, and spider webs are everywhere, and there's even a disembodied hand coming out of the front desk. It can only mean one thing -- Halloween is fast approaching. Last year, the Slacker and Steve Radio Show from Alice 105.9 made a stop at the Hotel Boulderado on their Tour of Terror. Slacker and Steve each stayed in one of our alleged "haunted" rooms on the third floor. Click here to listen to the audio clip from the radio show.

While there have been reports of ghosts and paranormal activity all over the hotel in a variety of guest rooms, two of our suites in the historic section have seemed to be more active than the average room. Room 304 is a beautiful one-bedroom suite featuring a king bed and views of downtown Boulder. It also has a door leading to an open-air porch that connects to 302, making it one of the most popular and desirable rooms in the hotel. Many people stay in 304 without any problems or disturbances, but there have also been reports of people feeling uneasy, hearing strange noises, and other unexplained phenomenon.

304 and 302 will be open to the public this Friday as part of Historic Boulder's Ghost Walk/Ghost Talk this Friday between 7pm and 10pm. "Ghosts" will be on hand to share their stories of days past, refreshments will be served, and psychics will be available for personal readings. Visit Historic Boulder's website to learn more about this event and how to purchase tickets.

Munchkin Masquerade

Since so much is happening downtown this weekend (Halloween, CU's homecoming game/Pearl Street Stampede), Downtown Boulder Inc. pushed up their annual Munchkin Masquerade to Thursday, October 29th. Between 2pm and 5pm, trick or treaters will descend on the downtown area in search of sugar loot. Start out at the Daily Camera's building where you can pick up a starter treat bag, map of participating merchants, and a free photo of your costumed kid provided by Eight Days a Week. The Hotel Boulderado is an official stop on the map, but many people forget to stop by because it's not directly on Pearl Street. These people miss out on lots of candy given away in our "haunted" lobby, which is decked out with creepy, spooky Halloween decor.

Happy Birthday, Yuko!

Taking a moment today to wish our Sales Office Manager, Yuko Ishige, a very happy (and a bit early) birthday. Yuko is the glue that holds our office together, and whether she is preparing the sterling menus for a wedding reception, fielding dozens of phone calls from people looking to reserve space at a Holiday Tea or Seasonal Buffet, or cheering on the Rockies, she does everything with dedication and passion. Megan will be bringing in a chocolate cake for us to celebrate Yuko's birthday next week, since, as Yuko has said before, "I would bathe in chocolate if I could." (She's especially fond of the Triple Chocolate cupcakes at Tee and Cakes.) Happy Birthday, Yuko! Here's to a year full of fun, love, and chocolate!